at the stroke of midnight I was lying in a hospital bed with tubes up my nose, hooked up to a heart monitor, listening to the man with severe head trauma die... it was
A VERY REDSKULL NEW YEARS
it was about 2:00 in the afternoon when the first attack came. I've never had one before, so I couldn't differentiate between Anxiety attacks, panic or heart. I think I can now. With my heart pounding in my chest, my limbs numb and unresponsive, I called my friend to let him know that I was bailing on dinner. Which is an absolute shame, because this guy has been a close friend of mine for 23 years, a very long time.
He also lives 5 hours away, and suddenly, the idea of a drive-a-thon wasn't altogether appealing...
I did get to talk to (or get talked down) by his girlfriend, who suffers from anxiety attacks from time to time, and after describing my symptoms, she asked me to try and calm down a bit before taking any serious action. So into relax-mode I went, hitting the couch, drank some chamomile tea, burned some incence and made little paper cranes in a desperate show of Zen calmness.
After a brief nap, and feeling in better spirits (besides an ominous tension still gripping he left side of my chest) I began to pull together some last resort plans with the few people who stayed in Ottawa for the night. It was 7:00, the second attack hit and I went to the hospital to check myself into emergency.
I'll condense the bit about what they did to me there, besides lots of lying down, there were also oxygen tubes and masks, and sensors taped all over my torso, and EGC's and Xrays and, get this, Nitro Glycerin!!! I soooooo wanted to do that but-stomp thing that Tweety and Sylvester did to blow themselves up, but, y'know... it was only a cartoon. Apparently nitroglycerin has some amazing recouperative properties for cardiac situations - opens up the arteries and vessels, so they say. Well, I took about 6 hits of the stuff and it also opened up all the veins in my head, resulting in a finely honed surgical-grade headache which I'm still enjoying.
Around 11:00 the police brought in a guy they found lying unconscious at the bottom of a flight of concrete stairs, massive head trauma, nobody knew who he was or where he lived. If he had died that night, it would most likely have been very alone.
And my spirits SOARED!!!! WHEEEE!!!!!! Half dead gurgling bleedy dude next to me with only a thin curtain to keep the Grim Spectre of Death at bay!!! Back, you foul Shade! *swings assorted tubes and wires in a vain attempt to drive off The Reaper*
I didn't get released until 1:30, no new years for me. Although somebody did announce it over the intercom: "It is now twelve o' clock. Welcome to 2003." in a manner as sterile that you could only find in a hospital. Bah.
Oh yes... my health. The preliminary diagnosis (a prognosis? I dunno...) is that I have an infection of the heart muscle, or of the surrounding tissue, or both. I will be subjected to a battery of tests in the coming days. According to my ECG, something aint right.
Looks like a broken heart, I guess.
Or an infected and inflamed one, probably will all kinds of grody pus and goo's.
Somebody fix me.
A VERY REDSKULL NEW YEARS
it was about 2:00 in the afternoon when the first attack came. I've never had one before, so I couldn't differentiate between Anxiety attacks, panic or heart. I think I can now. With my heart pounding in my chest, my limbs numb and unresponsive, I called my friend to let him know that I was bailing on dinner. Which is an absolute shame, because this guy has been a close friend of mine for 23 years, a very long time.
He also lives 5 hours away, and suddenly, the idea of a drive-a-thon wasn't altogether appealing...
I did get to talk to (or get talked down) by his girlfriend, who suffers from anxiety attacks from time to time, and after describing my symptoms, she asked me to try and calm down a bit before taking any serious action. So into relax-mode I went, hitting the couch, drank some chamomile tea, burned some incence and made little paper cranes in a desperate show of Zen calmness.
After a brief nap, and feeling in better spirits (besides an ominous tension still gripping he left side of my chest) I began to pull together some last resort plans with the few people who stayed in Ottawa for the night. It was 7:00, the second attack hit and I went to the hospital to check myself into emergency.
I'll condense the bit about what they did to me there, besides lots of lying down, there were also oxygen tubes and masks, and sensors taped all over my torso, and EGC's and Xrays and, get this, Nitro Glycerin!!! I soooooo wanted to do that but-stomp thing that Tweety and Sylvester did to blow themselves up, but, y'know... it was only a cartoon. Apparently nitroglycerin has some amazing recouperative properties for cardiac situations - opens up the arteries and vessels, so they say. Well, I took about 6 hits of the stuff and it also opened up all the veins in my head, resulting in a finely honed surgical-grade headache which I'm still enjoying.
Around 11:00 the police brought in a guy they found lying unconscious at the bottom of a flight of concrete stairs, massive head trauma, nobody knew who he was or where he lived. If he had died that night, it would most likely have been very alone.
And my spirits SOARED!!!! WHEEEE!!!!!! Half dead gurgling bleedy dude next to me with only a thin curtain to keep the Grim Spectre of Death at bay!!! Back, you foul Shade! *swings assorted tubes and wires in a vain attempt to drive off The Reaper*
I didn't get released until 1:30, no new years for me. Although somebody did announce it over the intercom: "It is now twelve o' clock. Welcome to 2003." in a manner as sterile that you could only find in a hospital. Bah.
Oh yes... my health. The preliminary diagnosis (a prognosis? I dunno...) is that I have an infection of the heart muscle, or of the surrounding tissue, or both. I will be subjected to a battery of tests in the coming days. According to my ECG, something aint right.
Looks like a broken heart, I guess.
Or an infected and inflamed one, probably will all kinds of grody pus and goo's.
Somebody fix me.
VIEW 12 of 12 COMMENTS
toads:
that sounds like a whole bunch of no good... hang in there, be prayin to all the gods i know of for you to be better.
bettietwoguns:
don't mind me . . . i'm a worrier. lemme know if i can do anything . . . 