a scary day

Well, yesterday was a little bit on the strange side for me and John in Mt Pleasant.

I awoke to the sound of my phone ringing, and initially didnt want to get up. When it stopped, and then immediatly started ringing again I knew it was important and got up to answer it. I saw that it was John and cheerfully answered the phone. To my surprise he said "I am on my way to the hospital." "What happened?" I asked, thinking that he had cut his hand at work, and needed stitches. He replied "I know this sounds stupid, but I have symptoms of a heart attack" which he proceeded to tell me had been going on the night before but he didnt want to worry me so had not said anything. "I'll be there in a couple minutes" I said and hurried to get ready. I threw on some clothes, grabbed a couple granola bars and rushed out the door.

When I arrived at the emergency room, I didnt see Johns car and when I entered the waiting room area, I again didnt see John. Then I was really worried, but when I turned around to walk back the other way,  I saw that he was just getting up from the sign in desk. He was really pale, and sweaty looking, and when we sat down, he said "I'm really scared." I agreed and we waited for them to get him into a room.

He had been having a real tightness in his chest since the night before, and his left arm was feeling numb and tingly, some of the symptoms of a heart attack. His family has no history of heart attacks, but when the feeling didnt go away after he had been at work for over an hour, it was time to get it chekced out.

After a few minutes, we got into a room in the ER. They hooked him up to a heart, BP and breathing monitor, and put and oxygen thingy in his nose. It just broke my heart to see him hooked up to all that stuff. :o(

But as I watched the readings on the machine, I felt that what was going on was not anything to do with his heart. BPM were normal, no abnormalities in rhythm. The doctor came in and listened to his chest, and asked alot of questions.

The doctor told us, jsut from the readings on the machine, and his age that he probably wasnt having a heart attack but just to be sure they also ran an EKG, did a chest x-ray and drew some blood to run tests. They also gave him an IV and gave him Ativan which helps to calm people down and reduce the effects of an attack.

We waited for a while, then the doctor returned with some news, not necessarily great news but better than we had feared. It seems that John has an anxiety disorder, which can have the very same symptoms of heart attack, and that he must have been having an anxiety attack. The doctor talked about treatments, and what was going on inside the body, and after we asked him questions, he left the room.

At this point, John felt so releived that he started to tear up, which sets off a chain reaction I think, and I started to cry. We talked for awhile and waited for the nurses to come back to get everything taken care of.

The doctor said that what was going on is probably situational, what with John working two jobs, and really disliking one of them. The stress that goes along with that can cause anxiety to become overwhelming. So the doctor prescribed Zoloft, along with Ativan to help out when an attack comes along. We came home and John slept for a good couple of hours, when he woke up he said he felt much better.

Thank God that there was nothing as serious as a heart condition that was causing all the problems. But finding that fact out is going to cost quite a bit of money I am sure. Along with all the tests that they ran, and the fact that John's insurance through his new job has not taken effect yet will definatly be expensive. But you cannot put a price on your health, and we will deal with that as it comes along. The Zoloft is a very expensive drug we were told, although the doctor did give John a 21 day starter pack, and mentioned something about possibly being able to get him samples from there on out. The thing about it is once you start taking it, you cant quit "cold turkey" or it can have worse effects than before you started. The good thing is, this is not a drug that he will have to take for the rest of his life, it is non-addictive (they say) and he will probably be on it for less than a year, possibly only six months.

He has not actually started the medication yet, he wants to think about it first and see how he feels today.

Well, yesterday was a strange day for sure, but I guess I feel better knowing that everything is ok. We will work through this together, and hope that it all works out in the end...