Today’s post isn’t as much (or at all) adoption-related (except indirectly), but it’s something I have wanted to tell and after today, I have even more testimony to share.
After our return home from Cambodia in July, I was incredibly fatigued. Not like jet lag, not like exhaustion, not tired from working hard in the heat, but like only had the energy to straighten the kitchen for a few minutes then had to go back and lay down before I did anything else. Like heavy limbs and weak body fatigue. Weird, unnatural fatigue. I went to the walk-in clinic on July 10 because I also had a cold and I wanted to make sure I didn’t have Zika (even though I don’t think it’s even IN Cambodia) or some exotic illness that was affecting my body. After checking the normal things, she listened to my heart and then said, “I hear something strange, I want to get you on an EKG.” They did an EKG and she came back to tell me that I needed to go to the hospital and let a cardiologist put his eyes on me. I was a little nervous, but I said ok and started getting my stuff together. She then said, “The ambulance is on its way.” HUH WHAT??? They did a second EKG and she told me my heart rate was in the 30’s. This, apparently, is not good. (My resting heart rate is typically around 63.) {When the paramedics got there, they were shocked at my appearance. One said, “when they said heart rate in the 30s, I was imagining us having to use electricity, not someone sitting up and joking around!”}
To condense a long story, I went to the ER in an ambulance and, after a chest X-ray and tests on my heart enzymes, was sent home (with a wikipedia printout on typhoid fever but that’s a different story for another day and one that does not properly reflect what I felt was excellent care from Tennova later on in the story) with advisement to follow up with my PCP.
I followed up with him (and he disagreed with the typhoid fever possibility and I don’t think he even consulted wikipedia a single time), got another EKG in his office, and it showed the same really low heartrate. He asked me to come back the following day for an echo test. I got the echo done and, according to the girl doing the test, everything in my heart looked great as far as pumping action. However, my rate fell so low during that test that the parameters on that machine couldn’t even pick it up so the report would indicate that I had died a couple of times during said test. ;) Dr. Chastain told me I could go on vacation the following week as long as I was within an hour of medical care (and I decided that the Murphy hospital qualified, so I went). He told me to come back and see him after my vacation to talk about the echo test. I was still feeling pretty exhausted but still had none of the other symptoms of a slow heartbeat (dizziness, passing out, etc).
At the next appointment, I learned that my echo test was good, so it was apparently an electrical issue. Dr. Chastain set me up an appointment with Dr. Powers, a cardiologist with the Chattanooga Heart Institute. This appointment was scheduled for August 4. I started school on Monday, August 1, still feeling tired and have really low pulse readings.
That night I came home feeling pretty good. I was excited about the promise of a new school year, feeling very positive about the future of our school and system, and confident that my heart issues would work themselves out since I still wasn’t really feeling many symptoms and my fatigue seemed, after one day back at work, to be better. The girls were gone to stay in WV (miracle and Providence #1) and Kraig and I enjoyed a dinner together at Jordan’s and then went back home. We were looking forward to a relaxing evening together, watching tv. It was around 8 that I started to have crushing chest pains. They peaked and eased and peaked and eased for several hours until they seemed to only get worse and worse. Finally, around midnight, I told Kraig I needed to go to the ER. I felt sure it was heartburn (although I had never had heartburn that lasted that long), wondered if it was a gall bladder attack, but had a slight concern it might be a heart attack in light of my already existing heart issues. By the time we got in the car, I could hardly breathe. When we got to the ER, I was doubled over in the line to be seen so they brought me a wheelchair. As soon as I told the desk clerk I was having chest pains, she got me on an EKG in a little room off the registration desk and they found, pretty quickly, that I had an abnormal EKG, which meant a ticket directly back into the examination room. (Providence #2)
On this visit to the ER, I was absolutely so impressed with the care I received at Tennova. The nurses were amazing, Dr. DeVane is INCREDIBLE, and everyone I saw was so kind and caring. They asked my medical history and I told them I had an appointment for that Thursday with Dr. Powers and that he was my cardiologist. Apparently at one point the hospitalist said that he would probably wait and see me in the morning (Dr. Powers, that is). I got anti-nausea meds before pain meds since I told them that pain meds made me sick. However, that apparently doesn’t matter to my body since I then started to throw up and continued multiple times through the night. {It’s worth noting that I had been rock solid and strong since July 10 with whatever was happening to my body. Even through the horrible pain and concern about a heart attack, I was a trooper. The first time I threw up, I started to cry and said to Kraig, “I can’t handle this! I can’t throw up!!!” The second time, I looked at Kraig, crying again, and said, “I think I’m dying.” I am the most giant baby in the WORLD about throwing up. CANNOT TAKE IT.} Dr. DeVane talked to me for a while about my heart since by this point they had ruled out heart attack. Dr. Powers came in the middle of the night to look at my EKG results and talk to me about my heart. I have since been told that “cardiologists don’t come to the hospital in the middle of the night if they aren’t on call”. (Providence #3)
By the next morning, they had decided to admit me to the MICU due to my heart rate. (Providence #4) The pain had subsided totally but they wanted to do a stress test on Tuesday. Let me just say this… the care I received in the MICU at Tennova was TOP-NOTCH. Every single nurse, every single CNA, every single doctor, every single person conducting any sort of test— ABSOLUTELY THE BEST OUT THERE. It could NOT have been any better of an experience. Tuesday’s stress test showed that my heart, while very slow, is very plucky. And consistent. And it knows when to speed up and it does it in those times. So, still no news at all and nothing about the painful event that sent me there. Dr. Powers said he would consult his team but he leaned toward just letting me live my life.
By that afternoon, Dr. Powers had come back and said that he wanted me to wear a heart monitor when I was discharged and that a pacemaker might be our best option, but it wasn’t an emergency situation. My heart continued to do its slow, slow dance and the nurses and anyone who came to see me continued to marvel that my heart could beat so slowly and I could feel so good.
Wednesday, the hospitalist (Dr. Florres) shared results from everything they had done, which showed nothing still. (Also, I need to say, this guy is WONDERFUL. I adore him.) I asked him, “Do you think it could have been a gall bladder attack???” He said it was possible, that we would get an ultrasound done (Providence #5 and a doctor who totally listens to his patients instead of drawing only his own conclusions, which is awesome). The ultrasound showed lots of gall stones and a thick gall bladder, so they said Dr. Dunn would come by and the consensus was that he would likely want to take it out. This proved correct and Dr. Dunn scheduled the surgery for Thursday. (Dr. Dunn? Just the coolest guy. I loved talking to him, I love his manner and his approach and everything else.)
There was a little bit of concern about a surgery with a heart rate that insisted on beating SO STINKING SLOW. Dr. Powers approved it and Dr. Dunn said they would give me a little bit of dopamine and have more ready if needed. Not only did the surgery go beautifully, they didn’t have to give me any dopamine and my heart just plugged along like it should, albeit slowly. I had also told them that anesthesia makes me sick (see before: I can’t handle throwing up), so they promised to take precautions to hopefully prevent that and THEY DID! It worked! Pain meds also make me sick (as evidenced Monday night in the ER), so I determined I would take ZERO pain meds and I did not. As for my gall bladder, Dr. Dunn not only said it had probably been bad for about ten years, he also said a lot of issues I had attributed to other things MIGHT have actually been gall bladder related and I MIGHT be better than ever! :) (Providence #6) I slept a lot that night but wasn’t too terribly sore, then they agreed to discharge me Friday with a recommendation to wear a heart monitor once I was moving around again from the surgery.
I was thrilled to go home but I truly was a little sad to leave the MICU. Again… TOP-NOTCH CARE. And Drs. Dunn, Powers, and Florres were just epitomes of excellent physicians. My surgery recovery went fabulously over the next few days, other than a brief time of pain in my shoulders from the surgical gas. We had delicious meals from Ladles of Love at church, my girls came back home, and my people took such great care of me. The entire recovery, I took one tylenol and one gas pill. That’s it.
On Saturday, I was praying about my heart. In the midst of the prayer, I realized I was praying desperately for an ANSWER. If it’s thyroid, show us, and we can fix it. If I need a pacemaker, fine, I’ll get one. And then it hit me like a ton of bricks, I have not prayed a single time for Him to just STOP IT. FIX IT. I don’t need an answer, I need a healing. The phrase “You have not because you ask not” came to mind. At that moment, I changed my prayer. And in the days afterward, my heart rate was up. Most readings were much higher with just a few in the 40’s.
Dr. Dunn had said I could return to work when I felt like it and that, while Tuesday seemed a little soon, it was up to me. Yes sir, thank you, I will do so. It was killing me to have missed the week of staff development and the fact that I missed the first half day of school and my room wasn’t put together yet was driving me NUTS. I returned to work Tuesday feeling REALLY GOOD. Sore and slow-moving, but good. I came home every night that week and rested, got to bed early every night, and fulfilled the promises I had made to God and my mom and myself about taking better care of me. ;)
In the midst of all of this, the adoption decision came along. One thing I realized very quickly is that the Philippines will not allow you to adopt if you have a pacemaker. This COULD BE a problem, but my readings were better and I just knew all was well.
I worked that week and then during the next week, I wore a heart monitor. I had no doubt that my heart was healed and the monitor was just a precaution. I had a follow-up with Dr. Powers scheduled for today. Last Friday, they called to make a second appt with a different cardio who specializes in the electro stuff. Why? The monitor results were not good and it showed “periods of extreme bradycardia”.
I was DEVASTATED. This wasn’t supposed to be. I KNEW I had been healed and every time I checked, my pulse was higher! And I wasn’t tired or having any symptoms! And God was letting us adopt, I couldn’t get a pacemaker or we couldn’t adopt! This was not supposed to be how this whole thing went down.
BUT GOD. I went in today prepared to ask him if a pacemaker could wait until after the adoption (unless I was going to die, at which point I guessed I would go ahead and do the pacemaker. I think. ;) ). The nurse said it got down to 31 at points but did go up when I was moving around (this is good). Dr. Powers came in and asked how I was feeling. I told him I felt great, no more fatigue, but I guessed I wasn’t really. He asked why and I said the other appt. He said he had made that appointment before he got the results of the test.
The miraculous report is this: Bradycardia, YES. Bradycardia with dangerous junctional rhythms? NO. Bradycardia that impacts my life? NO. Bradycardia that is a threat to me in any way? NO. His final report was cancel the other appointment, and live your life. If at any point I have symptoms, come back, and if I go to the dr or hospital for anything else, warn them of this lest they freak out, but LIVE. YOUR. LIFE. When he looked at me funny (likely due to my enthusiasm and the tears in my eyes), I explained to him that “LIVE YOUR LIFE” in this context means bringing home an addition to our family from the Philippines, which I no longer need to worry and fret over.
God is just amazing. Beyond amazing. I cannot get over the ways He loves us. Blessed be His Holy Name.
No comments:
Post a Comment