Heart Condition Part XIX
7/7/12
The CT room was its normal dark and cool atmosphere as my chariot entered the area. I sat there for a few moments while the CT tech began his tour around the room unhooking me tubes and placing them into other sockets so that none of my current conditions would be altered. He then asked me to stand up while he swung my IV pole around to where I could walk towards the table. No problems were encountered and I took a few steps over to the edge of the table and sat down on its edge. The IV pole was in place and I was instructed to lie down on my back which I did without any complaints. About that time the Radiologist came in the door and greeted me. He and I had worked together for many years and we knew each other quite well. He then departed through the side door and took his place behind the window. The CT tech was almost finished positioning me when the lights dimmed further, which I knew that it was almost time for the scan to begin. The CT tech asked if I needed anything and I said no so he exited through the same side door.
The computer generated voice guided my breathing directions and motions while I laid waiting for this process to complete. This was my first big scan since I was in High School and I now could understand why some people did not like this procedure to be done, if you are anywhere near the claustrophobic stages this test could be tricky. During this process I had some time on my hands to evaluate my current pain level which I concluded that there was no pain in my body at that moment. The blood pressure cuff went off and revealed that my pressure had not eased at all and continued to be in the dangerous category. After a while the Radiologist came through the side door and informed me that everything was ok and that he had not detected any abnormalities in my chest cavity. This result did not surprise me but it was a relief since I knew what the regimen would have been if the scan had proven positive.
A few minutes later the CT tech came in and began to unhook me from my temporary conditions. Soon I was back on the side of the table and waiting to be positioned back into my chariot for the return trip to my abode. The remaining of the CT trip, only a few yards in total, was uneventful and I was back in my room without any alarm. Within five seconds of my return to my room I was once again greeted with other hospital personnel wanting to complete some type of test on me, which was no surprise to me but a tad awkward since I had never really been on this side of hospital operations in a long time. This process did give me a new perspective on how the patient views things but at the same time it also gave me a warped sense of security that I should have been more aware of my inner surroundings.
I got out of my wheelchair and then made the short journey back to my bed. I sat down on the side while the aides hooked me back up to the wall sockets and turned my oxygen back on. Everyone was completing an assignment while I was getting “comfortable” in my bed again. The Cardiopulmonary tech came into the room and said that she needed to do another EKG on me. I asked how the first one was and while she did not volunteer too much information she had made it clear that everything looked ok so far. It took her a few minutes to strategically place the leads on my chest, side and legs. Then the wires to the leads were attached to the sticky pads and then the instrument was ready to record the results. I laid there still as possible and it did not take long for the results to begin to print out. I looked at her and she knew what my question was going to be so she answered it right from the beginning, which the same words as before all was ok so far. She promptly took the lead wires off my chest but left the sticky pads on for future usage.
By the time that I had returned from the CT and had my repeat EKG performed it was well after 1600 hrs and I was getting a tad hungry. See the evening shift personnel usually ate at 1630 or as close to it as possible since the real fun of the shift usually began sometime after 1700 hrs or 5pm for you non military time inclined folks. So my tummy was letting me know that it was approaching time to eat, but by the looks of things we were nowhere close to having anything. Plus, with my late admit time Dietary might not have known I was even there in a room which had happened countless number of times in the past.
A few minutes later after all my vital signs had been taken, which none of them had changed any which was kind of disappointing since I was hoping that my blood pressure would have started to drop by now. Anyway, the charge nurse came in with my lab results and asked if I wanted to see them and I of course said “yes”. Now, remember this is not standard protocol in the fact of letting a patient visibly see their results, of any kind but she knew that I would find them if she didn’t. So, she handed them to me and I quickly scanned them. All my enzymes looked good including my Troponin level. My Troponin was not elevated at all and in fact was lower than what it had been on the past Friday. At this point I was please with all of my results which had turned out to be either normal or negative which engrained a more nervous sense of uneasiness because I now began to sit and wonder what actually was going on inside my body and where the problem actually was located.
My nurse stated, which I already knew that all of the normal results did not mean that something was not going on inside. I knew this since I have witnessed on many occasions the effects of conditions sometimes hours after a person has been admitted. I knew I was not out of the woods yet but at that moment, which I believe in combination of the normal results, I was feeling the best I had in quite some time. But I was doing absolutely nothing and every move I made was monitored quite intensely. The Cardiopulmonary tech returned with a heart monitor and said that it had to be put on now before I ate dinner. The word dinner perked up my stomach juices because that meant that I would be receiving some sort of sustenance soon. So, she began the process of ripping off the old EKG sticky pads and then put new ones on in the exact same spot. I made some snide comment about using the same ones but I was not too smart in my timing. I had forgotten that there was one sticky pad on my side, then I made my comment and let me just say that she really enjoyed taking off that last sticky pad. How do I know this? Well, she was smiling at me the entire time while she was ripping it from my side and then asked if it hurt in her own snide way. She placed the new sticky pads in their appropriate places and then hooked up the electrodes to the pads. She then called the ICU and asked if the leads were performing their duties. It seemed like everything was in order so she asked if she could do anything and I said no and then thanked her for everything. A quick hug and a colleague’s “scolding” to hurry up and feel better followed.
Within a few minutes I heard the Dietary cart rolling down the hallway. The cart was not too difficult to miss since it made a very distinct sound as it rumbled down the hallways. Depending upon how many patients were in the hospital you could have two or three coming down the hall at once which proved to be very loud, and the hallway was even carpeted. Since my room was close to the nurses’ station I heard the cart stop close by and the Dietary personnel having a conversation with one of the aides. The Dietary personnel stopped talking in the hallway and then made way towards my door. With a slight knock she entered to see how I was doing so that she could give a report to the other ladies in the kitchen. I sat up in bed and greeted her and then began to let her know how I was feeling. She was pleased with the report I gave her but she too had been in the medical field for a long time and knew the circumstances of my condition so no pulling the wool over her eyes either.
We were interrupted by one of the aides bringing in my dinner. She got up from the side of my bed and then bent over and we gave a hug to each other. I told her not to worry that I was on a very short leash and that everyone was pulling on it every chance they got. She then turned around and walked out of the room dodging the aide that had my dinner tray. The aide then placed the tray on the bedside table and then moved it close to me. As I was lifting the lid to the meal I asked her if she was going to feed me and she laughed at me and told me that I was a big boy and that I should know how to do that by now.
At that moment mom and dad entered into the room, along with Bonnie. Most of the time the nurses would not allow more than two guests into a room at a time but since I was an employee and knew everything that was going on the personnel bent the rules a bit for me; which was a good thing because I have witnessed some very stressful situations when the nurses are trying to explain this policy to other family members, especially ones that have travelled a distance to visit the patient. Anyway, all of them were anxious to find out what the initial reports had said in which I filled them in to all of the normal results. Some of the family members were pleased with the results but still was concerned that something was going on with me, in which I tended to agree with but said nothing to this effect. So, all we could do is wait and see what transpired over the next few hours.
Bonnie asked me how I was doing and feeling. I really had not had the opportunity to make an assessment of things ever since I had returned to my room from the CT procedure. So I stopped for a second and put my fork down, in which I had not been able to use yet by the way. I took notice of a dull pain located in my upper left shoulder. I had not noticed it before and it was not bad but now that I had discovered it was kind of annoying. It was like someone was standing in front of me and placing their finger in that spot and pushing inward on my chest. It was not a piercing pain but a steady pain as described. It was a weird sensation but relay did not bother me too much. It was time once again for the blood pressure monitoring crew to join me to take my vital signs, so my dinner was delayed once again.
At this point of my hospital stay it was beginning to look like something was going on but just had not showed up yet. But with no pain and no other symptoms presenting themselves my mind began to return to its “regularly scheduled program” mentality in which I became ok with the idea of being kept in the hospital overnight but was really not too enthused with all the bells and whistles attached to me. As of now nothing was present to indicate anything had happened inside my body and I was feeling better than I had in days so in my mind I was on the road to recovery and all I had accomplished was to waste money with this shenanigan. Times would soon change for me but I still had acts of rebellion to complete first.
DLB
Part XX to follow…..
No comments:
Post a Comment