Oh my!

There are occasions when I wish I could take some time off the general merry-go-round that is everyday life and these last few days were certainly that!

On Thursday evening after eating a light tea, I started feeling generally unwell. I had an achy left arm and a slight, uncomfortable pain in my chest which I put down to being tired and indigestion. I thought I'd solve both problems by having an early evening snooze but I'd not been lying down for long when I realised that both pains were getting more insistent and one hour later I was in considerable pain. My arm really ached but the pain in my chest was horrendous. I got scared, told my husband how bad I felt and it was decided to call for an ambulance. By this time I was a combination of miserably in a lot of pain and scared about what it all could mean.

The ambulance arrived promptly and whilst yes I was in a huge amount of pain their tests and their experience pointed to it being something other than the dreaded heart attack. Nevertheless it was decided to take me to hospital for further investigations.

I was examined by  a very thorough doctor who said that she thought it was some sort of muscular problem but she wanted to be sure so I had to have some bloods taken and a chest x-ray. The x-ray came back fine but much to the surprise of us and the doctor, the blood test came back suggesting that I might have had a very mild heart attack!

At this point she said that her conscience would not allow her to send me home, so she had me admitted  to an observation ward instead. There was another blood test that could be done in 9 hours time that should give a clearer indication of what the problem was. At this point they gave me a big dose of morphine, some aspirin and paracetamol and finally the pain started to recede.

After an uncomfortable night (not arriving on the ward until 1.30am, a combination of hourly obs, a great deal of pain and very noisy other patients) I was very groggy the next morning. I'd had about 2.5 hours sleep in total.

A consultant came to see me at 10am and told me that whilst the second set of bloods was inconclusive, they would discharge me providing that I got plenty of rest and return immediately if the pain got very bad again. Interestingly, one of the first things he said was to ask where my compression sleeve was, because to his eyes the lymphoedema was quite obvious. I had to explain that the clinic didn't think it was bad enough to warrant one, so he's going to write suggesting that I do get issued with one pronto.
Oh deep joy! :(

I have spent the last couple of days catching up on my sleep, which I have to say was not exactly difficult and I've been good about resting too! :) After talking about it all with my husband, some online research and recognising the fact that muscular pain does not disappear after a few hours, we have come to the conclusion that I most likely did have a mild heart attack. A very sobering and depressing thought.

I feel so frustrated by all of this as a few months ago I was really beginning to feel a lot more like my old self. My strength and general stamina was gradually improving and things seemed generally to be taking a turn for the better. I am still struggling to deal with the physical aftermath of the horrible reaction to the Lyrica. Who would have thought that just a small dose of something would have such a long term effect? I am still quite unsteady on my feet, especially when tired and if I feel a bit wobbly it's really hard for me to regain my balance without toppling over. Yesterday was a prime example of this - I lost my balance trying to avoid a large puddle as I went to get into the car and I could not stop myself from falling over! The combination of all of this has made me feel like a frail old lady which is not the best feeling the world. I will be so glad when things start to get back to a more normal existence!