More about my hospital experience

I certainly am thankful to have had a normal Sunday today!  

I was finally discharged from the hospital late Wednesday afternoon.  Wheels move slowly.  There was absolutely no reason for me to be there that day.  I was unhooked from the IV (blood thinner), which was WONDERFUL.  Basically I was just there until a doctor came and discharged me.  My friend Peg came to take me home.  I warned her that I felt GROSS!!  I had not showered since Sunday morning (I had washed the best I could) and my hair still had hunks of paste in it from the EEG.  She said she would be sure to bring air freshener and her mask!  Sure enough, she had a mask for the fun of it.  I had to take a picture of her!

I had a number of visitors on the days I was there.  Anthony and Lori were there with their boys Sunday evening.  Here are some pics Anthony sent me later.  Neither of the boys seemed too thrilled to be with a grandma in a hospital bed, haha!

On Monday Peg stopped in twice, Anthony was there for a long time in the morning and part of the afternoon.  Later in the afternoon my flute player Brenna stopped in with flowers after school, then Ross, my guitar player stopped in for a while.  Dick was there with me all evening.  No chance of being lonely!

I felt so happy with myself for fixing myself up a bit Monday afternoon - washed up, put makeup on, did my hair the best I could without my regular stuff.   Immediately afterward I was told they'd be coming in to do the EEG and it would require putting paste at various places in my hair.  Humph!!  I couldn't believe it.   This was my before selfie.  My hair was horrible the rest of the time I was there.

Another thing they did on Monday was an MRI of my head.  That wasn't too bad, just very loud and banging. 

On Tuesday Dick took a vacation day and was there most of the time.   I had more visitors too - Bonnie and Kusty from Fillmore and also Pastor Calvin.  Dick said he saw the room door across the hall go closed while Bonnie and Kusty were there.  I'm sure I was probably laughing way too loudly!

That's the day I had the heart catheterization.  Anthony sent the rest of our kids a FB message right before I was being taken down.  There were replies from various ones about praying for me, etc.  I couldn't help myself - I took a selfie looking like I was pathetic and in great anguish.  I knew they knew I was just kidding when I immediately got a message from Ray, "OMG, really Mom! LOL"

I was surprised that I was awake the whole time during the procedure.  They went through my right arm.  It wasn't exactly painful, but it wasn't fun either.  I was glad that I was awake when the cardiologist pronounced, "Well, you have beautiful, clean arteries!"

On Wednesday morning I was so happy after they unhooked me from the pole.  I had a delicious French toast breakfast, I was sitting on a chair eating and watching the Today Show, and I knew I would be going home that day.  I felt so happy.

I felt even happier when I had a visit from my friend Lindsey and her adorable kids.

Look at this lunch!  Salmon, wild rice, asparagus, mixed fruit, a whole wheat crusty roll!  I almost felt guilty eating so well when I hadn't been cooking anything for Dick and Anthony and Lori for days. 

This was the view from my window.  That's Nittany Mountain.  You can see the ski slopes off to the right. 

It was late afternoon when I was finally discharged.  I was never so delighted to take a shower and wash my hair!

I had several different doctors - a neurologist, and cardiologist, and an attending doctor.   It seems that the big culprit was my extremely high blood pressure on Sunday.  The cardiologist said that that could have caused my chest pain.  I find that hard to imagine.  He said my arteries are great, my heart muscle was not damaged, he does not need to see me any further, I should continue the same BP meds as before and just add a baby aspirin to my daily regimen.  

The neurologist said my brain is fine and so are my carotid arteries in my neck.  The amnesia episode is basically a mystery to everyone, especially the fact that it immediately followed the nitroglycerin patch they put on me in the ER.  Dick said I totally was able to give all my correct info when we got there, I was able to look up my meds on my personal Geisinger website.  But within five minutes of the nitroglycerin patch I looked at him and asked,  "Why are we here?  Were we at church this morning?"  And on and on and on, over and over again every few minutes.   As I probably said before, that aspect of this whole experience unsettles me the most.  

The attending doctor is the one that said that my troponin levels continued to get higher throughout the day on Sunday, which was an indication of a mild heart attack.  But after all the tests came back so clear, I think it must have been extremely mild if at all.  

I will be devoting most of my effort at paying closer attention to my blood pressure, watching my sodium intake, getting more regular exercise to keep it in check.  I got a new BP monitor.  Mine was pretty old.  I feel so relieved to know that my arteries are clear.  That is the BEST thing out of this whole experience! 

My first night home I slept NINE (!!!) hours - very rare for me.  And I woke up to a beautiful snow!

I made Southwestern Quesadillas for dinner and Anthony and Lori came to our house so I would not have to go anywhere.  I had already cancelled choir practice for that evening. 

I think I was a little happier than he was, haha!

We just had a wonderful weekend.  I'll try to write about that and share those pictures before too many days go by.