Tuesday in the ER…

Something happened to me on Tuesday that has thrown me for a loop. Truly it was the most scariest thing that has happened to me, including childbirth.

On Tuesday I was in a meeting, yes…. still in the Job I hate and I had just walked out and I was heading towards the restroom. I felt fine. I felt great in fact. We had just been handed a project and it was going to entail a lot of work and a lot of pressure, but I was fine with that.

Anyway, I walked by Stephanie, a co worker and said hi and right as I said that I felt like I had been hit in the chest by a boulder. I buckled over, the pain in my left chest worsening. I couldn’t breath. I couldn’t speak. Stephanie was yelling ‘Rachel, Rachel!!! Are you ok?’ and I couldn’t answer her. My left arm went numb and I was sweating profusely. Then everything went black for a moment and I was on the floor.

This whole thing lasted about 5 mins and afterward I sat on Stephanie’s chair. It took me a minute to answer her and I told her I was ok.

My body calmed down, but I was exhausted and dizzy. My chest was still hurting. My co workers insisted that I went to the ER. So, I did.

I was seen very quickly and they did a million and one tests on me.

The doctor came in with my first EKG and said ‘It looks like you have had a mild heart attack, but I am going to run some tests to make sure that we are not missing anything".

By this time, I hadn’t even called Brian or Cliona, because I was convinced that they would tell me I was fine and I would be back at work. I even told my boss that I would be back in an hour and a half… but when the doctor said those words I called Brian.

Brian was there in record time, and we waited for ore results and more tests. My blood pressure went erratic from low to high and then normal.

The doctor took more tests and came back with good news. He said that after further tests, they found that I had NOT had a heart attack (yay), but he said that there is a nerve called the vargus nerve and some condition (I think he said that it was something like vireo vilo…. or something) and for a reason that cannot be explained, even by doctors, this nerve (especially in overweight people) freaks out sometimes and completely bottoms out your heart. This causes all the symptoms of a heart attack and can be fatal, but I was ok.

He ran ANOTHER set of tests because he said that this is so rare, he wanted to make sure that there really was nothing wrong with my heart. And there is not. I am fine. I was discharged.

I have been off work now since Tuesday morning and I just don’t feel emotionally ready to go back. I am afraid that I will loose my job, but on the other hand, I need to de stress a bit and get my head together.

It was so scary and made me feel so little. I thought I was going to die. I really did…

Ok, I’m done talking about it now. I need to sleep some more. Sorry for not updating and reading. I will soon, I promise.

🙂