As If There Wasn't Enough Going On

Last Wednesday (September 2) afternoon my chest tightened up. I thought maybe I had spent too much time in the recliner...as if that is possible but I thought maybe. I got up and walked around, stretched my arms, tried laying down on the sofa and my bed. After two hours, it went from a tight chest to radiating pain through my shoulder. This happened after my biopsy in July. When I went to the ER then, the entire episode was passed off as nothing. They thought it could be the tumors hitting nerves, my body healing from the biopsy, etc. So when this happened, I figured the reaction would be the same. My mom and I were up most of the evening as I was in tremendous pain. I felt bad for my mom because it is hard to watch your child go through something you cannot solve. I tried different things to alleviate the pain and would sleep for about 30 minutes to an hour and then misery. The next morning, I reported the incident to my oncologist. Within two minutes of sending a message through the portal, I got a phone call. He wanted me to go to the ER to rule out a cardiac event. Well since it was nothing last time and the ER visit took five hours, I opted to conduct my conference call that morning before I went to the ER. I know what everyone is thinking but last time they ruled it as nothing significant.

In good news, I did not drive myself to the ER (I know what everyone is thinking). My mom took me, even though she had to stay in the car in the hundred degree heat. Same thing happened to my uncle. I got into the ER. This time, things were different. When they did my EKG, they left the leads on. I knew at that point, things were going to be different. They run multiple EKGs and did blood work. One of my nurses was someone I knew from my last job...small world! It was great to catch up with her and find out how her family was doing. She was fantastic. Within an hour, the doctor came in and told me I was headed to the hospital. While I was not having a heart attack, I was having a cardiac event. 

This always makes me think of E.T.

So at this point, I assumed my mom could drive me to the hospital. We had not eaten lunch so we were going to run by the house to pick up a few things, including my phone charger (important things), grab something to eat, and then go check in. Well, I guess this is not a vacation or a board game....there was no going anywhere on my own, no passing Go, and no collecting $200. They let me know that my mom could not drive me, they would be transporting me by ambulance. While that seemed a little extreme, I did not have to go through admissions they took me straight to my room on the cardiac floor, where I would be one of the youngest patients!

After a lot of blood work and a electrocardiogram, they concluded that in addition to everything I have, I have acute pericarditis. The next step was determining what was causing it and whether their was fluid on my heart. The good news is that there was no fluid, which meant no surgery. They also ruled out infection. The conclusion was it is most likely the tumors in my heart are irritating it and causing the inflammation. I am now on medication for most likely a few months to get the swelling down and hopefully alleviate the pain. It is so weird how much this hurts my left shoulder blade. 

While I was in the hospital, they sent in a dietitian because of how much weight I have lost in the past few months. I told them it is the cancer diet but they still sent her in. The good news is she says I am doing a great job because she saw no muscle lost. I told her that regardless of whether or not I want to eat, I am eating. She got them to remove the heart healthy diet restriction from my record because she said I needed the fat. 

After we go the diagnosis and a plan, it seemed that I was ready to go home. Then the night time blood work came back and all my levels dropped to very low levels. This is very normal with chemo. Within a week or two of chemo, it takes it toll and the levels drop then they start to go back up. But this freaked everyone out. I told them what I thought it was, they were worried about internal bleeding. The good news is that they called in oncology to consult while they ordered blood for a transfusion. However, since they worried there was an internal bleed, they took me off my pain medicine. That made me sad! The oncology came in and she was wonderful. She agreed it was the chemo, which calmed everyone down. I did have to get two units of blood. 

Thank you to everyone who can give blood and does. I have never been able to be a blood donor but certainly have been on the receiving end of blood and plasma transfusion.  I got released from the hospital Sunday evening. A lovely four day three night stay. The team on 3 North at TMH is awesome. Everyone took great care of me! 

It was great to get home and rest. I had three little friends who definitely missed me.

For tonight . . . I'm just sayin' XOXO