again...really?

ok so i thought the heart thing was improving...not so much. yesterday after i got back to work from lunch i was leaving a message for someone and realized that it was kind of hard to talk and keep my voice steady because my heart was beating so hard. so i pulled my handy dandy heart monitor out and it said that i was over 140 bpm. ok. nice. i "captured" what was happening and hoped that it would stop. but after about ten minutes it didnt stop so i thought i should go to the urgent care again.

when i got there they took me right back again and as i was explaining things, the doctor walked in and started out with "i already heard what you said and we're calling 911 and you are going to the emergency room in an ambulance." hi, ever want to really freak a pregnant woman out? because that will do it, stupid doctor. so i said that i wanted adam to take me and that i didnt want an ambulance and that it was all unnecessary, because by that time my heart had settled down and things were almost normal. she then wanted to talk to adam and so i gave them his phone number but somehow they couldnt manage to dial right because it kept going to a fax machine. he was at a dentist appointment so i gave them the dentist's number. i called him and, surprise, was able to get a hold of him—not a fax machine—while they called the dentist office. they got the receptionist at the dentist office and decided that she needed to know what was going on in my life with my health care so that she could promptly tell the whole office. how nice of my nurses/doctor to forgo all the privacy laws they are bound by. as i am talking to adam, i hear the dentist (who is also our bishop, by the way) come in very concerned because "they are taking emily to the hospital in an ambulance. is she having the baby?" so guess what i have to explain on sunday? because we all know that our bishop will ask about me. i told adam what was going on and that i would like him to come and get me. then the doctor came in and was all "i would like to talk to him." fine whatever and she told him everything that i had and that her concern was that i would have another episode on the way and that was why she wanted the ambulance. let me just make this clear, i understand where she was coming from with the concern about another episode and the possible dangers posed while driving myself or having someone else drive me, but i also know my body and have had enough of the episodes this last week to know that it would have been ok. so back to her talking to adam, all he said was "i understand." she took that to mean "sure call the ambulance and ignore everything that my wife is saying about what she is wanting for HER healthcare." so she went and called 911. and while all of this nonsense was going on they were hooking me up to another ekg and oxygen. oxygen? really? am i turning blue? did i say i had shortness of breath? no. no i didnt, i dont need this.

so the ambulance gets there and they come in and get me. the emt's are nice and talking to me and trying to make me feel better. then when we get into the ambulance, the one who was in the back with me was asking me all these questions, and then he goes, "so the doctor said that you are feeling dizzy." not once did i say that i was feeling dizzy. not once. and i told him that and he said something along the lines of "oh, that doctor, she does that." kind of like shes a regular at this and makes stuff up. great. so i got a crap doctor, and that is why i am in an ambulance, which, by the way, i got totally ripped off on. they didnt even use the lights or siren. i feel like if we're going in the ambulance then i better get the full effect, right? thats what i am paying for.

so i get to the hospital, and adam is already there. the nurse does the intake and they do more blood work and yet another ekg and hook me up to even more things. i felt like i was broken and they were trying to tape me back together or something. there were so many cords. while we were waiting for the emergency room doctor, i got tired of the oxygen, so i took that off. but i still had a blood pressure cuff and a million electrodes and wires and one of the things on your finger that measure your oxygen absorption. i slowly started taking all of the hardware off...the only thing this experience has taught me is that i am not a good patient.

about ten minutes before we were set to go, the person from labor and delivery comes to "monitor the baby:)" nice lady, but a little late, seeing that i am set to go. but ok, lets monitor the baby just to know that everything is ok with her. just like every other person that has listened to maizie, she found out just how active maizie really is. the thing is i would know if something was wrong with her, theres no way i could miss it. i know her schedule, i know what foods make her move more, i know when she is the most active, i know her.

finally the doctor came in and we have results!! my heart is normal. there is no irregular heart beat. when the episodes happen, it's as if i was running, just a higher heart rate than normal and not affecting maizie at all. he still wants me to follow up on everything with my primary care doctor but i am good to go. here is where i am supposed to say that i am being good and still wearing my heart monitor...but i am not. i feel like if everything is normal then why bother, so i can go through all of this again? i dont think so...unless i get the lights and siren ;) to be honest i have never had a really high opinion of western medicine and this didnt do much for making it better, and if there is no irregular heart beat or anything then i would be wasting my time and the doctors by recording more of my heart at a "running" pace. who knows, maybe tomorrow i will wake up and feel guilty about not having the monitor on just in case, but right now i am a little too bitter to care.