Jacky: A Picnic - of sorts

I had big plans for today! I wanted to go and see the ceramic poppy display at the Royal Armouries, Fort Nelson. Then take a drive to Weston Beach to collect some suitable pebbles for decorating and while we were at the beach - to take in the view and have a picnic.

Poppies Tour

Ha - well like all my big plans - it didn’t go to plan at all - NOT AT ALL!

I had a fidgety night, in pain and hot, cold and visa versa. Woke up in a pickle, just not feeling great at all. Then I vomited, this was the last straw of lots of other little issues - something was going on with my heart and it wasn’t good.

I wanted to shower and put easy comfy clothes on before Noel took me to hospital. I wasn’t particularly poorly at this point but I was so tired and I just kept feeling dizzy, with pins and needles down my left arm a pain in my back. I was also aware of my heart - I couldn’t take it for granted and just ignore it like we all do for thousands of beats a day, every day.

I had to wait a little while in the waiting room. I probably delayed my own admission because another lady was in so much pain she just didn’t know what to do with herself. So I wheeled myself over to her and held her hand (not a sensible thing to do, taking my autoimmune issues into account) but I couldn’t just sit and watch and listen to her in so much pain. She was eventually sick over the floor and it was at this point she was taken into triage - quickly. I went back to Noel and just rested my head on his shoulder and dozed. It wasn’t to long a wait and I was then called into ‘Majors’.

Bloods taken, blood pressure, oxygen levels, respiratory rate, temperature and an ECG was performed. My blood pressure was high and my ECG was not right! I felt vindicated when, what I am feeling is shown to be true - silly I know. But I would hate to think I was wasting time (and money) by being a hypochondriac.

The visit for me, was quick, just six hours - I needed repeat blood tests plus a chest x-ray before the ok to going home could be discussed. My blood tests showed my potassium was slightly low - so I was given two fizzy, foul tasting potassium tablets - yuck!

So what the ECG was showing, was a blip - one of the ventricules was being squeezed while empty, due to the previous heart beat not having enough time for the blood to flow from the top, down to the bottom chamber. This in turn was not sending blood out to the body, so my head would go dizzy and I just felt weird! The doctors didn’t think I had a heart attack - there was no indication from any of the tests and x-ray to say I had. Dr. Tim and I discussed the way forward; normally beta blockers would be prescribed however they have the opposite effect of salbutamol, so as a chronic asthmatic, this wasn’t going to work. We therefore decided as I had been so poorly this last week, that we would see if the symptoms just went away! Instead of added medication on top of medication which can have lots of its own issues. I was then discharged home to rest - but let’s be honest I do an awful lot of resting!!