How do you know if you are really having a heart attack?
Hoe do you know if you are really having a heart attack with my family history?
I have so many memories of me taking my sister Cathy to the ER with horrible chest pain, and back pain. She was hooked up to all the appropriate monitors, EKG's were done, blood work completed, and a few hours later, we were told nothing was wrong, and she could be taken home. No explanation given for all her pain. A week later, the routine would be repeated. Cathy was in her last 20's. This didn't surprise any of us, since my Mother's first heart attack came when she was 34, and the second one, the one that killed her, came when she was 35. From what we have been told, her EKG's were all normal, as well as her blood work, until the day that she died.
But, back to Cathy's problem. None of the Doctors believed that she was having heart problems because they were only looking at the test results, and not at what was happening to her. We didn't have anything in writing about my Mother to prove that there might be something strange about our medical make up. (obviously a mother dying at age 35 from a heart attack in the 70's, wasn't found odd enough)
Finally, Cathy found a cardiologist that agreed to do a stress test, but sad to say that came back normal, but because he had two sisters that told him the same convincing stories about our Mother, he agreed to do a heart cath. They were very shocked. She had had a heart attack, and maybe 2, there was a lot of damage done. She needed a quadruple bypass done, but they wouldn't do it because they had never dealt with a heart with such tiny arteries before, so they got her to Chicago where she spent over a week in recovery. A few years later, it became again, and she needed stents, but at that time, they were too big, she still smoked, and they wouldn't put her on the heart transplant list, so at age 38, my sister passed away from a massive heart attack right in front of me.
Fast forward to about a month ago. My chest pains that I normally have, started getting worse, but only when I took in a deep breath. Charles took me to the ER, where they did all the appropriate testing. Everything looked fine, they thought it was lung related, and my Doctor put me of prednisone for a week. (which did ease the pain in my hips greatly) About 2 weeks later, the pain became consistent, it was in my chest and in between my shoulder blades and was difficult to breath. I was exhausted, and had that "I just don't feel good at all" feeling. This went on for a couple days, until I asked Charles to take me to the ER. While standing in the ER waiting to be admitted, the lightheadness started, and I was so tired, I didn't want to speak, I just wanted the pain to stop and go to sleep. This time, they were more serious. Blood work, EKG...said all that showed was a previous heart attack which I didn't know, and still don't know anything about, Chest x rays, CT scan of my chest...the works. They wanted to keep me, saying that I needed a heart cath in the morning. I agreed, as long as they would do one in the morning!!! (feel for this again)
A few hours later, I called the nurse telling her that my left arm was killing me, going into my left shoulder, up my neck and was making me clench my teeth, like when you have a tooth ache or a sinus infection. Now, I have had a frozen left shoulder and been on oxycodon, and this pain was getting comparable. She keeps telling me that my potassium was really low, so they were giving it to me through my IV, and that was causing my arm to hurt, but she would call the Dr to see if they could stop it. (not ever sure if this happened or not)
I was having a lot of pain from the center of my chest, through my back over to my entire left arm and shoulder area, up my jaw and mouth. Morphine and nitro wasn't really helping much.
Next thing I remember is, this Doctor coming in telling me that I was having to move to another area because I was having a heart attack. I told her I figured I was because it was really hurting, and the morphine wasn't helping much. More morphine, and now some Nitro paste, bedrest w/ bathroom use. It hurt like this for a couple hours from when I started to complain until it eased up that I could say I was getting some relief. I was exhausted. They kept telling me I was going to have a heart cath. By this time we had 2 Doctors telling us I had had a heart attack, numerous cardiac nurses explaining this blood test that ONLY goes up when you have a heart attack. "NO other reason at all will cause it".
The cardiologist came in, and the first thing out of his mouth was, "why are you still going to Prairie Heart for you Cardiac Care, why aren't you picking a doctor here, your other doctor's are here"? He wasn't nice about it at all. I told him I loved my doctor there, and before I could finish, he tells me that I did not have a heart attack, that the blood work cannot go sky high like that, and then fall back to normal, it just doesn't happen. So what happened then?? He didn't know, a lab error maybe, but he did know it wasn't a heart attack. I asked him how a lab error could have done this. Again, he didn't know, he had never seen it, but it wasn't a heart attack. When we told him that 2 other cardiac doctors told us it was, the nurses saying "this test ONLY goes up if you are having a heart attack, NO other reason would cause this".. he told me he didn't care what they said. So, now I wasn't getting a heart cath until Monday. 2 days away!
My last Ejection Fraction rate in 2007, done by this doctor was 58-60%, which tells how efficient your heart is pumping blood. This one, done by another doctor because I refused to let him do it, is down to 52%. Why? Doesn't seem like a big drop, but under 50% is considered left ventricle dysfunction. Was there a heart attack that caused this drop?
I could drive myself crazy wondering what happened. Am I like the rest of my female relatives and respond differently to the EKG's and blood work? Who knows.
They did keep me on bedrest for the rest of the week. (why) They did an endoscopy and gallbladder ultrasound to see if that could have been causing the pain. They both were normal. (still on bedrest) A day or two after this "episode" I was off the morphine because the back pain was gone, though they left me on the nitro paste.
I am signing releases for my Cardiologist to get all the Progress notes, lab tests, discharge notes, CD of the heart cath to see what it actually showed. I have yet to have spoken to anyone in the cardiology Dept after the heart cath to hear their explaination, to answer any questions that I might have. They became like ghosts that just ordered tests, and never gave me the results. The nurses would look them up for me. (but they couldn't answer my questions)
It was a very stressful stay to say the least. If there is a next time, I will take the time to drive to my Cardiologist where I can get the care that I have become use to having.
The first 3-4 days after coming home, I was so exhausted. I couldn't stop myself from falling asleep. Actually, it's been over a week now, and I am just now getting around a littl better. I am still tired most of the time, but I am not falling asleep every time I sit down for more than 10 mins. I have had a couple sharp chest pains, but nothing compares to the pain that I had in the hospital that night...no matter what it was.
You know those little surveys you get in the mail after you have been in the hospital? Hmmmm, I wonder what I will say??? Please, I know exactly what I am going to say......see above.
We will see what my Doctor has to say after he reviews all the information. I'll keep you updated.
Friday, October 8, 2010
Monday, October 4, 2010
Casper, the NOT so friendly dog
It's been awhile since I've written. A lot has happened, but I guess I should start from the beginning. Casper, our new addition to the family. Our 14 mo. old White German Shepherd.
We brought Casper home, not knowing what to expect since he is a rescue dog, and we did get some conflicting stories about his past. The first thing we learned was he does not walk on a leash, at all.
The second, he gets car sick!
Once we got him home, Charles walked him through the house, showing him which rooms he was allowed in, and which ones he was not. (yes, we got this from the Dog Whisper) Then we let him have free roam of the house, he explored everything, and I do mean everything. Shepherds being taller than boxers, and with the added nose, he could get into things that Katie never could, so it was compared to putting things up when your friends come over that have babies. Finding that "no touch" zone.
Then came the dogie door. It was soon obvious that Casper had never seen one before. Charles went outside into the 20 ft. dog run and would call Casper outside as I would try to push him through the door AND hold the dogie door open. Another thing we learned - - Casper does NOT like the area around his tail to be touched!! He finally would go out, only if you held the door open for him, but would not come back in. He didn't want to push his nose on the door. Leaving him outside for awhile, thinking he would get the idea sooner or later resulted in a quiet, strange high pitched whine. Yep, I caved. I thought some more practice was in order, and maybe some treats. It worked, after a few hours. But, we learned he is housebroken. YES, a plus!!!
Food was next. We were told to get him on a feeding schedule of some type to put some weight on him. He is 14 mos. old and only weighs 47 pounds. He needs to gain 30 pounds. Ok, forget the schedule, just feed him, right?
More abuse is showing up as we look him over, and he looks us over. One of his ears is ripped, by the previous owners dogs we were told. Both tips are cut up, by what, we don't know, but it almost looks like fly bites, yet the owner said he was always kept inside. We didn't realize at the rescue how his ribs stuck out so much, you can lay each of your fingers inside each one of them. His backbone is sticking up and out of his fur, along with both of his hip bones. You can't really brush him because of the pain it causes when you touch all the bones. It's so sad really to see him curled up in a ball, and you realize that it's all his bones that are sticking out. My mind just can't grasp the idea that people actually do this to animals and children...I know that they do, I see it right in front of me, but I can't comprehend it I guess. That they are real people? Why do they do it? What do they get out of it? Do they NOT understand this is painful??? I am not sure what I am searching for here..
I guess he has decided he likes us and wants to stay. After a few days and my son came over. He sat on the couch doing the right thing by letting Casper come to him, sniff and check him all out. Everything seemed just fine until my son moved, then we both heard a very low growl. Neither of us moved for a moment, making sure we heard the same thing, my son sat back and everything seemed fine. Casper then leaned against him begging for a belly rub. Odd?? So, he rubbed him, talked to him, and everything seemed fine again. I was sitting on the couch just opposite of them, so Casper was on the floor between us, wondering if that wasn't the problem, but as long as he kept giving him attention, it seemed fine. Finally Casper went to sleep at our feet, but, my son bent down to scratch his own leg, Casper snapped at him. We were so surprised!!! We don't know what happened to cause such a reaction.
The next episode was with Charles' friend. He came over and was at the dog run door asking Casper to come out. From what I heard was, he did the "oh, aren't you so cute" thing, and shaking his head, petting him on top of his head. Seems Casper took this fine, but only for a minute or two, then when Doug stood up to walked away, Casper tried to take a chunk out of his butt. Thank God it was only a scratch, but still the same, he tried.
I guess we can make all kinds of excused for Casper, he was being defensive sitting between me and my son, he felt cornered, yada yada yada...
The facts are the facts..he is growling and has snapped at 2 people in less than a month. I am not sure if it matters why, but what are we going to do about it.
At the rescue, we were told he was great with children, and the previous owner told me that she had 2 teenagers and all their friends were over all the time playing with him. Hmmmm, not sure I believe that story either.
Other than that, he is doing fairly well. He sits, stays, lays down, shakes..all the normal commands. We bought a leash that goes around his nose to stop the pulling, and it works like a dream. (the whispers tricks did not work at all) I can even walk him every day. I spent a good part of the day putting the leash on his nose and taking it back off, giving him a treat..repeat...and trust me, this was not something I would like to do again. Casper might be an abused underweight Shepherd, but let me tell you, he can out muscle me any time, any day of the week. But, it worked. Now if you get his leash down, he starts that very strange whine he has, rubs up against you, flips over a few times - - still up against you, with that high whine, then finally will sit and let you put that leash over his nose, and walks to the door. Ahhh, success! He is getting walked about 3 times a day, and sometimes he also plays outside in the fenced in yard. Sad to say, but I am not wanting him to play too much, he needs his calories right now.
Playing is another sad topic. I don't think Casper has ever had toys before, because he doesn't seem to know how to play. We have purchased numerous toys, and for the longest time, he wouldn't do anything with them. Finally, after much prodding, he began to put them in his mouth and I would squeeze them until they would squeak. He would drop them! This went on for days until he started to figure out he could make that sound himself. He did find one of Katie's old stuff toys and ripped that to pieces. He was very proud of himself, bringing every little piece to show me. Yes, he loves to chew! He still will not play tug of war. He will drop everything you touch in his mouth and act like he has done something bad, but we are working on it. He loves to chase a Frisbee, then rip it into as many pieces as he possibly can when he gets it. I think once he gets over that ripping stage (ha ha) he might be good at Frisbee. He runs good, jumps for it, and brings it just within your reach, then starts destroying it, all while wagging that huge tail in joy.
It had to be decided early on who was the "alpha" in the house, and Charles was going to win this battle. It was hard to watch since Casper was abused so much and you really wanted to see him get some of his pride back, but that wasn't going to happen here. He is a very strong willed dog, and every day it is a test. Charles wins, and Casper loves him for it more and more. He has learned the sounds of the Truck and the Harley when Charles comes home. I make him sit and stay until Charles comes through the door, and it almost takes an act of God to get him to do it. He wiggles with his high pitched whine out of excitement, but he is learning. He is figuring out that if he jumps on Charles, a knee in the chest isn't as much fun as a treat or even a belly rub, but some days all that pent up excitement just takes over and he forgets.
One morning after Charles left for work, Casper must have thought he had the house all to himself. First I heard him running through the house, in and out of the dogie door, back through the house again, then I hear him running down the hall, full speed, and before I could scream "STOP", in one bounce he was on my bed, flipped over with all 4 legs in the air, his head up against my head just like he was expected to be there. But, with one snap of the fingers, he jumped right up and out of that bed and bolted back through the house and ended up at the front window, panting, waiting for Charles to come home. I guess he was just as surprised as I as was finding me in that bed, as I was seeing him make one leap from floor to his back next to me.
Casper and me, well our relationship is different that Charles and his. When Charles corrects him, he comes running to me and rolls over on his back and whines. If he is hungry, it's me he comes running to. When he vomits, he's hurt, scared, etc...it's time for me. Otherwise he is Charles' dog, pure and simple. He follows him everywhere he goes, and if he can't go with him, he waits at the door for him to come back. If he is gone too long, he comes to me with that quiet whine, stares at me with those big amber eyes and when I tell him Daddy will be home soon, he curls up on my feet, and I know he has found a safe place to call home.
We brought Casper home, not knowing what to expect since he is a rescue dog, and we did get some conflicting stories about his past. The first thing we learned was he does not walk on a leash, at all.
The second, he gets car sick!
Once we got him home, Charles walked him through the house, showing him which rooms he was allowed in, and which ones he was not. (yes, we got this from the Dog Whisper) Then we let him have free roam of the house, he explored everything, and I do mean everything. Shepherds being taller than boxers, and with the added nose, he could get into things that Katie never could, so it was compared to putting things up when your friends come over that have babies. Finding that "no touch" zone.
Then came the dogie door. It was soon obvious that Casper had never seen one before. Charles went outside into the 20 ft. dog run and would call Casper outside as I would try to push him through the door AND hold the dogie door open. Another thing we learned - - Casper does NOT like the area around his tail to be touched!! He finally would go out, only if you held the door open for him, but would not come back in. He didn't want to push his nose on the door. Leaving him outside for awhile, thinking he would get the idea sooner or later resulted in a quiet, strange high pitched whine. Yep, I caved. I thought some more practice was in order, and maybe some treats. It worked, after a few hours. But, we learned he is housebroken. YES, a plus!!!
Food was next. We were told to get him on a feeding schedule of some type to put some weight on him. He is 14 mos. old and only weighs 47 pounds. He needs to gain 30 pounds. Ok, forget the schedule, just feed him, right?
More abuse is showing up as we look him over, and he looks us over. One of his ears is ripped, by the previous owners dogs we were told. Both tips are cut up, by what, we don't know, but it almost looks like fly bites, yet the owner said he was always kept inside. We didn't realize at the rescue how his ribs stuck out so much, you can lay each of your fingers inside each one of them. His backbone is sticking up and out of his fur, along with both of his hip bones. You can't really brush him because of the pain it causes when you touch all the bones. It's so sad really to see him curled up in a ball, and you realize that it's all his bones that are sticking out. My mind just can't grasp the idea that people actually do this to animals and children...I know that they do, I see it right in front of me, but I can't comprehend it I guess. That they are real people? Why do they do it? What do they get out of it? Do they NOT understand this is painful??? I am not sure what I am searching for here..
I guess he has decided he likes us and wants to stay. After a few days and my son came over. He sat on the couch doing the right thing by letting Casper come to him, sniff and check him all out. Everything seemed just fine until my son moved, then we both heard a very low growl. Neither of us moved for a moment, making sure we heard the same thing, my son sat back and everything seemed fine. Casper then leaned against him begging for a belly rub. Odd?? So, he rubbed him, talked to him, and everything seemed fine again. I was sitting on the couch just opposite of them, so Casper was on the floor between us, wondering if that wasn't the problem, but as long as he kept giving him attention, it seemed fine. Finally Casper went to sleep at our feet, but, my son bent down to scratch his own leg, Casper snapped at him. We were so surprised!!! We don't know what happened to cause such a reaction.
The next episode was with Charles' friend. He came over and was at the dog run door asking Casper to come out. From what I heard was, he did the "oh, aren't you so cute" thing, and shaking his head, petting him on top of his head. Seems Casper took this fine, but only for a minute or two, then when Doug stood up to walked away, Casper tried to take a chunk out of his butt. Thank God it was only a scratch, but still the same, he tried.
I guess we can make all kinds of excused for Casper, he was being defensive sitting between me and my son, he felt cornered, yada yada yada...
The facts are the facts..he is growling and has snapped at 2 people in less than a month. I am not sure if it matters why, but what are we going to do about it.
At the rescue, we were told he was great with children, and the previous owner told me that she had 2 teenagers and all their friends were over all the time playing with him. Hmmmm, not sure I believe that story either.
Other than that, he is doing fairly well. He sits, stays, lays down, shakes..all the normal commands. We bought a leash that goes around his nose to stop the pulling, and it works like a dream. (the whispers tricks did not work at all) I can even walk him every day. I spent a good part of the day putting the leash on his nose and taking it back off, giving him a treat..repeat...and trust me, this was not something I would like to do again. Casper might be an abused underweight Shepherd, but let me tell you, he can out muscle me any time, any day of the week. But, it worked. Now if you get his leash down, he starts that very strange whine he has, rubs up against you, flips over a few times - - still up against you, with that high whine, then finally will sit and let you put that leash over his nose, and walks to the door. Ahhh, success! He is getting walked about 3 times a day, and sometimes he also plays outside in the fenced in yard. Sad to say, but I am not wanting him to play too much, he needs his calories right now.
Playing is another sad topic. I don't think Casper has ever had toys before, because he doesn't seem to know how to play. We have purchased numerous toys, and for the longest time, he wouldn't do anything with them. Finally, after much prodding, he began to put them in his mouth and I would squeeze them until they would squeak. He would drop them! This went on for days until he started to figure out he could make that sound himself. He did find one of Katie's old stuff toys and ripped that to pieces. He was very proud of himself, bringing every little piece to show me. Yes, he loves to chew! He still will not play tug of war. He will drop everything you touch in his mouth and act like he has done something bad, but we are working on it. He loves to chase a Frisbee, then rip it into as many pieces as he possibly can when he gets it. I think once he gets over that ripping stage (ha ha) he might be good at Frisbee. He runs good, jumps for it, and brings it just within your reach, then starts destroying it, all while wagging that huge tail in joy.
It had to be decided early on who was the "alpha" in the house, and Charles was going to win this battle. It was hard to watch since Casper was abused so much and you really wanted to see him get some of his pride back, but that wasn't going to happen here. He is a very strong willed dog, and every day it is a test. Charles wins, and Casper loves him for it more and more. He has learned the sounds of the Truck and the Harley when Charles comes home. I make him sit and stay until Charles comes through the door, and it almost takes an act of God to get him to do it. He wiggles with his high pitched whine out of excitement, but he is learning. He is figuring out that if he jumps on Charles, a knee in the chest isn't as much fun as a treat or even a belly rub, but some days all that pent up excitement just takes over and he forgets.
One morning after Charles left for work, Casper must have thought he had the house all to himself. First I heard him running through the house, in and out of the dogie door, back through the house again, then I hear him running down the hall, full speed, and before I could scream "STOP", in one bounce he was on my bed, flipped over with all 4 legs in the air, his head up against my head just like he was expected to be there. But, with one snap of the fingers, he jumped right up and out of that bed and bolted back through the house and ended up at the front window, panting, waiting for Charles to come home. I guess he was just as surprised as I as was finding me in that bed, as I was seeing him make one leap from floor to his back next to me.
Casper and me, well our relationship is different that Charles and his. When Charles corrects him, he comes running to me and rolls over on his back and whines. If he is hungry, it's me he comes running to. When he vomits, he's hurt, scared, etc...it's time for me. Otherwise he is Charles' dog, pure and simple. He follows him everywhere he goes, and if he can't go with him, he waits at the door for him to come back. If he is gone too long, he comes to me with that quiet whine, stares at me with those big amber eyes and when I tell him Daddy will be home soon, he curls up on my feet, and I know he has found a safe place to call home.
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