What the crap..????

That's right I said CRAP!!! This has been a horrible year for me and hospital trips so far, I hope the year ends quickly! I just got back, literally hours ago, from another unplanned two night stay in the R.IC.U. They take great care of their patients there, but it doesn't make me like it any better!
Now, the story. On Wednesday the 2nd (of course the only day Trisha works out of the house,) I wasn't feeling to well. I didn't think too much about it because I still have days like this and it is not that out of the ordinary. Well after a couple of hours I was really feeling cold, which is not like me at all, I of course ignore this for about 30 minutes and just used a blanket to stay warm. Then the nausea set in around 11 in the afternoon. Again, not to out of the ordinary when I get too hungry, so I ate some lunch. I had kind of a hard time keeping it down because shortly after eating it I started to sweat like I was in a sauna. This had me starting to wonder what was going on. So being the "smart" guy that I am I checked my temperature to see if I had a fever. For those of you who don't know, or remember, fever is a sign of infection and infection can and usually is the number one killer of patients with pulmonary hypertension. Well I did not have a fever so I went back to whatever show I was watching for a few minutes, when I decided something just was NOT right. So I checked my oxygen saturation levels and heart rate and was quite surprised to find out my heart rate was going about 121 beats per minute, and my oxygen was down to 90 out of 100. Now what surprised me most was that this was a resting heart rate as I had been sitting on my duff all morning and hadn't done anything to exert myself! Well I turned on my oxygen to see if that would help my heart slow down, but had no luck after 30 minutes. My oxygen went up but my heart rate didn't go down. I walked to the other end of our house to see what happened to my heart rate and it IMMEDIATELY went to 144!! This scared me a little bit, so I checked my blood pressure to see if I could troubleshoot my own body. No luck, it was reading totally normal except for the heart rate, of course. Now 2 hours had passed since my heart started going this fast so I decided to call the specialty nurse, and she of course said GO TO THE EMERGENCY ROOM NOW!!!
Worst news to me all day!! I called Trish and told her before I called the nurse so she was already on her way home and I told the nurse that I was waiting for her and the kids and then I would go! She wasn't happy but I only had to wait about 20 minutes before Trisha and the boys where all home. Well Trisha's parents met us at the hospital so the boys wouldn't be stuck in the emergency room with Trisha and I, (thank goodness, for them and us!) They didn't make us wait when they found out I was a hypertension patient with heart problems and a heart rate that fast and they took us immediately back to a room. Then the waiting and poking and prodding began. Anyone who has been to an emergency room knows this stinks!!! Finally my specialty doctor came to us with all of the results from the E.R. and said "we don't know what is going on, but your white count is up and that is a sign of infection. So even though your heart rate is slowing down we are going to keep you for one night to monitor your heart and give you antibiotics."
Well, the first results came back negative for infection so they decided that even though my heart rate had returned to normal overnight and nothing else had gone wrong, they wanted to keep me another night to wait for the 24+hour tests to come back!! Man that was a downer!!
Well, I am home now and since they never found a rhyme or reason for this whole situation they sent me home with a monitor, called the Heart King, that will monitor my heart for the next two weeks to see if it happens again. We will have to see I guess, but since our new last name is the Flukes, everything will probably be fine, "KNOCK ON WOOD".

On another note, I do have to admit that this is the first time that I have every really thought that I was finally looking death in the eye. The reason being, a close friend of ours whom we met after he became diagnosed, and I was asked to talk to him about the disease at his request, had trouble breathing, and a heart rate in the 120's about one and a half years into his diagnosis. Well he wound up in the Hospital, of course, and never walked out. He died in the three days he was there. That was a tough time for Trish and I, andit made this one that much harder for me. I have to admit I don't scare easily, but when I was waiting for Trish to get me to the E.R. our friends death came rushing back to me, mostly because of the similarity with the heart rate issue, I wasn't short of breath but my heart just would not slow down. I was also worried about my boys, my being in the hospital is never easy on them. Jarod takes it almost harder than I do, Justin doesn't quite know what to think of it all. Jarod has been alive and growing up with me being sick so it really does a number on him! At least they were a little distracted by soccer, and grandparents, and school this time. The last time I was in the R.I.C.U. Jarod made grandma and grandpa bring him up to see me every 4 or five hours for the two days I was there. I hope this is not ruining their childhood in anyway, because we can't afford therapy. ( hahaha) Anyway enough of the scary talk!! I think that is it for this post, if I have forgotten anything I will post it or any other news later!!!

THE END!


NOT YET IF I HAVE ANY SAY!!!!