My First Ride in an Ambulance

By 11 am on Thursday, I felt dehydrated, tightness in the chest, shortness of breath and faint. I called the doctor's office and they said to call 911. I woke up my husband and then proceeded to call 911 to give them my symptoms.

The rescue squad came quickly. They came into the house to assess my condition. After some initial tests, they brought me into the back of their truck to do more tests. EKG, Blood sugar analysis, Nitro Spray, Blood work....initially all looked OK, but they wanted to take me to the hospital for more testing. Just to make sure I wasn't having a Heart Attack.

The ER was packed, but I was immediately placed in a room. More EKGS, blood work, Angio CT Scan...and 11 hours later I finally was transferred to a patient room in the Cardiac Wing.

They placed a telemetry monitor on me to keep track of my heart during the night.

The Oncologist visited me the next morning and after reviewing all the results of the various tests, felt that my heart was fine. I may have a reaction from the chemo (5 days later) that affected my eshophogaus and my ability to have the food slide down like normally. He prescribed Carafate (chalky, pink liquid) to drink 1 hour before each meal which will coat the esophogaus and stomach so they may heal any lesions that have formed. He also prescribed Previcid, but my insurance won't pay for it. Will have to pursue this with BCBS on Monday.

I was discharged from the hospital on Friday morning with good news..my heart is ok. The Oncologist did say that my white count had dropped (which was to be expected), so I received a Lukin shot before leaving the hospital. Basically, I need to stay away from sick people and crowds.