A couple of weeks ago my children were planning a visit. I decided to take a covid test since I'd substituted the week before. I was surprised the test was positive. The next morning, I was walking Stori and had my usual difficulty breathing-chest pressure. I thought little of it as, well, it's usual, and eventually I can breathe.
By the evening I was still having difficulty, so headed for urgent care hoping they'd give me some steroids and send me home. This round, round four, of covid was, and still is, nothing like the other three. The urgent care doctor said she felt more comfortable sending me to the ER as I could be fine one hour and in distress the next. So, I took my ambulatory ER referral and headed to the ER.
I was immediately taken to a triage room. Unfortunately, that room was already assigned to another and the poor person had to sit in the hall when she came back from radiology. I felt bad for her as she did comment on being uncomfortable. I was pretty sure they wouldn't kick me out since I had covid and they would have to thoroughly clean the room before it housed another.
They did an EKG, BP, blood work, and chest x-ray. Blood Pressure was a bit off, but not bad. I'm on meds. I'd taken them. Blood work wasn't perfect, but acceptable. RBC and WBC levels were low, but not bad. Kidney values, were surprisingly normal. Haven't been that way in a while. The EKG and chest x-ray were normal. Previous covid chest x-rays have shown changes. This time, I wasn't coughing, congested, or experiencing anything out of my normal, except for the prolonged difficulty breathing-chest pressure.
I was cold and requested a blanket. After the initial tests, I felt neglected. I know they were busy, but I was cold and the many promised blankets didn't come for six hours. And their check-ins were infrequent. They finally moved me down the hall to another triage room where they could hook me up to a monitor. I'm not sure when that was in my time frame, but I saw them even less frequently.
By then my blood pressure meds were waning and my BP was up. Not horrible, it's been worse when I was in pain. My heart rate kept dropping. They said it was covid related. I expressed concern that I had covid and I needed my blood thinner. I didn't get it until the next morning, despite many requests.
They decided to run Troponin tests. All were normal. They gave me nitroglycerin for the chest pressure. I told them it gives me a headache and asked for Tylenol. That took three hours despite a promise they would get it right then as they understood the immediacy of eliminating this side effect.
After 10 hours in triage, in an uncomfortable, back breaking chair, they moved me to a bed in the ER. They hooked me up to fluids and said they were admitting me. They wanted to talk to my cardiologist.
My cardiologist's partner cleared me to go home. They said I was covid asymptomatic-they did run a PCR covid test. It was positive. They sent me home with steroids. I hadn't eaten in over 24 hours. Their promised food never came. I was glad to get out of there.
I ran the heat in my car. I was still frozen. Despite finally receiving a total of five blankets-four received after being moved to a bed, my body was unable to compensate for my Reynauds kicking in. I was still exuding cold from deep within.
Because my heart rate was Bradycardic-slow-rather than it's usual Tachycardic-fast, I monitored it more closely at home. Especially during the night. My resting heart rate continued to drop. I have a Fitbit and and constant tracking Pulse Ox. I brought this up at my follow-up appointment with my primary.
She said, "At least you're waking up." I let her know that was an unacceptable criteria. She took me off my heart meds with the caution to continue monitoring BP. So far BP hasn't been too high and my Tachycardia episodes few. But my breathing and chest pressure are ever present.
Other symptoms, present, are a sweet taste in my mouth. I can't get rid of it. Extreme lack of energy. I am barely functioning. I woke Friday night-one week after leaving the ER, to chest pain like I'd been stabbed. It lasted about 15-20 minutes. My heart rate and oxygen remained steady. My blood pressure was, stage two, high. It finally came down about an hour later. My back and chest are still paining me.
I see my cardiologist and gastroenterologist this Thursday. I'm hoping one,or the other, or both have solutions for this constant discomfort.
I know I need some patience. My primary said I might take two to three weeks to see better days. My Resting Heart Rate is almost back into it's normal range. So that's good. It is still falling into the 40's longer than I like, but it's staying there less each night. Small positives.
I fear the stories of stopping and relaxing and falling dead, so I push myself through the lack of energy. I still take Stori on her walks. I still cook, clean, shop, create, etc. I just do all this a lot slower and monitor my parameters closely.
I will get through this. And, yes, I thank the Lord every morning I'm still waking up.
