My Absence
Posted on 2003-08-22
I haven't updated my diary for the last two days and it felt weird not writing here each night, but then when you've spent the best part of two days hooked up to heart monitors and drips, and having needles shoved in your arm and butt the last thing on your mind is updating your diary..... trust me.
Once again it was my own stupid fault. I decided to try and put the table back together myself, even though I didn't have any instructions, or the strength to tighten the screws, and basically I panicked when I couldn't fit it together properly. This of course sent my heart rate through the roof and made me feel extremely unwell. For the most part, when this happens I know what to do, but this time it hurt like hell and I began getting shooting pains going down my left arm (which can be a sign of an imminent heart attack) so Mum called a cab and took me to A & E.
Luckily for me patients arriving with chest pains are seen pretty quickly, and within 40 minutes I was hooked up to an ECG and had been sent for a chest x-ray, as well as having blood tests taken to test for clots and alike.
As usual though the results came back fine, other than the fact that my heart rate was around 150-160 beats per minute, (an average healthy adult heart rate is between 60 - 80 beats per minute), but the hospital didn't want to let me go home until it slowed to at least 110 BPM. Seeing as I can't actually remember the last time my heart was that slow I had visions of staying at the hospital for days, but I know that the doctors were being cautious and asking me to stay for my own good. (Just for the record my heart rate is usually 120 -130 BPM even though I'm on beta blockers to bring it lower - before I was prescribed them it was at about 150 constantly and I was forever thinking I was about to keel over at any minute). Eventually the doctor decided to let me come home when it reached 125 BPM and remained stable for a couple of hours, although he made me promise to return if it raised again.
It's not just me that's been sick either. Can you believe I've managed to pick up another virus on my laptop??? Trying to sort that out could have contributed to my rapid heart rate as well. Technology and M.E don't go together at all.
For much of this evening I finished working on my new layout. My cousin was given a copy of paint shop pro a while back but he never uses it so he gave it to me instead, and this is what I came up with. Unfortunately I can't remember where the image came from. I've had it on my computer for some time now, but I reckon it came from either deviant art or getty as these are the two places I get most of my images from.
Anyway, I'm going to go now and catch up with all my buddies; then I'm going to listen to my doctors advice and rest.
Take Care All