I had one on Friday the 13th, during the full moon. Not being the superstitious sort, the calendar had nothing to do with it. Now, the full moon....maybe.
Friday the 13th was the day I had my latest cardio stress test. Once per year, my cardiologist subjects me to a stress test, usually a nuclear stress test.
The test starts out simple enough with fasting. No food since midnight last night. First up is a blood draw for testing. No problem. I've given blood over 100 times. The nurse hit the vein and it didn't even hurt. The only annoying part of this is that my tiny little Mexican nurse says a semi-whispered prayer when she sticks the needle in. Something like:
"O lord Jesus, guide this needle to where it is supposed to be. Thank you, lord Jesus, for listening to my prayer. Blessed by thy name. Amen."
What the .... Sheesh! The mixture of science (medicine) and religion (prayer) is a little weird. Evolve already!
After filling up a few vials with my blood, she put an intravenous stent in my arm so that other things can be easily injected and blood can be drawn again later. No problem there either. I've had plenty of them.
Then she injects what I thought I heard her say was Potassium Chloride, which helps to yadda yadda yadda for the stress test. She injected it, and I could feel the cool rush wash over my body. Then, my blood pressure plummeted, I got dizzy and nauseous and started to sweat. All the color drained from my cheeks. Feeling very weak, I thought I was going to vomit. It felt like I was going to faint, or worse, die.
It is really a horrible feeling.
The nurse noticed my wooziness and got a couple of wet towels to put on my forehead and neck. Several other nurses huddled around, oohing and aahing, but I couldn't understand what they were saying. Finally a, "How do you feel?" came through.
"Like I'm about to die" I slurred, wondering if I was about to become a statistic, and they looked at each other, nervously. They acted like they'd never seen anyone react this way before. I mean, what the ...
This feeling was familiar to me. The exact same fucking thing happened to me the LAST time I had this same test, so I was a little familiar with the symptoms. Not happy about it, but familiar. Back then, even though my test results were all good, I complained loudly to the doctor when he told me about the results.
And this is happening again? Oh, just let me at the doctor. Don't we realize that fainting and falling can result in some pretty serious injuries?
After a couple of minutes of sitting there, trying to recuperate, a bed opened up down the hall and three nurses walked me there, very slowly. I was able to lay down and started feeling better after another 5 minutes.
I thought about calling off the rest of the test, but went through with it. The nurses assured me I should be able to complete the other tests, and I did, with no problems.
When I finally got home, after 4.5 hours at the doctors office, I looked up Potassium Chloride on the internet. Fascinating: a vasovagal reaction resulting in syncope is a well-known reaction to Potassium Chloride! And cardiac failure is another reaction!
I walked in the doctors office that morning feeling great, and I am made nauseous, dizzy, and almost faint right off the bat. Are you trying to detect problems or CAUSE them?! I will be very curious to see the results of my tests and to talk with my doctor in two weeks.
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