At the end of last year, I had to change doctor. Mine was leaving town. I had only been checking in every six months for repeat scripts. I didn't complain about what I was feeling because I felt he had lost interest. "You must remember you are getting older," was one of his comments.
I did find a new doctor at a different clinic. Boy. What an eye opener. I didn't have to tell him what pains I had. He watched me walk into the room and the questions began. I was examined. What I'd been told was wrong with my muscles was wrong. I nearly jumped from the bed when he moved my leg the wrong way. He listened to my chest. Took my blood pressure. Then began typing on the computer. Pages came spewing out of the printer. I had to go for blood tests. X-rays. Scans. With each result I had to go for more.
The only test I didn't like was the stress test. I didn't mind the tunnel scan. Except for being injected with the dye. The next day I had to return for the second part.
A belt thing was strapped around my waist and connected to the computer.
A blood pressure cuff to my left arm and the computer.
An IV line was put in to inject a drug in me to stimulate my heart under exercise conditions.
There was a doctor and nurse with me telling me what to expect.
I couldn't be put on the treadmill because of my joint problems.
I had to stand beside the bed to walk on the spot.
The drug was to take two minutes to pass through.
The doctor explained all the sensations I should feel over that period.
The test started.
"How do you feel," the doctor asked while the nurse watched the computer screen.
"My legs feel funny. My stomach..." is as far as I got.
The next I remember is being grabbed by many hands and lifted up to the bed.
In the distance I could hear a voice telling me to take deep breaths. Another telling me to wriggle my toes. When I opened my eyes the room was full of doctors and nurses.
My blood pressure had dropped so lo, so fast, I blacked out.
I felt such a fool. I had never blacked out in my life.
I have to live live at a slower pace for awhile. I am waiting to go for a different heart test. And to see the surgeon if he is going to replace my hip. I wondered what was stopping me from bending to the right or down to cut my toenails.
So I am trying to catch up with my blogs I have let sit idle.
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