I had to go to A&E in the early hours of Sunday morning. At 2:00 a m I was lying in a private ward wired up to a heart monitor! Isnât life a âfunnyâ thing!
I had had a bad week. My husband and I had spent hours trying to sort out my mother in lawâs house to get it ready for the estate agentâs photographs. De- personalising a much loved home was not easy! Include family âissuesâ on an almost monumental scale and then throw in someone who can redefine the word panic! That was my Thursday.
I bounced frenetically between trying to calm down and getting really annoyed, conversations buzzing wildly round and round in my head! That was my Friday. By Saturday morning I was left feeling anxious, stressed and exhausted! The weather, having rained heavily for the last couple of days, did allow my husband and I to risk a quick walk before the heavens opened once again.
The âpiece de resistanceâ was my medication increase which my GP, in his infinite wisdom, had decided was going to solve my hypertension problem! Even though I told him that the tablets were not working and offered proof, doctors know best! The most common side effects are swollen ankles and palpitations. I had suffered with these for over a week. By Saturday evening I felt as if I was walking on stumps and my rapid pulse rate was frightening! There was nothing I could do to calm myself down. I had a long hot soaking bath (donât know if this was a good or bad idea!) and went to bed early.
I tried the breathing exercises that a friend and a councillor had suggested. I sat in a ârelaxedâ position and concentrated on each breath. All I could hear was my tinnitus ear screeching back at me, drowning out all logic or, heaven forbid, any useful suggestions! By 1:00 a m I gave up and went downstairs. I rang 111 and was told to go to A&E! This news did not help and was totally unexpected! I staggered upstairs and got my husband out of bed. I threw on jeans and a jumper. For the first time in many years I left the house without war paint, feeling very old, very vulnerable and very scared!
I felt as if I was heading into a deep, dark abyss! Not only did I have a potential heart problem, but contracting a fatal disease was the other option. Forty minutes later I bade my husband farewell and walked down that fateful corridor, through doors which slid silently open then shut firmly behind me. No way out. Shivering uncontrollably I squirted antiseptic gel into my hands and put on a mask. My glasses immediately fogged up as I began to hyperventilate!
The waiting room was almost empty. Only two young people sat at either end, most of the chairs cordoned off. I blindly made my way to reception, gave my details and was told to sit down. A few minutes later I was called into a section in an open corridor now used as a triage. My blood pressure and pulse rates were very high, further proof that the medication was not working! I was kitted out for an ECG and had a cannula fitted in my arm for easy access to testing. âTry and relax, luv,â was a common, fruitless theme.
Three hours later I was told that I could go home. Two ECGs and probably two pints of blood down, nothing appeared to be a cause for concern. I was told to contact my GP on Monday. An update from the hospital would be available and a twenty four hour heart monitor highly recommended. The two doctors were caring and waived aside my embarrassment by assuring me that I had done the right thing. Barring a token drunk periodically making herself heard, the evening had been very quiet.
I was expecting full PPE! Just masks were the order of the day, or night, in this case! None of the nurses or doctors had tested positive for Covid. An empty A&E department was something I would never have imagined possible! And over the weekend!
But my timing was probably right! Not at all expected nor wanted but I think I chose the best time to pay my visit! Tomorrow the pubs and restaurants reopen, albeit Covid friendly, but there are many selfish, ignorant people living in this country! Alcohol fuelled stabbings and other pre Covid accidents will bring their usual casualties back to A&E! Life will gradually get back to normal. Not always the parts of normal we enjoy or are particularly proud of! đ
Jenny Burrell 