Heart Attack!

Well this week has proved to be an eventful one too. Lorii found using the bathroom, on Monday morning, so painful she thought she would faint. I quickly decided I would take a couple of days off work, to nurse her, until the antibiotics had started to improve the situation.

Indeed by Tuesday evening Lorii was feeling much better and decided that she would try and catch up on her E-bay selling. I set up a mini photography studio in the dining room, to take the pictures, and Lorii got busy uploading the descriptions. The Evening flew by and before we knew it, it was one o'clock in the morning and we were both pretty pooped. However, when we went to bed Lorii started to suffer from severe chest pain. Not totally sure it was her heart she asked me to call NHS Direct. They wanted to send an ambulance. Being a mother who put her kids first she was not prepared to let them call an ambulance as it may scare them unnecessarily. So waiving their responsibility if she were to drop dead on the spot, Lorii promised to go directly to hospital under her own means; i.e. me.

I woke Katie and explained where we were going and why. Told her what to do in an emergency and got her to repeat it back to me. With strict instructions not to wake Jake unless she had too. (It was his reaction to his mum racing off to hospital that Lorii was most concerned about.) All sorted we got in the car and made the brief journey to Victoria Hospital. We parked the car, and with Lorii leaning on me heavily for support, made our way into Casualty.

We got the trainee receptionist. It really was a farce. With Lorii nearly unable to stand we were made to wait while a numpty was guided through the steps on the computer by an expert. Neither Lorii or I new whether to laugh or cry as this woman hit the wrong buttons on her computer and filled in the wrong info on the forms. Finally though we were sent through to Triage.

The Triage Nurse was very blasé. He informed us that the NHS Direct receptionist had sent through seventeen people that night, and that it was always busy when she was on duty. He then told us to go through to the waiting room and that they would call us through to do an ECG to make sure it was not a heart attack.

Our wait was very brief, and to the sound of low mutters from the other occupants of the waiting room, we were called through by a nurse. Lorii was then wired up to the ECG machine, and had her blood pressure taken too. That done we were left to wait until the doctor arrived. Lorii was very impressed with him. He gave Lorii a thorough looking over, answered loads of questions in a way she understood, and then sent her off to have her chest x-rayed, and have some blood samples taken.

The nurse who took Lorii's blood was a bit brutal, according to Lorii's expert analysis. But the x-ray really caused her to squirm! First they wheeled her bed down the corridor as she weakly protested that, "I can walk you know!" Next as she waited to enter the x-ray room a nurse quietly informed her she would have to remove her bra. You should have seen his eyebrows shoot up, and Lorii's face go red, as Lorii asked him about her piercings!

X-rays taken we were returned to Lorii's room to await the doctor with the results. When he did return it was with a small cup of indigestion medicine and the news that both Lorii's heart and lungs were fine. However he was still waiting for the blood results to come in, and he would be back with those as soon as he could.

Shortly after this Lorii was moved onto the Observation Ward. This was a bit of a giggle too as the night light for Lorii's bed did not work. Every time a nurse came to check on Lorii they had turn the wards main lights on, thus waking everybody, just to see her!

Lorii and I were both pretty tired by this point. It had been a busy day and was now around five o'clock in the morning. Lorii's chest was hurting just as bad and kept her awake, but I nodded in the chair next to her bed.

Finally the doctor returned with the blood results. They showed that she had a massive infection, but then we knew that. He concluded that Lorii's pain was most likely down to the antibiotics her GP had prescribed. He gave her some stronger antibiotics that had less side effects, as well as some super strength pain killers, and strict instructions to return if things did not improve.

Then, finally, we were discharged. It was eight o'clock in the morning and neither of us had any real sleep. As I had just taken two days holiday, once I had returned Lorii home, I then had to go into work. (Or else lose two days pay) I don't think I was much use to them. But hey! It's their silly rule.

On getting home Lorii's pain was finally fading. Katie had no recollection of the night. On getting up and seeing our bed empty she had assumed that I had gone to work, and that Lorii was downstairs watching telly. She had proceeded to plug herself into the computer, which was where Lorii found her when she got in.

Jake never knew a thing.

Health

Well life keeps twisting and turning. Been through a bit of a scary time. Lorii is not a well bunny, proper poorly in fact.

She went to the doctors a week ago, with what she thought was a case of cystitis that would not clear up. The nurse she saw was obviously alarmed after examining her, and Lorii was kept in for the best part of an hour as the nurse alternated between treating Lorii and consulting with a doctor. Swabs were taken and questions were asked about when her last smear was. Finally she was dispatched with a prescription for some super strong antibiotics and a triple length appointment to see her doctor on the Friday. No diagnosis was offered.

So Lorii gets home and is straight on to the web. Her symptoms fit two diagnosis; Pelvic Inflammatory Disease or Cervical Cancer. Both are heavy shit. PID leaves you sterile. Cancer kills you. So we have spent the week with our hearts on our mouths wondering what the future has in store for us. Not fun.

Friday arrives and I sit in the waiting room praying that Lorii is going to come back out with a smile and a story about allergic reactions. Well I got the smile, coz she has not got cancer. PID was diagnosed though, so it looks like we'll have no more sprogs. Bit of a shitter that as we had been planing one. I'm not too sure how I feel about all this at the moment though as I'm just so glad Lorii does not have cancer. Right now she is taking so many pills I swear she should rattle. We left the chemist with so many drugs they supplied a large carrier bag. The plan now is we wait two weeks and then it is back to the doctors.

On a happier note we had the delight that is Katie's Parents Evening at school. All the teachers eulogised her wonderfully and Katie's ego is now measured in planetary terms. (I think it is somewhere between Saturn and Jupiter in size at the moment.) For some bizarre reason Katie's French teacher thinks she should go on to work in an embassy or consulate some where. Just sounds like a quick way to start a war to me. She may be good at languages but tact was never her strong point.

Jacob has turned twelve. Next stop and he is officially a teenager! Just recently he has been practising his teenager. His sulks are masterful, though the eye rolls and stamping both need work. Either way I feel he is well suited for the role and will do it well.