Welcome to Beaver Valley Hospital....oh and get comfy...your staying the night!

Here is the whole story, sorry in advance for the length, but I'm quite a detailed person!!  Last Saturday I left work early to head to Beaver for my niece's baptism.  Troy and the kids were in head of me in the truck since we were planning to bring our trailer home.  About the time I got to Leeds, I had a nasty pain in my chest, in my L. shoulder, up into my neck, and down my arm.  I also had some sharp pains when trying to take a deep breath.  I chalked it up to bad gas ( I'd just eaten some cantaloupe at work before I left) that sometimes goes up into the shoulder, yet I didn't feel bloated.  I could get out some granddaddy burps, but that didn't seem to help the pain any.  I texted Troy but neither one of us really worried about it.  We got to Beaver and I put on my game face and made it through the baptism which was super nice, mom gave me some gas pills, but that didn't help either. The one thing that really bothered me  was that to bring my left arm across my chest or to hold Kason in that arm really hurt, and the pain had gone up into my neck.   At my sister's, I asked my dad and Troy for a blessing to help feel better since I was going to have to drive home later because I was supposed to be on call at midnight for work. They wanted me to go to the hospital and I know I was a bit mouthy and said "I'm not going, just give me a blessing and I'll be fine!" Well, it got worse until it was hard to even talk, & bc I'm a boob, & was teary during the blessing, my nose was runny and I couldn't even sniff or blow it  because it hurt my chest so bad.  Troy & I  snuck out leaving the kids with our family and checked in at the ER.
As it goes at any ER, the magic words of "chest pain" bring on a flurry of people, tests, machines, and questions.  No, I had not been sick, lifted anything heavy, no recent surgery, no history of heart problems, blood clots, and no I have not been running/exercising hard lately resulting in the unfortunate post baby muffin top.
I had an EKG, blood draws, poked 3 times for an IV (i even offered to let Troy try after the 2nd miss) and had the Respiratory Therapist, who is also my sister (sorry that they dragged her away from her daughter's dinner..) draw an arterial blood gas on me ( I can now cross that off my list of medical procedures I have never ever wanted...OUCH!), and a  portable chest xray...etc. They gave me a Nitro tablet to dissolve under my tongue and yes it gives an awful headach, and a GI cocktail ( at DRMC we call them Lido Lizards - yes they are as icky as they sound!) Everything cardiac related came back normal, which I figured it would.  By this time the pain was so intense I was in tears and although I had turned down pain meds before, I didn't have a choice when they brought in the first dose of Morphine which didn't help. The PA that was on call, was really nervous about a PE (pulmonary embolism) and wanted me to have a CT chest, the only thing was that their PACS line was down and wouldn't be able to send the images to Cedar for the Radiologist to read, so that meant a trip to Cedar in the ambulance just for a CT.  At his time, the very nice PA named Travis,  called in Dr. Smith, who is also my cousin, to have him come in and check me out. Honestly, at this point I thought if anyone else asks me to take another deep breath and listens to my lungs, I'm going to wrap the stethascope around their neck and wack them in the head with it just so they know how much it hurts to take another dang deep breath!!!  He had more questions and decided to run a D-dimer on my blood and he was the one who called my sister Valerie in to draw the ABG. I should mention here that as she walked into the room,  I apologized for ever biting her on the knee and making her bleed when I was 3, and anything else I'd ever done! I wasn't sure how to take her comment right before she poked me saying, "tonight you're just another patient..." it seriously hurt and she's right, my wrist is a pretty shade of green! But I'm truly glad it was her that drew it! Both the ABG and D-dimer were normal, so that pretty much ruled out any labs that would raise suspicion of a PE without actually doing a chest CT ( whew! that saved us a few thousand dollars ambulance bills) Dr. Smith then started pushing on my sternum and left side rib cage, then squeezed both sides of my rib cage,  pushed down on my left shoulder and each time it would send serious pain into my back and chest, making my breathing even more painful.  We talked about Pleurisy which had crossed my mind, but I thought it was a result of a bad virus, and I hadnt been sick.  Well you don't always have to be "sick" to get it, and also the possibility of Costochondritis which is inflammation of the cartilage where the ribs attach to the sterum usually on the left side causing severe pain which mimics heart attack symptoms.  He figured with everything else ruled out,  it was one or the other, or a combination of both diagnosis.  I got another dose of morphine, & Toradol, and when he asked if it was ok to keep me for the night, I was so loopy,  I could hardley even talk to protest! I kept trying to eat ice and my arms were so heavy, and the spoon seemed to weigh 5 lbs, so the ice would land in my lap & then I couldn't pick it up. They moved me to another room, and I could hardley get in the chair.  Valerie stayed until they moved me and helped get me settled, they also let Troy stay in the other bed in my room. Troy called to check on the kids, I was really worried about them, but they were fine and all asleep at gma and gpa's.  Dr. Smith also gave me an Ambien to help me sleep...hello, I'm already snowed as it is! I've heard lots of stories about people doing crazy things on Ambien, so I was a little nervous about it, the nurses just told Troy not to let me do anything to out of control!! I needed to pump, and had mine with me, so they had me do that first before the Ambien so I wouldn't fall asleep while pumping, well, I do that about every night without drugs!  I made Troy set his phone to wake me up to pump again about 2 am, and he couldn't get me to wake up!!!  Obviously I slept good, and the pain was better in the morning.  Dr Smith came and said we could stay for breakfast and go whenever we were ready since my vitals looked good.  He gave me a couple scripts for pain meds and a good dose of prednisone.  Knowing that I'm nursing, he didn't really try to push the prednisone very hard but when I asked how long I'd have to take it, and told him that I have 7 grocery bags full of frozen milk bags stored in my freezer, & Kason has more than enough to get through 7 days of me pumping and dumping, he was very relieved and said prednisone was what I really needed to kick this.  I know Troy was eager to go, but I was really hesitant.  The pain in my arm and neck wasn't as bad, but my breathing was still sharper than I thought it ought to be.  We ate and rested for about an hour and headed back up to my parent's house.  The kids were so happy to see us, and I had missed and worried about them.  Camrie ran to me and said, "Mom, you came back to me!" that made me a little teary-eyed! and Kason couldn't get to me fast enough. Troy had a couple little snoozes and I crashed for a couple hours. Troy, Braxton, & my dad went over and got our trailer, emptied the tanks and we were on our way home.  My dad insisted that they were driving me home, so mom drove my car and he followed us down which I felt bad about, yet was so glad they did.  Paige and Sheri Condie had a yummy dinner ready for us when we got home...another blessing!  Thanks girlies!
I've taken Monday - Wed. off and I'm feeling better.  Today my chest feels heavy, like Braxton is sitting on me!  I've learned just don't cough, or sneeze, and don't sleep on my left side- it all hurts!.  Troy has been fabulous as usual and stayed home with me Monday, and the kids have said some pretty sweet prayers for me at night. Hopefully this is as close as I ever come to having this kind of pain again, or for that matter a heart attack!  I thought about having Troy take a pic, for blogging sake,  but I'd really rather not even see it, and the nurses said I looked pretty rough at times, at least their truthful! Everyone at the hospital was amazing! and it was nice to know just about everyone there!
 So that's my story, I'm sticking to it, and we're told it most likey won't happen again....at least if it does, just put me out and do it fast!  Thanks everyone for your phone calls, concerns and texts.  Especially my awesome family for taking care of my kids when we left the party. Dad for coming out to the hospital to sit with me and Troy for awhile helping me to take my mind off everything going on, and also helping Troy with my blessing. Mom for getting the kids settled and being up in the night with Kason, taking care of Tanner when he threw up, & driving me home. Brent & Caroline for hauling our trailer off the mtn before it snowed 16 inches last week, and yes Valerie I still love you even after the blood gas draw!  Steph you missed it all! :)
Whew that's all for now, I love you all!