Monday, June 25, 2007 by Daisy in General Blog Posts
Been a real hectic few days… Briefly:
Sunday 24th:
-Arrival of Allan’s family (Dad, mum and sis) at 10:30pm
-I was working until 4pm
-Allan and my mum showed them around, had food and they picked me up from wk
-Allan’s family had an early night
10:30pm:
-Mum calls for me… complains of shortness of breath and pains/tightness in her chest. She is dizzy, nauseous and has periodic tingling in her left hand and fingers!!! Warning bells start ringing for me… “Mum, I think we should go hospital”… But mum being mum and she didnt want to go and cause a scene cos the wedding was coming up so soon…!!!
-After a few failed efforts to get her to the hospital, I called for a doc, who didnt even come to the house due to the seriousness of the info. He ordered an ambulence for me! So mum didnt really have an option!
-Ambulence arrived… checked her over, did an ECG and sent her on her way to the hospital…
-Mum had checks and Drs suggested angina… We have to wait now until the following day for more conclusive results and have a Troponin T test.
-Angina is a symptom indicating that the heart is not functioning normally – could be caused by blockage in the coronary arteries, but ultimate reason is due to less oxygen being carried around, hence the heart is working a lot harder to pump blood around…
-Hupps came to pick me up at 4:30am to go home….
Monday 25th:
-Allan dropped me off to the hospital at about 10am, whilst he showed his family around cardiff
-Allan’s dad was really sweet and told us not to worry about them, but its their first trip here and mum gave us strict orders!!
-The Troponin T test was conducted and is usually done around 12 hours after the incident cos it’s a marker of heart tissue damage. The test will either be normal – in which case mum does not have any heart injury, or will be abnormal where these tropinin t levels are high indicating there is heart tissue damage. This test is very sensitive and specific – so will be able to see if there is a low risk of heart disease or not.
-Results: ECG = normal, Troponin T test = normal!!! yippee….
-So mum can go home? ummm… apparently still no!
-Drs were still thinking its angina due to the classical signs… Mum was told to do an exercise ECG – an ECG involves using electrodes to measure the rhythem of the heart – but to measure it whilst doing exercise like jogging on a treadmill.
-Mum couldnt run for long as she complained of pains and shortness of breath…. ummm
-Allan picked me up to go home and have some cooked dinner by his mum and dad (Thanks Uncle and Auntie! You come here for a holiday and you need to cook and look after us!!!). WE returned after dinner to drop some essentials.
-Mum had told the Drs about the wedding in UK and Singapore… They are almost certain that she will be able to attend the UK wedding, but the Singapore one is a possible no. Reason is that the pressure in the aeroplane, so many miles up in the sky can precipitate a heart attack in someone who is not being treated appropriately.
-Mum was devastated and just wanted to discharge herself!!!!
-The Drs were brilliant. They knew that mum was really upset so they are trying to fast track her so that she can attend our wedding in singapore…
Suggested treatment plan:
-Mum is to have a special dye inserted through the femoral artery in the upper leg. This will then travel with the blood to the heart.
-Mum will have an x-ray type thing which will show if there is any blockage in the heart due to accumulating dye.
-If clear, mum can go home
-If x-ray shows blockage, Mum will have to have angioplasty… briefly, this is using a small balloon to widen the artery…. Hopefully if all goes well, she can they travel to Singa…
Well must sleep now.. long day tomorrow…
whilst waiting for Aysh to arrive.