Aurora's Blog

Taking a short break from the Grand Canyon –

I’m still trying out this series covering my heart issues/time in the hospital. Since it’s Wednesday night, it’s time for the next installment.

I left off in late July with the doctor saying to come back in a few months if I still felt that something was wrong.

I was really not feeling well in September. In early October, on a Wednesday, I was completely out of energy. Completely. I could barely get out of bed.

That past summer, I had done my first half marathon. Supposedly, I was training for a full marathon. What was happening to me?

I honestly didn’t know if I could make it out of bed and out of my apartment. I wasn’t familiar with emergency rooms, and didn’t want to do something so drastic as to go to a hospital.

I opted to go to an Urgent Care facility, skipping my favorite class in the process. I felt guilty and bummed, skipping that class, but I didn’t think I’d be able to make it through it.

They gave me a once over at Urgent Care, took some blood, told me to go home and rest, and that they’d call with the results. Luckily, we were in performances of the show I was working on, and didn’t have any shows on Wednesdays. I had the whole night off to sleep.

I woke up on Thursday feeling even worse than I did on Wednesday. I didn’t have the energy to do anything. I pulled on a hoodie, and left without even brushing my teeth.

I walked into school with my retainer still in. If Urgent Care didn’t find anything urgently wrong, I couldn’t very well miss class.

I think my teacher asked before class if I was feeling okay. I said I was really under the weather, but that I really wanted to be there. I sat in the corner, and just tried not to draw any attention to myself. That plan burst into flames when I passed out in the second half of class.

Guh.

I was so embarrassed when I opened my eyes and was on the floor. Mainly, I was embarrassed that people were around me and I still had my retainer in. Yikes, right?

The paramedics came. Everyone thought it would be a good idea to go to the hospital to see what’s up. Okay then.

They asked me in the ambulance if there was a specific hospital where they should take me. Uh, no. I don’t know. Just take me wherever you take people.

Once at Tufts Medical Center, an administrative person took my insurance information, and I hung out. I kept watching the clock ’cause I had a show that night. Luckily, this happened in the afternoon, so I knew I’d be okay on time.

I figured they’d probably just tell me to drink a ton of water, or whatever it is they tell people who pass out, and then send me on my way. After all, my doctor dismissed my concerns, and Urgent Care hadn’t seemed to find anything. So, I’m sure I’m just under the weather.

That’s when a medical professional (nurse? doctor? I don’t remember…) entered the room. “Hi Aurora. Have you ever had an EKG before?” “No, why?”
“No reason. I’m just gonna take it again.”

I think I ended up getting it taken 3 times that day. The way they said “No reason. I’m just gonna take it again,” I knew. I knew something was up, but I didn’t know what.

Was something up? Well, being that you know the end of the story is me having open heart surgery, I’m gonna go ahead and guess something was. You’ll see next week in part 3.