During the summer, I realized – for the second time – the value of listening to your body when it talks to you. I had scheduled a colonoscopy for August 25, at 8:00am, and did the usual preparation for this procedure – no need to go into detail here!
My girlfriend, Ellie, very kindly took the day off to drive me to the procedure. She went inside with me to the medical suite, where I filled out the paperwork before the procedure. After that, I went into the room to put on my gown and get ready for the medical procedure. I then proceeded to lie down on a gurney for the nurse to take my blood pressure.
I knew I was in trouble when the nurse said: “Oh, Dear!”
I asked her, “What’s wrong?”
She tried to answer me calmly by saying: “Your blood pressure is a little high.”
A Change in Plan
Then she said: “Let’s try your other arm.” Same result: 155 / 115.
After this second blood pressure reading, the nurse said: “I’m going to try something else; I’ll have the anesthesiologist take your blood pressure. Maybe I’m doing something wrong.”
The anesthesiologist took my blood pressure and told me it was alarmingly high. He also said my heart rate was too high and I was in atrial fibrillation (AFIB). He said if he put me under with anesthesia, I might not come out of it, so I could not get the colonoscopy. He then told me I should go to the Emergency Room at Morristown Medical Center. I asked him for a doctor’s note to give to the emergency room team.
Lots of Attention
As soon as my girlfriend and I entered the emergency room, the ER team was attentive, caring and very helpful. They were giving me lots of attention, sticking me with needles, taking my blood pressure countless times, and wheeling me all over the hospital from room to room.
So Many Doctors
I must have had 10 doctors who came to see me for a variety of reasons. It was all very flattering, but also a little bit scary.
Critical Questions
Different doctors were asking me the same barrage of questions:
- Do you feel pain?
- How do you feel?
- Is it hard for you to breathe?
- When did you feel out of breath?
The truth is, I never felt sick to the point where I thought I was going to lose my cookies. I described a type of euphoria that I would feel from time to time. More than one doctor told me this was classic atrial fibrillation.
Doctor’s Prescriptions
The doctors tried a wide variety of medicines to lower my blood pressure, heart rate and atrial fibrillation. They tried calcium channel blockers (amlodipine), beta blockers (atenolol) and carvidolol. He also prescribed a blood thinner for my AFIB.
A Real Trooper
My girlfriend, Ellie, stayed with me throughout my weeklong stay at Morristown Medical Center. I am so grateful to her for being by my side every step of the way.
The moral of this Street Story is to listen to your body when it is trying to talk to you. If you feel any pain or discomfort anywhere in your body, take it seriously and take immediate action. Even if you don’t feel pain, try to understand what you are feeling and why. If you feel “different;” even though there is no pain, try to understand if there might be something going on. You can then take action to identify the problem.
