My Day of Stress

My alarm went off at the obnoxious hour of five in the morning and Mike Dunne and I were on the road by 6:15. As it turned out, I wasn't actually scheduled to begin testing until 9:00 a.m., not 8:15 a.m. as I was told, but of course, I didn't find that out until we got there. The nuclear medicine stress test was first on the agenda. The test is broken up into two parts with second scheduled for four hours after the first was finished. Not surprisingly, it was once again like a party in the procedure room, which was literally not much larger than my bathroom. There were a total of five of us crammed in there like sardines...one doctor, one medical student, two nurses and myself. The doctor was a cardiologist who was there to make sure nothing horrible happened. He reminded me so much of my friend, Chuck, that he immediately became Dr. Chuck. Super Tall Med Student was just there to observe, but his presence was unsettling as he never sat down and sort of loomed over everyone from the center of the room. The EKG nurse looked exactly like the woman who played Bret's girlfriend on a few episodes of Flight of the Conchords, and the other nurse was a bit older and was in charge of placing my IV and a giving me the medicine. I liked her. She had a calming Grandma-like quality about her that proved to be extremely helpful. She was also very informative and explained the process thoroughly.

The test would begin with her placing an IV which be used to administer the drug, adenosine (http://www.drugs.com/pro/adenosine.html), over the span of six minutes. Halfway through, I would be given an isotope called thallium (http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4743). Grandma Nurse also detailed all of the symptoms I may or may not experience including dizziness, shortness of breath, rapid heart rate, knots in the stomach and throat, tightness in the chest, nausea, and in rare cases, heart attack, stroke or sudden death. Um, what? Let me just tell you how much fun it is to sign a release form for a procedure that may result in sudden death!

After this tutorial, my IV was in place and the adenosine was flowing. I felt the symptoms almost immediately, but luckily, sudden death wasn't one of them. My heart felt like it was trying to escape my body, I found it difficult to catch my breath, my face was all flush and there were knots in my stomach and throat. I also got a not so pleasant metallic taste in my mouth when the thallium was injected. Thankfully, Grandma Nurse gave me a stress ball to squeeze and reminded me often to take deep breaths, both of which eased my symptoms considerably. Bret's Girlfriend also helped by entertaining me with stories of barfing and fainting patients. Before I knew it, the six minutes were up, the medicine was stopped and my symptoms disappeared as quickly as they had arrived. I was then directed across the hall where an MRI-like machine was waiting for me. Over a span of about 20 minutes, this machine would take pictures of my heart from every angle imaginable. Afterwards, I was instructed to return in four hours to the pseudo-MRI contraption for more heart pictures and was sent on my way. Overall, the stress test was definitely tolerable, but not something I would like to repeat anytime soon.

My next stop was an abdominal ultrasound with none other than Grumpy McNo-Fun. That's right, I somehow managed to score a second round with everyone's favorite ultrasound tech. This procedure lasted about 20 minutes, and with the exception of feeling like I was interacting with my shoe and Grumpy's occasional poking at my ribs like he was digging for some variety of buried treasure, it was relatively painless. Then it was off to my chest x-ray with Dallas, yes that is his actual name, which was by far the easiest part of the day. I have had no less than a gazillion chest x-rays in my day and Dallas was both chipper and efficient, so it was a breeze.

Finally it was time for lunch. I wasn't allowed to eat anything prior to by morning tests, so it had been close to 18 hours since I had had any sustenance. I was dangerously close to eating my jacket. Jen and Zoey were also meeting us, so it was a fantastic way to spend my two hour break. The time went by entirely too quickly, though, and I was soon back in the heart camera thingy for the final stop of the day.

While it was an extremely long day, I am super happy to have a handful of tests over and done with, and to be a few steps closer to getting back on the transplant list. And it gave me a very good reason to have cereal for dinner and to be in bed by 8:00 p.m.!