Here is a quick update after my wild ride blog. I actually stopped having the tightness in my chest after getting off of the accelerator drug Xeloda. After two days, DR. F. asked if I wanted to try it again and I said YES, of course! He insisted I see either my oncologist or general practitioner here in Austin to have a stress test immediately. It seems that less than 3% of people who take this drug experience something called coronary spasms, which would be the cause of my discomfort. Dr. M. took me immediately the next morning and had the nurse give me an EKG. And that’s when the trouble started….
“Now Jan, we probably don’t have anything to be concerned about but we need to get you over to the Austin Heart Hospital to run something more than just a stress test. There is something irregular showing up on your EKG and we need to see what it is. It very well could be from the Xeloda, but let’s just check it out.” said Dr. M very calmly. A few hours later I’m sitting in a cardiologists office (now my cardiologist, Dr. G) listening to him explain to me that a stress test might give him the details he needs to figure out what is happening, but what would be more effective is to do an angiogram on me right away. This afternoon. The only familiarity I had up until this point with angiograms was that both my parents had one minutes before they were wheeled into emergency bypass surgeries. It also occurred to me about this time that the last time someone wanted to do a test on me to uncover details, I was wheeled out of an emergency room with cancer. The panic started. “It is a simple procedure and we’ll be able to determine what has happened to cause the irregular EKG. It could be a blockage or some sort of spasm as a result of the Xeloda or you may have had a small heart attack.” Full-blown panic gets bigger at the suggestion that I may have had a small heart attack. A heart attack out in my garden, my sanctuary of peace, on a Sunday afternoon? Sister? Karen, is this really coming out of his mouth? At this point my blood pressure and stress levels are so high, sister Karen has to go and ask for a sedative for me.
We wait patiently in an office until they can find an open bed for me at 3:15 in the afternoon. When one was located I was immediately wheeled in the room where multiple nurses were waiting to get me ready for this procedure while the angiogram team waited in the hallway ready to whisk me away. They had to get started by 4:00 or they needed to wait until tomorrow. Nurse Bossybutsweet started on me first. She had me strip down al fresco while Nurse Franticy had me sign many documents as she was getting my paperwork taken care of before I was whisked away. Nurse Bossybutsweet said, “okay honey take everything off and lets get you hooked up.” She then proceeded to stick multiple electrical contacts all over my body from toe to neck. She was moving things around and sticking those things here and you know, there. It felt sort of women’s prison-ish, but I tried to get past that. She then had me sit down while she took my vitals. She took one look at my blood pressure and said in a loud booming voice, “NOW LISTEN HERE LITTLE GIRL, YOU NEED TO CALM YOURSELF DOWN—this pressure and heart rate are way too high.” And she could say that because she was incontrol and I was obviously not. I said, yes ma’am very quietly and had a brief meltdown, which she indulged me. Then off we went to the procedure room. I was pumped full of drugs and still didn’t fall asleep.
I’ll spare you the details of having to stay awake, nekkid and “prepped” in front of a room full (3) of people, but there are details. A catheter was used in my femoral artery (aka groin) to deliver the contrast agent to my heart for the x-ray images.
The final result was a test that went really well and I wasn’t whisked away for a quadruple bypass after all. They found three arteries with blockage and surmised that this blockage along with the arterial spasm was causing my discomfort. I may need a stent in at least one of those arteries one day, but not today. Let’s work on the cancer first team. Ta-da, a new drug for Jan to take care of my blood pressure, coronary spasms and a rapid heartbeat—a threefer. And a new blog about my spastic heart, which is also an excellent 80s punk band name should we ever travel back in time to do that.
I’m still on my chemo and quite nauseous and hurling frequently, but I feel better that my heart won’t explode while I try these crazy combination drugs Dr. F wants to use to shrink the tumor.
That’s all for now. But, that’s enough now isn’t it?
One final note, those folks at the Austin Heart Hospital were great. They tried the best they could to give my panic comfort and ease. They tried. God love em.
Kiss, kiss, smack,
Jan K
No comments:
Post a Comment