Tilt (torture) Test

My tilt test was funny as it was scary. You're supposed to lie down on this bed with your feet up against something that resembles a cushioned headboard (yun pala, footboard), then they strap you up real tight so you can't escape (harhar---it's more like para you won't drop onto the floor face down when they tilt you), plus connect you to an ecg and bp monitors ( i keep typing B.o !).

The nurse asked me to come in 15 minutes early so she could strap me and take my initial ecg readings na, but i'd just had some lunch , ergo, lotsa softdrink to wee-wee out pa--so she had to wait a while.
Then the doctor came in and the strapping down began. As soon as i was tilting 80 degrees, some panic set in na, but i forced myself to relax. The crazy doctor pa gyud was kidding me pa about the monitors used for seeing a coma or cardiac arrest coming on...then he switched Tv channels and started watching a soccer match! Aaargh! There should be a rule na they're compelled to put on a tape of shows like Will and Grace, or Friends, or Frasier, or a James Bond movie or something---para malingaw ang pasyente, no? Coz, like the good doc said, the tilt test was one of the most boring tests---patient, doc and nurse waiting and watching for almost 45 minutes---so all the more dapat makalingaw or distract ang palabas sa tv, di ba? but instead, the tv was on soccer and it's like ga-yawn na ko.

If you aren't familiar with the tilt test, what they do is tilt you at an angle for 30 mins or so, wait for a fainting episode to happen (that is, if you're a suspected vasovagal syncope person). IF nothing happens, they give you this tiny yummy pink dot of a pill---yun pala, it induces a fainting spell. And boy, when that starts to happen, abi gyud nimo, ma-dead ka na! The nurse is constantly trying to look for your bp, and then you hear the doctor saying to the nurse., 'ano, wala ka nang mahanap?' and your head starts to spin and your chest constricts and you start gasping na gyud for breath!!! I just closed my eyes na lang and gasped for breath till kingdom come---which was when the doctor started putting my 'bed' back to vertical position. Phew! Gasp! Did I say the doctor said this was the most boring test in medical history???

Health updates

My dearest Anna,

This is primarily addressed to you, being the only person who shed a tear when i shared with you the initial findings regarding my health last week. Thank you for the tears and thank you for the continuous prayers. I did text you later that if your prayers didn't get me healed, at least, it was strengthening my spirit, di ba? I got over the initial panic ( --ala- Ali McGraw: "Who's gonna clean the toilet?" --like i'm the one who does the cleaning??) and simply got up believing there is nothing God does or allows to happen in this world for no good reason, and that our God is a good God. Putting my trust in Him has somehow lifted me up instead of depressing me. So daghang salamat.

The same goes to you---all my friends and loved ones who thought about me and prayed for me this past week. Things would not be looking up if you weren't 'lakas' up There coz your prayers were truly heard.

And by looking up, I do not mean i'm totally healed or what. It just means the Lord led me to 'Dr. Right'---in the person of Dr. Johnson Wee, a Singapore-trained cardiologist in Gensan---who was astute enough to look beyond the textbook illustration of a hypertensive patient---and discover something unexpected. Simple, but surprising. And nothing to worry about, really (i think, heheheh). After the series of tests, scans and what-have-you, at least now we know what we're dealing with, and how to go about managing it.

For starters, the initial findings were right---that i do have an enlarged heart (no wonder pala i easily love everything and everyone in sight, heheh), caused by oft-repeated bouts of raised blood pressure. BUT, the tilt testing conducted yesterday revealed that I am NOT your normal hypertensive---if one is to define that as having a high bp all or most of the time. Very sensitive lang ang heart ko to the littlest irritant or upsets or problems (of other people?) that my emotions have to react to. So whenever all these occur, up shoots my BP....or something like that.And then it goes down again--and lies in wait for the next 'exciting' event. And since i'm a highly happy, excitable, sympathetic, emotional, active person----how in the world does one control that??? Anyways, that's why my heart's got bigger than usual---it's always forced to work overtime! (Please note that my blood chem results are GOOD , cholesterol and sugar levels, included, ha?)

The simple but surprising discovery my good doctor made thru yesterday's test was that I also have what's called vasovagal syncope---nothing alarming, really---but it's an abnormal reflex (since when have i been normal anyway?hahaha) which results in a drop in blood pressure leading to decreased blood flow to the brain resulting in dizziness and/or fainting. Aside from the betablocker (Therabloc) i've been given to keep this and my bp in check, i'm not supposed to be where it's hot ( or enter a car that's been baked in the parking lot),i have to be constantly gulping Gatorade for electrolyte replenishment, i can only walk short distances and only in places where i can sit or lie immediately if need be...I can't play golf unless i have a golf car and the sky is overcast...I can't stand on my feet for a length of time (church, school, etc)...yada,yada,yada. Sheesh. I sound like a semi-retiree!

But the good news is: everything has been identified (i think) and i know now what to do and where to go. Teh? PRAISE THE LORD!! FOR HE IS GOOD!!
Again, thank you, dear Anna (and everyone) for all your prayers and comforting words. It's always good to have someone rooting for you when you're in the dumps. And to know that people care.

Heidi-ho! Finally got my heart scan over and done with yesterday at 12 noon exactly! Well, yeah--considering it was the company GM himself who set it up for me, maminaw na lagi ko!!
Lay down there with nothing but the quiet hum of the airconditioner to keep me company--oh, and yes--of course, the lady technician who quietly went about her work poking and sticking electrodes here and there. Everything was oh, so quiet, so conducive to a nap, really--but i don't do that with strangers, hah! The echoscan room in the city had a tv on to the Living Channel last time i had it done there...sigh. One can't have everything. That one lasted 30 minutes. This quiet one, 60.zzzzzzzz.

A couple of hours later was the mad rush to the city to catch the cardiologist, Dr. Johnson Wee. Waah. Made it there by 4:30, only to be told that patient #1 had just gone in: i was patient #12. Said doctor was known to be sooo thorough, he'd take as long as an hour with each patient, max. Let's see...4:30 plus 11 hours....I should have brought my tent!!! and lechon manok. Thing is, hubby dear(who'd escaped from the office 2 hours early just to drive for me) had to leave me after a couple of hours waiting with me in that lobby of hard benches---as he had dinner with the top honcho danks lined up for the night and couldn't get out of. Wasn't that worried, as friend Bec was leaving her law class at 7. Alas, 7:30 and Bec came and went and i wasn't even in the reception room yet!!Shoosh! Hunger pangs settling in despite the earlier MERIENDA of chicken joy and its crispy balat, wuhoo!

The clock struck 8 and whoopee! in went me.Doctor Wee wasn't a wee one, it turns out: tall, big chinese guy--a little chubby on the side, despite his claims to being an athlete with hypertension.:) He kinda laughed when he realized i still had to have him watch the video of my scan (remember, it's a one-hour scan---and yey, i have a video like on MTV!!!), so he said he'd have to take it home with him to view and study...and could i come back tomorrow---for another round of 4-hour waits???no thankee! Besides, it was back-to-school night Friday night. So for the moment, we had to content ourselves with his reading the printouts accompanying the video and the photos, too. And...he says, looks like i have an ENLARGED HEART. Sort of like the heart had to exert more effort than average, pumping blood in because of the high pressure--so, like in pumping iron,---the heart muscle got BIG! Oh well---means i just have more love to give, right? And that's all I know, at the moment. Nothing more, nothing less.

And when i texted friend Anna about it, she bawled on her cellphone!! What gives???And told me that she'd told Mik about it and "mik is shaken and can't text or call you yet". Goodness. Okay lang, as it was---hello??11pm??? Let's hit the sack, guys. I'm not worried. God is good, and whatever this is, won't be all that bad. See what happens when God is your best friend?
Gotta go eat some mango.

Pasaway!

Woke up 2a.m. feeling weird. Didn't know why i woke up, first of all---no one was snoring, no dog was barking...just stillness all around. So why am i wide awake? Remembered cousin Douglas' remark the other week when one night i couldn't sleep, either---that when this happens, most likely, there's something wrong with one's ticker or BP....Well, i finally conked out with the help of last month's Reader's Digest.

Only to wake up feeling lightheaded...and as the boys went off to school, and i decided to do something 'light' like clipping recipes from the newspaper...i got breathless. Figured i just needed to lie down, and might as well use the time to gab with Allyn, a dear friend I hadn't seen in four days--before i tackled some of the chores I'd lined up for the day. But didn't feel better after that, either. Checked my BP: 163/103. Oops. Time to TEXT my doctor. Who decided to double my meds. Luckily, good friends were on their way up and were able to pick up said meds. Phew.

Thought i was a goner, for a moment back there before the meds came. Felt so sad, suddenly---realizing i wasn't ready to leave my 'babies' yet--big as they are now (18, 15, & 9). Wasn't ready to leave my hubby yet---or my beloved books! Then i realized i hadn't even written down a will to bequeath my books, my blue and whites, my zillion bags and shoes (like these mattered???my books, yeah...). There was still so much to do for our church! Couldn't leave behind what i started, could I? Before I knew it, I was crying: I wasn't ready to go, yet, God! And if fluctuating BPs were Your way of telling me to slow down, why? My world and work revolved around my family and Your church. Somehow, i'd even begun to let go of the school, the community club, the ladies' club...so all my energies were focused on my loved ones and my church. So shouldn't i be given more strength to finish my 'jobs'? Not yet, Lord.

Hello. I think i'm supposed to update my blog more often than i have (what am i talking about---this is the FIRST update??!!!) So here i am.

Well, obviously, summer had my hands busy with the three kids at home. We had a ball together--along with their dad, of course. Twas fun just lounging around the house exchanging everything from candy to farts....and nothing beats the vacation we just took to Dumaguete---hitting the road, the beaches, mountains and rivers in one week altogether---with some cozy dinners with close friends thrown in. What a ball!

Then there was the bitter-sweet last week we spent with our unica hija---who had to fly off to the Big City again to go back to school there. Do we miss her? I think we missed her even before she left! Some 'very pressing matters' took up her time on her last few hours with us here at home. Oh well.

The day after she left, school here also started for my two boys....I was anticipating another bittersweet moment, again---this time---missing them all, vis-a-vis having the house and my time all to myself again. Kind of a dreading -it-but-looking-forward-to-it kind of feeling ba. But before i could actually 'luxuriate' on any 'free-again' moments----my BP started playing seesaw and pretty soon, had orders from the doc to come in to the hospital for confinement!! You kidding? I had so many things lined up for the week, not to mention the 'feelings and moments' i wanted to wallow in...but it seemed these things weren't meant to be.

In a few days time, a friend rushed me to the hospital for food allergies and a rising BP---had an IV drip stuck up my arm then, but escaped confinement when the allergies disappeared an hour after, phew! (Though they did manifest themselves for the rest of the week thru itchy, watery eyes...:( )

Barely survived that, when i had to gear up for a lecture to some school faculty on Classroom Discipline and Behavior Management, followed closely by a visit by relatives from the US, followed by an overnight thingie at the beach with them....but almost didn't make it to anywhere coz by Wednesday this time i really had to get confined when my BP reached an all-time high of 172/119. Lecture had to be moved, too.Boohoo.

Forced my discharge 24 hours later as i had to run to the market and supermarket for stuff with which to stuff my guests with. Crawled home. Despite feeling wobbly the following day, made the drive to the airport to pick them up, show em around town, bring them home and gave them a good memorable though short vacation which lasted all the way till Tuesday.

Thought i'd get my life back to normal after bringing them to the airport (if you can ever call me life 'normal'?)---but so many things just cropped up: some marriage counselling for a dear friend, getting the church ready for the big Father's Day celebration...son's dental appointment, another sick friend to visit at the city hospital....Hohooyyy!! (that's vernacular for 'phew' !)

But hey---what was i thinking? That's why they call me Superwoman, di ba? Or Bat (as in 'batty')woman ba? Heheh. What's important is i can still smile through it all. Till next blogging...gotta try catch some beauty rest. Wheee---this is fun!:)