As The Nut Cracks

Sharing levity with the hospital staff tended to brighten everyones day.

The one thing levity could not change was what I saw in the mirror. It seemed that every room they had me sit in to wait had a mirror there for me to stare into. It was kind of like, “Take A Good Look At Yourself”. and when I did I was surprised and disgusted. How had I let myself get like this to the point where it was affecting my health. I made a decision right then and there that this was going to change.

But first, let us get through the stress test and next weeks ultra-sound. At that point we I will begin to lay out my plan to improve my health. I am hoping I can get a few people who can relate and find themselves in a similar situation to follow along and join me on my journey to better health.

The staff that worked with me were all very congenial and totally interested in helping me. I let them know I would be blogging about this experience and they all commented positively about that aspect. Although two of the staff seemed to have no problem with me using their names, none of them would allow me to take photos

I arrived promptly for the appointment and smoothly checked in without any delays. After a brief wait of less than five minutes, a young man called my name and escorted me to a room where a welcoming nurse took care of me. Although she didn’t introduce herself, I’ll refer to her as “Denise.” Denise confirmed my identity and birth date, then placed a plastic ID bracelet on my right wrist. She proceeded to explain her upcoming actions before carrying them out.

Denise first asked which arm I preferred for the IV port, to which I was non-committal. She chose the right arm and went about prepping the area for the injection. Denise was very adept at what she was doing as I felt very little discomfort. After she made sure the IV port was securely in place she then injected a radioactive isotope which she explained was so they could trace the isotope through the chambers of my heart and the aorta and other arteries to check for blockage. (Now there is a word you do not want to hear).

After Denise completed her procedure she turned me back over to the young man who had greeted me in the waiting area. This young man whom I shall call Jose proceded to show me to another waiting area where there was nothing but a single chair and a full-length wall mirror. Jose, told me that I would be waiting here about forty-five minutes.

So there I sat, watching the latest episode of “Survivor” on my cellphone, trying hard not to look at my image in the mirror.

True to his word, forty-five minutes later Jose comes along to escort me into a room with a wierd looking machine next to this thin table. Jose instructs me to lay on my back on the table with my arms raised above my head. He explains to me that the wierd machine is a camera which is going to be taking xray pictures of my heart. The procedure will take approximately fifteen minutes. I’m good with that. It’s nap time.

Fifteen minutes later Jose comes by and disturbs my rest, announcing that the procedure is over. I am helped up off the table and escored to another little wqiting area, and another full-length wall mirror.

A short time later, Kellie comes to introduce herself to me, and asks me to follow her to a room down the hall. Kellie asks me to have a seat on a raised reclined chair and makes sure that I am comfortable. Kellie is the nurse who will be overseeing the Medical Stress Test. As she is taking my blood pressurewe engage in small talk and I learn that Kellie has a passion for collecting old soap containers.

Enter Denise.

Kellie explains that Denise will be injecting a medicine into the IV port that will stress my heart the same way as if I were running on the treadmill, and that I will probably experience a peiod of shortness of breath and possible nausea and headache, but these will last only a short while.

And so we begin. Denise injects the medicine into the IV port, nods to Kellie and leaves the room. Kellie is constantly speaking, asking me if I am feeling okay and to remember that anything I begin to feel will go away after a few seconds, “your blood pressure is 137 over 88”. At first I am fine, there does not seem to be any effect. As I hear Kellie reminding me to breathe, I realize that I am having a hard time catching my breath. I can feel my heart pounding in my ears and I am beginning to get a headache. I take a slight gasp of air and begin to do some controlled breathing exercises.

Kellie asks if I am okay to which I reply that I am doing fine and I report my symptoms to her. “Just keep breathing. these things will go away in a minute” She check the panel in front of her and reports, “your blood pressure is 111 over 72, that’s very good”. I can feel the headache begining to subside and I no longer feel the pounding of my heart in my ears. Breathing has become easier and more regular. “Your ending blood pressure is 129 over 82”, Kellie announces as she removes the cuff from my left arm.

In comes Jose and I am escorted back to the small waiting area and that damned full-length wall mirror.

After about twenty-five minutes Kellie returns to guide me back to the room with the thin table and weird camera. As I am getting into position with my arms over my head Kellie says, “It’s a funny thing with most men, when you put them on their backs they go right to sleep. Do me a favor and try not to fall asleep this time. You did doze off the last time and even though you were not snoring you were taking some very deep breathes and that caused your heart to be moving around quite a bit.” She then explained that this episode would be shorter than the last one.

I think I started to doze right at the end. I just remember opening my eyes to see Jose standing there with heis hand extended, offering me assistance to get up from the thin table. Without a word jose dutifully returned me to my restng spot and I looked over at the full-length wall mirror and stared at my image. for a moment I did not recognize myself. I recognized the facial characteristics of the person reflected back at me, but I was totally surprised by the unhealthy image before me.

I am not just over weight, I am obese. I weigh two hundred and fifty-seven pounds, my waist line is forty-two inches, and my gut hangs over my belt. Tripple X shirts are starting to get tight on me and I get out of breathe doing the simplest things. I have become lazy. I do not do anything that ould be considered exercise. The most walking I do is from the couch to the refridgerator. I sit all day long. When I am working I am sitting behind the wheel for eight to ten hours. When I am home i spend almost every minute sitting on the couch. And it is killing me.

My self-abasement is interrupted as Kellie brings me a cup of hot instant coffee with cream and sugar and a pack of peanut butter crackers. She explains that in a few minutes I will be able to move to the larger waiting area and someone will come and get me to fit me for a heart monitor.

Enter Minnie the technician. Minnie showed me what I needed to know about the monitor; how to re-apply it should it come loose. On what day and at what time to take it off, and how to put it in the box to return it via UPS. all the boring stuff.

There was nothing boring about Minnie. Minnie is a firecracker. Full of energy and a bright and cheerful disposition. We hit it off right away. From the first sentence to the last parting word we were laughing together like two old friends who hadn’t seen each other for years catching up and reliving hilarious moments from the past. It was amazing and refreshing.

I hope to meet more people like Kellie and Minnie. They like their jobs and they have a positive outlook on life and it shows in the way they approach and treat other people.

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