Early the other morning I woke up feeling nauseous, lightheaded, cold, clammy and ill. I never felt that way before so I called for an ambulance to take me to the emergency room. I always remember that women present themselves differently when it comes to heart problems.
Arriving to the ER my vitals were taken and blood drawn. The ER doctor came in to go over the information. He told me that my white blood count was slightly lower and that I was slightly anemic. He asked me to describe exactly what I had experienced during the early morning hours. He listened very carefully and said that he was going to order more blood work and an EKG. When all the tests were done the doctor came in to the room to discuss the findings. He told me that, not only was the EKG from a previous one, but the blood work ( specifically the HS-troponin) was also different. He told me he was calling in the cardiology team to go over all these findings. After many more blood tests the cardiology team said that I needed a catherizaton. I was totally shocked. They rushed me into the cath lab and started the procedure. It turned out that one of my arteries had a clot which broke. (I am not using the correct medical terms). The cardiologist checked all the other arteries and everything else was fine. The doctor felt that what I experienced was when the clot broke.
How fortunate was I to have a wonderful ER doctor.
Bottom line: if something doesn’t seem right get checked out.