911

It was the beginning of a routine day for me when I got up. So after finishing my breakfast I was driving to work. I stopped at a traffic signal and then all of a sudden I felt a bit of unease. I started feeling dizzy and my hands were trembling.

I was in two minds whether to continue to drive or find a place to park so that I would take some time to recover. My worst fear was that if I chose the former option what if my condition continues to deteriorate I would most probably faint at the wheel and cause an accident. The red light was still on. At that moment I decided not to take a risk.

Luckily for me there was a right turn which I took and parked myself in the parking lot of a shopping mall. I reclined my seat and closed my eyes. After some time I got out of the car and began to walk. I thought maybe I am feeling a bit better now and can continue to drive. But once I got behind the wheel, I could sense that something was not right. I was out of breath, my mouth was dry and throat parched. Compounding the problem was the fact there was this eerie sensation that my heart was contracting.

I called my brother on the phone and told him about my situation. He advised me to immediately call 911. I then told him to wait and walked into the nearby store to ask for the address. The lady in the store was surprised when I asked her for the address. I told her that I wasn't feeling well and would need the address to inform the 911 dispatch. The lady was kind enough to offer me a chair, some water and called up 911 herself as she said it was just around the corner.

The Paramedics were there with their kits within 5 mins. I explained to the Paramedics what happened. They asked for my ID, checked my blood pressure and took a blood sample to test whether I am a diabetic. Their readings came out normal. They gave me an option to come with them to the hospital or to go home.

I decided that I would rather get this thing out of the way and so followed the paramedics. As the doors closed behind me and the ambulance sirens were switched on I couldn't believe that here I am sitting in an ambulance on the way to hospital. I relapsed into a flashback mode and remembered that some times while I was driving I would see the ambulances rushing with their wailing sirens and now I was in a similar situation.

Once I reached the hospital I was taken to the emergency room. I was asked to take out my shirt and they put all those wires on my chest and the feet to monitor my oxygen levels, blood pressure and my heart beat.

The doctors and nurses asked me questions about my medical history, whether I had any food allergies, do I smoke/drink or take drugs. My answer was negative. The took an ECG, Chest X-ray and drew a blood sample again. Thankfully there was nothing abnormal in the reports. The doctors were surprised that how did I feel light headed/giddy when all the vital parameters looked normal. These questions were perplexing to me as well. I took my breakfast, lunch and dinner on time and exercised regularly. Past couple of years except for eggs, I haven't consumed meat. As part of my daily routine, I made sure that I consumed the requisite amount of nuts, fruits and vegetables. What went wrong?

Finally I got the answer from the doctor himself. He suggested that the probable reason that I felt uneasiness was due to an irregular heart beat or palpitations in medical terminology. He told me that this is something which is not uncommon.

The few hours spent in the hospital bed was worse than hell. Whenever my finger touched the steel rails of the bed or my heart beat began to fluctuate, the monitor would start beeping loudly. The only saving grace was that there was a television in the room and watching Tom & Jerry, Garfield was a great stress reliever :)

I was allowed to go home after the doctor gave me a discharge letter and advised me to fix an appointment with another doctor so that they could follow up and monitor on my heartbeat.

On my way back, I returned to the place where I parked my car and thanked the lady at the store who helped me. She was happy to see me back on my feet and said that I look in a better shape now than I was when I met her in the morning.

I am finally back at my hotel room and now feel a lot better :)

(Image courtesy: http://dc-cdn.virtacore.com/2011/01/ambulance1.jpg)