I've been feeling pretty run down the last few days. Mostly from a cold. But today around early afternoon I just wasn't feeling right. I felt like I was trying really hard to catch my breath and it just wasn't happening. I put on my oxygen and had it going for a good half hour and it just wasn't getting better. It was kind of weird because I could feel my heart pounding. I finally decide that I needed to go to the hospital around 4:30 and quickly found a friend of mine who was online (thanks Hank!) and who could come bring me.
About 40 minutes later I got to Brigham and Womens Hospital. There are ones closer to me, but this is where I've been going for all my lung stuff. I shuffled up to the desk in the emergency room and croaked out that I was having trouble breathing and was quickly wisked away to have my vitals taken. 5 minutes after that they had me in a bed all hooked up to EKGs and more oxygen. It seems my heart was racing at over 200 bpm. Not good. They gave me a shot of something (I honestly can't remember what it was, they told me, but I was kinda lightheaded right around then). The stuff basicly slowed down my heart a bit to let it relax a moment, and after it took effect my heart was beating at a fairly normal rate again.
I guess this is something that can happen to people who have pulmonary problems. I've just been lucky enough to not have it happen at all before. They ran some blood tests, talked with my pulmonologist, and let me come home.
Right now I'm exhausted, but kinda wired. It feels good to not be gasping for breath and feeling like it isn't doing anything. Not something I want to go through again anytime soon. I have to say though that the staff at BWH rocked. They had me right in there and were working on me so fast my head was spinning (even more than it was already). I'm glad I chose to go there.
So I'm okay now, tired, cranky, eating a burger and thinking about turning in a little early.
