My experience
CARRIE ROUSH NICHOLAS·SATURDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2016
My life was as normal as anyone else's.. I worked, I cleaned, I came home to my 2 beautiful daughters and wonderful husband… Until one day I started to feel sick… Short of breath, felt like someone setting on my chest, and extremely exhausted.. Thought I had pneumonia but turns out not to be that at all… On Monday December 26, 2016 ( the day after Christmas)I decided enough was enough and went to the emergency room in Spencer, WV.. Well they went into high gear thinking I was having a heart attack.. My blood pressure was extremely outa wack and I was clammy and couldn't breath… they gave me 3 Nitroglycerins, a ton of blood thinners… And then tells me I am being Medivaced to Charleston Memorial Hospital.. MEDIVACED!!!! A HELICOPTER!!!! NO WAY!!!! I have an extreme fear of flying… So you can only imagine how I felt when I heard that I was being flown to Charleston… I WAS SCARED TO DEATH!!!! If I was not having a heart attack I was sure this would put me into one lol… So they prepared me for my flight (for the most part, never could have mentally prepared me at all without knocking me out) The flight attendants were super sweet.. The dude says “hey look at it this way, you will have the window seat” I said to myself… I DO NOT WANT TO SEE ANY OF THIS!!! Lol. I was loaded into this helicopter and yes there was windows all the way around me… This scared me even more… They started up the machine and it started to shake and wobble… That really scared the crap outa me.. I closed my eyes and tried to envision I was on a boat in the middle of a choppy ocean.. That did not work… As I felt the helicopter lift off the ground I decided the only way I was ever gonna get through this was to pray… So I prayed and talked to the good Lord all the way.. ABout half way into the flight the lady says “are you ok?” I proceeded to tell her yes and she says to me “good.. We are about 10 to 15 minutes away from the hospital” I thought to myself.. Did you have to tell me that? I thought the flight was almost over… And she goes and tells me we have 10 or 15 more minutes… OH BOY!!! Well we FINALLY land on the roof of Charleston Memorial Hospital and they take me into the ER.. There I was greeted with about 10 to 15 people, poking IV’s in me, asking questions, and preparing me for an emergency heart cath.. The next thing I know I am in another room being strapped down to another bed… Shaving discrete parts of my body just incase they can not get the catheterization in my arm.. The next thing I hear is BIG STICK!! Oh yea that was a small stick for what was to come…. This was the numbing meds… let me tell you I DID NOT feel numb… well then Dr. Adams proceeds to start on the cath.. Lets just say that was more than unpleasant. Comes to find out my artery was further over than he thought and he had to fish around a bit for it…. Well the results was fluid on my heart and lungs and a very weak heart… So now was time to be admitted to the hospital and get some fluids off. So they started the proper meds to do the task.. I was hooked to heart monitors, pulsox machines, and IV’s in both arms.. I felt like a human pin cushion… However everyone was EXTREMELY wonderful to me while I was there. I had some GREAT nurses and attendants… And the Dr.s was awesome as well. Yes I said Dr.’s .. They brought in a Dr. for infections and disease to test me to see what caused this whole mess.. Well as of right now we still have no clue what started it. They did blood work several times and still came up with nothing … The Dr. said it could have been a viral thing that started all this and my heart Dr. says it could be sleep apnea since I snore so bad.. ( that is one of the next tests) needless to say I am home now as of December 29, 2016.. I have what they call a “Life Vest” on.. This is a vest that if my heart was to go into cardiac arrest it would omit some blue gel and shock me back to life… I am on several new medications now.. But all in all I am glad to be home and so happy that my life was not taken with this episode.. God is Good!!!!!
