Emergency Room Adventure

My entire week (last week) was a roller coaster ride of sorts.  I never felt like I was able to finish much and at times every step forward was met with a few steps backwards.  Too many situations/circumstances to mention at the moment and when you get right down to it and what happened on Friday afternoon, it all seems meaningless...let me explain...

I arranged my day to leave around 1 to run a quick errand and then pick up mother and take her to the airport by 2:30 for her flight to Chicago to visit my sister and her family.  As I got into my car I listened to a message from a missed call.  It was the nurse at the high school saying she had Emily in with her and asked me to call her back.  She told me Emily's heart had been racing for about 20 minutes at about 160-180 bpm.  She said Em was calm and not upset or anything and they were trying to bring it down but not having much luck.  She said the next step would be to call the paramedics and see what they could do to help the situation.  I talked to Em and she seemed normal/fine - not excited about it so I wasn't too worried at that point.  I told the nurse I would have the cell phone with me and would wait to hear back on what the paramedics reported. 

Just a few minutes later, one of the paramedics called me and said they thought it would be a good idea to take her on in to the hospital through emergency.  Her heart rate was at 200 bpm so they were making preparations to take her wherever I wanted her to go.  I said St. Vincents since her pediatrician is there.  I was driving that way as we spoke so I said I would go and wait for them to arrive.  Meanwhile, I had a missed call from husby and we finally connected.  He had been contacted too by the nurse and already knew what was going on but didn't know they were about to take Em to the hospital. 

As soon as I pulled into the parking lot at St. Vs...got another call from the medic saying St Vs said to take her directly to Childrens Hospital.  By this time I was getting panicked because I still needed to get mother to the airport and I wanted to be at the hospital when Em arrived.  I called Eddie and told him to go on over to Childrens and I would take care of mother and meet him there. 

The drive to mothers and then to the airport seemed to take 3 hours...on my way there I tried to call Eddie but he didn't answer his phone.  I got mom taken care of and went on to Childrens...didn't know where to park because of all the construction so just went to the regular deck.  Turns out I could have parked right outside the emergency room but wasn't sure how to get there.  I say all this because it just added more and more time to getting to my daughter.  Tried Eddie two more times on the cell and got no answer.  By now I'm REALLY worried because "why isn't he answering?"  Did something happen and did it get worse?  I stayed calm and got to the emergency room and was told Em was in room 10. 

I walked up to the room and there was an empty bed - no Em...no Eddie.  Talk about your heart rate jumping...  There was a Hispanic woman and her son in the same room divided by a curtain.  She saw me walk in and must have sensed my panic and motioned down the hall.  I spoke to her and she said the girl was down the hall in the bathroom.  Okay...starting to calm down now. 

Blood had been taken and other tests ordered and we then were playing the waiting game to see if there was a problem.  I got the full story of Em's adventure and how it started, what the paramedics said and the fact that the emergency room doctor was a hunk.  As soon as she was settled into the emergency room, her heart rate self-corrected.  The paramedics took an EKG while she was in the ambulance so they had something to send the cardiologist.  The one they took when she was at the hospital was normal. 

The hunky doctor (aka "McLovin") came in and said everything looked fine and she would be released as soon as the paperwork was finished up.  We were surprised since the paramedics said she would probably be there overnight.  We were told to schedule a cardiologist appointment - with the one who received her EKG - within 10 days and he would check her out.  Meanwhile...all seemed fine.

Amazing how quickly something - like your day - can change...we went from thinking the worst to driving her home and then on to her musical rehearsal.  She was more worried about missing that rehearsal than anything... It was probably a good distraction for her so she wouldn't worry about her heart rate.  My head was meanwhile spinning with everything that had just happened and trying to shake all the horrible scenarios I had conjured up in my mind that "3 hours" before I could get to her at the hospital.  And all those "other" things I had worried about all week?  Gone from my mind...not important...pretty insignificant in the grand scheme of things...

On the way home the clouds were dark and dreary and a little rain was falling.  But I looked up at one point and saw the sun peeking through...it matched my mood at that moment.