I tried to call my mom yesterday afternoon and didn't get a response. This isn't all that unusual, as she often is off doing something in her retirement facility, but I had a strange feeling about this, so called my brother, Bert. When I asked him what he was up to, he was sitting in an emergency room with our mom. He and his family had been visiting mom and she mentioned she had been having chest pains off and on during the day. Bert wisely packed her off to the hospital, where tests were run, nothing conclusive found and she was sent home, being told to contact a cardiologist on Monday.
Last night I awoke at 3:30 - to my heart racing. I got up, rehooked up my monitor and sent a manual transmission to the monitoring company. A quick check of my blood pressure showed I was in full hypertension with my heart racing up past the 120s. Drat! I went back to bed and when I finally crawled out of bed around 8:00 (yes, I said 8:00!) it was still going to town - going upwards to 140 bpm. By 9:00 I was in atrial fib. Again - drat! Fortunately, it settled down, and by 11:30 a.m. all was calm.
I am not sure what caused this episode. My best guesses: I had a glass of wine I nursed all last night when we went out to eat with our good friends the Brabecs and the OConnors - and even though I am allowed a wine a night - which I don't normally do - in my case it might have been one too many; as of Friday I am down to only one steroid a day - so the inflammation of my lung may be increasing; I was feeling a little under the weather yesterday (tired, with achy skin - weird but true); there was just a smidgen of chocolate in our dessert we had at the Brabecs (cherry pie with turtle ice cream - a great combination); or all of the above - or none of the above. Who knows. I am just happy it resolved itself!
This is my busy week at school, with two evenings of conferences on top of a full day of work. I am going to see how I am feeling tonight to decide if school is a good idea tomorrow. I certainly hope so.....I like being there!
Snow is forecasted for Tuesday - anywhere from 3 to 10" depending on who you listen to. This could really foul up advisement conferences! However, a day to rest sounds good, too. The only problem is, it would probably just move the conferences to Valentines Day - and that wouldn't be good either! Since I have no control over this, I guess I just won't worry about it.
I again ask for prayers, dear friends. Prayers for healing, for stamina, for wisdom, for patience. Thank you....