Monday

Backdated. Entered Friday.

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Mostly normal sleep, but lots of wooziness on my pit stops.

Did my usual routine, got to work a few minutes early. Breakfast grabbed and in the hole by 9.

Took down the STB I had used to check out a bug Friday, installed a new one from Europe and got halfway through smoke testing when the Pradaxa support team called. The nice lady said Pradaxa doesn't cause dizziness or fainting, I should get myself to my PCP or the ER.

Had lunch instead. Marsala fish.

Back to the hole, messaged Boss that I was going to the ER for some heart foo and drove myself to Kaiser Santa Clara, parked in the garage, walked to the ER with a couple of stops to de-wooze. That's about 100 yards. Waited behind one patient to check in.

Was about to take a seat in the waiting area when I was called in to an exam room. Nurse took down my info, did the usual q's about symptoms & meds, doctor came in from the back (another patient) and heard most of it. Quick check of heart & lungs, then out to the waiting room. EKG was done.

Orderly comes out to lead me to an ER holding pen. Pretty blonde nurse of about 45 gets me into a gown & bed. The room I am in apparently is too small, so she wheels me down the hall to a bigger room, and hands me off to a younger, prettier nurse. I seriously was ok with the first one.

Visit to the CT scanner, rolled in there by a tall, slim African-American woman named Salonde, aka Sole, who was DDG. I want to have her babies. She started up a conversation to pass the time, bright, articulate, great smile. CT scan done, pretty quickly. Back to holding room.

While they were waiting for a hospital room to open up, a woman from finances rolled in her computer setup and asked me to sign a financial responsibility statement. I refused. She asked for an $80 copay. I told her to bill me. I'd learned from the last time. There is no need for that crap when it's a member patient with a good financial track record.

Two nurses, both surnamed Bui but not related, managed me. Breana was kind of plain, but Thuy-Thu pronounced "Twee-twee" was gorgeous and had a really nice butt. Even wearing scrubs. TT wheeled me over to the hospital and up to a room in the stroke/heart attack unit. We had a fun conversation along the way. She was amused I knew how to say "why is your face red?" in Vietnamese and more amused that I knew it for a man or woman, and that I knew the answer was "shy".

After about an hour, they said I needed to be in 220, which is another heart telemetry unit (I'd been hooked up to a remote sending unit when I arrived). I forget who wheeled me there, it was on a different floor. 2nd floor.

I'm here for a while. My first nurse is Morgan, she knows there is a hill named for her. Blonde, 30's, a little wider than I prefer. Engagement ring rock the size of Nebraska.

Next nurse is Maggie, who is about 5 months along. Pretty redhead. Halfway through the shift she is promoted to manager somewhere, and I am given Kraig, also a redhead, but not my preferred gender. Good nurse, though.

All this time the monitor is showing my pulse around 44, dropping as low as 20 as it skips beats for 4-5 seconds at a time. Everything else is fine. BP, O2 are where they should be. Hgl is 101.

The plan is to monitor me overnight, and try to get my pulse up tomorrow. If all those pretty nurses didn't do it...

With Pradaxa not a suspect, we turn to prescribed-in-December carvedilol aka Coreg. It's aim is to lower my BP and heart rate.

Cardiologist is also cute, Dr. Nguyen. She says maybe if the carvedilol wears off, I'll be fine.


Dinner was grass fed meatloaf. I had no idea one could feed meatloaf. It was good, though.

Plans for tomorrow:
Hoping for carvedilol to wear off
Pulse returns to normal
I go home