Believe It Or Not

Yep. I did it.

I decided that after five days of fluttering, without any sign of it letting up, and feeling such discomfort that I couldn't even prepare dinner for two nights, that I needed to do something about it and find out what was really happening.

Firstly, I phoned a medical help line and spoke to a registered nurse, who was very thorough and asked me lots of questions about my medical history, both personal and family related. She had no idea what my diagnosis might be, but suggested that five days was too long to have symptoms that could possibly be heart related, so I should see a doctor within the next twelve hours.

Who here has ever been able to get an appointment with a GP inside twelve hours????

She wanted me to ask for an ECG and for blood tests to check my thyroid function.

The way I saw it, I had two choices. I could go to the local doctor surgery and see one of the doctors there - all of whom I have heard negative stories about and none of whom I have ever laid eyes upon - OR I could go to my old doctor, who I haven't seen since May 2009 and who I don't trust due to his poor management of Adoring Husband's health at certain times.

I chose the latter and made the call. The receptionist offered me an appointment for next Tuesday, so I explained that the medical line said it had to be inside twelve hours and without hesitation, she said "How about 2.30 this afternoon?"

"Perfect!" I replied.

I described my symptoms to Dr Dubious, who was much less thorough than the registered nurse who I'd spoken to earlier on the medical line. I told him it was suggested that I have an ECG and blood tests, so he confidently declared that he believed it was my thyroid that was giving me grief, but just to rule heart problems out, he wanted me to be fitted with a halter monitor to get a 24 hour record of my heart activity.

For the twenty four hours on the monitor, I have to do things that put stress on my heart. They said that I'm not allowed to use my electronic devices .. no iPhone, no iPad, no laptop, no PC .. THAT is going to put stress on my heart!!!

I have to wait til Tuesday to get this thing fitted, so I need to survive five sleeps and then after they take it off, a further six sleeps before the doctor receives the report. Let's hope I don't have a heart attack between now and then!

A lovely lady by the name of Lee, the most efficient vampire I've ever come across in my life, took quite a bit of the red stuff out of my vein, while being very friendly and welcoming. She made the experience surprisingly pleasant and I praised her and thanked her profusely.

They will be testing my blood for thyroid function, liver function, magnesium and potassium levels, vitamin D levels and other stuff that I can't think of right now.

So that was my day. As you know, I do not like, nor do I trust doctors, so for me to take this step is a big deal! Needless to say, the flutters have been fairly mild and infrequent all day today!

Oh and Dr Dubious told me to cut back on my coffee. "ARE YOU KIDDING???" I replied "I have the cleanest diet in the history of mankind and have removed everything that is bad. I only drink two coffees a day .. and NOW you want to take them away as well????"

So as Adoring Husband and I drove back into town, I said "We need to stop for coffee!"

We stopped for coffee, and for the third day in a row, drove to the beach and walked barefoot through the incoming tidal waters. I hope we make this a habit, because I absolutely love it!

Last, but not least, when Dr Dubious took my blood pressure, it was sky high!! 156 over something equally stupid. I said "Don't be ridiculous!! I have never had high blood pressure!! I've been monitoring it for 5 days and it hasn't been higher than 120/80 at any time!"

I actually had a slip of paper in my purse with the last ten blood pressure readings that I took, so that I could show him, but I didn't show him because he said "Let's put it down to 'White Coat Syndrome' and not worry about your blood pressure for now."

And that was that.

I found it pretty amazing that my Dr's appointment was for 2.30pm, after which, we drove to the pathology rooms where I booked my halter fitting and had my blood taken. From there we drove to Takura to pick up the FROG box and we came into town and drove past the pub at 4pm.

Very time efficient.

I think seven years and five months is a pretty good record to hold for avoiding doctor's visits. Let's hope when all this is over, I can break that record again.

Nite all.