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But not completely still, because that would be bad.
Yesterday when I got home, around 5:30, my heart started racing. Initially I didn't realize that was the problem, I just felt kind of faint and fluttery around the solar plexus, and taking into account that I hadn't eaten for a while and had hung out waiting for Hawk to get two of his toenails removed (having to see your little brother in pain is a little stressful) and then driven home in a major snowstorm (also stressful), I thought it might be a low blood sugar reaction, so I made something to eat (rice and egg in bouillon broth) and tried to read for a bit, but after a while I realized that my heartbeat was shaking my whole body back and forth enough to be distracting from reading.
Eor tucked me in on the couch and I stayed there for an hour or more, dozing in and out, with one hand resting on my carotid artery so I could be aware of it if my pulse stopped (possibly my thinking was not the most clear at this point) but after a while I asked him how long I should wait. I guess he had done some research while I was dozing, and he took my temperature, then suggested I might want to call the Blue Health Line, which is my insurance company's way of not taking any responsibility at all for things, so of course the nurse told me to go to the emergency room in an ambulance.
Yeah, right. NO. I don't like emergency rooms - I've spent some time in them and I can't think of a place where I've felt less like anyone gives a shit. And ambulances are far too expensive. I'll have to be convinced I'm really dying before I'll do that. I pressured the nurse a little - "You wouldn't just recommend that I take a nap?" No, she can't do that. I hung up with her and explained what she'd said to Eor, and just gotten about as far as saying that I realized my thinking might not be the clearest at the moment, and was starting to say that possibly back in 1994 when he had the high fever and was hallucinating I probably should have overridden him and called an ambulance, so I was going to take his opinion into account, when the phone rang.
It was Hawk, who, having bled through his bandage and sock and not finding the Vicodin very effective, was calling to see what Eor's experiences with having toenails out had been. On hearing my voice he thought he might have woken me up, so I told him the situation and he immediately started rooting around for one of his books and suggested carotid artery massage. Which seemed to work. :)
While I did that, Eor talked with him about toenail removal and how to deal with the aftermath.
So, here's the things we learned from last night:
If you have your toenails removed, expect it to bleed a lot, build your foot a little tent in your bed with stacks of books or a box to keep your blankets off it, and plan to keep your foot elevated for a couple of days or it will swell.
If your heart is racing, massage the carotid artery (one side at a time). Sometimes a perfectly healthy heart can start in at double time and a little pressure on the carotid can reset the receptors that tell the heart how fast to beat.
Yesterday when I got home, around 5:30, my heart started racing. Initially I didn't realize that was the problem, I just felt kind of faint and fluttery around the solar plexus, and taking into account that I hadn't eaten for a while and had hung out waiting for Hawk to get two of his toenails removed (having to see your little brother in pain is a little stressful) and then driven home in a major snowstorm (also stressful), I thought it might be a low blood sugar reaction, so I made something to eat (rice and egg in bouillon broth) and tried to read for a bit, but after a while I realized that my heartbeat was shaking my whole body back and forth enough to be distracting from reading.
Eor tucked me in on the couch and I stayed there for an hour or more, dozing in and out, with one hand resting on my carotid artery so I could be aware of it if my pulse stopped (possibly my thinking was not the most clear at this point) but after a while I asked him how long I should wait. I guess he had done some research while I was dozing, and he took my temperature, then suggested I might want to call the Blue Health Line, which is my insurance company's way of not taking any responsibility at all for things, so of course the nurse told me to go to the emergency room in an ambulance.
Yeah, right. NO. I don't like emergency rooms - I've spent some time in them and I can't think of a place where I've felt less like anyone gives a shit. And ambulances are far too expensive. I'll have to be convinced I'm really dying before I'll do that. I pressured the nurse a little - "You wouldn't just recommend that I take a nap?" No, she can't do that. I hung up with her and explained what she'd said to Eor, and just gotten about as far as saying that I realized my thinking might not be the clearest at the moment, and was starting to say that possibly back in 1994 when he had the high fever and was hallucinating I probably should have overridden him and called an ambulance, so I was going to take his opinion into account, when the phone rang.
It was Hawk, who, having bled through his bandage and sock and not finding the Vicodin very effective, was calling to see what Eor's experiences with having toenails out had been. On hearing my voice he thought he might have woken me up, so I told him the situation and he immediately started rooting around for one of his books and suggested carotid artery massage. Which seemed to work. :)
While I did that, Eor talked with him about toenail removal and how to deal with the aftermath.
So, here's the things we learned from last night:
If you have your toenails removed, expect it to bleed a lot, build your foot a little tent in your bed with stacks of books or a box to keep your blankets off it, and plan to keep your foot elevated for a couple of days or it will swell.
If your heart is racing, massage the carotid artery (one side at a time). Sometimes a perfectly healthy heart can start in at double time and a little pressure on the carotid can reset the receptors that tell the heart how fast to beat.
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