I was in the hospital two weeks ago for about three days.
It all started when I was at home and I started feeling some sharp pains in my chest. I felt the first sharp pain, it lasted about a minute and I thought it's probably heartburn and I was going to let it go. About ten minutes later I felt another chest pain, also lasting about one minute and I thought this is odd. Then right after the chest pain subsided, I felt a horrible pain in my left arm and another chest pain followed shortly after. Thank G-D, my Mom was visiting and I told her what was happening and then I threw up. My Mom said just to be sure we should call an ambulance and rule out a heart attack. I then explained that if it's not I am going to feel really stupid, maybe I should just lay down for a while. My Mom then SCREAMED, if you are wrong you will feel really DEAD which would you prefer? We called an ambulance.
The paramedics came in and did a twelve lead EKG test which came back slightly abnormal so we went to the emergency room. They said they needed to keep me over night in order to complete a full cardiac workup. Which included every test under the sun, an IV (which was never needed) and they drew blood from me every hour (or at least it felt like that). I stayed for almost three days because they need to draw blood three times at different times of the day to test your blood enzymes to rule out a heart attack. The cardiac doctor came on day two in the hospital and said all my tests looked fine and that whatever was going on was not cardiac related.
For information about signs of a heart attack, please visit this website:
http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/Conditions/Conditions_UCM_305346_SubHomePage.jsp
The chest pain stopped shortly after I got to the ER, of course. But the left arm pain and left leg pain never subsided. The pain was there the whole time I was in the hospital. On day three in the hospital my hematologist / oncologist came in to see me. He said that the leg and arm pain were due to my blood clotting from my Essential Thrombocythemia (Blood Platelet Disorder).
I am still going to be taking my Hydroxyurea (HU) 500mg, three times a day and now I have to take a new medication called Aggrenox, two time per day. Aggrenox is a blood thinner and aspirin all in one, so far I have not experienced any side effects. I am still exhausted, which I am still positive has to do with the Hydroxyurea. Still the exhaustion beats not taking the HU and my platelet level rising so high that I have a major stroke.
The following links are for anyone looking for more information about Hydroxyurea or Aggrenox:
AGGRENOX - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001061/
HYDROXYUREA - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/meds/a682004.html
Please remember that I am not a medical professional. This is just my experiences with my illnesses. If you're not feeling well, you should see a medical professional, ASAP.
Also, all my kids have been passing a cold around (school is back in session) which made it's way to me and flared up my Asthma.
Hopefully, everyone will be feeling better by next week.
I hope all is well with everyone.
Take Care - Shayna
