On Monday I had the stress test to check if I had angina - to be honest if I did have it I would have been surprised. After all, I don't get the chest pain all the time and the last time I had it was as I arrived at the GP when all hell broke loose over the DVT in my right leg.
I guess it helped when I spoke to the doctor and told him I had done two 5 mile bike rides, granted on the flat (what no hills? yeah right...) without any chest pain.
They took my blood pressure before I started; it was 140/90 so I guess I was a little worked up at the idea of having a stress test. Why I have no idea - the only difference between a stress test and the gym's treadmill is that you don't need to take your top off and be wired up to a machine at the gym.
The treadmill started on the flat and a normal speed, easy I thought. The first time they took my blood pressure again it had gone down - maybe I was dying already....
After 3 minutes the treadmill speeds up and the incline rises - okay, still not too bad considering it was the most exercise I have done in months if you discount the two bike rides.
The next time it rises I begin to wonder how old people manage on these inclines; you know people with actual heart conditions and angina!
I'm sneaking a look at the monitor and although the heart rate is climbing the little up and down lines are nice and regular. See, I'm happy as that means no angina surely?
It rises for the fifth time and bearing in mind I am a short arse my legs are struggling to catch up and I am using the rail to stay upright as the incline is more than I have ever had on a treadmill even when I was thin and fit!
Luckily my heart rate had happily managed to get to the expected rate for my age so they stopped the machine before I fell flat on my face and the hospital gown they had put on in place of my T-shirt rides up and I get friction burns in places that I will have to explain away to my hubby when I get home.
Never have I been so glad to be given a cup of plain water! I sat there grateful that for aerobic exercise my heart rate is only supposed to be 80% of where they got me today. If I had to exercise at that pace at the gym constantly I would lose about a stone in sweat each time I went.
Back to the consultant for him to confirm I don't have angina. Knowing that junior doctors rotate at the beginning of August each year and having overheard that this was the guys first day in Cardiology at this hospital I was still willing to accept his decision and wasn't surprised when he said he didn't know what had caused the pain I was experiencing. I did, that would be the back end of pleurisy recovery!
I took off back to my car to ring Hubby and celebrate the decision to stop the tablet they gave me for my heart as a precaution seen as my side effect was itching. Next call was to the GP surgery to ask them if I could go back on my anti-inflammatories.
The GP response that afternoon in the affirmative had me upstairs and taking 2 of those babies immediately. Hopefully my hands and arms will be back in the normal world of intermittent pain and ability to chop vegetables within two weeks.
My line manager has been in touch with my potential future line manager to let him know I have been on sick leave just in case it made him change his mind about wanting me on his team. To be fair I would do the same thing in her position. Having had this potential manager as my personal mentor for 5 years and therefore a more personal relationship than usual I texted him last night and asked if I could call him on Tuesday afternoon. He asked how I was, I told him the good news on the medication front and asked if he still wanted me on his team. His response: "For crying out loud; of course." was music to my eyes.
As I will be moving from a purely finance role to a procurement/finance role I am thinking that at some stage over the next month or so I should pull out all 75 novels from the cupboard and check behind them. I could very well have thrown away all my study books for my procurement qualification during a previous spring cleaning session. Seen as it is over 5 years since I worked in procurement I am thinking I may need to rebuy those books if I did throw them away. Clever of me? not!
This new role, if my current team can find a replacement for me, will require quite a bit of travel - 2-3 full weeks at first and then once a week thereafter. I am beginning to wonder if it was a good idea to get Hubby his own debit card for the bank account......I suspect that money will be spent on takeaways instead of at the supermarket.
Anyhoo, I am off to take some more anti-inflammatories. Have a great day everyone!
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