Gracefulness continues

Yesterday I had to go back to the hospital for a follow up tilt table test. They were hoping that it would be a boring test, with not much going on and I'd be upright the whole time. This did not happen. The results were better this time though! Instead of passing out in 3 minutes, I passed out in 7. There was no gap in my heartbeat this time, and my heart rate didn't get as low as last time! So these were definite improvements and the doctor was happy with them.

But there are more things to smile about!

Improved tests

Learning to make strange noises

Shakespeare

Sleeping In!

Having the house to myself 

Beautiful Weather

Diagnosis

The fainting saga has likely come to an end, thank goodness. I had an appointment at the Faint and Fall Clinic at the University today, and here's what they said:

1. There are a couple things I can do to increase the amount of time between feeling faint and actually fainting, but they won't alleviate the symptoms.
2. Most cardiologists would have put me on a pacemaker because of my 8-second gap in heartbeat
3. They're putting me on medication.

I'm interested to see if it's going to work - it takes about 4-6 weeks I guess, and then I'll go back to the clinic in 3 months. I just want to be able to go through a week without feeling like I need to sit down or I'm not going to be able to function, which right now, isn't happening. I don't faint every week, but I still get lightheaded/dizzy/faint and the occasional blackout at least every week. So there will probably be more stories to come about how things are working and more dr. visits later on.

Graceful...Part IV

Well, today was another adventure in the realm of my body and fainting. My doctor scheduled me for a Tilt Table Test at the U today. 8am - Morgan and I rolled into the cardiovascular clinic for the test.

Let me tell you, it was an interesting experience! Blood pressure cuff on each arm, sensor on my left wrist, IV in my right arm, gazillions of EKG leads all over the front of me. The IV took a while to get in, and the nurse had to call a woman from "the stick team" to actually get the needle in...ouch!

Then, I'm supposed to lie on this table for 20 minutes (as all this hooking up, needle sticking, and velcroing is happening). Then, a doctor comes in and I'm set up in an almost standing position (still strapped to the table). This is supposed to remove any support from muscles or the skeleton that may affect my heart rate/blood pressure, etc. So my body is left to its own devices - or at least the blood pumping system is.

About 3 minutes into the test I started feeling kinda funky and then my vision went starry and I began to blackout. The doctor and nurse were asking me how I was doing, and when I responded "I can't see" they took me down from the standing position and into lying down again. As I came to, my hearing was really muffled and I couldn't hear very well, but was able to make "grunting" noises in response to the doctor's questions.

They started pumping fluids into my veins to help me recover more quickly - and that did help. A full liter was gone by the time I left the office. The nurse started talking to me about what had happened and said that she'd never had someone pass out so quickly in the test. The doctor said it was DEFINITELY positive for Vasovagal Syncope, and that I actually passed out twice in the passing out. I guess my body started to recover a little from the first episode and then went back down into passing out mode again. The nurse said my heart actually stopped beating for 8 seconds, and she hasn't seen that kind of pause in a while!

How timely this was is interesting. The U is just starting a "Faint and Fall" Clinic in November with an expert in the field of fainting/collapsing/what-have-you. They said they're going to get me an appointment there as soon as it starts up, so that I can talk to a doctor there about what's happening and how to avoid these episodes.

So there you have it - the continuing saga of graceful fainting.

Graceful...the continuing drama

Well, a week after the last post entitled "Graceful" I did not attend my voice lesson due to lightheadedness, I could no longer stand, so my roommate/coworker took me to a local clinic to see a doctor. He wasn't sure what was happening and ordered some blood work to check out my kidney/liver function, thyroid, and iron count. I went in for a follow up appointment a week later, all the tests had come back normal, so now it's time for more tests.

On Wednesday, I had an echocardiogram, and this coming Tuesday morning I will have something called a "Tilt Table Test", which should be interesting. I guess if the Tilt Table comes back positive, he'll diagnose me with something called Vasovagal Syncope, but if it comes back negative, I'll be referred to cardiology and have to monitor my heart for a while or something like that.

Please pray that my doctor would have continued wisdom to identify and remedy the problem in my body.

Graceful...part two

Today brought another onset of lightheadedness complete with bouts of blacking out...and though I didn't actually lose consciousness today, I would describe what happened as passing out. Goodness - I was taken to Student Health Services this afternoon and they weren't able to find something wrong with me...he said it sounded like hypoglycemia, but when my bloodsugar was checked, it was normal, as was my blood pressure, and heart rhythm. Most of the people I work with, as well as my roommates are now encouraging me to see a doctor about what's going on...so we'll see where that goes. It's just weird!

Graceful

On the 7th of May, we performed a benefit concert in Ballina, Ireland for the Mayo Cancer Support Center there. This concert took place with another choir and so we only sang the first half of the concert, they did the second and we did a piece together at the end of the night...

Unfortunately, about 3 pieces into the concert, one of our members fainted 3/4 of the way through the piece. It was the first night we had performed Agnus Dei in front of an audience and we followed up that song with Eric Whitacre's Waternight. It was Waternight that witnessed this event, right on the line that reads "If you close your eyes". Talk about perfect timing, huh?

If you haven't already guessed, that choir member, was me. It was the first time I ever fainted in performance and I still haven't heard the end of it, and today is several nights later. I began blacking out, and thought that I could make it to the end of the song, and then go sit down, but, this did not happen. I have no memory of what happened approximately 8 measures before I went down, and I've heard several versions of what happened from almost every member of the choir.

Here's the basics: I took about 2 1/2 steps out from the choir (I was standing in the front row), I looked up at something on the ceiling, and raised my hand like I wanted to grab something, then kind of staggered to the ground in what's been dubbed a "Princess Faint".

When I came to, apparently I was smiling, but I didn't know what had happened or why everyone was asking if I was okay, until Chris looked me in the face and said "You fainted." Then, I was so embarrassed that I started to cry, and Willy Ray took me over to the front row on the side to sit with him for the rest of the concert. Up until then I'd been thinking "why are you waking me up, I was sleeping!" and "Why am I on the ground?" and "Where am I?"

They all took really good care of me, Garrett even asked if I'd eaten anything since falling and got me some brown bread from the hotel bar (yum!). I did not have a concussion, thank goodness, I have a non-visible bruise on my eyebrow from where my head hit the dance floor, and a visible one on my thigh from where my hip hit the floor. There's some smaller bruises on my arm and leg, but I'm totally fine, and nothing major has happened since that would give me pause or a cause to worry.

It is nice, however, to know that when I faint, which isn't often, I do it gracefully and simply slide downward to the floor (the last time I fainted was in a Presbyterian church service and I slid out of a chair!)