photo from Wiki
Seriously, I really didn't know I would have a lot of problems convincing trained medical professionals that I just have a very calm (no, I didn't say comatose) demeanor.
Let me start at the beginning. While giving labor to my wonderful baby girl, Overlord Jaq (who, btw, is now 3 months old and 10lbs 10ounces heavier), all the great medical staff was attending to me. One of the strangest things was that they kept asking me about my blood pressure. Was it normally like this?
See, I have a verrry low blood pressure reading. Lower than what would qualify as normal-it's-fine-she's-still-breathing-so-don't-worry-about-it reading. It was because of my abnormally low blood pressure that they kept me in the hospital an extra day. I'm not sure what the average number should be. I just know that mine came in ---during labor--- at 71.
Yes, 71. While I was giving birth to my daughter and experiencing pressure (not pain because I asked for the epidural) throughout my abdomen, I was a whopping 71. That's low. That's extremely low for a woman going through so much emotional and physical distress at delivery.
I am NOT the walking undead. Just let me reiterate that. It just... takes a good bit to get me upset about anything. I laugh. I joke around. I just... I don't know. It takes a lot for me to be angry, or at least have something happen in my life to skyrocket my blood pressure into the stratosphere.
Anyway, there's no real point to this post except to let you know that, if I ever come to visit your house and some type of medical emergency happens to me, don't let the paramedics shut off the life support and call the time of my demise. I'm still alive. Put away the shovel, undertaker. I just have abnormally low blood pressure readings.
LOL. Whenever I have someone like you in my ambulance and I get a super low BP I remember what they told me in school; trust the patient, not the instrument...if the patient looks fine but the BP is super low, I just say, "Hey, what does your BP normally run?" Usually they say oh yeah, its always low. And then mine comes back down. :)
ReplyDeleteEpidermal, you mean like contact anesthesia?
ReplyDeleteShieldmaiden96: That's good to know I'm not the only person. The nurses just kept asking, and I had my blood pressure taken (I believe it was) every two to three hours for three days. The one nurse asked if I ran a lot for exercise. I walked during my pregnancy, although not too often since it was the middle of winter.
ReplyDeleteIT: contact anesthesia? I guess. It's when the anesthesiologist places something into your spine to dull the pain. I had to sign a waiver in case they messed up and I ended up having nerve damage.
One other thing: I had to get TWO epidermals. The first one didn't work although the doctor said the other two(anesthesiologists?) did it right.
I think you mean 'epidural' - aka 'saddle block'; but I could be wrong. . .
ReplyDeleteI remember one time taking a stress test, and I had all the monitors on, measuring my BP and pulse, and all that good stuff, and the tech told me, "basically, lower is better; but zero is bad." It's just so confusing, sometimes. . . ;)
Craig: EPIDURAL!! That's what it's called. Thanks! :)
ReplyDeleteI think zero is bad in both medicine and sports, and good only in the number of parking tickets you've ever had ;)
I wrote out a big ol' comment, but somehow, between Google and AOL, it got eaten. Sheesh. I think that raised my BP to about 250, so if you hear I had a stroke, sue both of them.
ReplyDeleteSuldog: So long as you don't go punching desks to break your hand or kicking cakes, I'm sure your BP will drop back down again ;-)
ReplyDeleteSee, I paid attention to your posts, even the reruns.
Hey, sorry your Penguins are out...
ReplyDeletei promise not to let them bury you.
ReplyDeleteMaybe you and I could split the difference, Michelle... mine always skyrockets when I go to the doctor!
ReplyDelete