Doctors and Booze

So last night I went out to the bar to play darts and to goof off with my friends on possibly my last night of drinking. In retrospect, I'm glad I went because I can't drink anymore due to what the doctors have given me. So I finished my first beer and was about 3 dart games in when I realized that the women's room was out of order due to some goofy bitch puking in the sink when the perfectly good toilet was right there. So I did what I could and mucked around trying to fix the sink so us girls could use the bathroom. It took about an hour and I had to take the whole damn sink apart, but I managed to fix the bathroom.

Sadly this lead to the hardest night of drinking I've had in a while and the worst timed hangover in my life. This was actually more poorly timed than the drinking binge I went on when I was 18 and had to show up to take my GED early the next morning. I passed that with flying colors by the way, still loaded to the gills and my record still stands with the GED office... I checked. LOL

No, this one was brought about by the very grateful bartender who took to calling me his special little plumber girl all night and kept giving me beers and shots no matter the fact that I tried to say no thanks. I really really didn't want to seem like I just fixed it to get free booze, I actually just like the bar and frankly, when your friend's things get busted, you help if you can. I know... I'm weird.

So here I was this morning, partially still wasted and having to go in for the MRI, full blood panel, and Table Tilt Test. Yeah...

So Keith comes over early in the AM to get me moving since he knew I was going to be fucked up as he was the one that drove my drunk ass home last night. I seriously felt like I'd been hit by a truck at this point. After moping about for a while and being miserable, he suggested I go take a shower to feel better. Sadly, this worked. I say sadly, because halfway through the shower I felt better enough to expel the rest of the alcohol that was lurking in my stomach.

Now that I'd thrown up enough to restock a bar, I crawled back into the shower and waited for the water to go cold. I then dragged my ass out and got dressed and headed off to the hospital. I figured the only thing my blood panel would do at this point was intoxicate the machine that was attempting to read it, so I skipped that test and put it off until Tuesday. Keith and I made our way over to the MRI area where I figured they'd find much more dead brain cells than they would have yesterday, only to find that the MRI had been rescheduled to 8:15 that morning. So I had to reschedule it to Tuesday. Sadly, the table tilt test was still a go.

If you've never had a table tilt test it's pretty easy to simulate. Go stand with your back to the wall. Now scoot your feet away from the wall while you're leaning against it until you're standing at a 70 degree angle. Stay there for about half an hour. Didn't pass out? Ok, that's simple, take some speed so your heart goes ballistic and try it again. Now lay down. Did you pass out yet?

I actually didn't pass out from this. I know that's weird as hell, especially to those of you who know me. It was pretty close, but it didn't happen. The good news is I don't have Pulmonary Hypertension. If I did, I would have had serious problems. They told me this after they pointed out the crash cart that was parked next to the table. They did however find out one of the things that's wrong with me.

I have Vasovagal Syncope.

This actually has a pretty easy explanation. Have you ever stood up and gotten dizzy? Everyone has. :) Now about 50% of the world's population has actually passed out from this once or twice. That's actually pretty normal. About 3% of the world's population has this happen pretty often and that's what Vasovagal Syncope is. It's a reflex of the Vagal Nerve (the largest nerve in your body) much along the way that someone throwing a fist toward your face causes you to reflexively flinch. It is treatable with Beta Blockers, which means no more booze for the punky kitty. :(

Now this isn't the end of the story, since the doc said that it's only part of the problem, but he's pretty sure now that the rest of the issue has nothing to do with Cardiology at all and is strictly neurological. So it's probably seizures. Not so bad when you look at the alternatives.