IV Stress Test....

Friday, at Emory, I completed the strangest test I have ever been through. I knew Friday morning I was going in for a stress test. You know, run on a treadmill, get your heartrate up, EKG, blah, blah, blah.......or so I thought. I walk into the room where the test was going to be conducted and I find out they are going to give me some medication through an IV that will speed my heart up. I also find out that because I am so young they are going to have to speed my heart up....way up. My resting heart rate was about 52 beats per minute in the room and they had to get it up to 166 beats per minute. That is more than tripled! I thought, "Okay, I am an athlete. I can handle this." They gave me the medication in two minute intervals which slowly made my heart rate climb. For about 10 minutes I was fine, my heart rate was about 110 and I was thinking it wasn't so bad. At this time, I felt that i should be breathing harder because my heart was beating so fast. Another 10 minutes later, I was getting light headed and having to force myself to stay calm as my heart was literally beating out of my chest. I could feel my heartbeat in my arms, my legs, my feet, pretty much everywhere. I still wasn't breathing hard and my body was not getting the oxygen from my lungs that it was requesting, which i suppose explains some of the lightheadedness. I guess the nurses could see the concern on my face because they kept telling me it was almost over. They said that at least 25 times as they pushed more medication in me that continued to speed my heart up. After the test was over, it took about 30-45 minutes for my heart to really calm back down to normal. After about 10 minutes, my heartrate was hovering around 100 beats per minute and they let me go. I felt like I had just run a marathon and did not move an inch. My mouth was dry, I was lightheaded, and my heart was still pounding. The effects lasted for about another 30 minutes. At least that was as long as I made it before I fell asleep in the car. I was looking forward to the good jog on the treadmill but instead got speed in a syringe.

Throughout this process I am beginning to expect less and less normality. I was ready for some exercise but was in no way prepared for the workout I received.