| |
Lucy says:
“I was so relieved to have more than just a ride home. Amy’s presence was key to my calm state of mind that day.”
|
Feared Test is Tolerated with Calm, with Support from Heed
Lucy is a 60 year-old woman who, in 2006, experienced what she thought was a heart attack. She was visiting the local library to use the computers there when she first felt what she was sure was the pain she’d read about, the one associated with heart attack.
Librarians came to her assistance and called emergency services, who took Lucy to a local hospital for assessment. Doctors found no irregularity in her heart, but as Lucy discovered, EKGs don’t show whether a heart attack has occurred, so Lucy was referred to another facility for a cardiac stress test.
Calling Heed
Lucy suffers from a hip injury, so the usual cardiac stress test consisting of walking on a treadmill wasn’t possible. Instead, doctors ordered a chemical (or adenosine) stress test. When Lucy asked about the test and what happened during it, she learned enough to make her call Heed.
The chemical that would stress her heart quite often causes the sensation of suffocation, of having someone or something very heavy on your chest, and it is during this “stress” that the heart is monitored. The doctors told her she just needed a friend to pick her up, but Lucy realized she needed more than that given her own fears about the feeling of suffocation.
Planning
Heed met with Lucy prior to her test, listened to her concerns, and suggested possible ways of supporting her. On the day of the test, the Heed advocate met her at the hospital. Though Lucy has a son who lives locally, he wasn’t the person that Lucy felt could provide her with the type of support she needed–non-emotional, focused, and professional. Yet still warm and human.
Heed was with Lucy every step of the way, from calming waiting-room anxieties to being right next to her during the stress test, talking to Lucy, encouraging her to stay present, and using the agreed-to visualization to manage the pain.
Resolution
The attending physician and resident who performed the test were amazed at how calm Lucy was during what they knew to be a sometimes very painful and stressful experience for patients. The test showed that Lucy’s heart was strong and had no problem functioning normally, even when stressed.
Read Louise's Story >
