I went to Alia’s house to get help with the kids.  Seems the family was busy.. so I took the kids and went to a friend’s house. I felt bad about keeping both kids with her, so Tala stayed and I took Aboudi and headed back home.  All this movement is trying.. I can barely make it to the car. I’m moving at Sloth speed, and yet still, panting.

Back at home, I spent a couple of hours trying to reach a doctor at Kaiser.  When I finally got through to the nurse advice line, I left messages for Dr. Sing, Dr. Klayton and their nurses. Finally, I got an appointment that afternoon.

Having left Tala one friend’s house, I  dropped Aboudi off at a neighbor’s and drove to Kaiser Falls Church. Dr. Sing performed an EKG, informed me that I had 3rd degree heart block and need to be admitted to Fairfax hospital.  He asked me to call a family member to come along.

I was so relieved that someone was going to fix what’s wrong, I didn’t really hear or care to get clarification on the diagnosis.  I called my husband who was in a meeting at the time,  he suggested I call mom to pick me up.

Within a few minutes, my mother picked me up and drove to Fairfax hospital. She seemed distressed and asked why the doctor is sending me there.  At this point, I was feeling lightheaded, and didn’t have the energy to respond.

At the front desk, a nurse waited for me with a wheelchair.  I was admitted to the cardiac step down unit. Shortly thereafter, my left arm started going numb. Minutes later, my heart raced for a couple of minutes and I couldn’t breath. With an oxygen mask, I was quickly transferred to the Cardiac Care Unit.