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When You Do Everything Right and Still Have a Broken Heart
Yes, my relationships are all fine, this is a story about my actual heart.
Almost two years ago on the nose, I drove myself to the emergency room because my heart rate was sky-high, the veins in my neck were really sore, and my chest hurt a little. The day before, I’d worked 12 hours cleaning hotel rooms, running up and down stairs because the elevator was broken. This had been a thing for a few days and I was worn out. I chalked the elevated pulse rate up to being overworked, but still, stopped by my doctor’s office just in case. Their ECG wasn’t functioning so they told me to go to the ER.
I was rushed to the back, where they slapped on leads and began attempting to draw blood. Back then, my veins didn’t like to cooperate. Ever. And lab techs just loved to view this as a challenge. I was stuck no less than three times before finally, I said, “Get someone in here with some experience, I’m already anxious and in pain, I’m over this shit!”
The ER tech, who in a previous life was a paramedic, immediately got a vein and got everything they needed. To this day, he’s one of my favorite techs in that hospital. Not only was he able to do what needed to be done in a crisis (most paramedics are, they can hit a vein going 64 MPH in the back of a bus) but…
