Bradycardia

Alexithymiaa: -Steph sat in the waiting room patiently waiting to be called in for her appointment. She'd been told to come prepared for the stress test, so she was in work out clothes and brought a bottle of water with her. Leaning forward to rest her elbows on her knees, she blew out a deep breath, trying to settle the nerves she didn't actually want to show since she was trying to brush this off.-
Covet: Felix was sitting next to her waiting with her. He was watching her face rather intently seeing how brave she was trying to look. He reached over and took her hand giving it a gentle squeeze. "You alright there Red?"
Alexithymiaa: -She snapped her head up to look at him when he took her hand, nodding her head. "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm sure we're not actually going to find anything, it was probably just a fluke." She said with a shrug, her eyes drifting over to the nurse who had called out her name. She picked up her bottle of water and pushed up to her feet, beginning to follow the nurse silently. // Thr nurse walked with Steph's chart down the hall, turning into a room with treadmills and EKG machines. "You can set your things down anywhere, and we'll go ahead and get you all hooked up."-
Covet: Felix looked at her and gave her a Smile as he followed behind her. He ran a hand through his hair, he'd been doing his damnedest to cut his smoking way back, all weekened. Unfortunately that was giving him a serious nicotine itch. The only thing saving him right now was how much his concern for her.
Alexithymiaa: -Steph nodded and set her water down, stepping up onto the treadmill and into place as the nurse worked around her to start sticking the wired sensors to her chest. She watched her carefully, only flinching under her hands once which was kind of an improvement from her usual shying away from nurses. Once the nurse finished, she exhaled the breath she'd been holding, her eyes glancing over to Felix who looked about as comfortable as she felt. // Pretty nurse smiled at Steph once she was done, turning to encompass Felix in her glance as she spoke. "Doctor Warner will be in momentarily." She turned to walk out of the room, closing the door behind her.-
Covet: He watched as the nurse put all the sensors on her, he'd pulled out a toothpick from his pocket and stuck it in his mouth, if for anything to keep his mind on something else, which essentially means he's going to chew on it until it's no longer a toothpick. He looked at the nurse as she told them the doc would be in soon. Felix gave her a nod then looked back at Steph.
Alexithymiaa: -The second she heard the door click closed behind the nurse, Steph swung her glance around to look at Felix, leaning her forearms down on the handles of the treadmill. "Where did you even get that from?" // Doctor Warner made his way down the hallway to their room, opening the door and stepping inside. Closing the door behind him, he walked over to Steph with a smile. "It's good to see you again. I just wish it were under better circumstances. Rest assured, we'll get to the bottom of any problems you're experiencing. So we're going to start off slow to ease into this and progress from there. If at any point you feel abnormal, and this includes expecially short of breath, dizzy, light headed, faint, or tingling in your extemities, please let me know." He moved over to the monitor to begin recordng before turning the treadmill on to a walking pace.-
Covet: Felix looked at her raising an eyebrow pointing to his pocket, "In my pocket?". When the Doc came in Felix listened to him then of course in proper Felix fashion he had to open his big mouth, "I'm pretty sure she's not going to tell you if she faints, but don't worry you'll know."
Alexithymiaa: (This guy)
Alexithymiaa: "Why do you carry toothpicks in your pocket?" She mumbled as she started walking on the treadmill, nodding her head to the doctor. // "Feeling faint. Not fainting. Big difference. We're not going to let anything get to that point." He spoke as he watched the monitor, slowly upping the speed on the treadmill to a light jog.-
Covet: "Because they're useful to have. Oral fixation." he told her then looked at the doctor giving a nod of his head, "Yeah, yeah I got it." He leaned against the counter watching them while he fidgeted with the toothpick.
Alexithymiaa: -She picked up her pace as she started to jog, trying her best to regulate her breathing. Despite her best efforts, she could feel herself struggling to catch her breath, darting a glance at the doctor. "Short... of breath." // Doctor Warner nodded and marked the time down on his chart with a few notes from the monitor. "As long as you're comfortable with it, I'd like to keep going from here with a little added speed. If you feel you need to stop, let me know." He said as he turned the speed up so she was actually running now.-
Covet: Felix watched them keeping an eye on her, but not interfering because this guy's a doctor after all. He shifted when he said he wanted her to continue trying not to show how uncomfortable he was with that, even if it was necessary.
Alexithymiaa: -Steph nodded her head, picking up her pace to match the belt of the treadmill. She could feel her chest tightening a bit as it got harder to breath, her head beginning to float on her shoulders. She opened her mouth to speak, but was desperately trying to catch her breath. // Doctor Warner watched her intently, his eyes jumping back to the monitor when he saw a handful of spikes. "Stop." He spoke abruptly, giving her enough notice before he actually hit the button so she didnt keep running when he turned it off. Offering her a hand, he assisted her over to take a seat, pulling his pen light from his doctor pocket and shining it in her eyes to examine. "Alright, have some water. I'll be right back." He spoke before turning to grab her chart and exiting the room.-
Covet: Felix was not at all reassured by the Doctor's response as he looked at Steph, walking over to her as he left. "Well that was informative as fuck. You alright?" He asked her looking at her as if he could magically see what was wrong.
Alexithymiaa: -She blinked a few times now that she was seeing spots from the light, picking up her water to take a few sips before nodding, beginning to catch her breath. "Yeah. Just... a little light headed."-
Covet: "Okay, now give me the honest answer. He wouldn't have rushed out like that if it was just you being short of breath." He said chewing on the tooth pick absentmindedly.
Alexithymiaa: -She took another few short sips of water before shrugging her shoulders. "I don't really know why he rushed out. I mean yeah I felt kind of shitty, but not any more shitty I normally feel when I'm running. And I've never fainted while running before so...." // Doctor Warner came back into the room with her chart in his hands and a few reading materials, brochures, laminated pictures, etc. Taking a seat, he set everything down in his lap, looking at Steph. "How do you feel?"-
Covet: Felix furrowed his brow at her, chewing on the little stick harder. He wasn't really sure if her statement was believable but before he could question further, the Doctor came back in. He saw a bunch of the things in his hand and tried to catch a glimpse of what iw was he had, but he was unsuccessful.
Alexithymiaa: "I feel okay now. Not exactly the greatest before, but nothing unusual." She said as she fumbled with her water bottle, her eyes drifting down to the things in his lap. // Doctor Warner nodded, starting to speak. "Well, I'm fairly certain with the outcome of your stress test that I can confirm a diagnosis. Have you ever heard of Bradycardia?" He asked them both, only pausing a moment because he kind of anticipated the answer to be no so he continued on anyway. "Bradycardia is an abnormally slow heart rate, which would be below sixty beats per minute. During high stress, your heart was registering forty which coincides with previous EKG's done that confirmed tissue damage in your heart brought on by your eating disorder." He paused again, cause a lot of information. "Your heart is firing electrical impulses at a much slower rate due to this tissue damage. It's ranked into first through third degree heart block, with third being the most severe. At this point I'd put you at second degree heart block which can be easily managable."-
Covet: Felix listened taking in all that information. "So, how exactly does she manage this?" He asked confused because this sounded like something pretty serious given that it is her heart, and it's damaged.
Alexithymiaa: -Steph chewed on the inside of her cheek as she listened to him, already knowing she had some sort of heart damage since that was a previous diagnosis, but this sucked. "So... you're saying I did this to myself..." // He nodded his head, passing over one of the brochures and flipping it open to the inside. "First and foremost, a healthy diet and overall keeping yourself healthy will prevent any further damage or complications. We're going to keep an eye on your cholesteral as well as your blood pressure. When it comes to your physical activity, I don't want you doing more than fifteen or twenty minutes of cardio exercise at a time. We do want to promote a little bit each day just to help strengthen your heart, but anything more than that poses the risk of those usual symptoms you feel which obviously is not good. If these things arent working for you, we're also able to add medication therapy, but we don't want to jump right to that if it can be managed without it." He paused, looking at Steph a bit apprehensive to answer her. "Well... yes. You did. But that doesn't mean you're not working to improve this and at this point, that's what matters."-
Covet: Felix listened intently, "She's been doing pretty good diet wise. It's getting better as we go." He mentioned to the doctor. "So basically you're saying I have a reason to get after her if she's been over doing it? Can I get a doctor's note for that, just for future use."
Alexithymiaa: -Steph nudged Felix in the side with her elbow, taking a deep breath. "Okay... and for arguments sake, what happens if i don't? What happens if I overdo it. What are the risks?" // Doctor Warner started to laugh at Felix. "I'll be sure to write up a note for you. But the risks of continuing beyond that point vary. It could be as simple as the ones you've experienced before, fatigue, dizziness, light headedness and fainting. These are all caused by a lack of oxygen enriched blood flowing to the brain with your increased physical activity. In these cases, you need to stop whatever activity you're doing immediately and it helps to ellevate your feet which will increase blood flow to your brain. In cases of fainting, this should also help you regain consciousness." He spoke evenly, darting a glance at Felix because he anticipated this bitch to be a fucking problem. "If you continue to be careless, it could be potentially fatal with heart failure or cardiac arrest, but I trust you won't go against my advice and we won't have to worry about that."-
Covet: He listened to the doctor intently and nodded his head, putting his arms around her, "She won't, she doesn't really have much choice in the matter." Felix said glancing at her, " The point is to get your heart stronger again, right? So overdoing it would be bad...because you'd just be hurting yourself, not helping."
Alexithymiaa: -She sucked in a deep breath because words like 'heart failure' and 'cardiac arrest' werent sitting right with her, pulling away from Felix so she could stand up from her chair. "Right... I just... I need some air." She said quickly as she stepped away from them, walking to the door to step out into the hallway, her eyes glancing in either direction before turning in search of the exit. // "Exactly. Keeping stress levels down helps as well." He said as Steph stood up, leaning back so she didn't bowl him over on her way out. "Ms. Robinson, if you have any questions or further concerns, you can call me!" He yelled after her with a bit of defeat because he knew this was a little upsetting to hear.-
Covet: Felix held his hands out for the information that the doctor intended to give her, and grabbed the rest of Steph's things that she'd brought in. "I'll do my best to keep her as stressless as possible. Thanks Doc, I'm going to hunt her down before she makes a run for it." He walked out of the room seeing her turn a corner as he followed her. "Steph, wait up. The Jeep's not unlocked and you left all your stuff. " He said fumbling with everything as he caught up to her.
Alexithymiaa: -She slowed when she heard Felix's voices, running her hands back over her ponytail and exhaling deeply. She lowered her eyes to her feet, pulling her arms around her middle. "I did this to myself. This is my fault."-
Covet: "C'mon." Felix pt his arm around her and walked with her as they made their way out towards the car. He wanted to get her out of the hospital and away from people, where it was just them to talk. He opened the door for her and helped her get in, before climbing in himself. "Yes.... you did, and yes it is... But you caught it early enough that it can be managed. So don't go beating yourself up about it. You didn't ignore it, you came in here today, did you not?" He asked her.
Alexithymiaa: -She walked out of the hospital with him silently, stepping up to the Jeep and climbing into the passenger seat. Slumping down in her seat, she turned her head to look at him. "Coming in to assess the damage doesnt take away the damage. And this is just another thing on a long list that I've brought on myself."-
Covet: "Okay, and what is beating yourself up about it going to achieve? Another item on that list? You know what the damage is, you know how to keep it from getting worse." He told her plainly like it was effortless. "You've already started without even realizing it, by making sure to eat healthy."
Alexithymiaa: "It doesnt really work like that. Just because it doesn't schieve anything doesnt mean I can just flip a switch and turn off how I feel about it." She spoke with a pout because she was going to be a baby about this tonight. "And if I'd have done that from the start, none of this would have happened."-
Covet: "So what... you're just going to sit there and mope about all the things you could have done differently, like you could go back and make those changes? Life doesn't work like that. I'm not asking you to flip a switch and turn off how you feel, though I'm sure they make a medication for that, I'm just asking you not to give up on yourself because of this pretty intense news."
Alexithymiaa: "I'm not giving up on myself and I never said that. But I'm allowed to be less than enthusiastic about the fact that I could essentially die of heart failure at any time." She tipped her head to the side to rest it against the window, biting on the inside of her cheek. "Can we just go home, please?"-
Covet: "Only if you over work yourself. Which you're not going to do. We'll work on your heart Tinman, while we work on everything else. Demons." He told her reaching over to put his hand on her leg. "Sure." He said with a heavy sigh as he started up his vehicle and headed that direction.