Oops, I Did it Again!

It seems that once every 4 years or so my body decides it’s time for the old heart attack scare. Today was the day.

After breakfast I set out the heating pad on the bed and laid my sore back on it. I had today’s paper with me and set about reading it and doing the daily word jumble. I’ve had aches and pains in my chest ever since my gymnastics injury on the parallel bars in high school. It’s not unusual to have a short pain—usually right where my heart is because I separated a couple of ribs in that area. I also had been doing some lifting in the past couple of days so some aches would not be unexpected. (a strained back was not expected but again not unusual).

The first time I went to a doctor about that pain was when I lived in Baltimore in 1970. I again consulted a doctor about it when we moved here and it was diagnosed as a muscular skeletal issue.

So this morning when I got a small flash of pain in that area It didn’t concern me—until I suddenly got a sinking feeling, got very tired, broke out in a cold sweat, had my vision begin to tunnel and proceeded to tremble—especially in my hands and arms. The whole sequence lasted about a minute, maybe 2 but it left me feeling “not right”. This is similar to what has happened twice before in the last 8 years. The first time I overate at Thanksgiving and it was diagnosed as likely being indigestion. The second time it was the old wake up in bed with a pain in the chest. That’s always an interesting experience. Today I didn’t have any sharp pain, it wasn’t radiating down my arm and I wasn’t short of breath. So I waited to see how things would be.

About an hour later it happened again. Then about an hour and a half later when I lay back in the recliner to rip some stitches for Penny. In the past I went to the emergency room much more quickly but this time I waited because the symptoms were so similar to my previous 2 visits. The difference this time, however and the reason I finally went to the ER (apart from Penny insisting) was I just didn’t feel right. Even after I had no major symptoms for about 3 hours I just wasn’t right. This was different than the past. How many times have you heard or read that someone complained about not feeling well and later had a heart attack? I called my doctor’s office and told them what was up and the receptionist said and I quote, “You silly! Get yourself to the ER. We don’t take any chances with chest pain.” Penny also insisted I call the doctor because she knew what they would say.

The ER experience wasn’t bad. They take you back immediately if you have chest pain (a good thing to know—I have chest pain and oh by the way can you look at this finger I just happened to almost cut off?). The triage nurse wasn’t as prompt as he should have been but once they brought me to my curtained room they were very efficient. Of course, I was now feeling better by the minute. After I got into the mandatory rear-vented gown, the nurse hooked up to an EKG, pt on an oxygen nosepiece took my blood pressure and temperature and drew some blood for lab work. At the same time another young lady showed up with a laptop computer and took all my personal info. Penny joined me at this point and I horsed around trying to make funny patterns on the screen monitoring my vital functions while we waited for the doctor.

The doc finally showed, asked me some relevant questions, said my symptoms were low risk for a heart attack, said he would get lab work on my blood and have an x-ray taken to make sure nothing strange was occurring inside me. He was soft spoken and seemed to be a nice guy.

About 15 minutes later the x-ray tech (Joanne) showed up, took my picture and left. About a half hour later I was told I was OK and released. Total time in the ER—about 2 ½ hours. Not a fun way to spend the afternoon.

We went to the library from the ER the Publix for milk and stuff and finally back home.

Tonight I am feeling OK. My tummy is a little upset (I didn’t eat lunch because I didn’t feel like it) and I still feel a little off. I haven’t had any more pain or dizziness since 10:30 AM. I didn’t get a lot done today with my back and my trip to the ER. Hopefully tomorrow will be better. Now if I can just get through the night with no issues.