HOW I SPENT CINCO DE MAYO, or That Was Some Pretty Bad Coffee!

NOT YOUR NORMAL SATURDAY

Yesterday was a little unusual. 

I got up at my usual early hour, made coffee, and sat down to think and read for a while.  At some point, I became aware of pain in my chest on the left side.  Not really severe, but enough to make me take notice.  It was very localized, my chest felt really tight, and it was uncomfortable.

At first, I thought it was the result of exercising.  Since my workout is on Thursday afternoons, I am always the most sore on Saturday.  But this was not muscle soreness.  It felt different from anything I had ever felt before.  Of course, I got on the web and started to do a few searches on chest pain. 

One of the first links I came across was this one - Women and Heart Attacks  I knew that for women, the symptoms of a heart attack are different from those of a man, and that, statistically, women are less likely to go to the hospital with their symptoms, according to this article. (Do you know why that is?  They don't want to bother anyone! )

Here are some of the symptoms of a heart attack:

1. A strange sensation in the chest, especially in the left side, as a fullness sensation, pain or squeezing
2. Heartburn - you can precisely indicate where the pain is located
3. Indigestion or pain in the upper middle abdomen
4. Shortness of breath and difficulties in respiration, dispnea
5. Jaw pain, toothache, headache
6. Nausea, abdominal discomfort or vomiting
7. Arm pain, more common the left arm, irradiating in the left shoulder and upper back
8. Sweating
9. General malaise and feeling of illness, fear, indisposition or anxiety
10. No symptoms - more than 1/4 of all heart attacks are silent, painless and no symptoms. Silent heart attacks seems to be the most dangerous - the patient isn't seeking medical care and this may have consequences. (1)

According to the CDC, Heart Disease is the biggest killer of women.  Twenty-five percent of all women die as a result of heart disease.(2)   Another article validates the prevalence of heart disease and why it often goes untreated:

Heart disease is the No. 1 killer of U.S. men and women, accounting for 40% of all U.S. deaths. That's more than all forms of cancer combined.
Why is heart disease so deadly? One reason is that many people are slow to seek help when symptoms arise. Yes, someone gripped by sudden chest pain probably knows to call 911. But heart symptoms aren't always intense or obvious, and they vary from person to person and according to gender. (3)

In my family, my dad had quadruple bypass surgery in his sixties and has an artificial valve.  His mother died of a sudden heart attack at 45.  My mother's mother died suddenly of coronary heart disease.  Of all the things that are likely problems for me, heart disease is at the top of the list.

SO, armed with a plethora of facts, a family history and a tightness in my chest, I ended up walking into the bedroom, waking Jim up and saying "I want to go to St. Vincent's.  I think something is up with my heart."  (How is that for a great way to wake up?)

THE EMERGENCY ROOM

Let me tell you this, if you walk in to an ER and say "I seem to be having some symptoms of a heart attack", things will spring into action.  There were nurses at the desk immediately.  Of course, I walked in on my own and certainly wasn't in any obvious distress, but they took me back, set up the EKG, and had a couple of vials of blood out of me within 20 minutes.  I am sure that if I had really been in distress, it would have been even faster.  

The doctor came in and took a history.  This week, I had been more tired than usual, sleeping less and working harder than normal. I had gone up to the park on Wednesday to run and couldn't even run 100 meters before I was walking again. I just did one lap around the lake and had headed for home.   Two weeks ago, I had run the full 5K.  He also heard about my family history and all those 33 radiation treatments on the left side.  "I would like to just hold you for the day and get 2 more blood samples to check for any damage.  Things look good, but considering your family history and the radiation, it would probably be best to run those labs."

So, we waited about 30 minutes and a room was ready for us upstairs.  

THE SUITE

We were taken to an amazing suite on the third floor.  It had tons of room and overlooked the city.  We could have had a Cinco de Mayo party in there with no problem (except for the small issue of being in the hospital.)

After I was settled, Jim headed home, got some stuff for me and our computers, and came back up to the room.  And so we sat for the next 12 hours - Jim on his computer, me in the bed with a bunch of monitors on me.
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At one point, the doctor came in and asked a lot of the same questions as the ER doctor.  I asked her if she could make any sense of this.  She said, it could be acid reflux from the coffee.  (I am not doubting that possibility, because I know that can happen, but it really wasn't even that strong!) And, this is a good doctor, so I am not slamming her in any way.  It is just that apart from my minimal pain and tightness, there really weren't any indications of a problem.

The only break in the monotony was the lunch and dinner trays.  I wasn't faithful on the Paleo, but I sure enough didn't eat the Mystery Meat!  I did have a little snack, though.  On Paleo, you can have pure dark chocolate.  This was the closest substitute from the vending machines >>>

I basically sat there the entire day, played way too much Bejeweled on my phone, and read a bit.  It was pretty boring. 

The other thing I did was second guess myself as to why I had thought it necessary to make such a big deal out of a little tightness in my chest. 

FINAL VERDICT

After the third blood draw, they ran the tests and the nurse came in around 8PM and said we were free to go.  Had they found anything?  Nothing. Nada. Zip. 

So, the nurse unplugged me, pulled out the IV, I got dressed and we headed home.  When we got here, I pulled out the chips, salsa and guacamole, got Jim a beer (I had my usual glass of wine) and we celebrated what was left of Cinco de Mayo.

And that was that....  Crazy day.

TO BE CONTINUED...