I've already made the rounds with this to many of you, but I have a story. A story of lists, and feelings, and doctors, and sharps, and electrodes.....
I hit "The Wall" hard on my bicycle ride this evening, couldn't catch my breath. Slowed down, pedaled home slowly. Drank some water, waited a bit for breathing to get easier. It never did. A little ache right at my sternum, not really painful. Clammy skin, sweating. Oops, hands getting tingly now. Light-headed when I stood up.
All of those things are on THAT list....
Asked Ariel (daughter-in-law) to drop everything and run me to the ER. They wheel me right back, get vitals, do an EKG, tell me I did good to come in, I'm having a heart attack!
A HEART ATTACK????!?!?! No, that can't be right. Those are supposed to HURT!!! and this is just a little ache and I can't get enough air. Nope, they say, one artery blocked, they're gonna roll me upstairs and fix it.
Stuck a thing in my leg and slid it through that artery into the blockage and popped it open. 2 minutes after that the ache was gone and I was breathing better! Feeling fine now, but they've imprisoned me in ICU with bottles and tubes and a TV screen with wavy lines and numbers and stuff. Apparently there is no plumbing up here, as they gave me a plastic bottle for when the time comes. At least it has a lid.....
So apparently a heart attack. Just a little one. (Doc corrected me saying there ARE no kittle ones!" Said it a couple of times.)
Anyway, nowhere near as much hurting involved as I would have thought. Fair warning: find yourself experiencing any combination of those items on that list, get checked. It might be worse than you think.
