A Dose of Perspective
Yesterday, while I was lying in a hospital bed in the cardio unit at Abbott Northwestern, they wheeled an old man down the hall who was definitely near the end..."WHAT? YOU WERE IN THE HOSPITAL?"
Errr...yeah. I was having chest pains this week end, and Monday morning I started having some of the more advanced symptoms of a heart attack like shortness of breath and such. In light of my other medical issues of late, I decided not to be a hero and went to the hospital.
They hooked me up to all types of monitors, took lots of blood, gave me aspirin and nitroglycerin, and endlessly interrogated me about my health issues, my families health issues, and so on. After a couple rounds of the nitro, the pains went away.
I ended up having 2 of the 3 major indicators of a heart attack. Something about the enzymes in my blood and physical symptoms. I'm not quite sure were that leaves me, but today I go back in for further testing to see if there is any damage to my heart.
As far as prospective goes, a year ago I would have tried to tough something like this out. I won't know for a few days what happened, but I do know what could have happened: The old man I was writing about in the first paragraph tried to tough it out. What good is it for me to be 'macho' and end up...well, dead.
Errr...yeah. I was having chest pains this week end, and Monday morning I started having some of the more advanced symptoms of a heart attack like shortness of breath and such. In light of my other medical issues of late, I decided not to be a hero and went to the hospital.
They hooked me up to all types of monitors, took lots of blood, gave me aspirin and nitroglycerin, and endlessly interrogated me about my health issues, my families health issues, and so on. After a couple rounds of the nitro, the pains went away.
I ended up having 2 of the 3 major indicators of a heart attack. Something about the enzymes in my blood and physical symptoms. I'm not quite sure were that leaves me, but today I go back in for further testing to see if there is any damage to my heart.
As far as prospective goes, a year ago I would have tried to tough something like this out. I won't know for a few days what happened, but I do know what could have happened: The old man I was writing about in the first paragraph tried to tough it out. What good is it for me to be 'macho' and end up...well, dead.
Posted by Surly Dave on
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
No seriously man, I hope all is ok.
Just hope you have insurance.
Stay on top of it, do what the docs tell you (at least for a few more days) and let us know what's going on. I'm sure you're still under "warranty", but the Rev. Mother and I will assist any way we can.