Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Heart Attack Waiting To Happen


So, my week started out with a bang.

After getting short of breath and suffering from chest pains, I decided....

1) I had indigestion, so I popped a prilosec.
2) I was suffering from anxiety due to my self-imposed 30,000 word deadline for March.
3) I was having a heart attack.

Normally, I'm the sort to totally ignore all physical symptoms until an emergency situation arises (death would constitute an emergency situation). However, on the off-chance that I was actually having a heart attack, I decided to go the emergency room Monday morning. First, I downloaded a book on my Kindle, figuring I would be waiting a while. (What? There's no rule that says you can't read a romance in the emergency room while having heart failure). They slapped the EKG doo-dads on me, and....huge sigh of relief....my ticker was doing just fine. I fist pumped into the air and yelled, "Well, all right. I was just being paranoid!" Then they told me one of my blood tests was weird, and I had to stay for chest x-rays, a CAT scan, a stress test, etc. Needless to say, four hours later I went home with my husband who figured out I've been getting exercise-induced asthma, so he gave me an inhaler. It worked great!

So, the good news is....my heart is healthy. And, I got to read a really funny book on my Kindle.

On Monday night, my son asked me if I'd been bummed as I pondered my mortality in the hospital, thinking that I would never finish my book. I told him, truthfully, that it never crossed my mind. I was thinking about my kids and my husband and how much I love them and need to focus on being healthy for their sake. My son got teary eyed and hugged me. My husband got teary eyed and hugged me. My daughter asked if she should eat the pink candy or the yellow candy.

Today I ate some spinach and went for a power walk. I'm feeling better already.

All my best,
Penelope