I Got Quite A Scare

Monday 4/24/2006 at around 1pm I started having some very serious chest pains and I was having trouble breathing. [the follow up is at the bottom of this page]

I called my regular doctor to get their input. I didn't think it was anything serious at first. Then they told me to get to the emergy room right away.

I went into panic mode thinking I was having a heart attack. I had a friend from work drive me to the emergency room where I was checked in.

The doctors and nurses were all very conserned and treated me very well. I had blood drawn, an EKG was done, chest X-Rays were taken. My blood pressure was very high compaired to normal. One reading I remember was 197/94 which is well above my normal 120/70 while resting. My heart rate was also very high at 120 beats per minute while resting when it should have been closer to 60 beats per minute.

That evening the pain went away and I was hoping to go home but that wasn't going to happen. My EKG and chest X-Rays came out looking alright but the doctors still weren't sure that this was not a heart attack so they had me stay over night and took more blood every 6 hours. I was also on a nitroglycerin drip I.V. to keep my blood pressure down and protect me in the event this was a heart attack. I was poked and prodded several times through the night. I had to take a sleeping pill just to get some rest.

Tuesday morning I got the good news that I did not have a heart attack. The doctor couldn't say exactly what it was. There are many things that have similar symptoms to a heart attack. None are as dangerous as a heart attack but some are treated with nitroglycerin just like a heart attack.

This experience really scared me. I don't smoke and I don't drink much. I don't eat a lot of fatty food, salt or other things that are known to cause health problems. I don't get as much excersize as I should. I have some changes to make to help reduce the chances of anything bad happening in the future.

I am very greatful that all of my family members called to wish me well and some came to the hospital to see me. I really didn't want a lot of people seeing me like that, especially any of the children.

Some times it takes this type of event for people to see what a precious thing life is. Me, I already knew that life, friends and family are all very precious. But this reinforced my feelings and reminded me to let people know how I feel before it is too late.

I have to do some more testing to be sure that I am really ok and that I am not at risk for a heart attack any time soon. But the big part of the scare is over now. I have been told that if I feel the pain again to call right away. There is no way for a person to tell from the pain if it is a heart attack or something else. It is always better to be safe than sorry. There is a fine line between being brave and being dead in this type of a situation.

To all my friends and family, thank you for your support and prayers. I love you all very much.

May 12, 2006 - The Follow Up

On Wednesday the 10th I went in for a stress test. This is where they inject some radio active material into the blood stream, wait for half an hour and take some pictures. They then made me walk on a treadmill to get my heart rate up and then gave me another shot and took more pictures.

The good news is that there is nothing wrong with my heart. It is getting the proper amount of blood and oxygen. My heart beat pattern is normal. I actually performed slightly better than normal on the treadmill. I was able to walk longer than the average 39 year old male. Not much but a little.

The exact cause of the scare is still unknown. There are a couple things the doctors think it could have been with stress or a panic attack being the most likely. With new work duties and dealing with some other stuff I can see how that is possibly the answer. But without a test we couldn't be sure that it wasn't more serious.

I am very happy to find out that it wasn't anything major.

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