So I had a little respiratory adventure the other night and decided to swing by the doc-in-a-box I use for some antibiotics, figuring I had a bug.
Doc listens to my chest and we wind up taking X-rays and an EKG. Good news, my lungs are fine. So's my heart... now...
Turns out some time a couple of years back I had a heart attack (inferior infarct) and just walked through the damned thing without a clue. Tells you what my life's been like. But my heartbeat, well...
For those of you who don't spend your spare time reading EKG's, let me offer you a quick musical interpretation...
Anyway, doc-in-a-box is sending me to see the nice cardiologist and we'll move on from there...
Seems like the perfect example :-)
ReplyDeleteI know, that's what scared the doc-in-a-box.
ReplyDeleteI feel your fright.
ReplyDeleteFright is the one thing I won't do. This happened years ago, and if it hasn't killed me in all that time, I refuse to act like it is going to kill me in the next five minutes. I'll go to the cardiologist, see what's what, and go on from there.
ReplyDeleteMaybe I'll just wind up with some meds for the arrythmia. Maybe I'll wind up with the Cheney Commemorative Killotron to go with my John Wayne key chain. If so, I want the one with the cool lights that glow through your shirt.
What continues to baffle me is, how did I miss a freaking heart attack. Which of the more aggravating passages in my life was I in the middle of that a heart attack wasn't annoying enough to climb out of the background noise.
Maybe the cardiologist can give me more of an idea when it happened.
Deborah Leigh said...RebeccaH, the fright he was feeling was what caused this little trip to the doc. He had to sit up to sleep because he couldn't breath. It wasn't his heart, but a nasty little bug that caused a hearty cough. Guess the little demon was a blessing because it is why they did the x-ray to check his lungs.
ReplyDeleteBut all in all, he was fine for our big whale watching adventure on Saturday. He'll be covering that soon. It will be a whale of a tale! Wait til you see the pictures!
I feel Richard's fright, because I have been through the same thing (twice) and informed there may have been at least one previous heart attack of which I was not aware (or maybe I was, out there in the garden, and ignored it).
ReplyDeleteI don't want to go. No one does. But I am going someday, and probably not that far off. Our existential fright is something we all must conquer. It's a useless waste of energy, and of our time on this earth.
My ambition is to die with an expression of great surprise in the middle of doing something interesting.
ReplyDeleteDeborah Leigh said... I hope you and Mr. H are around for many years. How is he doing? You can certainly empathize, given the last few years. It's been rough for you and for Mr. H.
ReplyDeleteFor us, the stint in the hospital in '08 was closer than initially realized. Then recently, a trip to the ER because my heart thought it was entered in a race at Santa Anita. And now, it is Richard's turn.
We all experience the intial fright. It is part of being human, and is a gage for the depth of our feelings for our loved one. Then we gain control and deal one day at a time.
Best wishes, my friend!
That happened to my dad when I was a kid. He was 40 years old when "the big one" hit him (he survived it) and while in the CCU they noticed that he'd had a heart attack at least a decade earlier and didn't even notice. My mom remembers the day though, he had come in at 28 years old looking really bad after spending the day planting over 1000 pine tree saplings on their property (it was a huge property in need of forestation), my mom wanted him to go get checked out but he refused and they eventually forgot about it, until we almost lost him 12 years later. So I guess my point is to take care of yourself and keep an eye on it, it was a WARNING and you want to heed it so something worse doesn't happen in the future. My dad was 58 when he died but he had been plagued by heart problems since that first big heart attack and it really took a lot out of his quality of life in addition to shortening the time we had with him.
ReplyDeleteSo please take care of yourself and I am sure you will be fine and avoid the things your body is trying to warn you about.
(((hugs)) The Dextrosphere is better with you IN it, so be good to yourself, please.