So, I spent a good chunk of the weekend in the hospital, with all sorts of electrodes taped to my body. 
I started feeling just not so swell at GenCon...tired, and occasionally a racing pulse. I hoped I'd feel better when I got home (sleeping in my own bed, actually *getting* sleep, etc.), but I didn't. And, I started to feel a little tightness in my chest.
So, on Friday morning, I went in to the doctor. First thing he notes is that my blood pressure is pretty high. That, combined with the chest tightness, leads him to say, "You're going to the hospital, they're going to want to run tests."
By 1pm on Friday, I'm in the ER, with a EKG machine strapped to me, and getting all sorts of blood samples taken.
By about 6pm, they've decided that they didn't *think* I'd had a cardiac incident (chest x-ray normal, blood enzymes normal, and by then, my BP was down to 120/80), but they wanted to hold me overnight for another couple of rounds of tests, and for a stress test in the morning.
They admit me, and once up in an actual hospital room, the nurse informs me (and my wife, who's about apoplectic at this point) that they don't *do* stress tests on the weekend, and thus I might be in the hospital until Monday. Sigh.
Well, after a fairly sleepless night (hard to sleep with a 2-pound EKG telemetry box stuffed in your pocket), Saturday morning, I saw the cardiologist, and the General Practitioner. They didn't see any concerns in any of the tests (other than my triglycerides being a bit high), and were willing to release me, and have me come back in for a stress test as an outpatient (they don't expect to see anything in the stress test, but they need to cover all the bases). Their best guess is that I worried myself into some scary symptoms.
Having just had my 40th birthday, I knew I was due for some sort of "epiphany" moment with my health. I just thank the deity that it turned out to be nothing.
I started feeling just not so swell at GenCon...tired, and occasionally a racing pulse. I hoped I'd feel better when I got home (sleeping in my own bed, actually *getting* sleep, etc.), but I didn't. And, I started to feel a little tightness in my chest.
So, on Friday morning, I went in to the doctor. First thing he notes is that my blood pressure is pretty high. That, combined with the chest tightness, leads him to say, "You're going to the hospital, they're going to want to run tests."
By 1pm on Friday, I'm in the ER, with a EKG machine strapped to me, and getting all sorts of blood samples taken.
By about 6pm, they've decided that they didn't *think* I'd had a cardiac incident (chest x-ray normal, blood enzymes normal, and by then, my BP was down to 120/80), but they wanted to hold me overnight for another couple of rounds of tests, and for a stress test in the morning.
They admit me, and once up in an actual hospital room, the nurse informs me (and my wife, who's about apoplectic at this point) that they don't *do* stress tests on the weekend, and thus I might be in the hospital until Monday. Sigh.
Well, after a fairly sleepless night (hard to sleep with a 2-pound EKG telemetry box stuffed in your pocket), Saturday morning, I saw the cardiologist, and the General Practitioner. They didn't see any concerns in any of the tests (other than my triglycerides being a bit high), and were willing to release me, and have me come back in for a stress test as an outpatient (they don't expect to see anything in the stress test, but they need to cover all the bases). Their best guess is that I worried myself into some scary symptoms.
Having just had my 40th birthday, I knew I was due for some sort of "epiphany" moment with my health. I just thank the deity that it turned out to be nothing.
