That was fun. Not.

[feren]

So this morning I had the distinct pleasure of waking up at 3AM with searing pain in the left side of my chest. It felt like my heart was caught in a vice and there was quite a bit of pain every time I tried to move. I've never had a heart attack before, so I had no idea if that's what this was or not. Even though I didn't think it was a heart attack (I had no shortness of breath and had no other secondary symptoms I could associate off the top of my head to a heart attack) I didn't feel like finding out the hard way, so I hurriedly downed two aspirin and drove myself to the hospital for a check out.

The good news is that it wasn't a heart attack. The best guess the doctor could come with is that it's a muscle pull or bruise, though I tell you it feels a hell of a lot worse than just a strain. Further conjecture is that this is manifesting as a result of a near-perfect combination of stress, too many cigarettes, too much caffeine and "just sleeping wrong" (apparently my sleep posture is sub-optimal, or something. I just know I've been tossing and turning too much). I also found that my blood pressure is running the ragged edge of hypertension again (137/90), something I'm none too pleased to see.

I got back from the ER well before I had to go to work but I decided staying home today was probably my best bet. I'm going to quietly spend my day in the recliner and try to do some thinking in between naps. I've been thinking for a long time now that I should take an honest, more-than-a-three-day-weekend vacation (I haven't had one in over 17 months, and it's starting to show) so I guess this was my body's way of reminding me not to forget. Frankly, I would have rather it just sent those appointment reminder cards like I get from my dentist -- then I could easily ignore them and throw them out with the rest of the trash.

On and on, does anybody know what we are looking for?

Comments

[chebutykin.livejournal.com]

Glad to hear you're okay! Take it easy.

You know, I hear that El Loro food is good for stress relief. *looks around shiftily*

[moryssa.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you're ok, hon. As if I didn't worry about you enough... ;)

[linnaeus.livejournal.com]

Shit. Well, I'm glad it wasn't serious.

Here's to taking some time off, getting a little of that deferred maintenance on body/mind/etc. in.

Take care, man.

[duncandahusky.livejournal.com]

Good gods. Thank heavens it wasn't anything more serious. I agree 100% about that vacation - you need it, you deserve it.

Take care of yourself, man. You're too good a friend to lose.

[almanzo.livejournal.com]

Ow.

Take care of yourself.

[roho.livejournal.com]

Holy crap! Glad it wasn't a heart attack...If nothing else, I have the distinct impression too many people at The Tower would take that as a sign of victory. "Yes, we're finally getting our money's worth out of this one. We've worked him to the point of circulatory failure!"

I think a break sounds like a damn fine idea. I actually think an overseas vacation would do you some serious good...It would get you away from the old settings and all their associations, out of reach of work/social drama and obligations, and into a setting where pretty much your only choice is to relax and enjoy yourself!

[points.livejournal.com]

Sounds like when I finally fell over of exhaustion, back when I was living in Colorado. That involved an ER visit, too. :/

Well, you're welcome to come hang out with Sean, myself and the pups here anytime. :)

[roho.livejournal.com]

If he's trying to recover his health, are you sure having him around Shad is a good idea? ;)

[harlee-one.livejournal.com]

*SIGHS and hugs tight* Yes, yes.. You absolutely deserve a grand vacation. I may not know you as well as some of your friends, but I do know that you have been working way too hard lately and deserve that vacation. I too am glad it wasn't serious.

[genet.livejournal.com]

Sweet christ. I wondered where you were today... God.

By all means, take a vacation! We'll happily take care of Ra for you.

[arphalia.livejournal.com]

I was put into panic mode, then relieved to find it wasn't a heart attack. *hugs close* Take a vacation. Somehow. You need one, deserve one. I wish I could send to to Ireland and to the field I took a nap, in grass so soft it was bouyant. I'm at a loss for words and am left with only a stream of gentle imagery for you in hopes to tempt you to seek such imagery out for a vacationary surrounding. Find a place you've always wanted to see - and go.

[frostyw.livejournal.com]

That sounds very familiar to an experience I had many years ago. I was feeling some uncomfortable tightness in my chest and insisted to my folks that someone take me down to the local hospital to be checked. Fortunately, it was not cardiac arrest because I would have been dead by the time they got around to taking a better look at me. Actually, after laying in the room for two hours, someone came along and I asked to be released. The nearest guess I have is that I was carrying a pair of rather large network bridges earlier in the day and that I pulled some big shoulder muscles.

[captain18.livejournal.com]

The Dinosaur Barbeque is calling you... :oD

[yotogi.livejournal.com]

Get out of town. Go somewhere, and leave the pager at home.

[arrowtwolf.livejournal.com]

This is likely not what you have, since you don't have shortness of breath. I just thought it was pretty funny that you said something I said about 3 months ago, back when I had this sudden sharp pain in the left side of my chest/back. It hurt like a bitch to lay down. Quote:

"I went to an urgent care center on Saturday. It turns out I had a muscle strain in my chest wall. I had no idea a muscle strain could hurt that fucking much. It's slowly gotten less painful over the weekend to the point where I barely notice it today, but it was difficult sleeping the past 3 nights."

A few weeks later I went back and got a correct diagnosis following a chest X-ray: spontaneous partially collapsed lung.

Smoking probably puts you at more risk for that, but if there's no problems breathing then it's probably something different.