Nice little respite?

So, on Thursday I felt a pain in my shoulder and it kinda went into my chest and really, I thought I had indigestion. I had just eaten a sandwich, so Jackie offered me some gas-x. Took the gas-x and some advil liquid-gels for the pain in the shoulder and neither one made a dent in the pain. It go so bad at one point that it took my breath away and brought tears to my eyes. At that point, Jackie made me call my Dr. who told me to go to the ER.

Well, I'm really not the ER type. I don't want to go to the hospital for anything and I always think anything going on with me is minor and will fix itself or go away, I just have to endure it. So, I called Conrad and all I could get out was "can you come get me?" before I broke down and couldn't talk anymore. I handed the phone to Jackie and she told him what was going on and he was on his way. Jackie then sent me down to the nurse's office to lay (lie?) down but it hurt more to lie down so I just sat there then there was a knock on the door.

Mr. Simon (the principal) and my boss, Dan were there (talk about scary!) just to keep me company and calm me down. Mr. Simon took my blood pressure (note to self: Don't let Mr. Simon take your blood pressure!) and I don't remember what the top number was but the bottom one was 115 the second time and I think it was higher the first time. That was crazy! I think my blood pressure was up because I was scared and in pain.

So Conrad gets there and I have him take me to Care Now (Doc-in-the-box) and that Dr. told me that if I were his mother, I would be in the ER. I couldn't really find any argument to that because as he said if it's your heart (which all indicators were pointing to) you don't mess around. So, Conrad took me to the ER.

I just had him drop me off because we had all three girls with us - I mean really? What are they going to do but hang out in the ER waiting room and collect germs. I sent them home. My friend Chrstina called and asked where I was and she said she'd be right there. I told her she didn't need to come but she was having none of it. I got called back pretty quick, had an EKG then was sent to a room and Christina was there not long after and after another minute, the phone in the exam room was ringing.

Now, me? I was thinking "why is the phone ringing?" The nurse lady answered it and handed it to Christina. Then I thought "how does anyone know she's here?". Not thinking real clearly, I don't think. It ended up being my mother and my first thought was "Oh, Conrad called Mom" and then I thought "but he's going to worry her needlessly". And then I thought "quit thinking, just get better". OK, I really didn't think that last part but I'm tired of the quote marks. Anyway, I couldn't understand how my mom got the number for the ER exam room and I was a bit confused about all the things going on around me.

Here's what I remember about the ER exam room visit: Star Trek was on the TV and there was no sound. Christina was there and being my advocate and I was happy she was there. I was told I'd be spending the night in the hospital - a first since the only time I'd ever been in a hospital, since I was about 5, was to have a baby. I was scared. I had my first dose EVER of morphine and I liked it.

So, up to my room, we met Conrad and Madeline on the way up because for some reason when they move you to a room, they wheel you - in your bed - through the halls of the main hospital. My room is actually very nice. I have two windows (although I am above the garbage dumpster which gets emptied at 4 am - just in case you wondered) and wooden floors and very grape leaf looking wall paper. It's large, I think. Of course, I don't go to the hospital much so I don't have much to compare it to but it's home until tomorrow.

So, I thought I would go home on Friday but the cardiologist came in and wanted to do a stress test and an echocardiogram. Bad news - they dont' do stress tests over the weekend so I have to stay until Monday. Great. Not happy about that. I told him I'd happily stay if I could have some more morphine. He said "NO". I think he thinks I liked it a little too much. But, my cardiologist is nice and has a good bedside manner and made me laugh which is more than I can say for any of the other doctors I've seen (or not seen) in this hospital.

So, here I sit, in a comfy hospital bed, watching olympics at will, playing on my computer and phone and taking it easy. Yeah, I would actually rather be home but since I'm not, I'll make the best of it and treat it like a mini vacation (expensive mini vacation).

OH, mom knew about my episode because Sadie promptly went home and posted on her Facebook that her mom had gone to the ER. My cousin must have seen it immediately and called my Aunt, who promptly called my mom. So, FB has it's usefullness. I didn't think to call anyone because I wasn't really thinking clearly. But, it's obvious to me that an emergency plan will need to be in place in case this ever happens again. Hopefully it won't!

So, right now, we're in a holding patteren just waiting for the stress test tomorrow. I'm sure I'll get to go home on Monday so my incarceration is almost over! Mom is here and I plan on beating her at a few games of cards and I'm involved in about 7 games of "words with friends" on my phone. And, of course, there's a constant stream of people in and out of my room daily. Some more welcome than others! So, I'm keeping busy. Please feel free to stop by if you're in the area - you'd be one of the welcome ones!