Gonna be a long meandering post, so bear with me…or skip it.
So back in 2003 I was living in Portland and working wherever the boats were throwing their lines. I had just gotten back from Virginia and getting the shit kicked out of me, and not paid much at all with various hurricanes.
As was standard every time I cross the Mason Dixon line I get a nasty cold. This one was the WORST, I was essentially on my back for almost two weeks with common-cold symptoms turned up to 11. When the cold started to break my right arm and throat were achy. I assumed the pain was from coughing and excessive video game play….but it kept getting worse, so my Mom brought me to a clinic.
The clinic looked at me like I was crazy (my arm hurt, but it wasn’t tender anywhere, and there was no weakness) until they hooked me up to an EKG…then they called an ambulance to take me to the hospital because I might be having a heart-attack.
I was 24, no family history, non-smoker and I don’t do cocaine. They believed all of that but the cocaine part. Seriously, they asked it a million times, because coke is the only thing that will make a 24 year old with no family history, in good health have a heart attack.
Turned out I had a bout with Pericarditis, I spend the night hooked up to a heart monitor getting my blood drawn, and then they turned me lose with an advisory to take ibuprofen for the pain, and don’t strain myself.
I told you that story so I could tell you this one.
Last night I was headed up to bed when my left shoulder started to ache. I lifted weights the night before, and had been slacking so it could have been some soreness.
But the pain was VERY general, and more of a dull ache, and it seemed to wander into my upper arm and neck.
It reminded me of the bout with Pericarditis, so I talked to Mrs. Weer’d, and my Mom (who’s an RN), and at this stage I was getting myself a bit worked up guessing and second guessing.
So we decided to take a little trip to ye local small hospital…which is awesome by the way as the lines were short and the staff was awesome.
Fast forward 3 hours, my EKG was normal, blood work was normal, and the Ibuprofen I took before bed were working and there was no discomfort.
I was discharged with a referral to a cardiologist just-in-case.
Frankly I think I probably pulled something, but thought it felt like dissociated chest pain…which if read anything about it doesn’t feel like anything in particular, and can feel like anything.
So yeah, we got to bed at a little after 0200 this morning.
Alarm rang at 0600 so we could go into Boston to go to Mass General Hospital to talk to Mrs. Weer’ds new Epileptologist who is awesome (and because I’m a racist I think because he’s Indian that also makes him a better doctor…Her Surgeon was Arab of some sort…Brown makes good Doctors, yo!) and thinks are looking good for going forward with Weer’d-lings! Yayyyy!
So yeah that’s been my Friday so far, how’s yours?
