That's not today's date, of course. Today is the 13th, four days later. I survived the 9th.
I woke up on Saturday with my right arm feeling a little "light," for lack of a better word. It was a little earlier than usual for a Saturday morning. I walked out and turned on my computer, then realized there was nothing I particularly wanted to do with it, so I shut it off. During this period, Jessica also woke up. We decided to go to Einstein for our weekly coffee and bagel fix.
I felt worse on the way over, like I used to feel when I was 20 and drinking wine coolers, which were what I could most often get at the time. My armpits felt just like that - icy and hot at the same time, my heart was a little arrhythmic, etc. Just like back then. As it always has done in the pat, it "popped," and went away. I felt great.
We get to Einstein and I didn't feel so good again. This time it was just a little worse. Again, nothing to worry about, we've done this before. Jessica noticed I wasn't comfortable but she attributed it to my ankle, since I sprained it, ironically, on a concrete curb on a wheelchair ramp. I paid for the coffee and the bagels and we went to sit down. After I'd poured my coffee I popped again and felt great.
I'd decided that I wanted a real breakfast so we decided to hit up Denny's by Countryside Mall. When we left to go, it came on again, this time a little worse. It stretched from my armpits to my chest and down the insides of my arms. Halfway to Denny's, it popped again and I was again golden.
We got there and it was getting bad. I told the waitress that there were two of us, and asked for a glass of orange juice, since it seemed to my like I was having a bit of an odd sugar problem, like I was out of whack. This time, the pain went across my chest, down the insides of both arms, had caused the outside of my left hand to "sting", and had creeped out of my armpits and up to the tops of my shoulders. The arrhythmia was worsening and it felt like there was a weight on the top half of my heart. After taking one sip of my juice and realizing it had zero to do with blood sugar, I tossed my car keys onto the table and told Jessica "We're going to Mease. You're driving."
"Right now?"
"Yes."
She threw a dollar on the table as I limped my way to the door. Remember, I'd sprained my ankle a couple of days before.
We got to the ER at Mease Countryside hospital, the closest one to where we were, and they put me on a portable EKG machine. Some of the readings were elevated, so the nurse turned to her compatriot and said "This looks like a heart attack..."
They whisked me to an exam room and the whole hospital apparently joined them. Before one could sneeze I had my shirt off and there were two IVs started, one in each arm. I asked for Jessica, and after I'd asked a few times, they went and got her out of the waiting room. They wouldn't tell her squat since we're not married yet. She came into the room and I got to tell her: "Guess what, babe! I'm the youngest in my family ever to have a heart attack." I was not as jovial as this sounds.
So now I have a stent in my left anterior descending artery, part of the "widowmaker" family of arteries supplying the heart. I am on 4 different medications, not including the nitroglycerin tabs for under my tongue should things feel a little hairy.
I'm 36, ffs. I quit smoking quite a while ago and we try to eat as healthy as possible. My cholesterol wasn't horribly bad... not great, but not bad, either.
But I'm still here to type this post. I survived.
(Incidentally, the whole "left arm" thing is only one set of possible symptoms. I didn't feel that at *all*. What I felt will likely not be what the next person feels, and if it should ever (oh hell no) happen to me again, it will likely not feel the same.)
