UPDATE 2: I'm being discharged. They can't figure out what's wrong, but it isn't cardiac trouble.
If this were a stunt, designed both to get people to sign on to DK4 and to start to follow me, it would be a brilliant stunt. But it's not a stunt: it's as serious as a heart attack, which is what I hope to find out over the next few hours that I have not had, am not having, and am not about to have, despite the feeling of heaviness in my chest that made the nurse say "time to go to the ER.".
I'm writing this while my middle daughter is getting ready to drive me there. (From there she's off to work in a couple of hours.) I'm not supposed to drive, although -- feeling basically fine except for some weird heart thing -- I just left work early from Irvine. My wife and daughter will come in a second car, so they can be there as late as they want. Hopefully we'll all be home in time that I could have posted another diary on DK3 had I not used this one.
But DK4 has no limit on diaries, and if I can get a wireless link there, I'll be posting from there. My wife (who has posted here as "pinay") may post at some point if I'm indisposed, probably with my youngest daughter (who's a natural writer) doing the composing.
If one could turn off comments, I probably would for this one, because there's nothing much to say and I expect this to be a false alarm. (I will assume your good wishes, even from those of you from whom I shouldn't!) But if you want to comment, how about something cheesy like "Why we should all be nice to each other here" or some crap like that? ;7)
The people who know me IRL, like Ron Shepston, could probably find out what's going on with me if there's radio silence, which probably just means "no wireless from the hospital. I'm going to go post my first diary on DK4 and then we're off. See you there, with luck!
Update: First, I would like to note that I am still alive. I decided to be admitted for more tests, the previous ones having been "equivocal." As I'd expected, no current heart attack; contrary to my fears, no evidence of a recent heart attack either. I'll know more later today after the "more tests."
Nurse Kelley makes an important point that I'd like to stress:
This is for everyone else reading this diary (34+ / 0-)
If you think you're having a heart attack, chew up an aspirin or two and CALL 911. Don't do what SD has done, i.e., go to the ER by private transportation. That "slight heaviness in the chest" that makes you poo-poo the need for EMT's can quite easily turn into cardiac arrest.
Not to mention how much faster you'll be triaged if you arrive at the ER via ambulance wearing a heart monitor.
Absolutely right. In my case, the feeling I was having was not acute (I'd been having some symptoms at a low-level for some time, but they weren't going away) and it was not accompanied by any other symptoms such as shooting pain, nausea, dizziness, sweating, etc. (which is currently perplexing my doctors.) If there had been any indication of the need to do so, I'd have gone to the nearest hospital ASAP, probably by ambulance. My actions here should not be taken as a guide for others; they were determined after a detailed conversation with the nurse on my hospital's hotline.