Adventures in Hypochondria

Well, friends. Today has been an interesting day. It all started last week...

I woke up with the flu or something on Friday morning; body aches, headache, chills, sore throat, and nausea. I'm pretty sure I had a fever, but not having a thermometer, I don't know. I took it easy Friday and Saturday, and thought that would be that.

So...Saturday night, I was lying in bed, when all of a sudden, my chest started to feel funny. It didn't hurt. It wasn't even really uncomfortable. It just felt...funny.

A couple more days went by, and the chest weirdness continued, and also spread to my back. So, with my family history of heart disease, I decided to call the doctor and get an appointment. I felt a little silly, what with not even being thirty years old, but I thought, "rather silly than dead."

I thought I would go in, talk with the doctor for a few minutes, and hear her say that I pulled a muscle or something. When I got there, I was talking with the doctor and I told her I felt silly for coming in, and she told me that it's not silly. That's one of the great things about my doctor: she doesn't treat me like a hypochondriac, even when I feel like one. It's not like I think I have every illness and problem out there. I don't think that at all. But, it seems like I've had a bunch of problems this past year or so.

So, she listened to my heart and asked me some general questions and all that good stuff. Then, she suggested that we have an EKG. I thought that I'd be heading over to the hospital, but she pulled out a hospital gown from the exam table and told me we'd be doing that in the office. So, she left and the nurse came in and did the EKG. When we were done, she told me to wait and the doc would be back in to talk about what she saw.

I waited. And then, she came back in, and I could tell by the look on her face that all wasn't well.

She sat down and said, "The EKG was abnormal. Basically, the line went down in places where the line should have gone up. I am ordering a Troponin blood test to see if you are having a heart attack, or if there is other acute damage happening right now. Sheri will be in to take you to the lab." I asked her what I needed to do after the blood test, and she said, "Come right back here. I'm not letting you leave my office until I see those results!" (She tried to keep it all light. She wasn't being an alarmist or anything, even if my writing makes it seem that way). She then told me that it might be a little while until the results came in, but that I needed to wait.

So, Sheri took me to the lab (Just a short walk down the hall. The doctors' offices are connected to a rehab hospital, and they share a lab). I got my blood drawn, and then I went back to the exam room and...waited...

I waited, watched out the window as the ambulance service came and took one of the rehab patients to the main hospital for a procedure (my congregant!), and waited some more. About half an hour later or so, the doctor came in and told me the good news that I DIDN'T have a heart attack or other acute damage, but that she would like me to have an echo-cardiogram next week so she can see the mechanics of how my heart is working so she can see what we're dealing with.

So, echo-cardiogram is scheduled for Wednesday at the main hospital. I'm hoping that this ends up being something stupid, but if you would like to offer some prayers, I'd appreciate it. I'm a little nervous about it; not overwhelmingly so, but enough. Doc said that if I feel worse before then that I should go to the hospital. Thankfully, for the most part, things are staying the same. Just weird feeling.

I guess I am glad that I was willing to look silly. The doctor asked me again about my family history; about when my parents started having heart problems. Since my dad had his first heart attack when he was 44, I think that sealed the deal for her to pursue this more. Plus, my total cholesterol isn't that great. She said since my HDL (good) cholesterol is great though, that she feels pretty okay about where I am at. Plus, I exercise, try to consume a lot of fiber, and try to avoid cholesterol, trans, and saturated fat.

The point, I suppose, aside from asking for your prayers, is to say that if you're having bizarre symptoms, RISK LOOKING SILLY. Now, this echo could come out benign, and if it does, I'll be happy, but it won't change that I'm grateful that I finally sucked it up and got an appointment. Our health is important. YOUR health is important. Be well, Friends.