My heart attack education continued the day after the I checked into the hospital. I was to learn all about the joy of the stress test. Given my condition, however, they weren’t going to make me run on a treadmill. Instead I was to undergo a chemically induced stress test with a nuclear component for imaging. This is about as much fun as it sounds. (more…)

I’ve made it to the emergency room. It took me five days, a few hundred miles of motorcycle riding and some encouragement from family members to get me here, but I’m in the hospital now. I check in with the emergency room nurse and tell her I’m having chest pains. She takes my information and has me sit down. Sitting is good at this point because the pain and burning in my chest, a result of my walk to my car from my apartment and later from my car to the emergency room, is not fading. This kind of pain had been coming on after walks to stairs all weekend, but it would fade if I sat down. Now the pain just sits in my chest and doesn’t let go. Still, sitting feels better than walking. (more…)