A nice relaxing weekend

I played golf on Friday for the first time in years and the first time in 20 years that I didn't have a crippled knee bothering me. It started as a beautiful day and my game reflected that, I had the best game of golf in my life. The weather turned windy, cold and cloudy by the time we got to the back nine. For those of you who have been following my anxiety/heart issues you may see where this is going. So I was pretty worried by the end of the round of golf, thinking about job etc. But Saturday was a new day and we all had a pretty good time. I was as relaxed as I've been in weeks if not months. Kelly and Jack (aka the tank) were visiting and so was Ginny's dad, Joe. Our community had a progressive dinner Saturday night and that was very enjoyable. We hosted the dessert for the entire crowd which I think was supposed to be about 40 people. The down side for the day was that by 9pm my neck (herniated disk and several vertebrae with degenerative arthritis) was really aggravated and around 10pm I snuck upstairs and went to bed. All of that served to heighten my anxiety as well. In an attempt to make this an uplifting post, on Sunday I wok up feeling great and decided to try a bit more golf so Joe and I hit the course Sunday afternoon. I only put in 10 holes so as not to aggravate the neck and Joe stuck it out for 18. Great day, great weather, and I had a phone call earlier in the day with one of my partners/bosses in NY which helped me feel a bit more relaxed about my whole job situation. End result is I slept better last night than I have in months I think. This morning was sad because Kelly, Jack and Joe were heading home. To top it off, Ginny was traveling with Kelly and Jack to spend a couple days in NY (I think she wants to see what 90 degrees feels like cause we don't get that too often in Pacifica).

That's all for now, I'll let you know what the cardiologist has to say after my appointment on Wednesday.

the john

Well today went pretty well. I went for an echo cardiogram or ECG. That took all of 25 minutes so I was able to get to work on time and that helped to ease stress. I now know from talking to my aunt and cousin and nephew that my cousin and my nephew have both had these types of episodes. No formal diagnosis was made but neither one thought it was a heart attack because their ekg's were good (as was mine). So I just come from a long line of anxious people. I guess that ain't so bad. I go to the cardiologist next Wednesday to hear what he has to say. I'll keep you apprised.

JJ

So today, I went in for a "tilt table test" as part of the search for what caused the event last Wednesday morning. The term tilt table test sounded so mild but it turned out to be more interesting than it sounded. They put electrodes on me to do an EKG test and then they put me on a table laying down but with straps across the table to keep me on it. Then they elevated the table to 60 degrees which almost had me standing straight up. Then THEY LET ME STAND THERE FOR 45 MINUTES. No tv, no books just watching them monitor the monitor of my ekg. They were waiting to see if my blood pressure fell (it did) and whether I passed out....I didn't. After 45 minutes they put me back to horizontal, gave me some nitro glycerin and then put me back up at 60 degrees. The nitro was supposed to dialate my blood vessels (it did) and make my blood pressure drop further (it did) and see if I passed out ( I came really really close). My BP went down to 79 over 49 and I was anxious, pulse racing, sweating, vision a little blurry, knees shaking but I didn't pass out. I told them if they had me one more minute I would have been lights out.

So now I wait a week to see the cardiologist and see what all that means. Keep tuned.

Have a heart

For those that don't know (and I assume that is most of the world). I had some type of "event" or even a cardiac event last week during the wee hours of the morning around 1:15am, Wednesday April 15th. I fell asleep Tuesday evening on the couch in the living room. I've been under a bit of stress to put it mildly so I haven't been sleeping well or sleeping at all for that matter. So back to the story, I woke up about 1am and headed upstairs to go to sleep. Ginny was still working on the computer in the office so I just mumbled good night. By the time I got to the top of the stairs, I was slightly out of breath (unusual), a little woozy (not unusual), and I had distinct butterflies in the stomach (more usual lately). I headed into the bathroom and by the time I got there I was a little rubber kneed and decided to sit down. As I sat down, my stomach was queasy and I started sweating profusely. Now I was getting concerned, that has never happened to me before (although it has happened since). I thought if I'm going to pass out I don't want to do it on a tile floor. So I headed back downstairs to tell Ginny I didn't feel so good. She recognized it as I came in the office. You have no color and your sweating she said. I took my blood pressure which is usually in the 120/80 range and it was 77/50. I started to think "this is the big one" but calmer heads prevailed. Ginny called the health care advice nurse who told her to have me lay down and elevate my feet. Once I did that I almost immediately started to feel better. within 5 minutes I was almost back to normal. So I went up to bed and got a couple hours sleep and planned to call my doctor the next day. Long story short, I saw my doctor who said I had to see a cardiologist, which I did the following day, Thursday. That doctor was very distracted with a patient who actually was having a heart attack but he told me "I don't know what happened to you". He didn't think I had a heart attack but he did think it might be some type of cardiac event. So I'm having more tests done. In the mean time, Friday morning middle of the night, I had two more minor repeats of my Wednesday morning episode. In both cases, I figured I would go back to sleep. I had a lot to do on Friday in the office and I figured, if it was a heart attack which the doc said it probably wasn't, if it killed me I didn't have to worry about working in the office that day but if it wasn't a heart attack I should at least try to get some sleep so that I could get my work done that day. I should tell you that Ginny didn't see my logic or at least didn't like my logic. I talked to my regular doctor that day and he seemed to think maybe it is some type of stomach virus or just anxiety or some "hormonal shift" whatever that may be....I'm not going through menopause that I know of but hmmmmm. I'll let you know how it goes.

the john