Virus + X = Ambulance Ride to Cardiac Unit

In the above equation "X" equals "not taking care of oneself" and the theorem was proved Friday morning.

I had been sick since Sunday. I took two days off. I went back to work on Wednesday and struggled through it for the next two days. Friday, around 3AM, everything came crashing down. I woke up with terrible sweats. I could barely hear out of my left ear. My going-on-five-day headache was raging. My back hurt. My neck hurt. My shoulders hurt. And my new symptom? My chest hurt. I was even having trouble breathing.

I willed through it, settled down, and managed to get a few more hours of sleep. I already had a doctor appointment scheduled for 1:45PM and my plan was to take another day off from work and try and get an earlier appointment.

The morning was a bit of a blur. I took out the dogs and fed them. I said goodbye to Kelsey. I fed the cats. I took Will to school. I wished my wife a good day at school. I moved my appointment to 10AM and I tried to get some rest on the couch. But I couldn't. The chest pain was real. And I couldn't seem to catch my breath. I could take deep, long breaths - but I couldn't get the air to go where it needed to go.

I thought about calling 911. I should have, looking back on it.

I struggled to drive to the doctor's office. I wobbled into the building. I was close to blacking out by the point I got to the check-in desk. Things were very weird and I had an overwhelming feeling. Two nurses were suddenly on either side of me and I was being stripped and thrown onto a table. Things got really scary. I kept apologizing for causing a fuss and kept telling them that I was really scared. My favorite nurse, "The Sniper" (she removes the finger of her latex glove when she takes blood), tended to me while things settled down. But she was replaced by the office manager and that scared me all over again. I didn't want to die in a small exam room without a single loved one around (and this reality finally became clear as a possibility to me - which scared me all over again).

An ambulance was called. IVs were inserted. I was rolled into the hospital. Progressive Cardiac Unit. Nitro was administered. Top-scalp headache blasted my cranium. Chest pains diminished. Julie showed up. Parents showed up. Hell, even Eddie showed up :)

That all happened Friday morning. It's Monday morning now. The weekend was filled with a lot of doing nothing and laying around (and House marathons - goddam I love marathon television programming). Doctor Quaye says that the virus was able to inflame the lining around my heart because I didn't rest enough and take it down (before it attempted to take me down). I told people that is probably the best news anyone on this floor is going to get.

So everyone - and future self - please do what the doctor says when you have a virus. Rest. Drink fluids. Take it easy. Don't rush and go back to work. Everyone keeps telling me this: "Your health is more important than anything else." And they are right. Mostly. Tacos are a little more important. And cashews. And maybe Star Wars.