Near Thing... or... ???

Late Monday night, which was early Tuesday morning, my hubby awoke with the almost complete inability to breathe, combined with some chest discomfort (he wouldn't classify it as actual pain), along with an oddly light feeling in his arms and hands, and he just felt plain sick and yukky. He didn't wake me, however, even though a complete moron knows those are possible signs of a heart attack. Him with a heart attack would be unthinkably shocking (or so we thought). He's fit and healthy, muscular, strong and works out often, just about each day. But this is the 4th time this has happened in the past 18 months, only the previous 3 times were not so bad, in fact, they were really nothing like this one. And he never told me about the previous 3, either. Kev is one of those people who generally try to minimize or even ignore it when they're sick. So just him telling me he didn't feel right, was in and of itself somewhat disturbing.

So I made him some chamomile tea, putzed around, and we waited around until our doc's office opened at 8 am and called them. They said to go to the ER. So off we went.

And there at ER they asked questions, questions & more questions, and they did tests. Lots of 'em. They learned he had surgery on his foot just before Christmas, so they did a CT scan, which ruled out lung problems (such as a blood clot). But tests were inconclusive. Since he had symptoms of heart-related problems, they admitted him for more tests. They put him in a bed on the floor of the ICU for heart patients. At age 44, he was a screaming youngster there. (I'm not used to being around the very elderly, and it was a strange experience. Thought provoking. Thoughts like, I don't think I wish to live quite as long as some of the people I saw... they were more like remnants of people, and it was sad.) So anyway... Wednesday morning, after a night of no sleep in a very busy hospital, he had to do a stress test. He did super well on the treadmill part, better than average, but then the scan showed something "abnormal" in his heart. Shit.

That meant he had to see a cardiologist, and that meant another night in the hospital. Saw the cardiologist Thursday morning (reputably a fine doctor, but he was an arrogant man) (did I say man? I meant asshole), and the end result was that Kev had a cardiac catheterization that morning. As it was explained to us, that test is the only definitive test on whether or not there is a problem with Kevin's heart, such as blockage, etc. The cath. took less than an hour, and his heart is all normal. Normal!

So... it's not his lungs and it's not his heart, so...

The cardiologist suggested stomach acid entering the lungs, because that can cause symptoms resembling a heart attack. Good to know.

Kev will have to see his doctor and try to get to the bottom of this. I, of course, have my own theory. I think he's worn out. Physically thrashed, pulverized. The past 18 months at his job have been awful, too much overtime and crappy hours, and then at work, it's a horrible environment. I think he is physically and mentally fatigued. Since January, he looks like he's aged 10 years.

Did I mention I hate that 3-2-2 shift?

But I sure love my hubby, and I would not even know how to go on without him.