Cardio-sympathizers

While it was great to hear that my big scare last week wasn't a heart attack (which begs the question -- so, what *was* it then?), sharing the story with friends and colleagues have brought all kinds of freakish stories out of the woodwork.

Examples:

* Severe chest pain after slouching on the couch for a few hours. Always.
* Anxiety attacks that happen, like, weekly.
* Heartbeats that miss regularly.

Whoa. Get thee to a medical professional, stat! All chest pains deserve medical attention.

Greetings from Fremont

Eat well, exercise lots, and you too can avoid *this* fate:

Dis-missed!

Honorably discharged this afternoon!

Here's the latest on The Big Scare:

* Lab test results look good.
* They threw me on the treadmill at 8am this morning for cardio stress testing. You know, like the opening sequence of "The Six Million Dollar Man."
* It's like being in the military -- an orderly came by after a fitful sleep session, interrupted by blood pressure measurements and blood samples at 9pm, 12am, 4am, 7am. Which, come to think of it, feels more like an alien abduction. I didn't even get to eat breakfast.
* After all of this, the doctor does not believe it's a serious heart problem. As in, not a heart attack. Phew.
* EKG readings overridden by visual inspection. (Got to see my own heart on the echocardiogram machine. Forgot to ask for pictures.)
* Follow-up exam in 2 weeks.
* Cholesterol level down from 277 (6 mo ago) to 167. HDL went from 51 to 95. Woo-hoo!
* Taking aspirin to prevent blood clots (a widespread practice), but that's it for medications.
* I now have a cardiologist, whose brother is a Google engineer. A good sign.
* I did apparently do the right thing by going to the hospital on this first-time chest pain, though.

Thanks for the well wishes and sorry again for the scare. I'll be taking it easy for a couple of days, but all in all, things should be back to normal very soon.

Love you all very much.

I want to shoot the whole day down

Craziest Monday ever. And a blog entry from the hospital bed!

Exec Summary
---
I'm alive and well enough to send email and post on this site. :-)

Background
---
6 months ago I was diagnosed with a high cholesterol level. (277 mg/dl, the Heart Association says to keep it below 200. I think it's just aging, Lucy thinks it's the all-you-care-to-eat meats in the Google Cafe.) I had a re-test this past Friday, and am awaiting test results.

I did lose 9 lbs and significantly reduce blood pressure in the interim. Not bad, right?

This morning
---
* Driving to work this AM I got hit by chest pains. First thought it was a stomach ache, then it gets bad enough for me to pull off the freeway.
* The Prius has a navigation system, so I try the "emergency" feature. The car directs me to a facility in Newark, which turns out to be a holistic healing center.
* The next option is the Washington Hospital in Fremont. I walk into the ER and am admitted. Staying overnight for observation.
* Have done 2 EKG tests, chest x-ray, and waiting blood test results. I have an IV plug in my hand, but there's nothing hooked up to it.
* They also want to do treadmill stress tests tomorrow AM. They want to make sure it wasn't a heart attack, basically. Something about "early (de-)polarization" on the EKG readings.

* Current readings: Blood pressue 117/76, 84 BPM

So everything is fine so far; sorry if I freaked anyone out. They have a "no cell phones, interferes with equipment" rule here, but don't seem to mind me using this PC with a wireless card. Go figure.

I'm going to get some rest. Hope to be back soon!

Taepodong. The Home Edition.

With the upcoming childbirth I'm not going on any trips overseas. Which is too bad, because I really want this USB rocket launcher.