A heart attack?

Big excitement at Dungan manor last night.

So, there I was, sleeping soundly. After 38 years of practice I am actually pretty good at it. I can put my head on the pillow and sleep right through the night.

At about 12:30 I turned over. I noticed a pretty significant pain in my chest. It immediately woke me from my slumber. I rolled over on to my back to try and figure out what was going on. At first the pain intensified. It went straight through to my back. Just left of my my breast bone it was right were imagined my heart to be. A different pain traveled up my neck/esophagus and seemed to just sit there in my throat.

I was beginning to get scared. Thankfully, and rather quickly after I rolled over the pain began to subside.

My hands became tingly and felt numb.

I had to wake up Lynley.

I reached over and brushed her shoulder. She shot up out of bed. "What? What is going on?"

Jeez, if I was not already having one, she damn near gave us both a heart attack.

I just tried to stay calm. However, all of a sudden, I was washed over by a cold clamminess and I began to shiver.

I explained to her what was happening. I said pretty matter of factly "I don't know what a heart attack is supposed to feel like but I think I might be having one." She pulled out her trusty iPhone (it is never too far from her) and looked up the symptoms. It turned out I scored pretty high.

However, now I was recovering. Other than a little "coldness" I was becoming symptomless. We debated for a few minutes about what to do and the logistics. She we call 9-1-1? Should I drive to the hospital? What about the kiddos? Should I call my mother to come watch them?

Was I just mental?

After a few minutes we elected to call 9-1-1 and take it from there. We knew enough to know that the symptoms could come and go. It was the safest course of action. I grabbed my sweats, some tennis shoes, and my wallet. Lynley called 9-1-1 and with in 2 or 3 minutes the fire trucks and ambulances were outside the house and 6 people were standing around me.

Pretty surreal.

I was still pretty symptomless and I felt mental, but, better safe than sorry.

They loaded me up in the ambulance and the they shot me full of questions. It was not long before I was hooked up to several leads and the EKG was printing the results.

The good news. The EKG looked perfectly good. Heart rate was good. Sugar was good. Blood pressure was pretty high, 156/94, but heck I was sitting in an ambulance in the middle of the street.

I had pretty much resigned myself to heading off to the hospital but, now, being symptomless and some pretty good results with the EKG I had the option of staying home and going to see the doctor in the morning to get some blood work done. It was against "medical advice" (as it should be) but it was a reasonable choice given the results of my tests and my current condition.

So, that is what we elected to do. This morning I am sitting in my favorite place on the couch very comfortably. I slept pretty well the rest of the night and the kiddos were none the wiser.

I told you. It was pretty exciting around here last night. I am just hoping this diary entry isn't my last.

My purpose will be a little different today.