Tails of a 17th Street Geisha

I had a major freak out on Saturday night and ended up in the E.R for 7 hours, taking a bunch of tests for what they were almost sure were blood clots in my lung.

I mass-texted many of my friends on Saturday night, but only because I really needed to take my mind off the mind-blowing pain. I’m okay now, more or less! Maybe that’s the percosets talking…

Here’s the deal: sat morning I started having pain in my chest that became more and more painful, finally wrapping around my chest and started affecting my back. When the pain made me cry and I couldn’t get relief regardless of standing or sitting, John drove me to the E.R.

The docs thought I had either clots, something stuck in my esophagus, or extreme acid reflux. I have a history of stomach ulcers, got h. pylori (Oct 07), so they thought maybe it was gastro-intest. I also have had weird breathing difficulties, palpitations, etc., and even got tested for PH in 2005 (I had some symptoms, but thankfully it wasn’t PH).

Each time I’ve been in the E.R. for breathing or chest pains, they’ve said "stress" or "muscle strain" (Chosto-condritis or something.)

This time I had three doctors deliberate and run tests: EKG (for the heart), blood work (for the clots) and a chest x-ray (another for the clots.) They all came out clear–thank god!

However, they don’t know what’s wrong with me.

They said it was probably a muscle strain (I"m not so sure about that) but they gave me pain killers and acid reflux meds.
I’m a bit of a hypochondriac, but I also run myself into the ground with work, family, exercise, life, etc., and sometimes I get sick.

Let’s just say that my health is a work in progress but I’m okay now! Less stress, less caffeine and more percosets ought to do the trick!

I can’t lay down and I’m afraid to eat because it might be acid indigestion or ulcer crap… but maybe it will get better as the day progresses. It’s not too bad though. NOTHING like the excruciating pain of yesterday.