All my life, strong as a gorilla. I use to bench press 450, never had an injury. Know what it took to pull my left pec? Had to be lifting something crazy heavy, right?
I was hemmed in on both sides in a busy crowded room. I needed my computer. I knew my case was behind me, on my left, and if I got up, it would disrupt everyone on both sides of me. So I reach back, down, behind me with my left arm, grab the handle, and lift up and pull the laptop case in towards me. And as I am doing so ...
-twinge-
... in my left pec. That was all. It didn't hurt.
30 minutes later, though, and I can't even take a deep breath because the whole left side of my chest is KILLING me! And of course, with heart disease being a feature of the Snover family, and my size and weight, and the left side of my chest, and not being able to breath, there is very much the idea that this may be a heart attack. I didn't think so, because when I touched my chest it hurt like mad, and didn't seem to be on the inside of the rib cage ... but ... ya know? 57, you don't just take your own word for it anymore. This was last Tuesday afternoon.
Off to the ER. Yep: muscle pull. Stay home one day, no lifting anything for a week. Reams of paperwork to fill out at work. It is healing quickly, thank goodness, because not being able to use your left arm is a total pain in the ass! My company has been great, super supportive.
The trip to the ER did reveal a couple of items: blood pressure is going back up. Guess it's time for a round of new meds. The nurses flipped out when they saw the first numbers: 220/115. After a few hours, after realizing this was not a heart attack, after calming down, it came down to 165/70. But, time for new meds.
And, unexpected bonus: heart rate of 58bpm high, even while freaked out, and a low of 39. It kept setting off the alarms on the ECG. SPO2 was always around 96%. So, not dying; but say hello to my new friend, bradycardia!
I was hemmed in on both sides in a busy crowded room. I needed my computer. I knew my case was behind me, on my left, and if I got up, it would disrupt everyone on both sides of me. So I reach back, down, behind me with my left arm, grab the handle, and lift up and pull the laptop case in towards me. And as I am doing so ...
-twinge-
... in my left pec. That was all. It didn't hurt.
30 minutes later, though, and I can't even take a deep breath because the whole left side of my chest is KILLING me! And of course, with heart disease being a feature of the Snover family, and my size and weight, and the left side of my chest, and not being able to breath, there is very much the idea that this may be a heart attack. I didn't think so, because when I touched my chest it hurt like mad, and didn't seem to be on the inside of the rib cage ... but ... ya know? 57, you don't just take your own word for it anymore. This was last Tuesday afternoon.
Off to the ER. Yep: muscle pull. Stay home one day, no lifting anything for a week. Reams of paperwork to fill out at work. It is healing quickly, thank goodness, because not being able to use your left arm is a total pain in the ass! My company has been great, super supportive.
The trip to the ER did reveal a couple of items: blood pressure is going back up. Guess it's time for a round of new meds. The nurses flipped out when they saw the first numbers: 220/115. After a few hours, after realizing this was not a heart attack, after calming down, it came down to 165/70. But, time for new meds.
And, unexpected bonus: heart rate of 58bpm high, even while freaked out, and a low of 39. It kept setting off the alarms on the ECG. SPO2 was always around 96%. So, not dying; but say hello to my new friend, bradycardia!
