Friday night in the ER, Head scratching

On Friday I got to play pickleball for the first time since the vein ablation procedure on Tuesday. I didn’t play particularly well but I was at least able to play without feeling any real side effects in the leg. It felt good to be out there at least. I also took a couple walks around campus during the day figuring it was good to keep movement steady.

So as I was walking out to my car after work I started feeling sharp almost stabbing pain in my chest, right around my heart. My initial instinct was to ignore it but this was the kind of pain that could not be ignored. If I tried to breathe deeply it intensified as well. Still I was expecting it to subside so I drove home and took care of Elsa, cutting her walk short because it was hurting that bad.

Even though I hated the idea of going to the ER I felt I needed to because there was a remote possibility of blood clots from the ablation procedure so I was concerned this was related, I did not know. All I knew was I never felt this degree of pain in my chest.

I drove myself to the ER and got checked in. It didn’t take long for them to take me into a side room where they ran an EKG and took blood. I guess they determined I was not actively having a heart attack so I got sent back to the waiting room. I was not feeling well. A couple times I coughed and the pain shot through my chest. I eventually got taken to a room.

They wheeled in a portable x-ray machine to shoot my chest. I remember they did something similar for Christine when she had her concussion and other injuries. The doctor came in afterwards and asked what was up. I explained the pain and how I was concerned that the ablation procedure was somehow related. He was very mellow and did not seem overly concerned. He said they would run a CT with contrast in addition to check me out, which I have had done before.

So between the EKG, the blood work, the X-ray, and the CT no signs of a heart attack or blood clots were found, which is good news. The bad news is I still had the pain although after nearly four hours in the ER it was less intense than it had been. They advice I was given was “if it gets worse, come back”, solid.

So I went home after 9 and made myself a very late Friday night pizza while I responded to various friends and family members that I told about the situation. I had Alison all staged to come down and get Elsa if necessary which I really appreciated. I was exhausted when I went to bed and left my 6:30 alarm intact to go play pickleball Saturday morning, because I am stubborn. I had a very poor night of sleep. I was only able to lay flat on my back. Trying to lie on either side sent the waves of pain through my chest so if I rolled during sleep it woke me right up.

I was groggy when the alarm went off but I drug myself out of bed, got changed and headed to the courts. I had no idea how it would go but I wanted to at least try. Early on it was slow going, certain movements hurt however as I got more warm, eventually getting to a full sweat, the pain lessened significantly. I was able to play for almost two hours. I felt better the rest of the day however I still could feel it if I breathed too deeply. The fact that it felt better once I warmed up made me wonder if it is somehow rib/muscle related. I also had the same restless sleep Saturday night as laying on either side was a no go.

On Sunday I had a pretty normal day once again playing pickleball in the morning and then tending to chores around the house without a big issue although the chest pain was still there, just not nearly as strong as before.

Later in the afternoon I even went on a lengthy ride on my wheel and felt ok doing it. I didn’t realize Sunday was St Patty’s day so I was pretty much the only one at the cabana that was not wearing green, oh well. I still enjoyed the ride that I filmed, talking about all of the stuff that has been going on the last couple weeks. There was a lot to talk about.

In the video I also talked about the spending spree I have been on since finding out my income tax situation is actually favorable this year. I need to wind that down.

Again Sunday night my sleep sucked, still not being able to roll onto a side without pain. I woke up today feeling a slightly higher level of pain than over the weekend. My game plan at this point is to give it a week and reevaluate from there, hopefully this is muscle related and just fades away.

I had a follow up ultrasound today to verify the two veins that were ablated are closed like they should be. They are. It’s a good thing because I would not want to be frying veins once again so soon. It was quite the weekend.