Not the Flu

First of all, Phil is fine. However, we did have quite a scare last evening. You know how I said he was rolling around in bed from stomach pain, waiting to throw up? Well, he never did throw up. And when I got to talking to him about his pain, what he was describing to me sounded much more serious that a stomach ache. He said it was all across his lower chest and upper abdomen, and radiated through to his back at times. He said that at work, it had hurt so badly that he had a hard time sitting at his desk and had to keep taking deep breaths to try to feel better. He got sweaty, clammy, and during the drive home, his hands got numb. He told me that he was nauseous, but the pain was worse than the nausea. By the time I talked to him, he wasn't nauseous any more, and in fact, felt a little hungry (which clearly doesn't fit with gut bug). It took a little convincing, and a second opinion from Johnathan (who is more emergency oriented than I am), but after a bit he got up and dressed and we took a trip to the emergency room. They checked his heart very thoroughly; EKG, lab, and x-ray were all negative, so they pretty much ruled out a heart attack, but then they checked more lab to see if the pain was related to his liver, pancreas, or a blood clot. All of this lab was normal as well. So, eventually, they just gave him some pain medicine, waited until the pain was gone, and let us come home. He feels completely fine today. He will be making a trip to his doctor early next week (like, first thing Monday morning). The only thing the ER doc could come up with is the possibility of reflux, which may have caused an esophageal spasm that responded to nitroglycerin. He has never complained of heartburn before, but I didn't either and now I'm on Nexium for "silent reflux" irritating my esophagus. We probably wouldn't have been quite as concerned if he didn't have a history of high cholesterol. Fortunately, that is much improved with medicine, and he doesn't have any other risk factors for heart disease. So, hopefully he just had a bad episode of heartburn and he can take pepcid or something and it won't happen any more. We are unbelievably thankful today, but I can also see some changes in our lifestyle coming sooner rather than later. Blessing in disguise? Maybe.