The ER and Doctor's Orders

On a side note, I was in the hospital a couple of weeks ago. I woke up early on a Saturday morning with pain ripping  through my back. With my family's history of heart disease and my being medicated for high cholesterol, I freaked out. I made Pat take me to the ER at 5am. I really tried to calm down before I got to making that decision. The pain just didn't go away for the 30 minutes I tried to calm down. After numerous tests in the ER, they found that I was not having a heart attack. They kept me under observation for a few more hours so they could run some follow up tests to make sure they were still correct.

Doctor's orders were to go home, rest and make a follow-up appointment with my cardiologist. When I went home, my back hurt more until I was able to get some Advil in me and a heating pad on my muscles. I slept and sat around the rest of the day, and the rest of the weekend. I'm sad my freaking out made me miss a family gathering in Minnesota but I'd rather  be safe than sorry. The pain was gone by Monday morning. I pretty much figured out that I was just having back muscle spasms and Advil helped me with that pain.

My follow-up appointment with my cardiologist went well. They ran yet another EKG which came out normal. She could feel my back was tight. She prescribed me a work out of some sort of stretching. I think she would like to see me doing some yoga or pilates along with my aerobic workouts. I'm really looking for a dvd that will help me with the stretching and flexibility. (I was also given a great massage from Sister Anne over Thanksgiving!) If you have any ideas, I would greatly appreciate them.

When I was sitting in the ER that morning, I was thinking about how frustrating it is that my body is hurting so badly when I've been so good to myself. I'm supposed to be getting better by working out and eating well. I'm not supposed to be going to the hospital. Looking back on it, maybe it was my body telling me to just keep going. I never want to have to go to the ER again.

I just wanted to let you know that I only gained a pound over the last holiday week. I am going to be happy with that and I'm going to work through the next few weeks coming up to Christmas. Pat and I are planning on doing Christmas down here. It will be interesting what happens foodwise since we won't be going to the big family dinners and going out for drinks with friends.