I have been having chest pains… (I’m fine; it all worked out!) It felt like heartburn… It started this weekend, and I was doing a mental backtrack of what I had eaten to cause whatever gastric distress I was in. Friday El Taco Loco… A big fountain coke on the way to Chicago on Saturday… Then some amazing food in Chinatown? Oh, and I have been eating naval oranges and drinking lemon Pelegrinos. I’ve been living in Stomach Acid City. That had to be it. Maybe this reckless eating and drinking had created a hole in my esophagus that was now feeling like flames from my sternum to my left shoulder blade.
Sunday night, I started popping antacids and some old pills I had kept in the cabinet for when I would drink too many IPA’s.
It wasn’t helping.
Monday morning at work… I couldn’t sit still because the pain in my back and chest kept me writhing in my chair. I skipped my 2 work coffees (as I thought it was contributing to my stomach issue) and ran home at lunch to lay down while popping more antacids… It kind of worked. I went back to work for a few hours… Came home afterward and tried to get more rest. All the while, I have been not eating anything for fear of being in more pain… And I was drinking lots of water, hoping to quell the fire.
But, the fire kept raging.
Tuesday morning it was more of the same. More pain. The pills and antacids were not working. Ang asked if I wanted to go to the doctor… I said “sure”… begrudgingly. You know, I want to be better, but I don’t want to hear that something is wrong with me… So, it’s a bit of a tugawar in my head over whats the right thing to do. Angela said she would call Tremont Medical Clinic to see if they would see me. Meanwhile, I headed to Peoria. My experience with local clinics is that they will ship you to Peoria in an ambulance before they will attempt to inspect you for “chest pain.”
She called back as I was trying to enter St Francis… Just as I thought, they would not take me in Tremont. Go to the ER.
Thankfully, i wasnt truly dying because I had a lot of walking ahead of me. I arrived at St. Francis ER and circled the lot twice, looking for a parking spot. No luck. I then went around the building and parked in the deck. 5 minutes later, I was on the 6th floor of the parking garage, grabbing the first open spot I could find. (They do have valet, but I didn’t know if I would be walking out, so I wanted my keys).
Then came the painful journey to get to the ER from the opposite side of the hospital. I went to the wrong floor above the ER, I was then told to go back and take the elevator down. I did that but ended up in surgical waiting. The nice young name at the desk told me to go down lower and keep following doorways to the right. Eventually, I got to the ER. My chest still hurting and quite annoyed that I could have been a gonner in the parking garage or anywhere else along the half mile I had just walked.
The stories are true. If you walk into an ER and complain of chest pains… You get right to the front. I had barely settled into my uncomfortable waiting room chair when my name was called by the nurses. They brought me back into an exam room for an EKG. Then it was blood-drawing time… While in the transit hallway, I ran into a customer, and we talked about his father-in-law’s Camry with a check engine light. (No rest…EVER!). The blood was drawn. X-ray of my chest. The blood pressure was checked. I couldn’t see anything… I just had to wait.
After about 30 minutes… Dr. Stone came in and gave me the good news… No heart attack. All the readings were fine. She then started pushing on my back and chest asking for pain locations. Within a minute… She asked me to do an arm stretch across my body. I contorted my left arm across my chest and pulled it back with my right arm. Held it for 15 seconds as she asked… BOOM!
The pain was gone!?!?!? WTH? The doctor said it was likely a pulled muscle and that she would prescribe some muscle relaxers.
I told her I felt like a complete idiot coming to the ER for this. She was quick to tell me that she would rather see 1000 men with muscle spasms taking it seriously than the one guy who ignored a real heart attack. Touche
I left and picked up a prescription at CVS and went home. A few pills and more stretches later… I felt much better. Thursday at work… Still slightly uncomfortable, but I kept stretching.
The irony of health and healthcare was when I got home Tuesday night, Angela said, “I wonder how much that cost us?”. Well, I’m damned if I do and damned if I don’t. I guess this is just the price of being 53 and slightly cautious.
Cautious does not encapsulate the feeling that a couple of us have had at Fort’s over the past few weeks. A great man, father, customer, and friend passed away from a heart attack. Justin Hamilton was 52 when he passed. I am not exaggerating when I tell you that Justin was an avid hiker and lover of trails and exercise. He was a walking billboard for a healthy lifestyle. I contend that he had that look of a person who was building a body that would make it to 90 without question. Not big and bulging, but lean and athletic.
Justin and I became fast friends from our “bro” lingo conversations at the store. When I heard he was doing this thing called “Adventurcizing” with local kids, I had to learn more. Justin would take kids on romps through the woods and down to the Illinois River on hikes to discover the outdoors. I was instantly ready to sign up Summer and Aiden. For 2 summers, the kids would run with him and play in the woods with a gaggle of other kids.
I watched over the years as Justin moved from physical therapist and business owner to a truancy officer at East Peoria High School. He was a Cross Country and Chess coach as well. He was now rolling with “Gotta-Wanna” as his slogan. He had shirts made with the phrase, and it looks like he wore them to school daily.
Say what you want about the ills of social media, his videos used all the powers of good and were a highlight of my day when he would make them. He would speak like a hippy Thoreau in the woods espousing the benefits of playing. All in his self-patented wild man style. His grin and enthusiasm were truly infectious.
Every bit of news about Justin passing hit me very hard- 52!??!? A few of us in the store are in our early 50s, and we are pausing to look into the mirror and wonder what surprise is lurking in your body.
Last Saturday, the East Peoria High School had a celebration of life for Justin. I came in an hour before the event started… The gym had a good crowd, but more people were filing in. I ran into a few folks I knew, and we all started putting the pieces together about the 2 degrees of separation we all have with each other. As the chatting went on, the gym was filling up. Eventually, minutes before it started, people were sitting from the basketball floor to the rafters.
I always felt like I knew Justin and had a special relationship with him… But what I saw in that room was 2000 people who all felt the same way. Stories about Justin and how special he made all the students feel are the norm. His short time with us left a lasting effect on soooooo many kids (and adults). It’s little consolation to a family that lost their Dad and Husband, but from the outside looking in, it’s a truly inspirational moment to know he was beloved by so many people.
Justin was a Karma dude… He is a testament to getting back what you give.
We should all aspire to leave a mark like Justin did.
https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/pekin-il/justin-hamilton-12252149
You would be crazy to think that Justin’s passing did not add to my decision-making when heading to the hospital.
If a rock-solid guy like Justin could have a bad ticker… A slob like me has little chance of making it to 60!
I think Gottawanna applies to all ages. I am glad all my test results are good, but that’s not enough. I should probably do SOMETHING exercise related in my off time. I just hate it so much. I can’t handle being trapped in my head and lifting, pulling or pushing things. BORING!
Gottawanna
I’m sorry you lost a friend Eric. I know nothing I can say will help.
Geeez, you should have gone sooner! ALWAYS better safe than sorry – ALWAYS! Who gives a damn how much it cost, helluva lot cheaper than a funeral. And you definitely should have parked in the Emergency lot.
I’m so glad everything is okay and PLEASE don’t hesitate to go if you even think it’s a possibility. I have two friends who recently lost husbands to heart attacks. One actually did go to the doc and that incompetent boob didn’t didn’t even do an EKG, just said it was a pulled muscle & gave him a prescription. He died the next day sittin’ on the john.
Another man had already had a heart attack. His wife thinks he knew another was happening and sat on stairs to try to calm his heart before going the rest of the way up to get his phone. She found him on the stairs with his head in his hand…dead.
Remember what the doctor said : ‘she would rather see 1000 men with muscle spasms taking it seriously than the one guy who ignored a real heart attack. Touche’