Around 1am this morning my Dad woke me up complaining of chest pain & heart attack symptoms. Over the next 20 minutes he took 3 nitroglycerin pills spaced out 5 minutes apart. That's the first time he has ever taken nitroglycerin. The pain went away and we continued talking about going to the ER or not. Dad has had a few times when he had chest pain and it resulted in several days in the hospital running a lot of tests to find out it's not a heart attack. The hospitalizations take a negative toll on him so it's not as easy as saying everytime I feel chest pain we are going to the ER. It's more like pick your poison. So after a few minutes of weighing the pros & cons he opted for going back to bed. Around 3am he woke up with more chest pain so we went straight to the ER while taking 1 more nitroglycerin pill enroute. My role is to break the speed limit (yesssss!!) and keep his mind distracted usually by minimizing what's going on, "This is probably just a false alarm like the others. You'll be fine and back home quickly. How 'bout that Rays game last night!" So we arrive at the ER in record time lol (it helps that nobody is on the road at 3am). And there are no other patients waiting. They take Dad straight back and start running all the tests. So what does Dad do? He does what he always does and that's that he had me load up his "briefcase" with all his goodies he loves to give to people (while he thinks he is having a heart attack, mind you) and then we drove to the ER (had to backtrack for a minute) and then while the medical staff is caring for him he is handing out his Tomato Man pens to everyone!! LOL, you've got to love this guy!! I was able to snag a pic of him in action. You would never believe how much nurses & doctors ABSOLUTELY LOVE a good writing pen!!! It's like giving them a brick of gold! They absolutely love it!! I tell the nurses that tonight will be like getting Santa Claus for a patient hahaha! Well, long story even longer, the preliminary tests showed no signs of a heart attack, but they wanted to admit him for more testing (that's the part that takes its toll over time... for elderly people to be confined to a hospital bed even for a few days can have a lot of negative impacts, especially the strength to walk. It can take weeks to recover from hospitalizations for aging people not to mention all the infections & diseases you get exposed to in the hospital. I love hospitals and greatly honor & appreciate those in the medical staff - I used to be a Respiratory Therapist - but a few more tests and observation can turn into pneumonia or covid in just a few hours for elderly people. Like I said, pick your poison.) So Dad is in the hospital for only a day or two (hopefully), but I already know that it's Christmas time in Room 627 for anyone who is taking care of the Tomato Man :) :) :)
PS: This is an unrelated post about Dad's health from my post yesterday. Dad had a procedure done and went under anesthesia, but by yesterday afternoon he was back home and doing great.
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