This week is almost over, and I feel bad that I haven't posted yet. Here's what's going on with us this week.
I had a crazy weekend. On Friday I started feeling chest pains (sharp scary ones) on my left side, right where my heart is. It hurt pretty bad to breathe in or out, cough or sneeze. I really couldn't tell if it was my heart or my lungs, and the pain was getting worse as the evening went on. Tim had to work the next day (Saturday) so he had gone to bed early. My son Chris was over and I asked him to stay for a while just to be sure I was OK.
Then around 10:00PM, I was really beginning to get worried and uncomfortable. I asked Chris to go with me to the hospital to get checked out. (If you know me, you know I NEVER go to the hospital.) Since I'm a heavy smoker, and I'm getting closer to age 50.........I wanted to be sure of what was wrong. And I couldn't breathe. I was seriously worried it was my heart........or my lungs.
Add to this, that a very close friend of mine died of a heart attack on July 2nd, and another good friend of mine died of lung cancer on July 31st.
So Chris drove me up to the emergency room. We let Tim sleep since he had to work the next day. I told him I would call if it was anything serious. When we got to the hospital and I finally got to see the triage nurse, he told me my vitals were "very strong" and he sent us back to the waiting room to wait. The emergency room was pretty busy, and we had long wait before I could be seen.
After about an hour and a half, I was feeling a little better. The chest pains were subsiding. Chris was cold (it was freezing in the waiting room), and really I just wanted to go home. I felt that since the triage nurse didn't think I was having an emergency, and I was sitting in a hallway for an hour and a half............then maybe I wasn't really having an emergency. I was also sitting there thinking about how much this visit was going to cost. We have insurance, but still...........emergency rooms cost a fortune.
I started thinking maybe we should go home, and I could try to make a Doctor's appointment in the morning or maybe I could go to Urgent Care. So, we went home without me being seen in the emergency room that night.
I had a rough night at home. I didn't sleep well at all, the piercing pain in my chest hurt when I moved or breathed.
The next morning I was up pretty early, and still feeling chest pain. I made a few calls and I found out that my regular Doc and the Urgent Care place would not see me. No one had the "proper equipment" to check me out. With chest pain, the only place to go was back to the emergency room.
Tim was already at work, and my kids were all still sleeping so I drove myself back to the hospital around 9:30AM. They took me back to a cubicle right away, there was no wait.
I had all of the tests.......X-rays, EKG, CT scan, and bloodwork. Everything came back ok (THANK GOODNESS!) and the Doc and nurse seemed to think I may have a respiratory infection or maybe Pleurisy.
I was glad it wasn't anything really serious. I already felt better by the time I left the emergency room around noon. They had given me 4 baby asprin, so maybe that helped??
They want me to take a stress test, and I do have an appointment set up for that.
At this point, I'm feeling fine. I haven't had much chest pain since the weekend. It still hurts when I take a deep breath in or out, so I try not to do that.
One good thing that came out of my emergency room visit...........the Doc and I talked about my smoking. He told me that he could see "just a little bit of scarring" when he looked at my lung X-ray.
I was happy to hear that. I have been a heavy smoker since I was about 15 years old (back when 15 year olds could legally buy cigarettes, AND we had a dedicated -completely legal- smoking lounge in my High School). I've been a heavy smoker for about 30 years.
I've been wondering what the state of my lungs were. For several years now I have been afraid I had already made a mess of my lungs, and if so, what's the point in quitting smoking?? It's not everyday you get a lung X-ray and a Doc to tell you there isn't much damage so far. I feel like I'm in good shape, not too far gone! I think this is my "sign" that I'm still healthy enough to quit smoking and still be OK. Time to try quitting again. I've been looking at E-ciggs this week.
As soon as Tim found out that I had gone back to the emergency room, he came home from work. I had been trying to tell him I was fine, but he came home anyway. He's a sweetheart, I'm lucky to have him by my side.
We had a good day for the rest of our Saturday. I felt much better as the day went on.
We spent some time outside trying to get our house and yard cleaned up for winter, which seems to be approaching fast.
Tim got his ladder out and put the replacement shingles up.
The side of our house has looked like this for most of the summer:
Now it looks like this:
I think we will actually be ready to paint the house in the spring! WOOHOO!
Tim also bought me an awesome surprise this weekend:
For several years now, I have been asking Tim to get me a kids wagon so I could use it to haul and move stuff in our backyard (sticks, branches, weeds, bricks). He did better than a kids wagon!!! I'M IN LOVE!!!!
Am I in love with Tim , or the garden cart??? well, BOTH!!!!
Any other normal person would have just asked for a wheelbarrow, since the purpose of a wheelbarrow is to move things around.
I can't manage a wheelbarrow (I've tried before). With all of the ruts in our yard, I felt sure I would dump the thing over everytime I had a full load. They get awkward when they are full.
So I asked for a wagon, and I got one!!!
The cool thing is, this wagon will hook up to my riding lawnmower so I can pull it around the yard with heavy loads. The sides of the cart drop down so I can unload it easier too. I am loving this cart!!
I managed to move this giant pile of bricks and stepping stones (with the help of my son Allen)
We relocated the pile behind the new shed, toward the back of the yard. I didn't want to get rid of them, they are pretty cool old bricks. I may use them somewhere later on. I just didn't want them in the middle of the yard, and I certainly wasn't going to move them by WALKING them to the back of the yard.
My riding lawnmower, my new cart, and my son Allen handled the job with ease!!!
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The inside of our house is going through some huge changes. I'm working on it slowly but surely. It seems to be taking me FOREVER to get to a point where I can take pics and show them here on the blog...........but soon!!! I promise the changes are significant, and it will be worth the wait to see it all at once.
Meanwhile, our living room is in a state of disarray............and the kitchen is the next room to get a lift. I really need to get these two rooms finished so we can move on to the bedrooms and bathroom.
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And last, here is a pic of my parents and Tim's mom and step-dad all together.
When my parents were in town a few weeks ago, we all went to the Farmer's Market. Kansas City has an awesome Farmer's Market. Our parents had never met before that day, so it was nice to get them all together.
And a pic of my baby daughter, who had worked all night the night before, but managed to stay up for the Farmers Market so she could spend a little time with her grandparents.
She was so tired that morning, poor thing.............but we went shopping just after this pic was taken and we both bought new dresses for our upcoming cruise. She cheered up quickly while we were shopping.
As for my bloggy, I have recently realized it's a mess behind the scenes. This week I am talking the time to fix it up a bit. There are posts that need links to other posts, pictures that need to be resized and a lot of posts need tags (so you can find things easier).
I suppose that's it for today................I'll be back soon with another update!!
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