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Some kind of “burying the lede” prize has to go to Teresa Nielsen Hayden for using a comment in a downblog thread, rather than Making Light’s front page, to tell her readership that she’d been carted off to the hospital following what was probably a heart attack. This event has since been discussed elsewhere, and we’re starting to get a pile of email (most of which can be summarized as “WTF!?!?”) from friends who didn’t happen to have read 157 comments into a thread from several days ago. So it seems only fair to bring the rest of the world up to date.
A little after midnight this past Thursday night / Friday morning, Teresa and I were talking—about how to code an image in a Making Light post, no less—when she suddenly experienced an unfamiliar and intense pain in her chest, rapidly radiating up into her neck and lower jaw, accompanied by a sensation of powerful pressure deep inside. After a brief discussion we called 911. Impressively well-equipped paramedics arrived in about seven minutes and performed tests on the spot. We were then taken in an ambulance to Brooklyn’s Lutheran Medical Center. As of this morning, Teresa is still there, having graduated from the ER to an actual hospital bed. Further tests have been performed and more are to come. She is not considered to be in critical condition.
Teresa has had odd and hard-to-classify cardio/circulatory events before; among her other health problems, she’s occasionally prone to vaso-vagal spasm. So was this really an Infarction, Class Myocardial? The answer is: it seems probable from everything we’ve been able to find out. It appears to be what the medics assume when they’re not using careful diagnostic-speak. The speed with which the symptoms receded as soon as she was given nitroglycerin (in the ambulance, on the way over) is suggestive. Obviously, we’ll see what Big Medicine has to say when they finally finish all their tests.
Meanwhile, is she okay? Sure; mostly bored. Lutheran Medical Center is a good hospital, but they’re still a hospital, all hurry-up-and-wait, vagueness about what to expect next, and long delays, particularly over a weekend. Since hospitals aren’t really a great place to leave valuables unattended, houseguest Elise Matthesen and I have been bringing her computer to her every morning and taking it home at night. She does have a net connection, but don’t count on her for instant responses to inquiries; for the moment, anything urgent should probably be bounced to me.
What’s next? Well, “lifestyle changes,” no doubt. We do both still expect to teach at Viable Paradise on Martha’s Vineyard a week from now; we will, after all, have an EMT on staff, and we the workshop’s logistics can be adjusted to accommodate physical limitations. Other than that, one day at a time. More when we know it.
Oh bloody hell.
You and Teresa have my deepest sympathies; here's hoping that it was a minor incident and there isn't any lasting damage.
You're both in my thoughts and prayers.
100% recovery is the mark to aim for.
My deepest sympathies to Teresa and to you. Get better real soon, T!
What Charlie said. Thank you for keeping us in the loop-- a lot of people will be thinking of you and sending good karma and prayers.
Adding my "me too", and thanks to Charlie for the heads-up somewhere where I saw it quicker than I would the ML RSS feed.
God, I'm sorry to hear this, but glad to hear she is, apparently, OK.
Hope you are both well, and Teresa that recovers fully, without any ill effects.
Know that you both are in our thoughts and prayers.
my prayers & good hopes going out to to you, too, from halfway around the world.
a good friend of mine's mother is having breast cancer treatment in new york right now, so my thoughts & prayers & wishes were conveniently in the neighbourhood already.
Hoping they release Teresa soon and that this is a one time, minor, event.
Holy crap :O best wishes and everything they said.
oh, my. Here's to a speedy recovery.
Thank you, Patrick. Teresa, if you are reading this, get well soon. And darn those lifestyle changes. :-P
I lurk and never comment, but surface here to wish Teresa a quick recovery and good health. Sending love, mixed with gratitude for the sanity, humor, and intelligence you both bring every day.
I'm really sorry to hear this. Get better soon!
FYI:
I've been trying to find Teresa's initial post (which I'm assuming is in the memories and remembrances open-ish thread), by using "view all by" on Teresa's early post around comment 7 or 9, but every time I click the "view all by" it brings me back to Making Light's front page.
My great-grandmother spent her last five years afraid she was going to explode if she fell over, because she'd been taking nitroglycerin. I don't think anybody should try to avoid making Teresa laugh on these grounds.
Best wishes for a speedy recovery, and for continued boredom until then, since boredom is far, far better than lots of interesting activity when you're in the hospital.
I'm so sorry to hear this. Add my thoughts to those wishing Teresa (and you) well.
is she okay? Sure; mostly bored.
Boring is good.
My best wishes, teresa.
How scary! I am glad the paramedics were so swift, and so well-equipped. May Miss Teresa come home soon.
#14, pedantic peasant: Beats me. In a modern browser, my link in the post above should take you to her comment #157. And the "view all by" link in her comment headers works for me as well, although as you might expect it takes a while to load...
Holy hell...glad to hear Teresa's doing better.
It sounds like things went as well as they possibly could, which is still not much of a recommendation.
Best wishes to Teresa for a speedy recovery, and best wishes to Patrick (and Elise) for coping with an incredibly stressful situation.
My God. When Serge told me about that, I was horrified.
My best wishes and sympathies!
I'm with Serge @ #17: In this context, boring is good. Best wishes for Teresa's quick recovery.
I hope things improve very soon. I'm very sorry to hear this news.
I am glad to hear that Teresa is mostly bored. Swift recovery please.
Incidentally, if any of you ever get those symptoms? Do what Patrick and Teresa did and call an ambulance immediately.
The survival figures speak for themselves; 85% of those who get to hospital within 3 hours of a heart attack survive, and among those who do within an hour the survival rate is even higher. But the overall survival rate for a first heart attack is down around 50%, because a surprisingly high proportion of victims try to tough it out or ignore it at first -- until it's too late.
My great-grandmother spent her last five years afraid she was going to explode if she fell over, because she'd been taking nitroglycerin. I don't think anybody should try to avoid making Teresa laugh on these grounds.
Road Runner zips up behind Teresa. "MEEP MEEP!"
Teresa looks around, shrieks with laughter, collapses. <KABOOOM!>
Cut to: Teresa, blinking, blackened, in a cloud of smoke.
But with any luck, she'll be fine again in the very next scene.
Best wishes to you both, and get well soon, Teresa.
You both have my best wishes and sympathy. Teresa, please take care and I hope you have a speedy recovery.
Yeah, dealing with hospitals can be frustrating. All the best to Teresa, Patrick and Elise. I'm glad she's ok. I hope everything gets sorted out soon and that whatever health issues are minor.
Like everyone has said though, in this case, bored is good.
Yikes!
Best wishes on a speedy recovery.
Hope all is well, I'll light a candle for ya when I hit Mass today
Get well soon, Teresa, and out of the boring hospital. Get so well everybody else looks sick. Get so well that doctors quit grading on the curve. Get so well Thomas Sowell changes his name to avoid the comparison.
#26 Charlie: But the overall survival rate for a first heart attack is down around 50%, because a surprisingly high proportion of victims try to tough it out or ignore it at first -- until it's too late.
You got that right, Charlie. If you go to someone's house (usually because you were called by his wife) and the first words out of his mouth are "I'm not having a heart attack!" that's almost diagnostic. He's having one right in front of your eyes.
The very first of my medical posts here was on heart attacks. What motivated me to write it was when a friend called me on the phone (knowing that I'm an EMT and all) to say "My co-worker has chest pain and he's looking really pale and sweaty. What should I do?" or words to that effect.
If you suspect heart attack, sit down, 9-1-1 and four baby aspirin (chewed), and let Big Medicine do what it does best. Really, we're good at this.
I'm just sorry that T. has had to spend several nights in a hospital bed, doubtless being awakened every few hours for someone to take her vitals and stick needles in her.
Best wishes, Teresa! And strength and patience to Patrick and Elise, too.
Wow. My sympathy and very best wishes for a quick resolution and the speediest recovery for Teresa. And particularly, here's hoping for smooth sailing for Patrick and Elise. It's so stressful being the person in the bedside chair.
Adding my "get well soon & don't explode, please" to the already huge heap. For the past few years, Making Light has been making my life, well, lighter. I hope that this event will be nothing more than a "here's how you do it right" exercise complementing all the medical posts. Good luck, people.
Fingers crossed, best wishes, and all good thoughts - and those are directed to you, Patrick, as well, because (sadly) I know how awful it is for the partner who has to hang out in the waiting room making all the friends-and-relations phone calls ('yes, they did a treponin test; yes, I'm sure the doctor didn't get his degree from a Cracker Jack box' etc.).
During long stressful waiting periods I recommend writing doggerel, because I found a kind of victory in being able to rhyme and scan At A Time Like This.
:Thinking good thoughts for both of you:
Get well soon, Teresa -- thinking of you and Patrick and hope all goes well.
Good to hear. I'll be thinking of you both.
You're in my thoughts and prayers as well, Teresa. Best wishes to you and all your caregivers.
Well wishes from Texas. We're thinking good thoughts for you.
Egad! You two are in my thoughts and prayers.
This hardly seems fair. Best wishes and hopes for a speedy recovery, and if you want a free (though no-frills) vacation in the sunny Caribbean as a stress reducer, you know who to turn to. Along about November it'll start sounding good.
Best wishes for a complete and speedy recovery.
People who are interested in What Happens in the Hospital could do far worse than to go to Heartsite.com.
Here's to a medically boring stay, with enough non-medical activity and mental stimulation to keep Teresa from being bored. (Let the medical staff be bored, instead.)
I've been heads down in moving cross-country (east coast to west coast) so I missed any earlier discussion. But let me be the, um, 47th or so to offer my best wishes for Teresa's recovery and return to good health.
(As a side note, I'm somewhat curious as to how a hypochondriac should handle heart attack symptoms. I had arm and chest pain on my left side because of a) torn rotator cuff and pinched nerves and b) really bad GERD, and I'm afeard that one day I will have a heart attack and blow it off because I'm a hypochondriac who is always worrying about something. Is there anything that will make a heart attack particularly obvious, short of death?)
I'm glad the worst seems to have passed, and I'll be keeping you both in my thoughts.
Yeeeep.
*better-health-no-more-surprises wishes heading your way from across the city*
Thanks so much, Patrick, for giving such a full and soothing report. I'll continue to fret gently anyway, and keep Teresa and you and helper/houseguest Elise in my thoughts.
My fondest wish is for no surprises and a quick exit from the hospital!
Best wishes to you both!
I live in fear that something like that might happen to my parents one day, and I'd be on the other side of the world...
Best wishes for a speedy, easy recovery. If you need anything brought to hospital or home while you recover, let me know.
Oh dear Lord. Holy Batcakes.
This is going around. The spouse of a writer friend of mine just spent time in the hospital with heart attack symptoms--turns out not, but angioplasty to ream out serious arterial blockage was called for.
For Teresa--may your hospital time be exquisitely boring rather than exciting. Hospital time should be boring, especially for this stuff. Better than the alternative.
Unfortunately, it sounds like dark chocolate and single malt Scotch are contraindicated. For the moment. Still, best wishes and a hope that some of the good things can be sneaking back into your life soon enough...at least until then, we can haz Middle/Old English, right?
And, like Pixelfish at 50, I want to know just how one discerns between worrisome chest pain and chest pain caused by muscle spasm. Mine is caused in part by pressure on particular muscles from underwire bras and such. It does not radiate. BP is good, blood work has been good (but hasn't been done in the past few years).
Hail to hero EMTs everywhere, and best wishes etc. The heart being a tough old muscle, after all, and hard to burn. —To natter distractingly about hospitals and such: we recently had a brief, informal tour of the birthing suites at the hospital we intend to use, and the lovely wood floors and the Jacuzzi tub and the fact that labor and delivery and recovery all happen right there in the same place with no unnecessary change of venue is very nice, yes yes, but when they asked if we had any questions the first words out of the Spouse's mouth were, "How's the wifi?"
Should be fully covered by the due date. If not, we'll want an east-facing room, it seems. Best chance of picking up the signal from a lobby one floor down. Lousy views there, but who goes for the view?
I lurk and never comment here as well, but I've been reading Making Light for five years and it has profoundly shaped how I think about many issues. Teresa and Patrick, you are in my prayers.
Oh dear, so sorry to hear this. Wishing you a short hospital stay marked by nothing more than boredom.
Hay, guise, WTFOMGBBQZZTOP! Don't do that any more, OK? I mean, I wish you hadn't done it the first time but since you already did, stop now, OK?
Thinking good thoughts for you, and at you.
Jeebus! Glad everything seems relatively OK. That really does get the 'understatement of the year' prize. Hope you're feeling back to normal soon.
Emerging from lurking to wish Teresa continued boredom in the hospital and a speedy and total recovery. My thoughts and prayers are with all of you.
Wishing Teresa a full and speedy recovery, and the shortest and most comfortable hospital stay possible. And please don't forget to take care of yourself, Patrick. Eating and sleeping and all that.
Good heavens, I'm glad you were in a place to have medical care respond quickly. I send my best wishes for a speedy recovery.
Adding my voice to the chorus of well-wishers.
May your hospital stay be incredibly dull and life go back to normal quickly.
First, to repeat: get better soon, Teresa.
Second, yes that was a good job of burying the lede. I did read that far down that thread, and then was reassured to see a post by Teresa the next day. I didn't quite think that Andy hadn't read that far down until he expressed surprise and dismay on seeing Elise's LJ post about Teresa's heart attack.
And third, points to Patrick for the allusion in the post title. I'm guessing by now you've relaxed enough to appreciate that people are appreciating your phrasing.
(Semi-lurker delurks) Take care.
Goddam it!
Best of luck to Teresa and hopes for a speedy recovery.
have the hospital people been warned about Teresa and Middle English? (Hope she's out sooner than RSN.)
Oh jeez, another deep-lurker surfacing to make sure that Madame Nielsen Hayden, our favorite editrix (editoress?) pulls through in fine fettle. Stay bored; what more, bore your doctors and make your nurses laugh. Keep the bed rails up, just in case they make you laugh.
Brightest blessings on you, and Patrick and Elise for being there to help you Do The Right Thing. Extend those blessings to Jim as well, for teaching us all What To Do.
Boring is very, very good. And I'd imagine that Teresa, more so than almost any other person, has no shortage of good books to read. Although, if someone starts carting over chunks of the slush pile for her, she'll be unbelievably motivated to get well and get out of the hospital as fast as possible...
Thanks for keeping us informed, Patrick. Let me know if there's anything I can do, either now or at the start of VP, to make things easier for you both.
omg. Best wishes to you both, and to Teresa for a speedy and total recovery.
Baby aspirin, eh? *adds to shopping list*
Best wishes for a speedy recovery.
Me too on the wellness wishing at the wishing well - lots of good hippie vibes speeding Teresa-wards from the far northwest.
And oh yeah, boring is good. Very good.
Be healthy, Teresa. And thanks, Patrick, for the update. Even mostly-lurkers care. And fret.
Another voice in the chorus. Sending healing energy to Teresa, and coping energy to her as well as Patrick and Elise.
Oh no! Teresa, best wishes for a speedy recovery! We'll try to keep the Internet ticking smoothly in your absence, and we promise not to throw any wild parties.
Here's hoping she can reacquire home-hood in short order, if not shorter order. And thanks for the Tweet; goodness knows when I would have found out about this otherwise.
[ObSheesh: Sheesh! The things some people do to draw folks from far and wide back into the comments at Making Light!]
What they said, up there. Get well.
Best wishes to Teresa and Patrick. Yay for Elise!
May I recommend Xopher @189 in Remembrances and anniversaries on ways of "keeping a good thought" for someone?
Mez, sending across a MLAC (AB) Care Parcel of health and healing to you, as well as one for the NH household. Hope you got the Councillors you wanted, and sleep enough.
Your friends and acquaintances in Sweden are thinking of you and hoping everything turns out all right in the end!
I'm putting my best wishes here, but have already e-mailed 'em to Teresa. I know well what she's experiencing; I had a heart attack in 2006. I didn't call an ambulance -- a friend drove me to the hospital -- and no one could believe I was actually having a heart attack, including the ER docs, until the labs came back. Teresa, wishing you the best outcome: minimal blockage, no surgery necessary, a prescription for a statin drug that you tolerate with no problems, some diet changes, and that's it. You may escape without heart muscle damage: I did. Congratulations for having called 911 immediately. I agree with all above: boring is good. I hope you recover soon and are able to return to your life. Thoughts and prayers...
i don't get the allusion of the title, but it has thoroughly earwormed me with the old 97s' "murder or a heart attack".
"but i'm leaving the back door open 'til you come hooome again...."
sorry. (but an earworm can count as a form of distraction, right?)
All I can do is hope that Teresa recovers as swiftly as possible. You're both in my thoughts, for whatever good that may do.
Yipes!
Best wishes for a speedy and complete recovery!
(since everything else important has been said, it seems... :-)
Dang it, guys. Sending more GT's from up Texas way.
My thoughts and best wishes for a speedy recover, and laughter for all of you.
!!!!!
Thoughts, good hopes, and prayers coming from here.
Hoping that there remains no excitement in the hospital -- just hanging around, feeling fine, and getting better, until able to come home.
(And I am hearing the echo of my former boss's voice in my head. We were working on methods for earlier diagnosis of risk of myocardial infarction, in an office a few blocks from the local hospital. Every time an ambulance went by the office, he would come in and say "We must work faster!" I'm no longer working on myocardial infarction, but I am working on risk assessment for arrhythmia. I must work faster!)
Oh, fuck! I'm glad she's ok and that you both reacted as quickly as you did. All my best to both of you...get well soon, hang in there, and so forth.
Very sorry to hear this, but glad she's doing OK. Thanks for posting, and my best wishes to both of you.
As a hospital veteran, I can tell you that boredom is a good symptom in a patient. It's even better when the doctors get bored.
Get well soon.
Industrial Strength HealingWishes are on their way to Teresa Fed Ex. Fortitude for you and Elise.
(Lifestyle changes. Oy. Insert age cliche here.)
Oh gosh. So much can happen while we're entertaining my aged mother on one of her rare visits to Reading. General echoing of what everybody says about Getting Well Soon.
What I first saw was a truncated subject line on a mailing list: "Theresa Nielsen Hayden suffers (minor) hear", and it took a moment to realize how this had to continue. As a deafish fan I've been suffering from minor hear all my life.
Adding to the chorus--thoughts and prayers, to both of you.
Oh, dear. Best wishes, and get well soon!
More (gentle) hugs and best wishes for a complete recovery, and here's hoping the 'lifestyle changes' will be minimal.
Oh, and many thanks to the EMTs!
To Teresa: Best wishes for a speedy recovery!
Thanks, Patrick, for posting.
Let me join everyone in wishing you well.
Teresa: Best wishes for a steady and boring recovery. Well done on calling 9-1-1 sooner rather than later, and for posting about it; reminding us about the clinical signs of heart attacks could save more lives.
Pixelfish @ 50: Heart attack pain is much more intense, and is accompanied by pressure. GERD radiates along the esophagus, and shoulder pain is fairly confined to the area of use. Heart attacks generally are also accompanied by other signs, like "indigestion" (which is classic in women), anxiety, nausea (because of the severe pain), and hemodynamic signs -- paleness, sweating, loss of energy.
In any case, if you are concerned about the pain, and can't identify it definitively as GERD/rotator cuff, just take precautions and at least call a doctor or drop in to the nearest urgent care facility -- some cities are now developing Urgent Care facilities to relieve the pressures on ERs.
So far, so good, right?
Good healing thoughts coming your way. Take it easy, get well.
Not much to say except joining everyone else in wishing you both well. Hope normal life resumes quickly.
Teresa, feel better, soon.
More entertainment links:
Tease,
(the full episode),
Good Andy Hooper play.
Glad to hear everything is under control. Best wishes as always, and a speedy recovery for TNH!
Wish I had something more profound to say, but I'll stick with everyone else. Good luck, and feel better!
Get well Teresa and hang in there Patrick. I'll keep you both in my prayers.
Gawd. Very best wishes to you both.
Wishing you all the best. And that's a plural 'you' -Teresa for the obvious reasons, and everybody else who worries because you can never have too much support.
"Burying the lede," indeed. That'll show me for not returning to the comments in Abi's thread on Friday, after having read the first 134 late Thursday night. Thank you for the update and added details here.
I'm glad the heart attack was a mild one, much as I understand how life-changing "mild" major medical conditions can be. If a friend with a car can be of any help between now and the start of Viable Paradise can be of any help, please call or write. My schedule is in one of those times where it's relatively easy to be flexible about where I am.
And of course this happens when I'm helping copyedit some text for a cardiac equipment company (they make emergency defibrillators and test/monitor equitpment...). Makes note to self not to start studying hemorrhagic fevers. Thoughts and wishes, as sent elsewhere.
Oh my. Scary! Best wishes to all.
Ack! I'm sorry to hear this.
Best wishes for a speedy recovery.
Good heavens!
Get well soon Teresa. I'll be praying for you.
don
I wish you a short and boring hospital stay, Teresa!
Yikes! Please add our best wishes for a full recovery to the multitude.
You're both in my thoughts and prayers, guys. Anything we can do, please don't hesitate an instant before telling us.
Holy yikes! I'm glad to hear that she's recovering. Thinking good thoughts for both of you.
Just another voice in the chorus here... Get well soon, Theresa.
Hoping for a rapid recovery and no lasting ill effects.
124th-ing the best wishes, and relief. [gets off chair, onto bike]
So sorry to hear this.
Best wishes for a boring hospital stay and a quick and complete recovery.
What a scare. I wish you both a rapid and total recovery.
My fil has been through this three times this year. Our family's best wishes to yours for a speedy and answer-filled recovery.
We all really hated the not-knowing parts.
Heal well, Teresa. Thinking of you here.
I'll add my voice to the chorus of "get better soon and have this turn out to be minor plzkthx!". But - for all of you who are wishing her boredom in the hospital (though I know exactly where you're coming from and why you say it), every time I see that I think "Hasn't Patrick brought her a pile of BOOKS to read yet? Not to edit, just to read?"... I know, from previous experience, that if I ever again have to go, and have time to prepare, one thing I'll HAVE to take is a brown grocery-bag full (approx.) of paperbacks to read.
--Dave
Raising a bowl of oatmeal for your speedy return home!
I'm another lurker, popping up to wish Teresa a quick, simple and complete recovery.
Bother. I can't think of anything more difficult than just lying there and letting people take care of you, Teresa, but you'll just have to put up with it so you can be well soon, because you are necessary, all around.
I send my best wishes to both of you. Theresa, here's to a speedy recovery.
Oh, jeeze. Get better soon. My thoughts are with you.
Goodness, I spotted the "buried lede", but when I realised that Teresa was still moderating Boingboing, I figured it wasn't anything so serious. Don't those guys give you sick leave, Teresa?
Seriously, though, get well soon. And I know hospital's boring but find something to do less aggravating than quashing CATFOCFICkers, please?
Best wishes for Teresa's full and healthy recovery.
Good wishes here, as well -- wondering if we should all conspire to find Teresa a fine nightcap for her stay in bed... ;)
Holy hell. Here's hoping for a speedy, or at least thorough, recovery.
Very best wishes for the most positive of outcomes, and sincerest sympathies to all in the meantime.
Yikes. Get well, Teresa.
I've already sent my love, but I'll repeat what everyone else has said: Boredom is okay, considering, as Maurice Chevalier put it, The Alternative. Both of you stay well, please.
Eek. All appendages crossed here for a quick and lasting recovery, and the good health of both of you.
Nothing creative to say; just hang in there, and I'll be directing a few choice words to the Entity upstairs.
Hokey smokes. Am glad all involved are being well-looked-after; will keep wishes for T's speedy recovery in my heart. I hope somebody has taken her knitting bag to her; that may help.
I would also like to apologize at this time, because when when I read the phrase "impressively well-equipped paramedics" my brain went all Edward Gorey/The Curious Sofa on me and I had to stop and snicker like a 14-year-old.
Health issues = sucky
Good care = Excellent
Being bored (rather than the alternative) = Not so bad, eh?
Sending good health thoughts and prayers your direction, and extremely glad it's not far worse.
All my best wishes for a full and speedy recovery, Teresa, and as mentioned "elsewhere" you and PNH and all your assorted caregivers are in my prayers.
Patrick, thanks for posting this for all of us who'd heard only the bare minimum elsewhere and had been waiting, hopefully, for an "official bulletin". I for one was greatly relieved to learn (among other reliefs) that TNH's previous ML post was timestamped well after the stressful occurrences of the previous day. . .
Harriet
who'd been staring bemusedly at
the juxtaposition of the words
"Bring It On!" and "Teresa"
Thinking of you all, and glad you took the warning signs seriously.
Best wishes for a speedy recovery.
And thank you, Jim, for writing that piece about warning signs.
well, that's a little more excitement than you really needed. my best wishes to you all, and i hope teresa gets to be bored at home rather than bored at the hospital very soon now.
I'm just another fan who has enjoyed seeing you at cons. First heard about this is Elise's LJ, but glad you posted with more details.
Hope Teresa is back on her feet soonest. Hospitals are most definitely a drag.
*hugs* to Teresa. Patrick, make sure you take care of yourself. Elise, make sure he does so. Healing Energy to all.
Eep! Get well soon! I look forward to the many informative threads on "lifestyle changes" that will no doubt be forthcoming.
Teresa, sorry you're in a boring place, but not as sorry as I'd be if you weren't. Enjoy that boredom!
If wishes would make you well, I'd send you ten thousand. The spirit of the fountain dies not.
Boredom is good, by comparison.
Thinking about you both, which, by the above, appears be a drop in a whole tsunami of thought.
Thanks for this, Patrick--I found out last night through Elise's livejournal, but I would have never found the buried lede otherwise.
You're all in my thoughts, Teresa most of all.
fingers crossed for a safe/speedy recovery--hope Teresa's out of that hospital quick.
My wishes for a speedy and as-complete-as-possible recovery add little those amassed above, but here they are.
Get better soon, and here's to a full and speedy recovery
Thank you for the update, Patrick. I've been worried.
Like it's been said here, boring is good. I'm happy about boring. I'm very, very happy you guys are safe.
Good luck convincing Teresa that the nitro needs to be reserved as medicine.
Holy hell. Well, that's certainly the wrong kind of excitement. You're both in my thoughts. Speedy recovery, Teresa.
All our best wishes and hope for full recovery -- gossibs are uncommon, and to be kept safe and well!
All best wishes for speedy recovery and no re-occurances. Things do sound positive, thank goodness!
Love, C.
Adding to the chorus of Get Well Soon. And reminding Patrick and Elise to take care of of themselves, too.
My sympathies to you both and my wishes for a speedy recovery for Teresa.
I'm glad she knew what to do and that she received such prompt and effective treatment.
May the medical people be as bored as Teresa is, if not more so. Here's to a swift and complete recovery. And hey, you guys who aren't in the hospital, eat something and get some sleep.
P.
Another longtime lurker sending best wishes for a full and speedy recovery.
Epacris @83, thanks for posting that link to Xopher's suggestion on prayer. And Xopher, thanks for writing it up in the first place. I think I'll find that very helpful.
You no doubt know the Levy Haskell family's thoughts and wishes and prayers are with y'all, but I reckon it never hurts to remind you what you know. G-d be with you.
#138, NelC: "Goodness, I spotted the "buried lede", but when I realised that Teresa was still moderating Boingboing, I figured it wasn't anything so serious. Don't those guys give you sick leave, Teresa?"
It's true that T has been checking into Boing Boing, but it also has to be said that the Boing Boing empire has been stunningly supportive. Having BBGadgets supremo Joel Johnson show up at one's front door with a bag containing several quarts of home-made chicken soup and a gigantic pan of (delicious!) spinach lasagna is a wonderful thing...
Don't know what else to say, except good wishes to the both of you.
Oh my stars and garters - I take the family out for the day and this happens?
Get well soon, Teresa: you and Patrick are on my "To Whom It May Concern" list.
Here's another wish for a speedy recovery from a mostly-lurker.
Best wishes for a speedy and uneventful (boring is good!) recovery.
I'd like to speak for all the lurkers in wishing good health on Teresa and anyone else who needs it.
Thank goodness you all were together, quick to call 911, and do the aspirin thing. Responding quickly is key, and having someone else there has got to be better than flying solo, as Hal had to.
A year and a bit after Hal's heart attack his cholesterol is good, his heart shows no further blockages, and it takes him a goodly while to get his heart rate up high enough for a stress test, so with lifestyle and pharmaceutical changes, things can look very positive. I'll keep you both in my thoughts and hope for 100% recovery with no muscle damage to the heart. Godspeed.
Sympathies and best wishes. Hope all the medical stuff is as un-irritating, painless, helpful, and swiftly-over as possible.
And yet another lurker adding best wishes...
Jesus fuck! I fall off the Internet and come back to this.
Thinking good thoughts for the both of you, and hoping for Teresa's quick, full recovery.
Best wishes, Teresa and Patrick. Get well!
Thinking very fondly of you all. Let me know if there's anything I can do.
Best wishes for a speedy recovery to Teresa and hopefully, Patrick, you can get some rest, too.
That Teresa is in hospital is good news, and that she's doing excellently is even better.
Lifestyle changes, yes (I say from experience involving a stent-insertion about ten years ago), but I'm sure Teresa is strong-willed enough to make them on _her_ terms. (I.e., the kind of "low-stress" lifestyle some Doctors would advocate would probably be fatally boring for Our Heroine.)
WTF! (Just found out this sec!) Scary. Healthy thoughts going out to Teresa and you Patrick.
I'll add my voice to the many - thank goodness for EMT folks, hospital care, Teresa recovering, and all that. I'll go inform Suzle - she doesn't know about this yet.
After many visits to hospital Emergency Rooms and all over the last few years with my mother, I know all about how long things take there. You never know why, either.
I'll add my sympathies and best wishes as well, though I have no content to help with alleviating boredom. Get well soon! (Or, better yet, get well already!)
Prayers for the both of you and Elise.
For those asking about how do I tell for sure? You don't; that's why there are medical personnel. I've been in ER three times for weird things - two were vagus nerve weirdnesses, but the other time was the payoff - I hadn't had a heart attack - yet. I did have serious anemia.
In each case, everyone in the emergency ward assured me that I had done the right thing to come in.
Harry Connolly @176: Ah, yup. The lurkers are supporting her in email....
I've had both heart and sleep issues, neither as serious as yours, and I'm impressed with how you have dealt with yours. I hope you feel stronger with each day.
Adding all our best wishes. "Not in critical condition" counts as good.
Also delurking to say:
Best wishes for a speedy recovery!
Sympathies and best wishes (adding to the chorus). Get well soon. Keep taking the aspirin...
Just heard about this via another blog. Wishing Teresa a speedy yet boring recovery. Best wishes to both.
Boring has its limits, though. Staring at the ceiling and feeling neither hale nor ill gets old with great and ghastly rapidity.
I hope the trend toward "hale" is smooth and swift, and that the lifestyle changes bring with them neither gloom nor moments of despair. (I say this as someone who had to give up beer and cheese....)
Eeep! Just got back form the road to see this.
Just this: Get better.
I'm glad she's okay now. Y'all are in my prayers.
Hope you feel better soon, Teresa. Best wishes...
Good thoughts aimed your way (all your ways).
If there's a television in the room, demand either control over the remote or that it's switched to a channel other than Fox. Trust me, this will reduce blood pressure.
(This brought on by visits to Tripler Army Hospital, where every TV in sight/earshot is tuned to that awful propaganda-delivery machine.)
Best wishes to you all!
And I hope you're not being bombarded with heart related horror stories. If you are, as an antidote, both of my parents have had heart problems (triple bypass for one, arrhythmia for the other) - and they're both just fine, 8 and 10 years later.
I hope you're just fine very soon.
Just read about this at Avedon's. Lots of good thoughts your way. Glad to hear you took care of the problem right away!!
Best wishes to Teresa for a speedy and full recovery. And thanks to Jim for posting such good advice in a place where Teresa would be sure to read it. I ran into Teresa at a con and told her how much I enjoyed Jim's posts on ML. She said "Yes, he's a treasure." Even more of one now. Thanks also to Elise and everyone who's been helping.
I am forwarding Affairs of the Heart to my friends and family.
Best wishes for a speedy recovery for Teresa, of course, but how are you doing Patrick? As someone who spent much of a decade in hospital waiting rooms with my dad while mom was inside (including an ugly two weeks in the tiny one for the ICU at Swedish) I know how run down you can get when you can't do anything but be an advocate for a loved one--especially when the Minute Movies start running in your head. Don't forget to eat somewhere besides the hospital cafeteria from time to time. I wish I could do something--would a chocolate geoduck from the Specific Northwest sent to the Tor offices help?
Here via BB. Best wishes to Teresa on a full & complete recovery and good thoughts to Patrick and those immediately involved.
Best wishes, patrick and Theresa. Thinking of you.
Oh dear!!! Best wishes going out for a speedy and complete recovery.
I hope that the trip in the ambulance ends up having been the most exciting part of this entire interlude.
My best wishes for resumed/continued good health.
Having BBGadgets supremo Joel Johnson show up at one's front door with a bag containing several quarts of home-made chicken soup and a gigantic pan of (delicious!) spinach lasagna is a wonderful thing...
Complete with a wind-up, titanium-plated sommlier one presumes...
Best wishes to Teresa for a full, speedy recovery.
Yikes!
Patrick, my best to you and Teresa; sending good thoughts your way. Please keep us updated.
And do be a dear: give Teresa a head-noogie and remind her that being bored in the hospital is infinitely preferable to the alternative. :-)
All the best,
Colleen
Well, *that* sucks. I'm glad, but not surprised, that y'all did the observant, quick-thinking, educated thing and got Teresa the hell to hospital. The boredom should pass, once you're not in a boring place. And all that matters, she said along with the ever-growing chorus of well-wishers, is that Teresa gets better, and Patrick and Elise get some rest and surcease from worry. All the best to everyone.
Yi! Wishing you a complete and swift recovery, Teresa. My best to you both.
Best wishes for a speedy recovery. </delurk>
AccKK! I send my sincere hopes for a full and speedy recovery.
All my best to Teresa and Patrick, and a large amount of gratitude to Elise, who was surely a stabilizing force in the ruckus.
Adding my wishes to the rest. Get well soon.
Yipes! More best wishes headed your way from another semi-lurker. My dad recently had a heart attack and he's now home and doing just fine. (In fact, he was in the hospital for something else when he had the attack. If you're going to have a heart attack anyway, the hospital is a good place to stage it.)
Teresa: Get better!
Patrick/Elise: Thanks for keeping a zillion friends and acquaintances and strangers up to date on this.
As I said before[1], you're all in my prayers.
[1] Yes, I'm one of those "refresh Making Light 47 times a day" people.
GoodThoughts continuing, for a short, boring hospital stay and for full health regained.
::also adds baby aspirin to shopping list::
Pleasae add my voice to the chorus of good wishes. Teresa, the world is a better place for your being in it. And it's certainly more grammatically correct.
Sorry to hear this. Best wishes to her.
I'm sorry you're stuck in the hospital, Teresa. There's just no good way to get that sort of imprisonment.
During my husband's latest extended visit though, we found a bit of diversion by toying with the staff.
Try this...
Order a cup of tea from food service, then take bets as to what flavor popsicle will be delivered instead.
Oh, meant to add: I seriously pity the medical staffer who tries to snow you with jargon (you, collectively, meaning Patrick, Elise, and Teresa), or give anything less than a straight answer. The maintenance crew will need to hose down the ceiling afterward.
One thing I find comforting about illness in a community like this: you get support from your friends, yes, but you also get fearsome intellectual support and the benefit of the knowledge and experience of said friends. And this is an extraordinarily bright group of folks.
Feel better, be better, bask in all the positive waves coming your way from so many directions.
You're in Deb's and my thoughts.
Oh, my! I missed this until I just saw it linked on ebear's LJ.
Get well soon Teresa!
So sorry to hear the news! Be better soon.
Love and good thoughts to you both.
Yikes. Scary, but it sounds like everything's more or less okay, and I'm very glad to hear it. My well wishes for a good and easy recovery. Thankfully with quick medical attention that should be the case. Heck, my grandfather had a heart attack when he was in his 50s and he's in his 80s now and still healthy, for a nice optimistic anecdote for ya. :)
Hospitals may be boring but as someone else said, if it's boring, that's a good sign. Be well, Teresa.
Regarding "lifestyle changes", I hope Teresa won't be getting suggestions for them from her doctors (unless her doctors are unusually well-informed for doctors). Please remember that our doctors recommended replacing butter with margarine and eliminating eggs. Eggs and butter, deadly! But no, now she will probably hear that an egg a day is good for heart health, and margarine is evil. For these are the current recommendations. And believe it or not, those in the know (see links) are already pointing to the ultimate reversal of all that dangerous doctor-advice: it turns out that saturated fat is good for you and it is the vegetable oils (also for replacing butter) that have been killing us this all these decades. Well well. That and high-heat cooking, and fried potatoes of any kind (french fries and potato chips are truly bad for your health! but not because of the fat per se).
www.ravnskov.nu/cholesterol.htm
www.westonaprice.org/knowyourfats/index.html
www.westonaprice.org/moderndiseases/statin.html
Says much for our hostess that there are (as I write) 230 posts here with variations on "best wishes, praying for you" to which I add mine.
Teresa, Patrick -- best wishes. My father had a heart attack at 37, and 20 years later he's still doing great.
I'm very sorry to hear it. I hope she'll make a full and fast recovery; my best wishes go out to the both of you.
Apropos the BBGadgets supremo turning up with lasagna -
first thought - it's a good thing every ML reader can't email food.
supplementary mental image - looks like a microwave but it's actually some internet-enabled hybrid of the Star Trek 'Earl Grey tea, hot' gismo and a Nivenesque jumpshift booth.
Far away in whatever alternate reality has such things, the Nielsen Hayden household appliance is pinging with a non-stop cavalcade of international cuisine.
Grah. Get well soon, Teresa! As mentioned by others, bored is good and not just because it means you're still around.
Hugs and further well-wishes from rainy Michigan. Here's hoping Teresa finds the motivation to rest not only in the hospital but after it, boredom aside.
I actually think T has a fair amount of perspective on the ebb and flow of nutritionist recommendations.
Another lurker delurking to offer Teresa best wishes for a short, boring stay in hospital and a speedy recovery!
I did see the "buried lede" shortly after it was posted (ML is only a minor obsession...I can quit any time I want to, really...), and I've been fretting ever since, so thanks very much to Patrick and Elise for the updates. Adding mine to the barrage of good thoughts and healing energies heading to all of you.
Yikes. Let me add my best wishes to the flood of others, for a full and speedy recovery.
Much good thoughts from over here, and wishing much of the getting well, and of the continued medical-related boredom, because that really is so much better than the alternatives.
Also, yay for sensible and helpful people who are more geographically useful than many of us. It's soothing to read about.
To add another drop to the flood of well-wishing comments, may your discomfort and worry be brief and her recovery lasting.
abi #209:
Maybe you can ask for his recipe cards[1].
[1] Punchcards, of course.
Yow! Get well soon, Teresa.
Also, if more serious care is needed (and I'm sure this is advice is not needed) find the BEST doctor and hospital you can. NY has some of the best, and the best transparency. I hope you won't need this link to surgical results by hospital (note - PDF), but here it is anyway.
Now get better! The world needs you - voices of reason are few and far between.
Oh, sheesh! Lord. Um, please get better fast. I'll do my part my trying not to freak. I'm thinking of you, T! A lot.
Andi here for both of us.
Oh damn. Stu and i send our love and our "hey, don't DO that!". We pride ourselves on offering useful comments, part of my useless tendency to forever chime in with things like "be careful" AFTER someone's tripped. Because you NEVER fuckin' know what to do or say, but I have this kneejerk reaction. Like saying "don't do that" works. But anywhoo, don't. We have a nice lovely long list of people who should have such problems. You're not on it.
Please feel better. Please be well. Please do whatever you're supposed to do so it doesn't happen again. We wholly resent when bad things happen to our friends. Why doesn't the world listen to us more often? We're nice and we have GREAT friends. So there.
I've never met you folks, but you've had a huge influence on my life since I've started reading Making Light.
My father has of late been terrified of a heart attack -- he won't mention it, but the moment he feels the slightest bit odd, he's checking himself in to make sure it isn't anything serious.
I hope Teresa gets better soon.
Patrick (@238), I am glad to hear it. Here's to Teresa's health!
Longtime fan delurking in Australia to wish Teresa a speedy recovery (and hoping that this attack is also the last!)
Another mostly lurker / rare commenter, adding my mite of good thoughts, positive karma, and heartfelt prayers speeding towards all of you.
I saw the announcement, which was not only buried but subtle as well. I figured it was serious, but not lifethreatening.
All good thoughts for a speedy, and thorough, recovery.
PJ@71: have the hospital people been warned about Teresa and Middle English?
I remember Asimov's story of \singing/ on the way into the operating room because he was completely unused to systemic depressants and had been premedicated. Somewhere in the we-all-hope-it-doesn't-get-that-far file is a vision of the anesthetist telling T to count backwards from ten and getting the Middle English version. Here's hoping she's well and home shortly.
Just got back from a few days away visiting family and having no web access to find this. Get well soon, Teresa, and do whatever is necessary to reduce the chances of this happening again.
Sometime lurker here.Wishing her a quick and full recovery.Take care,the both of you.
Adding to the chorus. Here's to getting home and being not bored in nice, healthy back-to-regular-life type ways. As opposed to exciting, ambulance and hospital involving ways.
There is no way I'm going to manage to read 254 comments before my bus arrives. Hopefully I'll be able to catch up and join in the conversation soon-ish. Meanwhile--
Teresa, you have all my good wishes wrapped up in a bow and shipped to you via Hugs Express for within-the-hour delivery. Be well! Or else! And many good wishes for Patrick 'cause this kind of scare is no good for anyone.
Wishing you all the best. Get well soon, Teresa!
Yikes! Crossing fingers that all remains stable and well.
Another lurker here chiming in with best wishes for Teresa's speedy recovery.
Thank you both for being sensible and calling 911 right away! When I had my incident a few years ago, I waited a couple of hours and then drove myself to the hospital. Stupid, I know. I'm lucky to be here. On the upside, my most recent stress test was entirely normal.
So I'm happy, but completely unsurprised, to find that y'all are smarter than I am. :)
Holy crap! That's scary! I'm glad she's doing well, if bored. If she gets *too* bored, tell her to beg for a Demerol pump. Twenty-four hours on one of those things can be summed up as, "I hurt. *PRESS* I'm bored. *PRESS* I wonder if this works again? *BEEPBEEPBEEP* Damn it."
Barring that, there's always three nurses, several IV stands, and a copy of The Three Musketeers. ;)
Holy Wah! Good wishes to Teresa and Patrick.
um, so bringing a t-shirt to VP that says *BOOM* would or would not be appreciated?
Best wishes to Teresa. I hope you're able to read books. It's nice to be bored in a situation like that though.
Thoughts and well-wishes shipped your way.
Get better soon,
~PJ~
The symptoms of a heart attack are so completely unlike what's portrayed in, say, a common sitcom. When I had mine, raking the lawn, I thought I was just over-exerted -- short of breath, back pain, tingling in my jaw. None of that "shooting pain up the arm, elephant on my chest" stuff.
I'm so glad you reacted quickly, I probably waited a good 45 minutes before calling for help, and then didn't call 911, instead asking my neighbor to take me to the emergency room.
They'll check for high levels of a certain enzyme which is emitted when heart muscle dies, elevated levels will confirm it was a heart attack. When they gave me my results, I felt like THAT was the moment I was having a heart attack.
The good news: like me, you may well end up being more healthy after this than before. Especially now that you're aware of what's going on inside yourself.
Best of luck, and soon you'll be blogging about how difficult it is to avoid trans fats.
::hug::
Best wishes and I hope there's a speedy, boring, easier-than-anybody-expected recovery.
Another boring get-well-soon message.
Wanted to write a poem, but my attempts to find a rhyme for "infarction" would've appalled even Mick Jagger.
Teresa, may the marks in
Your charts (like skids from Clarkson,
Or, perhaps, a quark scan)
Be more useful and less stark than
The simple, terse remark, "An
ordinary infarction."
Pierce hath chosen the better part, I think.
There once was a card'al infarction
In our mistress of artful redarction... no, no, Pierce Butler is right. GOD that's horrible.
Good wishes, and get better soon!
Glad to hear Teresa's feeling better.
Here's hoping for a full recovery soon!
Wow, I'm just catching up and am so glad Teresa is on the road to recovery. Isn't it awesome that lifestyle changes never include a doctor saying "you need to cut way back on your reading".
Augh. I was last on Making Light on Friday, but so busy refreshing Hurricane Ike (Brother in Houston) that my foray into Remembrances and Anniversaries only made it to roughly comment 100.
Get well, Teresa. May your friends closer at hand bring you sufficient of computers, music, art, and books to ease the bad part of the boredom, and may the doctors get bored at your easy recovery and improved health.
Good thoughts and best wishes to you each and together. Glad, in a way, to hear you're having boring days, Teresa.
Best wishes for a speedy (and not-too-exciting) recovery!
My best wishes for a speedy recovery, and a good weekend on the Vinyard.
Yikes. I'll add in my "what everyone else said" here.
Thank goodness you recognized and responded in time
and my thoughts (and the rest of the household's thoughts) are with you for a thorough and speedy recovery.
Another voice in the chorus (did Greek choruses have 200 members? no?): get well soon, you are just not allowed to die.
(Losing John M. Ford was bad enough: no more ML-regular wordsmiths are permitted to die this decade.)
Yikes! Best wishes that the speedy recovery continues apace and that there is no recurrence. Thinking of you both.
I think perfect rhyme (in the greek, or russian, sense) has to go by the boards. Even with that a meagre set of doggerel is all I can contrive to create.
I should rather you shun
this damned infarction
That you might spend jolly time at the Tun
raising a pint and telling a pun.
I hope all gets no worse than boring for our gracious hosts, and that you're back up to your usual energy again soon. You're in my prayers as well.
And I've just restocked our medicine cabinet with chewable low-dose aspirin from the drugstore. (I'm assuming that the 81 mg tablets are the "baby aspirin" dosages, so we should chew 4 of those in situations like this?)
Send her my best wishes, Patrick!
Oh, by the way - I happen to have my latest manuscript here; I'm sure that she'll be glad to fill her empty hours in the hospital reviewing it. I'd FedEx it, but it's far too heavy. Do you mind if I send you the files (I have to break it into 20 parts, due to e-mail size restrictions), and you could print it off, and take it to her? Best to do it in color; that way she can appreciate the complex patterns I put on each page :)
It's about this Geye, in Aragon.
Teresa,
I am so sorry to hear of your little incident. I hope you get better soon. I am glad I will still get to meet you at VP next week.
Sending good wishes for health your way.
- CRT
Best wishes on a speedy recovery.
Ye gods and little fishes. Heal fully, and live well. Jim, thank you again for your posts. Patrick, as someone who's been on both sides of the waiting room, do take time to take good care of yourself.
(Gee, I take a day off from refreshing ML, and look what happens....)
Best wishes to Teresa on a speedy and complete recovery, and good thoughts to Patrick and everyone else involved.
(And now I'm off to update our household inventory of aspirin.)
Having remembered the allusion but forgotten who Patrick was quoting, I googled on "Greek of the same name": the first hit was this post. I'd forgotten Google's tendency to rank blog posts highly. I also got lots of pages about Macedonia and politics.
Adding "Homer" to the search string got me more or less what I was looking for, but that only works if you already know: a page that invoked "the legendary schoolboy howler" that the Iliad "was not written by Homer, but by another Greek of the same name." ("More or less" because I'd been thinking that the line was attributed to a specific person, like Richmond Lattimore's paper title "Homer: Who Was She?")
While it's possible that what Teresa had was neither a heart attack nor something so similar as to deserve the same name, that seems unlikely.
Oh no.
My best wishes for both of you. Teresa, get better and recover fully soon;
Patrick, do not let the worry eat you up.
Yay for bored. In the circumstances, bored is good. Get well soon, tnh!
Oh, my! May Theresa have a quick and speedy recovery. She is in my thoughts and prayers, as are you, Patrick.
My very best wishes to you both. I hope her boredom (and your likely extreme not-boredom) over the situation abates soon.
Love and wishes for a speedy recovery for Teresa! And nthing all the reminders to Patrick to take care of himself.
Adding to the thread of well-wishing!
Another longtime lurker hoping Teresa gets well soon.
Teresa,
Milk it for everything you can. Here's a golden opportunity to get things done around the house you couldn't afford to before. Your local friends, fans, and blog buddies will jump at the opportunity to show their appreciation for you as a person and as a writer. Take blatant advantage of it.
Two things to remember:
1. Home is where you go to recover from hospital.
2. Being dead is easy, it's dying that's the hard part.
And this bit of wisdom from Ludwig von Wolfgang Vulture, "A thousand deaths is not cowardice, it is merely repetition."
I'm very sorry to hear this. My best wishes for your full recovery, Teresa.
Another former VPer here, with best wishes to Teresa for speedy wellness!
- yeff
Failing to find a rhyme for "infarction", I resort to haiku:
Myocardial?
Infarction? Not our hostess!
Better news soon, please.
Oh god, no. Teresa, Patrick and Elise, I hope things are still going (as) well (as can be expected). I assume you're overwhelmed with folks (that you know a lot better than a rare commenter) asking what they can do to help, but I'm in NYC and if you need anything just let me know.
I do gardens and groceries and house-cleaning (also large animal husbandry, but I figure you probably don't need that).
Whoa, Teresa! Like everyone else in the known universe, I'm glad to hear you're all right, and I'd prefer you not do it again.
Best,
Eileen
Holy frell. Please add my good wishes to the pile.
Just discovered this and glad it sounds as if the situation is in hand. Very glad to hear that and hope they let you out soon.
Terribly sorry to hear, but glad she's on the mend!
I also want to wish you a speedy recovery, Teresa. And Patrick - you look after yourself too. I want to live in a world with the two of you in it for several decades yet.
May wellness be gotten, and soon.
Get well soon, Teresa. Take care, caretakers.
My best to her and all, of course; may her recovery be speedy, pleasant, and total.
Computer, hell. Nitroglycerin, closer. But really -- someone get that woman her knitting!
This is just to say
I have not eaten
the aspirins
that were in
in the medicine cabinet
and which
you were probably
saving
for your heart attack
forgive me
they were 81 mg
so sweet and
baby aspirin
I hope that all goes well for you, Teresa - boring sounds very much like good news in such a situation!
Many good vibes to you.
One voice among many wishing you a speedy recovery!
Patrick and Teresa, you will both remain in my prayers -- for healing, strength, patience and humor.
Get better soon!!! All our best!
Dear Teresa, I hope you get completely better very soon.
Ah me. Plenty of hospital time to go around this year. Be well, take care, and get out of there pronto and in good spirits!
Thinking of both you guys.
Hope Teresa gets to come home soon from the hospital, and that the doctors give her a clean bill of health.
Wow, that's terrible. My best wishes are with you, of course, and I seem to have quite a bit of company.
My idea for poetry would be to reverse the word order: "infarction myocardial" could almost come right out of the Major General's song. It even scans right, I think. And then there's no problem coming up with rhymes.
Too bad I don't have the talent (or maybe just not the patience) to complete the idea.
In any case, while a few hundred years ago our well-wishes and prayers would have been all we could do, now there are better alternatives. That's good. Probably most people in industrialized countries know a heart attack survivor, these days. I hope you'll be joining that group soon.
Ginger @312: It seems to me that "so sweet / and so chewable" would scan better. (I haven't done a rewritten plum yet, so I figured I'd start out by editing those done by others.)
Very sorry to hear about this! Here's hopes for a speedy recovery!
Yikes. How scary. Let me add to the Greek chorus of well wishers for a speedy recovery.
My best wishes for a speedy recovery, Teresa.
Best wishes also to Patrick, Elise and the fuzzy bloke.
Theresa,
Get well, stay well.
Don't fear the lifestyle changes your physician will doubtless recommend. I had a chest pain scare this February; I was lucky and it wasn't an MI or anything so serious, but it did lead me to believe in the need for the changes my physician had been advocating. At first the new regimen was discouraging, slow, and painful, but six months later, I'm starting to see real changes in my health.
I wish you a full recovery and the steadfastness this hard road requires.
Having heard from Patrick that Teresa was in the hospital via terse Gmail chat, and then heard via David that she might have had a heart attack, I was quite relived to see her post, since I figured that that mean she was all fine now and at home.
*delurking*
Take care, Teresa
Making Light soul and center
Quickly recover
*re-lurking*
shadowsong @ 322: Yes, that's much better.
This is just to say (revised)
I have not eaten
the aspirins
that were in
in the medicine cabinet
and which
you were probably
saving
for your heart attack
forgive me
they were 81 mg
so sweet and
so chewable
Take care of yourself and get well soon!
My best wishes and good thoughts go to all.
Teresa,
I hope all is well, and make Patrick and friends bring real food, that hospital stuff is dangerous.
Mike
Patrick - Best wishes to you and Teresa -- and a very speedy recovery to Teresa.
Best wishes for a speedy recovery. Take care, Teresa. Hang in there Patrick.
I was so sorry to learn of this.
Best wishes for a speedy recovery.
Shock and horror met
On Instalinked "heart attack" --
Praying speedy recovery
Best wishes and prayers for you both. Take care, be gentle to yourselves, and stick around.
Mike Kabongo #332: make Patrick and friends bring real food, that hospital stuff is dangerous.
Actually, I've found that the quality of hospital food has noticeably improved over the past couple of decades (especially when compared to a geek bachelor's standard fare). I was shocked how 1800 calories configured as a balanced hospital diet did not leave me hungry. Some of the entrées actually had layered flavors.
Long time reader here, just wishing you guys well. I hope everything turns out okay; my grandfather has had three heart attacks by this point and the whole family knows they're no picnic. Get well as soon as you can.
Late, but certainly no less sincere for that: my condolences, best wishes, and lots of love! Give the mimmoth a hug and pretend I'm hugging back, eh?
Yikes! I spend the weekend in an endless meeting and emerge to this news?
I hope you make a full and quick recovery, Teresa.
For what it's worth, my father had an episode that sounds like what you just went through when he was 40. He's now 85 and still going strong.
Again, long time reader here.. get well soon, and sending prayers and best wishes your way.
Between you and Howard, it seems heart attacks are SF Medical Ailment of Choice this year. (Also, my father had one last year, and an old Nova Express compatriot a year younger than I as well, which explains why I got off my butt and started riding my bike again.)
Get well soon...
I hope this is just a minor nuisance, quickly dealt with -- and that good books will sooth you in the interim.
Best wishes to Teresa for a speedy recovery. And Patrick, you remember to take care of yourself as well. I plan to spend many a 4th Street Fantasy Convention in the future with your two around to liven things up!
So glad you called the paramedics straight away and hope you recover soon and completely. Be well.
Godspeed and here's hoping for a speedy recovery.
So sorry you're all going through this. May Teresa's recovery but swift and uneventful, and may she live to tell this story with a laugh many dozens of years from now.
There once was a woman from big town
whose skills as a mod were renown.
She disemvowelled the asses
to the delight of the masses,
who all hope that soon she'll be home-bound.
n+1 on the well-wishes.
This is the sort of news that I read several times and was sure that I was missing something, because it had to Not Be Right.
But as heart attacks go, I'm glad she's non-critical and bored in the hospital. Still. Damn.
Best wishes and a speedy recovery.
Ginger: I didn't want to say anything, but your asprin have a tense error, you didn't eat the aspring, but they were so tasty.
Best wishes for a speedy recovery.
...I always feel like Peter Watts' protagonist in Blindsight in situations like these. Thousands of years of best wishes, and none of them seem even vaguely applicable to the situation at hand.
So get better quick--the world would be a dimmer, cooler place without you.
Holy shit, this puts a craptacular cap on an already crappy Renfest day (my boss told me to stay at home yesterday because it rained all day), today the rain had passed, but we made a grand total of about $300 the hard way-in $3 to $10 sales. and despite pretty warm clothing, I ache all over.
Teresa, get well soon! and Patrick and Elise, remember to take care of yourselves too!
Good thoughts and best wishes from us here on the other side of the country. Tom's heart attack was 13 years ago (story at Tales of the Heart), and he's still around, so I'm sure you'll be fine.
Remember, the goal is not for you to be bored, but for the hospital staff and doctors to be bored--that's when you know that you're doing fine and you'll be sent home shortly. I know it's not in character, but please, try as hard as you can to make them find you uninteresting!
Patrick, our best to you as well...
Add my good wishes to the heap as well.
Absent any confirming tests it could have been an esophageal spasm. They can feel exactly like a heart attack and are relieved by nitroglycerin too. As painful as they are they're not life threatening.
[At Patrick's suggestion, bringing it here from thread 010557...]
Teresa, I second Xopher's recommendation of Tara, though my own image of her is Green rather than White (yes, like an Orion woman from Star Trek), and I prefer the Tibetan Soha to the Sanskrit Svaha -- stylistic variations, de gustibus non disputandum est.
I hope you won't mind my reciting a cycle of Om Tare Tutare Ture Soha on your behalf.
____________________
Mark Temporis @ 247:
My father has of late been terrified of a heart attack....So is he (a) taking a daily 81mg aspirin? (b) carrying a bottle of chewable baby aspirin around with him, to take and chew and swallow 4 in case he has the symptoms? (c) carrying a cell phone or other emergency communication?
Best wishes, take your time, and don't rush.
(And if excitement is counter-indicated, avoid the news.)
Good luck, and hope you recover soon...
Ack! More good wishes coming from the (not yet) Frozen North. I hope the medical side of things *stays* boring, as many have already noted. However, do try and get the staff to show you the machine that goes "Ping!". I don't know what it does, but it looks terribly expensive...
Get well soon, the world would be a dimmer place without you.
BTW, if they can't won't change the TV channel or turn it off, get Joel to smuggle in a TV-B-Gone.
Jon managed to blurt out 'Teresa's had a heart attack' when we'd already left the house, which caused some consternation on my part. I hope this is a singleton.
Good healing and recovery from the shock to both of you
best wishes to your healing and continued good health afterwards
my father went through a heart attack & quad bypass, now a year later he's back to his insane self. i'm sure you can go back to your kickass ways
I would certainly appreciate it if you got well sooner rather than later, but please don't go to any trouble on my account. I'll just be over here in the corner, fretting with Aunt May.
All the best to you both, and all my hopes for a full and speedy recovery.
SF
Hell.
Best wishes for a speedy & complete recovery.
Oh my goodness! Teresa, I hope you're doing better, and that the medical staff continues to treat you with the care and respect you deserve. I'm SO glad you had awesome EMS (if you didn't, I sure would want their names so I could give 'em hell!), and wish you a quick and full recovery. Much love.
Please move back home quickly and safely.
From this remove I can say that the decision to have a *brief* discussion before calling 911 was wise -- a few years back, on a Friday evening, my boss was feeling poorly and decided that he would not "bother anyone" locally and would drive himself back home from Springfield (MA) to Long Island (NY), and only when he got home did he think to mention to his wife that he wasn't feeling well. When she heard the symptoms she immediately called his MD (a long time friend) who cursed and told them to call 911 RIGHT AWAY.
It wound up with him staying in the hospital for a week, and then getting a quad-bypass. Everyone who knew him was amazed that this happened at all (he always watched his diet, was careful to get regular exercise (weight bearing every week, and daily swim laps for 30 minutes in the morning) and always had seemed very healthy).
He had recently passed a cardiac stress test with flying colors. We were also all astounded and p***ed as the Devil because he decided to make that drive instead of calling someone he knew to come and get him (If he had called me, if he could have convinced me it was minor (and did not warrant 911 -- unlikely) I would have picked him up and driven him to one of the Worcester medical centers).
He says his doctor told him that the only reason he *was* able to survive the drive back to Long Island (that time) was *because* of the diet and exercise. And he would not be so fortunate the next time.
Much as I admire you, Teresa, I would rather not emulate you in this instance.
Get well.
Well, holy carp. Thoughts and prayers for speedy and complete healing heading your way.
Get well soon, Teresa. I can't think of anything else to say.
Oh my goodness! Teresa, you're in my thoughts and have my best wishes.
IANAD, so please take this with a bushel of salt, and I know the doctors will be back with proper test results soon, but it's possible that the quick response to nitroglycerin may not necessarily mean that the problem is cardiac. Guest at #357 suggests that esophageal spasms can be relieved with nitro, and I have found some references to support that.
Coincidentally, I was talking with my brother in law tonight who said that his doctors have come to believe that his chest pain from a few years ago, relieved by nitroglycerin, was not a cardiac problem but was related to his GERD diagnosis. And when I did some further checking just now on esophageal spasm -- because I think I just started experiencing that this weekend -- I found some other sources who mentioned that this pain can radiate to the jaw and arm.
So I wouldn't rule out an acute esophageal spasm right now, given these tiny data points. This may be a zebra instead of a horse, but it's not completely impossible, either.
Another mostly lurker here.
Please get well soon, Teresa. I'm enormously relieved that you guys acted so promptly, and that now the greatest danger is boredom. Ooooh, boredom!
Hang in there.
A :)
Oh my! I hope everything works out well, without further problems nor too many lifestyle changes.
All my best wishes for a quick, yet thorough, stay at the hospital.
Climbing onto the bandwagon to add my tuppence to what others have already said better, re: healing thoughts and speedy recovery and gratitude for EMTs and other caregivers not forgetting to take care of themselves as well.
And as a lapsed-from-pretty-much-everything, thanks to Xopher for the pointer toward the White Tara, and to Pyre for the alternate-if-desired phrasing.
And abi and Ginger? ***chuckle***
One more mostly-lurker wishing you well, Teresa, and wishing strength, patience and a good sense of humor to you and yours as you get better.
This is a terrible way to find out how much this blog and its leaders matter to a lot of mostly quiet folks who follow it!
Yow. Late to the game but please add my voice to the chorus of well-wishes for Teresa. Hope she feels better soon.
Buried way down in a thread,
Was a note from Teresa that said
An untimely stack
Has her stuck in the sack,
That's an inpatient hospital bed.
And a new topic on Making Light,
Is the latest one that's come in sight.
But speedily please
I hope it wil ease,
And she'll be back happy and bright.
Get well soon, Teresa! Have had you (and Patrick and Elise and even the hamster) in my thoughts and prayers since I read this news on Elise's LJ last night.
Hospitals are boring, but the upside is that it might afford time for reading and knitting. (It's been a long time since I've been in one for more than a few hours, so the use of laptops in hospitals ys to me unknowe.)
Teresa, quick test.
Without looking, how do you spell accommodate? Connoisseur? How many Hugos am I holding up? That's right, none.
I think and hope you'll be fine.
Also looks like every one of the Good People of Fandom wishes you the very best, Teresa. As well as a few bastards like me.
Sending good thoughts to you too, Patrick.
The way things are going, we're going to need you both around approximately forever.
Oh dear. Not. What. I. Want. To. Hear.
Very very best wishes to Teresa, and hoping this ends up being just a minor blip on your radar.
Pyre 358: A brief comparison of the Green and White Taras can be found here. Both are boon-granting, but since the green is primarily associated with rescue from danger, while the white is more associated with longevity, I think in this case covering both of them is a good thing!
Just adding to the chorus - both of you are in my thoughts and prayers.
The Queen of the 'net
Rode by sirens and light
To the dim-looking future
In the midst of the night.
Her heart, they were sure,
Was the source of the pain
And the doctors flocked near,
Her health to retain.
Her subjects kneel down
And utter their woe
At the thought that their Queen
Might lose to the foe.
But gracious is she
And mighty and strong.
Her time in those rooms
Would never be long.
Her prince and her sister
Stay near to her hand
And manage the flow
In her beautiful land.
Her subjects would give
All their hearts and much more
To see her bright words
At the Fluorosphere door.
Tell us now scholars
And speakers of fate:
The Queen returns soon,
Give us a date!
Another lurker adding to the chorus - I rarely comment because threads have usually had a good hundred or so comments already by the time I get to them, and I rarely have anything to add.
Still, I read regularly and enjoy hugely. All best wishes for a speedy and boring recovery, TNH.
Xopher @382: What caught my eye was the smallest of details, that Green Tara's right foot is lowered out of her lotus, toward the ground -- as it is explained, rather than being entirely withdrawn into contemplation, she is about to leap into action and run to help those in need.
That won my heart in an instant.
A late addition from an occasional lurker:
Teresa, get well soon, and may the post-attack care regime not conflict too wildly with any of your other existing medical treatments.
Patrick and others, best wishes, and may the support systems in your area prove responsive and helpful.
Hope all is well. Get better soon.
Oh damn. Best wishes, especially to Teresa. I believe hospitals deliberately try to bore you into going away, to free up more beds. You go when you're good and ready.
Yikes!
Marilee: your poem made me smile.
Teresa is a powerhouse - let's hope that any power interruptions she's suffering end soon, and are minimal. For everyone's sake. Especially for the sake of the English language.
Best wishes, T.; be well.
Yet another lurker hoping for a speedy recovery. My thoughts are with you both.
Best wishes for a speedy recovery.
Just saw this now, and would like to add to the chorus of get well wishes.
Repeating my good wishes from the original buried lede!
...look on the bright side. It coulda been worse. It coulda been a stroke.
Here's hoping this will be a minor bobble in a life of continued health.
Matriarch of comments thread, who dsmvwlld you?
Take aspirin and call 911, like Jim McDonald do
Before it's too late: bear witness, iterate.
Iterate indeed, you fools, and grep that spool
The cluetrain passes, and there's a seat for you
Take aspirin and call 911, like Jim McDonald do.
Take aspirin, and call 911, like Jim McDonald do;
don't be the guy who thought it was the flu.
(You think villanelles are easy? Pretentious sod.)
But still more fun than work; cultured, partisan and odd.
Without Making Light, what would we do?
So take aspirin, and call 911, like Jim McDonald do.
(Apologies to Field-Marshal Sir Archibald Wavell, No Second Front in 1942.)
I just read this post!
Teresa, I hope that pain was just a bad burrito and nothing more. I'm wishing you both well from afar. One day at a time sounds like a great plan. I'm trying that myself.
Ganbatte! (Fight!)
Prayers, best wishes and hugs.
Get well soon, Teresa! and thanks, Patrick, for letting us know. My best wishes to you both--
Just found out as well. All the best and get well soon.
Seconding everyone above. Rolling +20 health. Best wishes, Teresa. Get well soon!
Best wishes for a speedy recovery, and thanks to the swift paramedics!
Oh, I'm so sorry to hear this! Please give Teresa our love and best wishes for a speedy recovery.
May you be back to full form, or close, soon!
De-lurking to wish all the best to the best moderator on the planet.
Hope you're feeling better now, and that Viable Paradise still looks, er viable. Best wishes on a quick and full recovery.
So sorry to hear about this. Best wishes for better health. Get well soon!
Scanning through this thread I am pleased and proud, and not at all surprised, at the extent of the feelings displayed for Teresa by her friends and relations*. If wishes were horses, this would be the largest herd in North America by a long chalk. And there are so many that Patrick will have to start another thread to announce her homecoming, or we might miss it in all the well-wishing comments.
Get well soon, Teresa. The blessings of all faiths, real, imagined, and otherise, from Allah to Zoroaster, and from all fans, likewise real and imagined, and a special blessing from my own god, even though it's permanently out to lunch.
* Linkmeister's here, relations by marriage count!
Wow, there are a lot of lurkers coming out of the lurkwork for this. It's actually a little intimidating. But...if one had all their support by email, one could surely win any argument! (I'm joking, but all that support expressed here must buoy Teresa's spirits, so keep it coming, lurkers!)
Pyre 386: Chant to the Green! Chant to the White! Healing! Tara! Fight fight fight!
Seriously, I was initially taught only about the White Tara. The long habit works well for me, I think. If you chant to the Green Tara, that's great. It's not like they're rivals or something!
In the hospital, bored is good.
Does she have her knitting??!!
Best wishes to Teresa. Please be well again soon. There are too many vowels here for us to fight them without you. And to those closest to her, wishes for calm. "Mild heart attack" is oxymoronic and there must be worrying going on. Don't forget to take care of yourselves while the professionals take care of her. We all need all of you to be well when this is over.
Stranger from the internet here, hoping that all is well.
Another mostly-lurker chiming in with get-well wishes: I hope you feel better soon, Teresa!
Rushed over from BoingBoing because of the sort of news headline that makes you feel like you're in free-fall even when sitting down -- but the prognosis sounds reassuring. Here's to a quick recovery!
I'm so sorry to hear this. Best wishes, best of luck, get better soon..
I'm wishing you a quick recovery, Teresa, and peace of mind to you and yours.
Great time to reduce the slush pile!
(now isn't that an incentive to get well quickly?
hugs 'n stuff
Very late to the queue here, but wishes for a quick and safe return to home and health.
Long-time reader who feels he must write
And wish our Queen/hostess respite
From the boredom she feels
As she's cooling her heels
After giving us all such a fright
Ditto to all the comments above. Teresa, you're a woman who reaches the lives of many and opens our hearts/minds/souls to the world. Thanks and best wishes for a speedy recovery.
Oh my. I've had sketchy sketchy internets access for days and am just now seeing this.
Best wishes for a very speedy and very full recovery. I hope Teresa is still doing well, or as well as can be expected, and I'm sorry she had to go through it.
Glad to hear things are going as well as they're going. My best wishes to both of you, and hopes for a quick and vital recovery.
Best wishes for a swift and uneventful recovery!
Dear Patrick:
Len and I send our best wishes for Teresa's quick recovery.
--Christine
More prayers and best thoughts for a quick recovery and for the doctors to have some helpful advice.
You are all in my thoughts; take care, and best wishes to Teresa for a swift and complete recovery.
I hope she's on the mend very soon.
Um, please don't do this again, and please be better real soon now.
Just adding my best wishes to the almost 500 others, steered over here from Elise's LJ.
If this was a paper card, it would be *huge*.
Oh dear! Glad to hear she is at least doing *ok* at the moment, and hope that she continues to feel better.
Yikes! Teresa, I hope you feel better soon, and Patrick and Elise, I hope that you will soon be able to relax in the knowledge that Teresa is well.
Get well already!
TNH, think about investing in a automated home blood pressure test gadget. My mother tracks her pressure daily, and on several occasions noted changes that led her to timely interventions.
My parents buy bulk-packs of stents at Sam's Club.
I wonder why we always minimize these events, like we are negotiating with some minor devil in the moments of our distress. I hope you find a good safe place to yell and whine and generally curse out those horrid niggly fears that seem to wait for all of us just around the corner. Everyone is watching. I don't know you but hope to some day, when you're not infarcting and I'm not blue nosed with the flu.
Figures - a weekend away from the net, so I just read this now. I think if I wait a few more minutes, I'll be able to claim the #500 spot on this thread, but I can't wait.
My standard advice to issues here at work is "if it hurts when you do that, don't do that". I'm not quite sure how to apply it to this situation, though.
I'm inordinately pleased to have friends that not only remember good common sense advice (e.g. 911/aspirin) but follow it.
Please continue to be bored for a bit, OK?
Just wanted to be officially present here with a get well, with all deliberate haste. No undue haste.
David
That's what I get for not reading anything online over the weekends. Holy freaking cow. Also, get well soon, and lifestyle changes are ace, and I'm glad things are going pretty well, and I do hope all parties of the first part plus the second part are getting enough sleep.
Best wishes to all of you for better health and less stress soon.
Here's to Teresa's quick recovery! Patrick and Elise, hang in there.
Wow! That'll teach me to skip to the end of a thread to comment.
Best wishes for a speedy recovery and kudos for recognizing what was going on!
Terry @ 278: the Tun
The Tabard, surely? Harder to rhyme, though...
Wishing you both the best with this stressful situation, and a quick recovery for Teresa.
More good wishes and prayers for a full and speedy recovery. May your time in the hospital be short, and boring only to those providing treatment.
And as so many others have said, she does have her knitting, right?
Best wishes for a speedy recovery to you both.
Megan, No, I was thinking of a place in the spirit of The Jolly Tun, which in it's various incarnations is archtypical in my mind.
Oh Holy Crow! Misty and I send HUGS to you, and all of your caregivers and loved ones.
What a turn of events! If we can do anything to help you all out, be sure and let us know, pronto!
Let's hope this is the last bum luck for you for, well, ever! What's with all the Good Guys getting bad fortune and poor health lately? Heavens.
Have some laughs, indulge in a sin or three, and as we say here at High Flight,
"May all your adventures be intentional."
Ay, yi, yi! Best wishes for a quick recovery and escape from the hospital.
TNH and PNH -- just wanted to let you guys know I'm thinking and praying for you both.
Oops. Wrong thread. Apologies all, although the sentiments still apply.
There's a curious inverted symmetry between building, cresting waves that potentially bear devastation, and what's happening here with the surging waves of positive feelings building on the group good will here daily.
I am familiar with the technique of focusing energy and scooting it on. Xopher's instructions to let the energy fill oneself first, and when overflowing, send it, has a significantly better feel. Visualizing the correct direction may or may not be important. If it is, then you guys in the Pacific Northwest now know what that tingling boost has been from when I first ran across Teresa's post to when it got reoriented.
Last, Teresa, if you do indeed get to VP, with the usual activities, remember that becoming a Thing will not save you when you must return to your earthly body. You guys figured what was necessary to do and made the right call (911) without horsing around. You'll figure out what lifestyle changes you'll need to integrate and get at those, too.
You will, won't you? Please?
Please know that even those who have strongly disagreed with her wish her an extremely speedy recovery.
In my thoughts and prayers also.
Don't blow up! (AAAAGH! Watch out! She's gonna BLOW!!!!!)
What are those of us allergic to aspirin supposed to chew on?
Anne, #453, I think all the other blood thinners are by prescription. You may want to check with your doctor.
I haven't been able to check for a while, and then... :O
Just want to add my own good thoughts and wishes and prayers to the clamor.
Late coming, but I'm still sending my best wishes and thoughts. Get well soon.
This is something that can be recovered fully from, and that should be the goal. Everyone here is pulling for both of you.
Hang in there!
Wow, so glad you were with her at the time to call the ambulance and save her life. (Don't forget to remind her of that the next time you really, really, really need to win a debate of some kind.)
Seriously, I'm just surfacing from getting power after Ike and read this just a few minutes ago. Glad all seems to be well.
My best wishes for a speedy recovery. Glad to hear you got sprung relatively quickly.
Teresa, we hope you get well soon.
You're in our thoughts here in Albuquerque.
And this having happened so recently led to us calling 911 this evening when a (female) friend asked "Does having a heart attack feel like having all your ribs broken at once?" We said it seemed unlikely, and called immediately anyway. The medics couldn't tell if anything really had happened, but took her away to the hospital just to be certain. It's almost undoubtedly nothing.
Of the three other people in the room, one was an EMT, one had been writing copy for the new generation of AED (automatic electric defibrillators), and one (me) was trained in handling crisis situations. A good group to have around to keep things calm and quiet.
Apparently, human-written spam- spambots are annoying, but spam intentionally posted a a human in a thread like this- hmpf.
Is your recovery doing well?
As a random aside, I woke up three days ago sweating with a searing pain in my chest and halfway up one arm, remembered this thread, and went straight to the doctor (they're next door, if they're open it's faster to do that than call an ambulance).
Verdict: not a heart attack, just muscle protesting at horrible intestinal loading (a known pre-existing problem). But I had to check. I've *had* my horrible heart problems, dammit (at the age of fifteen days, or minus two months, dependin on how you count). I don't want any more.
So thank you to this thread, I suppose, for reminding me of why it is *damn important* to get this sort of thing checked up on.
