Ballgladder

It's the middle of April.  Wait...  WHAT?!  How has it been more than a month since I last posted?  I am so confused because I was sure that I had been posting for the last month.  Just kidding.  I've been digging myself out of that 15 inches of snow we got in March.  It took me all this time to find my way to fresh air again.

Yesterday, I found that fresh air at the hospital.  Let me give you a little backstory.

I've suffered from anxiety attacks for a few years.  Sometimes these attacks are mild. Sometimes they are not mild.  Once I didn't leave my house for 3 months.  So when I began to have pain, I knew immediately that it was NOT anxiety.

It first happened back in January.  Tightness. Pain. Nausea. Sweats.  Around my rib cage, just under my boobs and around toward my back.  Both sides, but mainly just the right side when I could feel it in my back.  I thought that I had possibly pulled a muscle so I took a hot bath.  After about 15 minutes, I was having trouble breathing because of the nausea and tightness.  I was moments from asking the husband to take me to the hospital when... it just stopped.

That's what happened the second time it happened too.  Suddenly started and stopped just as quickly, but this time it only lasted for around 10 minutes.  I've never been doing anything strenuous when the attack has started.  Yesterday, I was knitting.

I, for reals, thought I was having a heart attack.  This time I decided to go straight to the hospital.  My grandmother had her first heart attack when she was only 33 years old so it's not a stretch to think that I may be having one at 36.  I remembered seeing an interview that Rosie O'Donnell did about her heart attack, how it wasn't like they show on tv.  No sharp pain, gripping chest, and falling over.  She said she'd had tightness and pain in her chest for a couple of days before she went to the doctor.  So I called the husband who was at work and asked him to drive me.  By the time he got home, the tightness had stopped.  I suddenly started questioning if I should go or not, but ultimately, it's best to be safe.

The ER staff was great and friendly.  I told them what was going on and they immediately hooked me up to an ECG machine, O2 sensor, and blood pressure cuff.  Asked me all the usual questions and drew some blood.  A little while later, the doctor came in and told me that the ECG looked great, my blood pressure was also great, and my oxygen was near 100 the whole time.  This was like someone took two tons of rocks off my chest (figuratively).

However, he sent me for an ultrasound. Of my gallbladder.

{source}

The tech was nice, but ugh.  I had to "take a deep breath" and "don't breathe" far too many times for my liking.

Good news: no heart attack.  Bad news:  I have gall stones.  Probably need surgery to have my gallbladder removed.  I have never had any kind of surgery before so it's a little scary.  To be honest though, I was just so happy to see a normal ECG and hear him say I wasn't having a heart attack that I was actually glad when he said I had some gall stones.

How bad is it that I was happy to have gall stones?!?!