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8:47 AM - Thurs 11.11.21 Well, one thing I'll say for Jane R. - She knows how to keep things interesting. Over the past 10 months, I've been worrying about her cancer (She's had three surgeries over the past ten months), worrying if she'd be able to speak, worrying about the film, worrying if I was going to lose this close friendship that's developed over the past couple years, etc. So yesterday she's not feeling well - over and above recovering from her surgery two weeks ago - and decides to go to an Urgent Care. And when they hear her symptoms, they suggest she go to the ER. And at the ER, they do an EKG...and tell her she had a fucking heart attack on Monday. Not a Doctor, and pretty sure I'm not gonna get this all right, but basically, she's had a crazy spike in her blood pressure recently - she bought a blood pressure gauge to monitor herself - and was set to see her regular Dr about it later in the week. On Monday, she felt bad enough to think she maybe needed to go to the ER (The slightest activity was extremely taxing, and she was having some weird, concerning pains), but then the pain subsided and she felt better, so she didn't. ...which she's kicking herself for now. But in her situation, I'd have done the same thing - I'd have rationalized that the fatigue was just a bad day of recovery from my surgery. And if the weird pain stops, I'm going to think, "Okay, don't know what that was about but I'm fine now, so back to our regularly scheduled program...". (And I can say for sure I'd respond that way because I have responded that way, many times over throughout the years. A lot of bad feelings, a lot of weird pains, and a lot of not getting it checked out. I've just been lucky that, so far, I actually have been fine.) And I guess what happened to her Monday wasn't exactly a "silent" heart attack...but by the same token, it didn't present in a way that would make the layperson think, "Oh shit! I know what this is...!" (Though when she described her various symptoms to the ER people, they were like, "Oh yeah - that's a heart attack...!") So the question now is "How much damage has been done, and what happens next?". They admitted her to the hospital last night (Or they wanted to anyway, but the hospital was full, so they tricked out a part of the ER for her). And last thing I knew - I talked to her maybe an hour ago - they're trying to decide if a cardiac catheterization is the way to go. I have felt very caught off-guard by all this - To me, it seems like she's gone from being fine heart-wise, to high blood pressure with the flick-of-a-switch, straight to a heart attack - so I find myself wanting to find a culprit (Seems weird that she goes from seemingly being fine - she typically walks so fast when we're together that I struggle a bit to keep up - to a heart attack two weeks after her latest surgery). But the ER Docs say it wasn't the surgery. And with her "diabeetus", and her family history (heart stuff runs in her family), she is a candidate for a "heart misadventure" (As I referred to it when texting my friend Cary about the situation). And here we are. I am worried. But I am going to "hope for the best", and tell myself this will be something we'll have a good laugh about 20 years from now, while playing bingo at the Senior Center. Till next time...
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