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Well, that was easy.
Jan. 16th, 2007 03:25 pmI had my annual physical in the first week of January. News was generally good; my weight and blood pressure are both down, and all all the tests came back with happy news. But I had had chest pains a few times in the last few months, and I mentioned it to my doctor; and he felt the symptoms I described were just worrying enough to be worth performing a Stress Test. That was today.
I was pretty sure that I didn't have a problem. The chest pains had started happening as I was getting deeply stressed at work, so there may have been a psychosomatic component. Or even just the tension getting expressed in spasms. I don't know. The pains were never associated with exercise, but they were troubling. And I hadn't had one since my checkup. Even so, I found that I was anxious about this test. I didn't sleep well last night, and I was uneasy all day. I knew they were going to put me on a treadmill and wire me to an EKG, and I would have to exert myself. I understood they were going to work me to exhaustion, which sounded unpleasant.
Well. I got to Mount Auburn, checked in, found the place (it's about a mile from the entrance, I guess part of the test is whether you can make it to the cardiac ward), changed into my running shorts (and cursed myself for having brought only black socks. Shorts and black socks is a Very Bad Look) and got hooked up. My doctor does an EKG with each physical, so this was familiar. He discovered years ago that I have an arrhythmia. It's not dangerous, but it is a little odd to know that my heart is, well, a little odd. The hospital was cold, so I shivered in my shorts while they took my blood pressure and resting EKG, then I got on the treadmill. The first setting was very slow, like walking alongside an elderly person. I suppose they have to start it slow for elderly people. Every three minutes it got a little faster, and they'd check my blood pressure again. After about 15 minutes, it was going fast enough that I wanted to start jogging instead of walking; but that was when they stopped the test. I'd just started to sweat, so it really wasn't that much effort. They had me lie down on the bed again to rest, and reported that my recovery time was excellent. Then I got dressed and went home.
All in all, it was a lot easier than I expected. Really nothing to be afraid of. They asked if I ever worked harder than that, and I couldn't think of a time recently; but later I realized that I had done just a few months ago, when Booty Vortex was at Johnny D's. But that wasn't work; that was dancing. Between biking to work regularly, and dancing like a maniac now and then, I seem to be in the best shape of my life.
I was pretty sure that I didn't have a problem. The chest pains had started happening as I was getting deeply stressed at work, so there may have been a psychosomatic component. Or even just the tension getting expressed in spasms. I don't know. The pains were never associated with exercise, but they were troubling. And I hadn't had one since my checkup. Even so, I found that I was anxious about this test. I didn't sleep well last night, and I was uneasy all day. I knew they were going to put me on a treadmill and wire me to an EKG, and I would have to exert myself. I understood they were going to work me to exhaustion, which sounded unpleasant.
Well. I got to Mount Auburn, checked in, found the place (it's about a mile from the entrance, I guess part of the test is whether you can make it to the cardiac ward), changed into my running shorts (and cursed myself for having brought only black socks. Shorts and black socks is a Very Bad Look) and got hooked up. My doctor does an EKG with each physical, so this was familiar. He discovered years ago that I have an arrhythmia. It's not dangerous, but it is a little odd to know that my heart is, well, a little odd. The hospital was cold, so I shivered in my shorts while they took my blood pressure and resting EKG, then I got on the treadmill. The first setting was very slow, like walking alongside an elderly person. I suppose they have to start it slow for elderly people. Every three minutes it got a little faster, and they'd check my blood pressure again. After about 15 minutes, it was going fast enough that I wanted to start jogging instead of walking; but that was when they stopped the test. I'd just started to sweat, so it really wasn't that much effort. They had me lie down on the bed again to rest, and reported that my recovery time was excellent. Then I got dressed and went home.
All in all, it was a lot easier than I expected. Really nothing to be afraid of. They asked if I ever worked harder than that, and I couldn't think of a time recently; but later I realized that I had done just a few months ago, when Booty Vortex was at Johnny D's. But that wasn't work; that was dancing. Between biking to work regularly, and dancing like a maniac now and then, I seem to be in the best shape of my life.
