Oct 5, 2012

Finally Friday!

So for the last year or so, I've been having intermittent chest pain, complete with being light headed, left arm hurting, nausea, and a feeling of something not being quite right. I blew it off as an anxiety attack (even though my rescue medication didn't do anything for it) and Jon kept reminding me of a friend of ours that had a heart attack in her 20's.

Last night, I was having another one of those episodes. So Jon takes me into Urgent Care where I got to have a chest X-ray and an EKG performed by Batman (Not even joking!). Turns out I haven't been having heart attacks, thank goodness!

Apparently I have a rib that likes to screw with me! It's called Costochondritis (kos-toe-KHON-dri-tis) and it is an inflammation of the cartilage that connects a rib to the breastbone (sternum) a junction known as the costosternal joint. Pain caused by costochondritis may mimic that of a heart attack or other heart conditions.

Most cases of costochondritis have no apparent cause and treatment focuses on easing your pain while you wait for costochondritis to improve on its own.
Well isn't that fun!? I bet you didn't think you would learn something here!

So anyhow, prior to telling me this stuff about my rib being a jerk, the doctor asks me if I had used any street drugs prior to coming in that could have elevated my heart rate. I laughed, and then informed her that I had been clean and sober since 2006 (that's a story for another day). She pushed further asking me if I was sure that I hadn't used any cocaine or heroin or if I had been drinking. I reiterated that I hadn't.

After convincing her that I wasn't high (and hadn't been in years, lol), and her prodding at my back and chest a bit, she told me that it was probably my rib causing the issues. I'm rather annoyed that it was my rib because there isn't anything that can be done really to prevent the issue from happening. But I am glad that it wasn't a heart attack!

We headed home where Jon's mom was watching the kidlets. She had gotten them all down to bed, including Nicole into her crib! Now that little girl has slept in bed with us since day 1 and we have been trying to crib break her for almost 2 months now, with no success. The instant we set her down, she starts crying and wakes up. But she was sound asleep in her crib! It only lasted about 2 hours after we got home, then she woke up for a midnight snack and wouldn't go back to the crib. But the fact that she was asleep in there for even a little bit gives me hope!

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