Have you ever been lying in your bed and find that in certain positions you can hear your own heart beat? I have found that to be the case many, many times in my life. It's not a sign of panic or fear or anything like that, it just happens when you are at rest, maybe waiting for sleep, and all is quiet around you when you become aware of the sound of your own heart beating. Years ago, when I first experienced this sensation, I thought it was someone bouncing a basket ball outside on the sidewalk. When I changed position the 'bouncing ball' stopped. It took me awhile and what little common sense I had to realize I was listening to my own heart! When I told Doc about it, he laughed and laughed. He did not always appreciate my humor and when I told him I was not trying to be funny, he said he knew that. He said he thought I was just crazy! Obviously, he did not hear his heart so I did not bring the subject up again, not to him or to others, because I feared he might not be one-hundred percent wrong about my mental condition. From that time on I referred to my own heart, in my mind, as my basket-ball heart. It still sounds as if it is bouncing up and down on the sidewalk!
A few weeks ago,after eating a large meal hastily because I wanted to watch the news, I had the most severe chest pains that I've ever experienced! I went up to my bedroom and sat in the chair and suffered. It hurt so much that I became worried and gave a fleeting thought to maybe calling someone and mentioning my plight but I hurt too bad to even make a call. After about twenty or thirty minutes the pain subsided gradually and was finally gone. I am always under the impression that taking off my clothes will improve my condition so I removed my clothes as soon as I felt better and prepared for bed with less constricting garments on.
I went to bed and my basket- ball heart was silent and I desided that I probably had indigestion. The memory of the pain lingered with me for days and I thought of the widows that had told me about their husbands "indigestion pains" immediately before exiting this world. I finally thought it might be well to mention my pain to a professional. I've pretty much lost faith in my regular doctor. I could predict what he would do. He would give me an EKG and then refer me to a cardiologist. So, I thought I would try another doctor, sight unseen. He was very solicitious and had me sit and wait an hour for an EKG and sit for TWO full hours waiting for an X-ray and then referred me to a Cardiologist! Duh!
I had to go straight to the Cardiologist from the 'new' doctors office and was told not to stop for food or drink! I was thoruoghly examined by the doctor and his staff and then told to report back there at 8 AM two days later for a Pet-Scan of the heart. It is a stress test but I did not have to walk on a tread mill. Chemicals induced my heart to react as it would have if I walked on the treadmill. Since it was Friday I could not get the results until Monday! When Monday came,I got a call saying my heart was fine no problems! I am wondering why I did not trust my own diagnoses.
Basket-ball heart, keep on bouncing!
It seems that there are no longer any doctors that diagnose without numerous tests and procedures that raise the cost of every illness that is encountered. I know that they, the doctors, live in fear of law suits. They have to pay tremendous sums of money to insure them against law suits,and then we have to have health insurance so that we can go to a doctor and be subjected to tests. I was in the hospital in November for one week and during that time I had a regular Cat scam, a Cat scan with injected dye and then a Cat scan after drinking Contrast. All the scans were of the same part of my body! Besides that I had the routine chest X-ray. Think of all the radiation I have been exposed to.
It is very comforting now to waken in the middle of the night and hear my basket-ball heart bouncing away. I no longer change position so that I don't hear it. I'm letting it do its thing! Ya gotta have heart! Ciao,ciao!
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