Chest pains

So over the past few months I have been having brief, severe chest pains that occur about once every two to three weeks. The pain is so severe, that it is hard to put into words. It feels like someone is squeezing my heart as tight as possible and then stabbing it repeatedly with a knife. The onset is so sudden, and it goes away just as suddenly as it occurs.

I know that most people in their right mind would have gone to the doctor to get it checked out. The problem is, I CAN'T. REMEMBER. to call the doctor to make an appointment. That's right. I have developed some sort of amnesia over the past few months...my memory has been reduced to nothing more than some sort of hazy fog, and my only hope of accomplishing anything is either a) doing it as soon as it comes to mind or b) writing it down. I'm not kidding. Literally, when I receive an email, if I do not respond to it when I open it, I will forget about it. This results in people getting either a) really annoyed with me because I come across as being very impatient because I expect things to get done as immediately as they pop into my brain for fear of it not getting done at all or b) pissed off because I don't respond. But I digress.

Where was I?

So I've been having severe chest pains that seem to be getting worse. I know it sounds stupid, but I wasn't taking them very seriously because they have been occurring at the gym, when I have been working out, and I attributed them to just over-exercising. So I've been trying not to overdo it when I'm working out, thinking that would solve the problem.

Until today. I was standing in my classroom, reading Sophocles' Antigone with my class, when I began having sudden, severe chest pains. I gripped my podium and gritted my teeth and tried to yoga breathe my way through it. The students started freaking out. I started freaking out. I thought I was having a heart attack. I mean, why would I have these chest pains when I wasn't working out, right? I asked a student to continue the class discussion while I sat in my teacher's chair and drank some water. Minutes flew by, and I was still in pain. I called down to the office and had them send a sub up and made my way to the nurse.

She first thought I was just having really bad heart burn. I explained to her that all I had eaten today was a banana, apple, and chicken noodle soup. Not really culprits for heartburn, and I eat that every day with no problems. Then she suggested that I was having a panic attack, due to all of the stress I have been under (i.e. I'm hosting a tournament this weekend at Oakville and having to coordinate all of that, plus planning a wedding, etc.) While that might be possible, I don't understand how I would have a panic attack in the middle of my classroom when I was completely at ease and comfortable.

Obviously, she wasn't really able to tell me much other than my heart rate was normal and my blood pressure was normal, but advised that I get an EKG and echo test on my heart to figure out what is causing this business. So I immediately scheduled an appointment for tomorrow afternoon for some doctor right down the street down my house.