Update

Well, I'm home from work again. I quickly figured out that working that awful job was what was making me sick. I went back to work the day after my birthday so I wouldn't be working in that awful place with those awful people on my birthday. I had a happy 52nd and went back to the dungeon on 11/15. I worked 4 hours on the 15th, 4 hours on the 16th and 4 hours on the 20th. The evening of the 20th, I started having chest pains and went to the ER. They checked all my heart enzymes and EKG and all was good, so they sent me home. It happened again 2 hours later and back to the ER I went. They gave me a spray of nitro under my tongue and the pain went away, so they figured it was cardiac-related. They sent me home with nitro and told me to show up the next morning for a treadmill test. Treadmill day: In my sweats and sneakers - rarin' to go. I did my 9 minutes on the treadmill and was in great shape. Then they told me to slow down and walk out the remaining minute. Last thing I remember was being in the doctor's arms. I fainted at the very end, so they admitted me. I was in the hospital Tuesday and Wednesday. On Wednesday, I had an angiogram to look for blockages in my coronary arteries. The good news is there's no blockage and my heart looks good. The answer to the reason I fainted after the treadmill was that I had a "vagal" reaction, (means I fainted) because of the abrupt stop in exercise and didn't cool down properly. The reason for the chest pain was that I had an esophageal spasm due to stress. Nitro relieves that spasm too. No more of that job for me. I'm just on medical leave, hoping to be hired as something less stressful as soon as possible. I feel well, but my right leg swelled last night because of the femoral puncture. It's normal, but it scared the **** out of me, that's for sure. My first thought was, "Oh no! I upped my calories too much (which I didn't really) and gained weight in my leg!" It looked like my leg before surgery. It was a trauma reaction to having the puncture of the vein. I'm fine. I'll keep y'all posted on my new job stuff. Today I have to sit on my tiny heinie and do NOTHING! I guess I can do that. I miss everyone, and I'm glad I had a chance to say hi because it's been too long. Love , hugs , blessings for the holidays, Cheryl

I hope you are feeling better soon! Good luck with the job. Take care.

Thank you, Violet! The job's gotta go or the stress will stay. I will take care of me. I didn't spend all of this time, effort and money to get healthy only to let stress make me sick. Hugs, Cheryl

Wow, Mom. I am so happy it wasn't anything too terriable. I am glad they figured out the problem so you could nip that one in the BUD and leave that job!!! Stay in, relax, take in some talk show gossip and think of us! We are here for you. MISS YOU. LUV YAH MOM! ((HUGS)) Erin

Hugs right back, Erin. You look beautiful. I'm parking my tiny tush on the couch and vegging. Love ya back! Mom

Cheryl, Glad to hear all the tests came back negative. Sounds like you had a Syncope, the vasovagal type. I work in the medical field so I know alot of medical terms. I too recently had a stress test done as I was having major chest pains that wouldn't go away. My gastroenterologist thought was just GERD or Hiatal Hernia pain and wanted me to have the test to make sure it wasn't cardiac related, which he was almost sure wasn't, but better to be safe than sorry. The results came back negative, just like we thought it would. So I must have had GERD bad. Glad that you are taking it a bit easy and taking time out for yourself. Hope you had a nice birthday anyway. Hope you get a better job soon if you are in the market for a new one. Lisa J. in Mass