Kent came home and lay down on the couch and after a bit felt fine. Fran texted to see how he was and after some questions and answers, she said, if it was her, she would go to the ER and be checked out. So, Kent and I went to the ER. When it comes to one's heart, you can't be too careful.
Because Kent was having heart issues, they got us right in, immediately hooked him up to several monitors, and began numerous tests. They took blood, they did an EKG, they did an x-ray, and they monitored his heart rate for some time. His heart rate was not the steady up and down you see on television medical dramas as the patient of the show is hooked up to monitors. It was wacky. That's the technical term. The doctor was great in giving us a timeline, telling us we were likely to be there an hour and a half before they had some answers.
Eighty minutes later, the doctor said they didn't really see much wrong except that he was missing a heartbeat on the down beat. Missing a beat generated by the top part of the heart is scary, but when you miss one generated from the bottom part of the heart, it is less serious. He had spoken with a cardiologist who had reviewed all the test results and said we could go home. We are to make an appointment with the cardiologist and get in as soon as possible--we shouldn't wait three months.
We came home with no real answers but without the immediate stress that Kent could be having a heart attack. We will make an appointment and have things checked out. In the meantime, Kent asked if his life insurance policy was up to date. Not funny!
The ER doc's diagram of the heart and where Kent's is not beating correctly.
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