Stress Test

Today was a followup appointment regarding my ongoing chest pains. I was scheduled to have a stress test. Don't worry Eric, I decided against posting topless pictures of me all hooked up to the ECG machine.

As far as stress tests go, this one was kinda weird. There was no talk about release schedules, testing performance or pending overtime. They didn't even get me to call my wife and hurl insults, (that would be stressful) or talk politics. To make matters even worse, the doctor and assistants were even friendly and kept putting me at ease. How was I supposed to get stressed in this environment. Luckily, just thinking about that started to get me nervous. Oh yeah, the shaving - I had to have specific spots on my chest and abdomen shaved for the contacts. So now I have several bald spots in the middle of my chest. The nurse's response was 'hey, at least it's not beach season.' The treadmill helped a bit too, although they were very cautious and didn't really push my limits too far. I guess that's a good thing though.

The bottom line is that nothing dramatic happened during the test. I didn't suffer cardiac arrest and the only time some numbers on the ECG machine went into the red was when they were supposed to. My doctor will study the results and meet with me in a few weeks to go over what it all means. But I'll probably have that heart attack if I hear back before the new year.