Sunday, December 23rd, 2102

I am a Vikings fan. That means I am accustomed to disappointment. The Vikings were playing Houston that day and needed a win to give themselves a chance at the playoffs. We won the game, but it was because Blair Walsh was a kicking machine. The Vikings are a constant source of frustration - it is little wonder I had another heart attack after the game.

After the game, Michelle and I were watching something else on TV. She was still in “recovery mode” from her hospital visit. She described the catheter that was inserted into her as “an alien with a life of its own” which made her uncomfortable but certainly way less painful than the kidney stones. She had travel ahead of her - a job in Cleveland - and would not be able to have the procedure to “blow up” the kidney stones for a few weeks. We were informed that they were huge - and so it is safe to say we were less than convinced she was going to be Ok until mid-January when the procedure would finally happen.

I made some dinner, and we settled in to a quiet evening. Sam and Tobi (our dogs) were sitting on the couch with Michelle and I was dutifully retrieving whatever Michelle may have needed, cleaning up after dinner, etc. Around 8:00, I felt that tightening in my neck again. I did not have any chest pain, arm tingling or any other symptom that classically presents that you read about as warning signs. I recall turning to Michelle.

Me: “There it is again.” 

Michelle: “What?”

Me: “That weird pain in my neck.” 

Michelle: “What pain.”

Me: “Oh, I felt it the other night when you were in the hospital. I dunno - maybe it’s a TMJ thing. Feels like all the skin in my neck is twisting together.”

Michelle: “That’s weird.”

Me: “Yeah.”

That was it. I recall it lasted about a minute or so, then subsided quickly. But it’s the day before Christmas Eve, and I had way more important things on my mind: Michelle was recovering but still having problems; I had a new grandchild and a daughter freshly home from delivery that I thought about constantly; a Development Project that was a mess and not going well; a client who had a third project starting that was way too undefined for my liking and difficult to decide if I was going about the project correctly; I was rebranding my company and scrambling to get my paperwork done, new website designed, etc. In other words, I didn’t have time to be sick, to consider my warning signs or stop and think too much about what was happening around me. While I don’t do too much “what if” thinking, I often wonder what would have happened had I decided then and there I should have this looked at the next day.