So You See, This Is What Happened...

For the last few days, I have not felt very chipper. Achy, short of breath, and not very much energy. This morning, I went to my choir's annual preEaster-cantata practice. This is the one where we hash out all the last minute details, microphone, narrator problems, missed entrances, and missed notes. The choir director is more of a "dictator" (not really, it just seems that way for a couple of hours.) at this practice, the choir is on edge and usually everyone leaves exhausted.
Well, since I haven't felt well, I should have just stayed home, but I didn't. I went and I didn't feel well when I got there. The longer the practice went, the lousier I felt. I had some chest pains and was short of breath. So, I started to leave, and my fellow tenor on my row offered to take me home. I said that I thought the emergency room was a better idea, so he took me past my house on the way, and Professor was still home. We stopped, he ran in the house and told her what was going on. She flew out the door, and she finished taking me on the the ER. My friend Tim walked the 3 blocks back to the church, bless his heart.
The ER was a scary place. I could only remember the night I had to take my late wife Tilly there via ambulance. Fortunately, they did not put me in the same room she had been in. The personnel was very low key, but kind and efficient beyond words. They worked at hooking me up to an EKG, blood pressure cuff and an EMT started a precautionary IV, "just in case" they needed it. They asked me a barrage of questions about history, and meds I was on.
Professor called Sistah, my daughter-in-law, who in turn called Lil Bro, my son. Professor also called our good friend Curley. My pastor showed up in short order, so all in all I knew I was in good hands, just scared to death about what I didn't know.
The good news was that the complete (and probably very expensive) cardiac workup showed no signs of heart attack prior or present, a chest x-ray showed that my chest was clear, and that my heart region showed no signs of enlargement or abnormalities.
The bad news was, and I can live with this, that I have a musculo-skeltal problem with my left shoulder, and left ribs and the muscles between those ribs and around the shoulder joint. It is probably caused by the fall I took debarking from the Greyhound Bus almost two years ago, and has gotten worse thru ol' athritis. So now, I am on an expensive antiflamatory drug. It is supposed to help to reduce inflamation in those problem areas.
The Doctor on call said that singing, standing, and sitting probably aggravated those areas, and that caused the pain, which in turn ,caused anxiety. Besides it was hotter that **** in our church sanctuary this morning, which probably didin't help.
Now the good part. My family!!! Not only did Professor just take over, Sistah and Miss K were there, and here came Curley. She doesn't drive, but had her oldest son bring her in. Lil Brother was at a shooting competition out of town, but came as soon as he checked his messages after it was over. They all rallied around me with love. They took care of getting my meds filled, and food for all. They stayed all afternoon with me after I got home. They didn't hover and keep saying, "are you okay", they were just there for me. Curley went to WalMart with Professor when she went to get meds filled, and even brought me back a bouquet of roses. Later this evening, my friend Tim and his wife stopped by on their evening walk to check on me. I feel so blessed. Not only am I going to be okay, but I have such a wonderful family and friends. How lucky can one guy get? This year, my Easter will be a true blessing.