CCHS--new website

Jimmy,

I know everyone -- including you -- in this thread has moved on to talk about CCHS, etc., but this statement of yours, quoted above, really concerns me. I'm sure we don't need to call upon the nurses or possibly even physicians among this forum's members to tell you that there should be no pains remaining after a hospital visit such as you described. If it was truly cardiac-related then you'd either still be there or they'd have given you something that made it go away. If it's not cardiac-related, then they stillshould have given you something to make it go away. That you're still experiencing the pain -- however caused -- is unacceptable. And that anyone -- even if only you -- thought it potentially cardiac-related and serious enough to get it looked at in the first place should automatically elevate it to something that should abate entirely before anyone wipes their brow and utters, "Whew!"

I don't know which hospital you went to, but don't forget that I'm from Indiana; I continue to own a home there, have an office there, and spend a significant amount of time there -- an amount so significant that I am easily able to continue to claim legal residency there. And I can tell you that I can count on one hand (and still have fingers left over) the number of hospitals in it that I'd trust with anything more serious than an ingrown toenail -- and I'll bet dollars to donuts that the one you went to wasn't one of them.

It's just me, I know, but I'd get a second opinion. Chest pains are nothing to fool around with -- especially when you're still having them. [Hint... hint!]

Get your butt to a large teaching hospital -- preferably one hooked to a well-respected med school -- and get another opinion. I grew-up in Northwest Indiana -- right outside Chicago -- so whenever anyone in my family needed something more serious than an ingrown toenail looked at, we hopped in the car and drove the mere 25 minutes to the University of Chicago Hospitals. That may be an impractical trip for you, but I'm sure there are others that have national and/or international reputations for getting it right that are a few hours drive (or less) from you.

Do what you want, Jimmy, but when a man says something like "still have the pains, but..." it almost doesn't matter what comes next. Don't screw around with this, young man. You tick me off around here sometimes, but bygod I respect you and I would miss you like hell if you kicked-off.

So don't kick-off, okay?

Make sure this problem really has been fully and properly investigated and diagnosed; and that whatever is prescribed to fix it is truly the right thing. Based on what you've written, I'm not convinced. But, then again, I'm just a doofus. But still.

Think long and hard about this, Jimmy. Please.

'Nuff said.