Haven't written much about my post-emergency health here lately. There hasn't been a whole lot to write about. Losing a lot of weight, even though I've taken several liberties with the diet I put myself on. Currently at 236, which is about 5 pounds down from this time last week. And that's with absolutely no exercise at all. I hope to start walking a couple of miles a day, but the weather of late has not permitted it. It doesn't look like it will let up any time soon, either. My doctor wants me to slim down into the 220s...that sounds to me as if it would be difficult to do, but then again I never would have thought I'd lose so much since all this began.

I am concerned now, though, about what's happening to me. There have been a couple of occasions in the last week or so where I had a bit of chest pain. I didn't think they were serious enough to warrant a trip to the emergency room, but then again, how would I know? I don't have a standard with which to measure the severity of each individual episode. Most of them seemed to be GERD related, but my medication seems to be effective in keeping me from having heartburn, so I just don't know.

Yesterday, however, was a little different. The pains lasted for longer periods of time. I thought maybe it was because my back was hurting very badly. A pain that feels like extreme soreness in the middle of the back and lower shoulders. No doubt the chest pain is caused by the soreness in the muscles in the immediate vicinity, but I worry because it seems to be centered in the immediate vicinity of the heart. As I said, they lasted longer than has been usual, but it really kind of scares me that they were recurring. The discomfort would settle down and then another 30 minutes or an hour they would return.

If it gets this way again I will probably break down and do something about it. So far, so good this morning.

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