Chest pains.
Pressure.
Anxiety.
Rapid and irregular heartbeats.
Shortness of breath.
Tingling in the right arm.
High blood pressure.
…
Dude. I exercise on a daily basis. I take a Vitamin B Complex and that CoQ10 from the Costco. It’s supposed to be good for your heart. But in truth I don’t know if it was working. I didn’t think I was gonna make it tonight. I’ve never needed an EKG or CPR before. I was really freaking out.
And then it happened …
Holy Crap!
SCOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORE!
Go Kings Go!
Instantly … the blood rushed back into my veins and pumped life back into my heart. I took deep breaths and felt the muscles in my face relax. The tension melted away and the pounding in my chest subsided. But in truth there was nothing I could do about the ten new gray hairs that sprouted during this episode.
Those would stay with me.
I earned those. As a sports fan they’re my badge of honor. As a L.A. Kings’ fan I acquired my first series of gray during the first round of playoffs and by the end of this double overtime winning streak, I must have aged at least 15 years. I should have gotten used to all that stress by now … the world of sports does that to you. I should have known better.
However, The Quest for the Stanley Cup is a whole new level of danger. And nothing can prepare you for it, although they try. The PSA announcement before the game warned me that watching the Kings could be hazardous to my health … and if I ate red meat, drank excessively, or smoked the risk would be three times greater. I don’t smoke and I don’t drink excessively, but I’m a Tyrannosaurus Rex kind of carnivore. So I knew I’d be in trouble.
But it was something I was willing to risk.
🙂
My Dad would want me to … he was a big fan. Loved those Wayne Gretzky and Luc Robitaille days. And it was fitting that I’d be watching the L.A. Kings beat the New York Rangers to win the Stanley Cup wearing my Dad’s hockey cap. Father’s Day is coming up and I’ve been feeling his presence all week long. Thinking of things we’d be doing together and of the cake I’d be baking in his honor. Yeah … I was thinking and I was grateful for his Kings’ hat. I had a piece of him with me still. And we were high-fiving each other, screaming, and nearly passing out from all that intense excitement. He was a great couch sidekick and I was definitely missing him this evening.
Yeah … sports and family. They both give you heart attacks but you love them for it.
The Wish Factor 
In addition to making me laugh, this explains what my husband was doing hunched over the dining room table listening intently to . . . something . . . while tooling around on his iPad. Yesterday was too exhausting for me to put the pieces together, but I’m smiling now to know he was cheering wildly–if quietly, so as to not awaken the baby–sometime while I slept last night. 🙂
Ha! So glad I could decode the physical symptoms of our common ailments. Sports are a serious thing. Like blood pressure serious. We get too crazy. Ha! And so glad I could make you laugh 🙂
I live in an area where anything other than basketball is frowned upon, so I’ve never watched much hockey. By the first overtime, I was on the verge of talking in tongues. Incredible game, was thrilled for LA.
Oh Dude! It’s crazy here. There was the hockey series, then the NBA and now The World Cup. I think the hospitals are going to be crazy busy with all kinds of patients coming in needing EKGs. 🙂 It was an amazing game. So glad Kings scored first 🙂
I am so lost, but I’m avidly watching the World Cup, PGA and NASCAR today. I’m finally learning when to hoot and holler and golf clap in the right places. One of the three is going to give me palpitations.
You really had me worried there, for a few moments. 😯 So glad you survived the Game.
Ha! Sorry to give you scare but duuuuuuuuude this is a house of sports and we get a little crazy during playoff times. I almost didn’t make it, but so glad we live close to the hospital … you know just in case.
I grew up in Pittsburgh–a big hockey city–but now I’m living in a place where World Cup mania is everywhere. It’s fun.
Sorry to have been way so much recently. We were without internet for two weeks, and then I traveled to the US for another two. It was crazy, dude!
Hugs from Ecuador,
Kathy
Ha! Looks like you’ve been busy on a traveling adventure. No worries … glad your back and can’t wait to hear about your adventure. And yeah Pit is a bit hockey town so I could see that … but soccer fever … yeah that hit every one around the world.