HEARTBREAK HOTEL ON THE CORNER OF LONELY STREET

I checked into Heartbreak Hotel on Monday, except it had another name.

To my surprise there wasn’t a line at the desk; the crowd was already inside.

The crowd is everywhere in the news.

Rob Van Pelt died waiting three days for a bed in the ICU as unvaccinated patients overwhelmed rooms across the state, his family said. Kansas hospitals reached out to 20 states, trying to find just one available ICU bed. However, there wasn’t a single ICU bed open and emergency rooms were full.

The beds were so full of unvaccinated COVID patients that a forty four year old man died waiting.

This was an earlier story:

Ray DeMonia’s family said it took calls to 43 hospitals across three states to get the 73-year-old a cardiac ICU bed. He later died in a facility in Mississippi, 200 miles from his Alabama home. His relatives wrote in his obituary “please get vaccinated…to free up resources for non-COVID related emergencies.”

But you’ve seen these stories and others like them until they all start sounding like: “My uncle’s neighbor in Texas has a friend who knows someone . . .” and you let it go because you’re healthy and vaccinated just like me.

I didn’t know what to expect at check-in on Monday, but it felt like visiting a virus hot spot.

One Broken Heart Story

After one of the best weekends imaginable, including a farewell, family, and the embrace of loved ones, I remember thinking: “Now I can die happy.”

It’s a common saying heard from healthy people and it’s funny. I’ve said it before and it felt funny. Not so much this time.

It was a funny twinge in my chest, which is no surprise. Last week I put up 225 lbs on the bench press. That’ll twinge a few things if you’re not ready. In other words I lift weights, I’m a weight lifter, and there’s always a twinge, a cramp, a spasm, a pull, or a tear.

Cranking through planned resistance training everyday is a key to staying young, or at least vital. One point is bragging rights:

“Did you lift today?”

“Yes, I lifted. And here’s what I did,” followed by listing sets and reps, the sort of conversation people hear too often and quit public gyms. Gym Rat talk.

Except I didn’t lift Friday or Saturday.

A slight twinge Saturday night, more twinge Sunday morning, then the finale on Monday morning. Time to book a room at the heartbreak hotel.

“Honey, I need to get checked out.”

“Then let’s go.”

WHAT THE HELL?

Check In At The Heartbreak Hotel

This is a Japanese octopus pot called a takotsubo, and I am told, the shape of the left ventricle of a Broken Heart Syndrome patient.

From the literature it’s a situation more common in postmenopausal women the average age of 66.

66? Yikes.

The long story short: Not a heart attack, no blockage, no heart dead zone. At the same time no meds and no surgery. Just takes a couple months to get that octopus pot out of there. I’m hoping for no octopus left behind.

Checked in early Monday morning, checked out late morning Tuesday.

If you’re new here, rest assured. I’m an autobiographical blogger on some posts but not a shock blogger. Not a sensationalist, drama queen, or self-aggrandizing know-it-all. At least not all at the same time.

I notice interesting things, learn more about them, then let my fingers lose on a keyboard. This episode has given me more material than I could imagine.

Eventually I’ll be an expert on more strange things. Oral sex cancer? Check. Old lady heart incident? Check.

I’m hoping for something less dire in the future.

Next post: The Nurses. Stay tuned.