2:43PM Thursday, February 26, 2009

Not exactly the road blog I envisioned. I’m sitting in the emergency room waiting room at the Vance County Hospital somewhere near the Virginia border waiting to get an EKG for some persistent chest pains. My images of being shuttled breathlessly into the emergency room and hooked up to beeping, humming, machines has slowly melted into a vision of indifferent indolence as I sit here waiting for going on an hour now without being seen by a doctor. I’m glad the chest pains aren’t worse, or this could be really bad.

A moment ago, a little girl dropped her pacifier bulb-down on the waiting room’s concrete floor, and her dad watched wordlessly as she reached down, picked it up, and promptly stuck it back into her mouth. I can only hope the medical care is a bit more detail-oriented.

I’ve been thinking of a bunch of potential tracks built around my current dilemma with names like “I Pulled a Muscle in My Heart (When You Said Goodbye),” “Indie Rock Heart Attack,” and “Waiting on an EKG.” If I’m having a heart attack, at least I can write my own soundtrack.

6:04PM

Pain’s died down, and I just got myself released from the hospital with a clean bill of health. Anyway, turns out it was some sorta musculoskeletal pain, not heart-related. After giving blood, getting x-rays, an EKG, and being hooked up to about every machine they had (including the beeping ones of my earlier visions, which turned about to be a lot less charming when you’re lying there with it beeping loudly in your ear. Who knew?) In the depths of my cabin fever, I started talking to one of the nurses outside my room. I told her I was waiting for an x-ray, and asked if she could do one, and she looked at me, smiled, and said “I see a cold heart.” Touche.

We’re rushing to get to DC in time for our show (we missed the soundcheck obviously). The guys had a relaxing day waiting around and playing frisbee in the hospital parking lot. I’ll try to keep my future blogs less medically-focused.

P.S. - We made it to the IOTA on time and had a ball. Thanks everyone!