1. A story
I had an appointment with a patient, and I’ve seen him have knee/shoulder pain and the like before. The guy is over 70 years old, so maybe it’s just arthritis. I think I’ll check his painful joints and ask a few questions, prescribe some pain medication, and it’ll be over soon. I called him in. He sat down and was happy like nothing happened.
“Sir, I noticed you have been having some problems with joint pain lately,” I asked.
Then he went on to tell me about this knee pain. So I checked his knee and looked at the history, and all seemed fine. Ask anything else, and he’s like, oh really, my neck hurts too. So I checked his neck and found nothing there either. At this point, he was like, “Okay, thanks, doctor, I’ll take a break then.”
I told him, “I’m glad we can help. And you have no other pain before you go? “Then he sat down and told me he’s been having pain in his core, chest tightness spreading down his left arm and his jaw since last night, he’s having trouble breathing, and when that happens, he feels like he is going to die.
I know many of you won’t be doctors here, but I’m sure you all recognize the signs of a heart attack there. He has all the classic textbook symptoms. Finally, we called an ambulance, and he was taken to the hospital for a PCI.
