Domenick Anadio:  

College St. John's U, Queens, NY 1968-1971 Workplace (posted 6/02/09 lengthy but not tragic) On 02/27/07 woke up at 3 am with chest pain, short of breath. Didn't want to wake anyone in the middle of the night, thought it might be a rib that moves sometimes and chiropracter adjusts it back in. Took a sick day from work and ended up driving myself to ER around 3 pm (called the Dr. from home and he told me to say I had chest pain when I get to ER) I really had pain but was stubborn did not want to go in ambulance. I'll tell you, no wait in ER if you say you have chest pain. I was rushed in from the waiting room, put on a gurney and taken to a large treatment room where I think I remember eight medical people putting in 3 IV's and sonigram and sensors stuck everywhere (well not there) and it was a little scary because I'm thinking "is this how it happens just before the lights go out" if you know what I mean. Two hours later just before they were going to take me to the OR to do the catheter thing through the artery or vein to check for blockage, the senior heart man did the last check and cancelled the OR and told me the pain was Pericarditis (virus infection and inflamation around the heart causing the pain). I stayed 1 night and the non-steroid anti-inflammatory was doing the job so no permanent damage. I was going to go back to work but when I was talking to a good friend from home who lives nearby and is a nurse (Lisa Orloff Staley), she read me the riot act about all the issues she knew I was having from "aging with a spinal cord injury". I waited a while longer instead of going right back to work and I realized Lisa was right, I didn't have the energy any more. I wrestled with the idea of retiring. My DR has been pushing me to retire and I put it off for a couple years until this. It took away that reserve of energy I always needed to draw from and I couldn't push myself to my limit like I was used to doing. Now this took place a few months before the reunion and I was using my sick time when I was in ...Expand for more