I Did Not Have A Heart Attack After The Case Race

I had a blast doing Case Race VII as I have for pretty much all the case races we've done for The Yak (with the lone exception being after I tried to wrestle Shane Gillis and thought I ruined the show. That one kinda sucked for me tbh). I had a dynamite team with Titus and Max and I thought we had a good shot to win. We also had some pretty bitchin' costumes that I had picked a few days before I even found out who my teammates would be. Feel free to comment about how jacked I look here.

I really enjoyed myself during the show but felt like I took all the proper precautions to not get as wild as Case Race VI. I had a nice pasta lunch to give myself a good base. I drank some electrolyte drinks and water before hand. Got a pump in and had some extra chips to give myself more salt to soak up the booze. And once our team hit 50 (we won, not to brag) I switched and went with more electrolytes and water. I had two slices of delicious pizza and slept in a cot in dark studio in the office. Got a good night's sleep and felt surprisingly not hungover the next morning. A perfectly executed strategy I thought at the time.

The afternoon of the case race, my oldest kid was getting sick. The strategy was that I'd come home if he still had a fever in the morning. He did so I bailed on the day of work to go be a dad. I didn't think driving was a great idea based on my night prior, so I took an Uber home. But once I got home, things started feeling weird. I wasn't hungover and I was moving around and thinking fine. But I did feel my heart doing some weird shit. It's tough to describe, but it almost felt like a flutter or extra beat. It wasn't painful, but once I had two or three, I started to be super cognizant of them. I'm turning 39 on Monday, so while I may be old by case race standards, I'm still a young man to be having heart issues. As my 6-year old son sat a few feet away from me as I continued to have these heart issues, I tried to be smart. A younger and dumber me with far less responsibilities would've just rode them out. I'm too young to have any heart issues! I actually had a physical three weeks prior and my bloodwork was all good. So it was probably nothing I would've thought. 

Maybe. But maybe not. As a nearly 39 year old father of two I can't take those chances anymore. So that's when I told my wife I think I needed to go to the doctor. I made an appointment and about two hours later I was getting an EKG which monitored my heart rate at my local doctor's office. I wasn't overly concerned until the nurse practitioner who had done my EKG said she didn't like the results. My results showed an inverted t-wave. She said there was potential I had a heart injury, which is the lowest type of heart attack. My heart metaphorically sank. She told me it could be something, but it could be nothing. But she'd taken it as far as she could. She said I needed to go to the emergency room immediately. 

Now this is when I actually got legitimately scared. Everything is fun and games until I actually am picturing leaving my kids fatherless and wondering if I'll even make it to my birthday next week. And is that overreacting? Probably. But it's hard to prepare to get news like that. I feel like it changed my entire perspective.

I went to the ER directly from there and got checked out. They did make me feel better saying heart palpitations were fairly common after a night of drinking. But was it just that? That'd be best case scenario. They did their own EKG on me as well as doing a few blood tests. Luckily things came back a lot better at the hospital as my bloodwork was good an the EKG was much less worrisome. They discharged me after about two hours.

I took it easy on Thursday and had a follow up appointment today along with a cardiac score test. That came back clean and they said it's likely the result of dehydration (likely due to alcohol) and stress or anxiety. A bunch of people told me it was likely something called "Holiday Heart" which is a term for heart palpitations after a night of drinking and increased sodium. That would line up with my symptoms. 

There has been a nice outpouring of support in my DMs from people that have gone through similar situations as well as a bunch of people calling me a pussy. I think both are fair and how you see it depends on your situation and world view. About 10 years ago I'd definitely give the guy that went to the ER for a night of drinking a lot of guff, but after thinking about not seeing my kids grow up, I'm very happy I took the safe route and got checked out. Being healthy is important and the peace of mind I have now is priceless.

Now was that incident 100% from booze? It's surprisingly not definitive. I think I actually had my first weird heart beat thing on Monday (the day before we taped the Case Race) which is why I was more concerned. But maybe I just shouldn't drink beer any more. Maybe I need more sleep. Maybe I should meditate, do yoga, or go talk to a therapist to help with any stress or anxiety I may have. Does that make me a giant pussy? I guess that all depends on your world view and your situation. And I won't fault you however you feel. And right now, I'm not sure what I'll do, but I definitely will be a bit smarter about how I do things. 

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All that being said, I did have a great time taping Case Race VII. And if this is my final time having a beer, I was happy it was with my boys. Catch the full four hour show here: