“I think I need to go to the hospital,” Jerry says to me. “I’m having chest pains and they’re not going away.”
I’m in my pajamas and it’s after midnight. I had stayed up to read my book (When A Crocodile Eats the Sun).
I go down the list of heart attack symptoms. “Does it feel like an elephant is stepping on your chest?”
“No,” he says, “it’s periodic stabbing pain that comes and goes.”
“Trouble breathing? Pain radiating down your arm?”
“No, but my breathing is shallow when I have the stabbing pain….Ohhhhhyeeech, there’s another one.” Jerry puts his hand over his heart. I suggest calling 911. “No, just drive me,” he insists. I throw on some sweat pants and grab my keys.
