My mom's currently in a room at the ER of the nearest hospital. So far, all is OK, or at least all the tests are coming up OK so far.

But my mom had a fainting spell over the weekend. This is not something she's ever been prone to. My dad and I tried to bend her ear about going to the doc to get this checked, but no dice.

Then yesterday, my parents were at the bank or a store (the detail kind of erased itself from my brain) when she started to get chest pain and pain in the jaw.

THOSE symptoms are no joke, as we're all well aware. My dad took her home, made her take two aspirin, and went straight to the ER with her.

This was yesterday. She's still there -- she was admitted for observation. The blood tests they've taken in the interim DO NOT show signs of a heart attack, thank God.

But all four of my grandparents died either directly or, in one case, indirectly of heart-related ailments, so my parents and I *all* probably carry the genetic material to make us prone to heart issues. So I'm filing this under "This is NOT a drill" and presuming the symptoms are the warning sign that something, somewhere, needs to be corrected.

My mom's still in enough denial that she didn't even want my dad to TELL me she went to the hospital. Needless to say, he disagreed and called me as soon as he got home last night.

He's also going to put his foot down about making sure that she follows up with whatever doctors' appointments are made as a result of this episode. I think he'll carry her bodily to the doctor's office if he has to.

Meanwhile, I kept telling him I wanted to take the day off from work and he kept saying "no". And I don't want to just show up anyway because I don't want my mom to get all worked up. I know how she gets. And getting her worked up when she's displaying some kind of heart-related symptoms, which haven't been IDed or treated yet, is something I'd rather not risk.

ARRRGH. Just say some prayers that the doctors figure out what's causing these symptoms, and take corrective action BEFORE something major goes awry. Right now, that's my biggest concern.

P.S. I just got off the phone with her a few minutes ago. She said she feels fine and the symptoms are gone. I told her, "I'm glad that the symptoms are showing up as something that goes away, so the doctors can start treatment for whatever's causing them before something happens that's a lot harder to bounce back from. I'd rather it be this way then have the first symptom of a problem be that a disaster happens." I mean it. I hope that got through. Because two episodes like this in a week don't happen unless there's an underlying health issue. Now it's the doctors' job to find out what it is and treat it.