Had the stress test (and several others) and they did not tell me, as I had hoped, that "It's just gas".
Nope, probably tomorrow I'm having a
cardiac catheterization that they tell me will reduce or even eliminate the symptoms of the partially blocked arteries that feed blood to the heart. The good news is that I'm here well before I had the heart attack that would have been the inevitable end had I done nothing. From what I understand and have read (lots, recently!) it's a relatively routine procedure and only rarely has a bad outcome so I'm optimistic about that.
A conversation with one of the nurses was a bit surprising. She said I'm unusual because:
1. I have a doctor who I see regularly
2. The minute I knew something was wrong I called him
3. Most people do neither and wait until they're "on the ground" before they arrive at the hospital
This was surprising to me because it's a survival issue (Duh!).
Anyway, the main discomfort I have now is boredom since when at rest there are no physical symptoms at all. Thanks all for the well-wishes and I'm optimistic about this and the outcome.