The results from the Holter monitor are in... I have another test, but it's fine so far.

<boring, exhaustive detail for the family>

I am having premature contractions of the heart very infrequently. The heart misfires and beats sooner than it should, and what one feels is the contraction immediately following the brief pause. The heart has more blood in it because of the pause, hence the thump. Apparently it's relatively common and nothing to really worry about since they happen singularly (if there were several in a row that might be a different story). They don't put me at risk for anything, even given my family history of high cholesterol and other heart-related stuff.

I think she and I are willing to chalk it up to a combination of
a) new exercise regimen
b) stress (who me?)
c) just some freak thing that happens sometimes.

I still have the echocardiogram on Friday, and those results will take a week. (Hence this is version 1.0 of this post.) She doesn't anticipate anything unusual there, but better to be safe. Assuming the echo doesn't show anything, and if the symptoms persist and are bothersome, they can put me on a beta blocker which is also used to treat high blood pressure (which I don't have, BTW). As I understand it, it kinda caps the heart rate and keeps the heart from reacting so much to adrenaline. I doubt I will take this route; as I continue to exercise and work on stress management, the symptoms have grown less frequent and intense.

</boring, exhaustive detail>

Health is a wonderful gift. I am still reflecting on what this all means for my life, my work level, doing the things I love to do but that require time and energy I may not have. But I shall bore you with all that another time.