KISSIMMEE, Fla. -- Mike Hampton's story had a happy ending, but for a while, the left-hander wasn't all together sure that something wasn't really wrong with him.

"Whenever you hear something might be wrong with your heart, it's a pretty big deal," Hampton said. "But the tests seemed to be fine."

Hampton was given a clean bill of health after undergoing an echocardiogram Monday night in Houston, two days after Hampton's routine EKG showed an irregular heart rhythm. To his relief, Hampton did not have to go through a procedure to jump-start his heart by way of electrical current, nor does he have to take medication for this condition.

"It's one of the most important organs you have," Hampton said, chuckling a bit after making such an obvious statement. "At least they didn't pull up an ambulance and throw me in the back of that. They felt comfortable enough, and the doctors that are way smarter than me felt comfortable enough, that I would be fine just getting this procedure done, and fortunately enough, I didn't have to get it done at all."

Hampton acknowledged the past 36 hours or so have been quite nerve-wracking, as he faced health issues far more serious than those that kept him off the mound for the past few years.

"When they have to basically jump-start your heart, or re-boot it or whatever, that's something you do to a car," Hampton said. "Yea, it's potential death. I still have some stuff I want to do around this world."

Hampton said he had not had any heart troubles in the past. He underwent a series of tests in 2002 after his friend and former teammate Darryl Kile passed away, but he said, "Nothing showed up. Everything was fine then."

Manager Cecil Cooper expected Hampton to fall back into his regular routine on Wednesday, and Hampton indicated he would not go overboard in worrying that something sudden could happen while he's going through his daily workouts.

"I didn't feel bad before; I couldn't tell anything was wrong before," Hampton said. "I guess I'll go day-to-day and see. If I've got chest pains or something or heart burn after eating Mexican food, maybe I'll think twice. Besides that, I won't think any differently."

Hampton was scheduled to throw an abbreviated bullpen Wednesday.