John Wicker.com

About ten days ago I woke up with severe muscle and joint pain scattered around my body. I didn’t know it at the time, but I had caught a virus from my kids which gives kids a rash and gives adults joint pain. That night I woke up to go to the restroom and quickly found myself laying on the floor about five feet from the bathroom. I passed out again when I sat up.

What followed was a series of visits to medical facilities, trips to doctor’s offices, various tests, lots of time missed from work, and the loss of a large percentage of my body hair due to medical tape. If you are ever past due for a waxing for your arms or chest, just pass out and then go to an emergency room. They’ll fix you right up.

I have passed out on three different occasions in the last nine months, always under very specific circumstances and always when there has been some other underlying condition (sickness, changes to my routine or prescription medications, etc.) This has obviously caused a lot of concern and when they started saying things like “abnormal EKG” and “see a cardiologist” that concern started inching towards full on panic mode.

So that was my state of mind when I wrote my last Things to Do post. My family history is pretty terrible when it comes to heart disease, so to me, this was even more serious than it might have been for someone else.

At this point I’m still scheduled to undergo a series of tests over the course of the next two weeks. My family history still sucks but at this point the situation falls along the “something isn’t quite right” line as opposed to “you’re going to have a heart attack and drop dead at an early age like several members of your family already have” variety.