So to properly document the tale, suppose we need to go back a bit further than Feb of last year. That takes us... wow.. takes us back about 9 years.
In Jan or early Feb or 2000, I found myself in an emergency room; don't recommend those if you can avoid them. Anywho, I'd put off going for a few days; couldn't miss work. But when you get to the point where you can't take in a deep breathe while sitting up or lay down and be able to breathe at all without a crushing weight and pressure in your lungs... well, maybe it was time to get seen about. Will spare you the frakin' 5 hours of waiting where I may have seen a doc for 5 minutes tops. End result was that I found out that I had inflammation inside me of a crazy nature and I was referred to cardiologist for a follow-up.
Here's where we get to your million dollar word for the day: Pericarditis
Cliff notes version is that I had seen the first of a condition where the fluid in the sac around the heart has become inflamed causing excess fluid thus angry rubbing leading to lots of painful symptoms. Best way I can describe it, though thankfully I've never had one, is what it might feel like to constantly have a heart attack but in this case thankfully not actually have any lasting results from it. Just can't breathe without pain. Kind of like the pressure of the entire world is pressing down on your chest.
As one might guess, you deal with inflammation with an anti-inflammatory; hooray ibuprofen on prescription crack *smiles* The drug I was given was called indomethacin. Think of it as a one shot of 800mg's worth of ibuprofen, but for my treatment I was told to take it 3 times a day. For years, thankfully, this worked. Now, it certainly wasn't an instant process. The pressure and pain would start to recede, but it would still take a good week, in the early years, for it to completely go away. Sadly, with any drug you take, take enough over time and the oober strong spiffy effects at the beginning start to fade. Well, couldn't take more than the crazy amount I already was sooooo.... In later years it could take two weeks, sometimes into a third for it to go completely away. But... at least it still went away. That's all that mattered.
I was told that it was kind of odd someone so young had this condition. *shrugs* Ok? And? That's really about all the docs over the years had to say about it. We don't know what causes it. It probably won't go away. Don't know what will set it off. Alright... so... what DO you know oh learn-ed ones? Not really a damn thing it turns out. Just one of those conditions with a fancy name that a whole lot of time and research hasn't been spent on to get to the root cause. As it's something, if treated (as if you couldn't with the whole not being able to breathe without pain thing) it isn't going to kill you, guess in the grand scheme of things there's a lot more important conditions out there to invest in. I'm cool with that. This one, as annoying and painful as it is when it happens, isn't the end of my world. Not even close.
Thankfully, the pain that comes with this condition, well, only comes when it flares up. Over the last 9 years (yeesh) I got to the point where I could start to feel it when it was coming. A little pressure... worse when I lied down. Also learned that one of the things that tended to set it off was stress. Yeah... who doesn't have that, right? Wish I could say that's gotten less over the years, but sadly, no. And as stress and anxiety increased, so did the frequency of the pericarditis. I want to say it was in the last two years, maybe three, I finally had to go to something a bit stronger to help. Hooray steroids... *twirls finger* Ugh. Also not recommended. But the indomethacin just wasn't cutting it any more. The good drug of doc's choice this time I thankfully can't remember only because I haven't had to take it for a year now so this time you escape more technobabble.
This I think brings us within the last two years. I've missed a lot of work from that stupid heart condition; just ask my last boss *sighs* By May of 08 and same for 09, I was entirely out of PBA and only had a few days of vacation left to use for the rest of the year till it all reset again in Jan. Not fun. But thank God for a boss that understood and was willing to work with me, most of the time, so I could still make all the doc's appts. The frequency of the pericarditis was getting worse. To the point where it would flare up almost every couple to a few months when over the previous years there would be literally a year or two in between.
Guess the above was the real beginning. Would have been nice to develop a psychic ability during that time, but I suppose one can only ask for so much. I do wish I'd known what was to come, though. Think there's a lot of other things I would have been out doing and enjoying the last 10 years. Don't regret what life's dealt me by any stretch of the imagination, but I definitely would have gotten some more sword fighting in and played a hell of a lot more bass in rockband. This last probably makes no blathering sense and for that I apologize, but for one post I figure I've rambled enough. It'll make sense soon. Well, as much sense as it makes to me anyways.
When there's time and less Ninja Turtles on tv, will post more. Till then... Cowabunga dudes!!
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