Sunday Newscape Magazine

Sometimes life offers you a good wake up call to remind you that changes are needed. The day after Christmas I stared reality in the face and had a lot of time to think about it.

In reading my column last week, perhaps you noticed how short it was. The fact is I don’t remember writing it. I guess my subconscious mind locked in and let my pen do the talking. Little did I know, I was extremely ill.

That morning my wife approached me because she knew something was not quite right. Actually something was very wrong. I knew I did not feel well, but I tried to ignore what was happening. Next thing I knew, I found myself on a gurney in the emergency department with wires hooked up all over me. What I thought would be a simple visit turned into an entire day that scared the daylights out of me and changed my life.

I knew it was serious when a nurse remarked; “I never seen this before” with a casual giggle as he looked at the heart monitor. My heart jumped with fear! To put it bluntly, I was suffering from an irregular heart beat caused by Wolff-Parkinson's-White-Syndrome. In other words, I had an electrical connection problem with my heart. At Forty Two my first though was a life filled with walkers and bed pans and that was a hard pill to swallow.

When the first doctor left I knew it was going to be a long day. Considering this was the day after a holiday all or most of the specialists where out of town. To compound the situation even more, I had the worst migraine in history. So all the lights in my room where turned off and my thinking went into high gear.

This lonely period definitely put things into perspective. I can still remember how peaceful it was lying in that dark room. I spoke to God a lot during this time and suddenly realized everything would be ok. I spoke to him not as a person begging for life or a second chance, but for the confidence to overcome whatever was happening to me.

After many hours the specialist finally arrived. Come to find out, I was suffering from something that is totally manageable with lifestyle changes. Even though I had a so-called condition I knew this was not a death sentence, but a wake up call. I got a good shot of morphine to help my migraine and I was on my way.

The following day was a bright one for me. I felt reborn and got to work on a plan to make the lifestyle changes needed. After a day of rest; which is hard for a wiggle worm like me, I felt total relief from my symptoms. It’s not easy, but if someone tells you to change your life, and knows what he or she is talking about, you better change your life!

In essence, I made up my mind not to worry about the diagnosis; I will let the doctor’s take care of that. All I need to do is worry about myself mentally, physically, and spiritually so I have the confidence not to let this bring me down. All of us will experience issues that will scare the daylights out of us. I will choose the high road of optimism instead of being pessimistic. I guess all I needed was a good dose of reality to wake me up.