Not for the Faint of Heart

Today I had a bit of a scare. As I was standing in the office kitchen this morning talking to a co-worker, I suddenly began to feel sweaty and a bit nauseated. Then my vision went cloudy and the weakness I'd already been feeling in my knees got definitely worse. I became super-lightheaded and realized that I was literally about to faint—something that had never happened to me before. Somehow I managed to finish the conversation without losing consciousness and walk, or stumble rather, back to my cube. I put my bottle of water down on my desk and went to the restroom to get myself together. Once I'd recovered sufficiently, I returned to my desk and did what any other normal person who had just nearly fainted would do.

I checked out my symptoms on the Internet.

The web is definitely a mixed blessing when it comes to diagnosing illnesses. Before I ever knew I had cancer, I had a few symptoms that, when I researched them, suggested I might be about to die from congestive heart failure. Either that or I had a pinched nerve. Hmm.

So of course, it shouldn't surprise anyone that when I typed "fainting" and "chemotherapy" into my Google search bar together, the first link that popped up started with the word "CARDIOMYOPATHY" in all caps, just like that. In case you're wondering what that is, let me save you the trouble of retracing my steps since (naturally) I already clicked on the link: "Cardiomyopathy is a serious disease in which the heart muscle becomes inflamed and doesn't work as well as it should."

Now that's reassuring.

Finally I came to my senses and just called the doctor's office. The nurse who answered did not freak out and tell me to call 911 immediately. Instead she calmly suggested that I wasn't eating or drinking enough, which I had to admit was true. She said she'd leave a note for my doctor and that he'd give me a call to see how I was doing. He called me about an hour later, and after asking me a few questions, said the same thing as the nurse: "Make sure you're eating and getting enough fluids."

Heh. Easy to do when you feel hungry and food tastes good. A little bit harder when the thought of eating is almost enough to make you faint.