Knowledge is power

A few weeks ago, I had a pain on the left side of my neck that prevented me from sleeping well at night. In fact, I stayed up until 4 a.m. several nights, working on things so I wouldn't have to go to bed. In the back of my mind, I recalled that my father had suffered a heart attack at age 50, and had several heart surgeries thereafter. Of course this lead to my fantasizing about all kinds of dire causes for the pain in my neck that was also radiating to the left side of my chest and left shoulder.

I rarely go to doctors, but this situation motivated me to find a cardiologist near me. Luckily, she was an excellent one; Dr. Vicky Savas. After testing my blood pressure and so forth, and hearing my symptoms, she opined that I had pulled a muscle in my neck and merely needed to take some anti-inflammatories and lay off exercise for a few days. Meanwhile, I signed up to take a stress test, because the pain had caused me enough concern to make me want to be sure it was not my heart.

I took the stress test, and two weeks later, got the result. Dr. Savas said it was "stellar." That wasn't enough for me; I had to know exactly what that meant. She said that during the test, my heart rate went up to 150 while on the treadmill. Generally, it is a good thing when patients heart rate goes down ten to fifteen beats in the next minute. But Dr. Savas told me my heart rate went down 75 points, to 75, in one minute! She said it was the best recovery they'd ever had. I thought of all the years I had silently worried about the condition of my heart, due to my dad's history. All the years I wasted with needless anxiety, only to find out that my heart is a champion!

How about you? Do you lay awake nights worrying about something that you could easily dispel with a little more information? If so, take my advice: Go out and find out about it. Whatever it costs, it's worth it. If there is something to worry about, you can take steps to deal with it NOW. And if there is not, you can restore peace to your inner space and enjoy your life more. As Winston Churchill once said, we have nothing to fear but fear itself