Actively working...

     Over more than three months, I had been actively working to understand why my health continued to fail.

     I worked with my medical team - literally dozens, perhaps over a hundred, professionals with countless years of experience and a vast array of knowledge. They ran several types of diagnostic tests, blood work and imaging. They monitored me closely for nearly two weeks solid at rest and under exertion. They performed surgery to place a pacemaker and rushed me to the ER during a blizzard. They administered medicine: serious antibiotics via IV over four weeks and shortly thereafter, blood thinners and additional medicine. They tried very hard, no doubt.

     I gathered information from CDC, Wikipedia, online medical journals and books to learn about potential causes, risks and realized, drastic outcomes.

     I connected with my family and friends for support. Aside from the emotional support in and out of the hospital and the physical support to pick up where I was unable, they provided mental support to help me evaluate facts, probabilities and next steps as my mind floated through the haze of my condition.

     Overall, I was actively working to solve this problem. And yet, it took over three months. And I'm not going to tally the prior years of effort in dealing with growing symptoms that remained misdiagnosed until March 2016.

     Anyway, I believe that actively working on my health condition was key to my diagnosis, however delayed it may have been. If you are working through a similar situation, you should consider picking up some of the same approaches. And if you have any other recommendations that may help me or someone else, please leave a comment. That'd be real nice.