"I Feel Better Than Ever!"

These are the words that my mom said to me when I called her yesterday.

Six weeks. It took six weeks to get from 'there' (the onset new and more frightening symptoms) to 'here' (feeling better than she's felt the past year ... or ever, to quote her).

Almost eleven months. It took close to a year, to get from the initial symptom to where we are today. A vague symptom, that in retrospect seems obvious (after learning what we now know).

Almost a year ago, her diagnosis was 'inflammation of the middle ear'. When she went to another doctor a week or two later, the second opinion was 'vertigo'. In all actuality, it was her heart. Most likely, it was her heart all along (her medical file indicates this fact).

In five weeks, she went to a doctor or emergency room five times. In five weeks, she has undergone another five tests or assessments.

The medication that has made the difference, was perscribed five days after the latest developments of 'new' (probably not so much new, but simply more of what she had been feeling all along) symptoms.

One well timed trip to the ER has made all of the difference in the world. She has been dealing with this for almost a year. Each time she visited a doctor, I'm almost certain that they would take her vitals out of habit (wouldn't they?). But finally ... this one time, she was in the middle of an attack where they could pinpoint exactly what was going wrong.

Sometimes we are powerless in life. Other times, golden opportunities arise. If we are very, very lucky these opportunities can change a life.

I feel better than ever, too. It feels beyond wonderful to have our mom back to where she was before (only better)!