What’s the Spookiest Thing That’s Happened to You on Halloween? Marriage Families.com

Happy Halloween!

I don’t know if it’s the kid in me or what, but Halloween remains one of my favorite holidays. I love decorating and dressing up even though I don’t have any kids and some may think I’m too old for such nonsense. But I don’t care. I still think it’s a hoot.

However, this Halloween, even though the decorations are up, I find myself facing something very scary indeed. A trip to the doctor.

Dreading the Doctor

After having to schlep my mom to and from doctors’ offices this past year, I’ve semi-sort of conquered one fear in this regard. I don’t break out into a cold sweat every time I enter a doctor’s waiting room.

But I still dread that they’ll have to poke me with any needles. Which I’m positive is going to happen with my latest ailment.

Chest Pains

See, I wasn’t kidding when I left a comment about how much stress I’ve been under on one of Beth’s blogs. It’s all related to this black cloud year that I’m afraid is about to get a might stormier.

I’ve been suffering chest pains on and off ever since back in March. The first one was only a few days after I’d gotten to my mom’s house and realized just how bad the situation was. It was one night after a particularly bad day when I was laying in bed. I got super hot and sweaty, then my left arm started feeling really tingly and weird and then my heart felt like it was having trouble beating. It was a horrible fluttery feeling that lasted several minutes before finally going away.

Thinking I was far too young to really have a heart attack, I chalked it up to the stress of everything and decided it was either a panic or anxiety attack. I resolved to take a nice long walk the next morning. Which I did and which helped.

But other than playing volleyball, I haven’t maintained my usual exercise regimen. (A two to three mile walk most mornings.) I fell out of the grove, then my heart wasn’t into it, then we went to Alaska and while we were there I resolved to get back on track, but we came home to a hurt Murph and with my walking buddy waylaid I fell back into another funk. Didn’t help that right before his surgery I came down with a bad cold.

The Cough

Well, the bad cold is gone, but for the last month and a half I’ve been dealing with a bad cough. One that racks my body so bad sometimes I almost throw up.

“You have to go see the doctor. You sound terrible,” Wayne sagely advised.

I knew I not only sounded terrible but felt awful too. Not like I normally do after a cold. So I sucked it up and went.

That’s when I found out how high my blood pressure was. I’m usually 100/70 or 110/70 (the latter being high for me), but I was 122/92. Not in the hypertension range, but notably higher than where I’m usually at.

“Could be the cough,” the doctor said. She gave me a new inhaler to try, along with a cough suppressant.

Afraid she would stick me with a needle and want to draw blood, I didn’t mention my hurting heart problems. I figured the high blood pressure explained that. I truly was under a lot of stress and my numbers proved it. I just needed to start walking again and I’d be fine.

Not Getting Better

Trouble is, I’ve only walked three days since then, and that’s been three weeks ago. My heart pains aren’t going away, and while I showed some signs of improvement with my cough last week, this week I’m back to having fits that are making me throw up.

It could be whooping cough because I saw a report on the news where there’s been a lot of those cases in adults here in middle Tennessee recently. Apparently the vaccine can wear out.

Lovely.

“Babe, you have to get in there. You sound terrible, you don’t look too good, and I’m really getting worried about you. Yes, you’re only 38, but that’s old enough to have a heart attack. Especially with everything you’ve gone through this year,” Wayne pleaded with me today.

I’m terrified. I don’t want to get poked and pricked, but I also don’t want to have a heart attack if I can avoid it. I also don’t want to survive a heart attack, be disabled, and put Wayne through the experience of having to care for me.

So I’m going to suck it up and go get checked out.

This is by far going to be my most terrifying Halloween yet.

Courtney Mroch writes about animals great and small in Pets and the harmony and strife that encompasses married life in Marriage. For a full listing of her articles click here.