Two nights ago, I coded. Four times. Spent a couple nights in the hospital. Needless to say, I'm still a little shaken up by the whole event.
This was the first time it's happened like this. In the past, it was always during exercise and I didn't lose consciousness, but this time, there was nothing leading up to it and I did black out all four times. I used to think I was just being silly by saying I died, but when two of the biggest experts in the field say it, it kind of sinks in.
In 2008, I was diagnosed with Brugada Syndrome. Like most people, I'd never heard of it. It's a heart condition that puts the heart into ventricular tachycardia, where the heart beats so fast the chambers don't have enough time to fill with blood, or ventricular fibrillation, where the heart loses all rhythm and starts to spasm. Both of these are lethal. Within days of being diagnosed, I received my first (I'm on my second one now) implanted defibrillator. As of now, it has saved my life 7 times.
Receiving 34 joules of electricity straight to the heart is really uncomfortable, but it absolutely beats the alternative. Dying is less fun.
