I wish I could Lori but my upbringing and ancestors mistrust medical professionals. You see, my maternal grandfather was Native American who also did not trust White man’s doctors. It was his advice to my mother when she was young that saved my life as that 6 month old baby, that White man’s doctors said I was dying and nothing could be done to save me. Know what “dirty water” means to me, it’s what I drowned in when I was 5yo when and my heart stopped. Subconsciously, every time I pass by dirty water, my blood pressure skyrockets to this day. It took 2 years of monthly sessions with my psychologist to figure that one out.

Why do I not trust doctors or medical professionals, simple, 14 doctors from 4 different departments almost killed me. How you ask, I had level 9 chest pain that not a one of those doctors knew what could be wrong. They thought of every diagnosis except the correct one. For 45 days, that chest pain hit as many as 4 times a day, so badly I ended up on the floor in agony. When my blood pressure shot up to 211/113, they forgot about the chest pain and tried to bring it down.

Nothing worked, the lowest they got it was 209/101 and that’s how high it was when they discharged me with this diagnosis “Chest Pain of Unknown Origin!” By the time a stress test was done on me after 45 days or torture, they finally discovered the cause of the pain, 3 blocked holes in my heart. Within 25 minutes I was on an operating table and 4 hours later, I had my 1st heart attack in Cardiac Recovery. And you wonder why I won’t go to doctors unless I can trust, them and I’ve lost faith in my Oncologist and others. I’m a fighter all right, my grandfather gave me that ability because he survived the 1918 Pandemic at age 52 with 9 children, my mother was born in 1920. Thank you for your advice but what I was looking for was symptoms you experienced while your condition was presenting to you. Take care.