Muggi
08-10-2007, 10:41 AM
Heya my peeps,
So I haven't been around for awhile now, about um..6 weeks? I forget exactly. Anyway, wanted to give the old people I spent so much time with a short explanation of where/what happened to me.
In my last public post I said I had a friend visiting from overseas, and wouldn't be around alot for a couple weeks. That was true but not really the whole story, and its been kinda weighing on me that I didn't explain the situation outside of the Officer's Forum. A brief history:
I forget if I made this public, but I don't think I did. About a year ago I started having these really odd "spells", where my heart would beat so hard it felt like it was coming out of my chest, and I'd get light-headed. Getting up and walking around was the only thing that seemed to help. After like 6 months of these, I finally visited a doctor (hey I'm the invincible Muggi, wtf is some quack gonna tell me), he diagnosed me as having periocarditis, a bacterial infection in the sac of fluid surrounding my heart. This turned out to be incorrect. He then set me up for a Stress Test at my local hospital. That's basically they pump you full of dye, take a pic of your heart, them make you exercise and take a pic while your heart is stressed. After the initial dye infusion, they looked at the pic of my heart..and immediately sent me to the ER. They basically thought I was in heart failure.
SO, many needles, pics, and hot nurses later, they still have no clue what is wrong with me. I undergo an emergency catheterization (long tube shoved into your femoral artery and fed up into your heart), which comes out as ok. The doc's surmise my heart just beats differently.
Fast forward to 2 months ago, I go in for a checkup. Given the history doc sends me for another heart pic..and they find that my heart wall has thickened nearly 40% in less than a year. Superventricular cardiomyopathy is the term. This is..not a good thing, in fact its a serious heart attack risk. I'm 31.
At this point there are a couple surgical options, some medical options (which I'm against, I'm not taking a fucking pill and laying off drinking for the rest of my life. No drinking makes Muggi a dull boy). I'm working on quitting smoking and getting a bit more exercise..within reason, as my heart beats like a madman after about 30 seconds. My next appointment is next Wednesday.
All of this made me take a serious look at my life. I've basically been neglecting my life outside of the game for a long time; I don't think this CAUSED my condition (doc thinks genetic), but it certainly is not helping it. You all know how I play - all or nothing. I just can't do "casual". That's what is making me step away: I need to focus on some of the other aspects of my life right now.
I resigned as an Officer about a week ago, and I'm not making any commitments as to whether I'll be returning as a grunt in the future. I just don't know.
I don't want to fade into memory though; I hope to post here regularly and follow HA dominance through WoW and AoC. I expect many text msgs from Abigor during football season..if any of you others wanna chat, just ask Abi or Faelor for my number and drop me a text! My phone's always turned on.
I'm grateful for all the time I got to spend in vent and ingame with you all; there are some really good people in this guild. Good players and good human beings.
Keep in touch..
The MUGG
(Michael)
So I haven't been around for awhile now, about um..6 weeks? I forget exactly. Anyway, wanted to give the old people I spent so much time with a short explanation of where/what happened to me.
In my last public post I said I had a friend visiting from overseas, and wouldn't be around alot for a couple weeks. That was true but not really the whole story, and its been kinda weighing on me that I didn't explain the situation outside of the Officer's Forum. A brief history:
I forget if I made this public, but I don't think I did. About a year ago I started having these really odd "spells", where my heart would beat so hard it felt like it was coming out of my chest, and I'd get light-headed. Getting up and walking around was the only thing that seemed to help. After like 6 months of these, I finally visited a doctor (hey I'm the invincible Muggi, wtf is some quack gonna tell me), he diagnosed me as having periocarditis, a bacterial infection in the sac of fluid surrounding my heart. This turned out to be incorrect. He then set me up for a Stress Test at my local hospital. That's basically they pump you full of dye, take a pic of your heart, them make you exercise and take a pic while your heart is stressed. After the initial dye infusion, they looked at the pic of my heart..and immediately sent me to the ER. They basically thought I was in heart failure.
SO, many needles, pics, and hot nurses later, they still have no clue what is wrong with me. I undergo an emergency catheterization (long tube shoved into your femoral artery and fed up into your heart), which comes out as ok. The doc's surmise my heart just beats differently.
Fast forward to 2 months ago, I go in for a checkup. Given the history doc sends me for another heart pic..and they find that my heart wall has thickened nearly 40% in less than a year. Superventricular cardiomyopathy is the term. This is..not a good thing, in fact its a serious heart attack risk. I'm 31.
At this point there are a couple surgical options, some medical options (which I'm against, I'm not taking a fucking pill and laying off drinking for the rest of my life. No drinking makes Muggi a dull boy). I'm working on quitting smoking and getting a bit more exercise..within reason, as my heart beats like a madman after about 30 seconds. My next appointment is next Wednesday.
All of this made me take a serious look at my life. I've basically been neglecting my life outside of the game for a long time; I don't think this CAUSED my condition (doc thinks genetic), but it certainly is not helping it. You all know how I play - all or nothing. I just can't do "casual". That's what is making me step away: I need to focus on some of the other aspects of my life right now.
I resigned as an Officer about a week ago, and I'm not making any commitments as to whether I'll be returning as a grunt in the future. I just don't know.
I don't want to fade into memory though; I hope to post here regularly and follow HA dominance through WoW and AoC. I expect many text msgs from Abigor during football season..if any of you others wanna chat, just ask Abi or Faelor for my number and drop me a text! My phone's always turned on.
I'm grateful for all the time I got to spend in vent and ingame with you all; there are some really good people in this guild. Good players and good human beings.
Keep in touch..
The MUGG
(Michael)