Living Proof

As much as I joke around about my crazy hypochondriacal life, a lot of frustration is involved with the anxiety which is the "probably" the root of the problem. We all fear death. We all fear illnesses and pain, but when does it come to the point of losing your marbles over every single ache and pain?  My mind says (and so does WebMD) that the chest pain I'm having is linked to a possible heart attack. When in doubt, check it out, right? Who wants to mess with a possible heart attack? Some people, like myself who have GERD or some underlining bogus diagnosis of costochondritis live with periodic intense pain that comes from the chest, sometimes radiating into an arm (usually the left for me) . So, how am I to know this isn't the big ticket into heaven? (I'm assuming heaven.) For instance, the other night I'm about to go to bed. I slip into my comfy PJs and cuddle up to my wife and our little chihuahua. We were about to watch a movie when all of the sudden...

Whenever I'm stressed out, it manifests into something funky - like a weird ailments: pseudo chest pains, arthritic paralysis and all that fun stuff that brings me shuffling to the doctors or the emergency room.  When am I not stressed out? Last week, I woke up with this huge lump under my ear that extended down to the middle of my neck. The pain was absolutely excruciating. It felt hot and tender to the touch. I thought it must have been the q-tip that broke inside my ear a few months back and got infected. (Don't ask.) In my mind, all I kept saying to myself was, "It's near my brain! I'm gonna die!" My hypochondriacal manias started to kick in and I started dialing my primary care physician to get an emergency appointment. No ER for me, because well, it's flu season and hell if I'm gonna walk into a germ-infested environment and risk being sick. Not that a doctor's office is any cleaner, but at 8am, people are usually there for blood tests. The...