This is How a Heart Breaks

I visited the doctor for the first time in over a decade...about fifteen years, actually. I have always been a bit curious about my health, not worried because I rarely get sick (knock-on-wood...), and I like to think that I am a generally healthy person. Until this visit I had no idea that I might have any sort of chronic condition. My parents neglected to ever tell me about my heart-murmur until it was first mentioned to me on Monday. The doctor did not seem to be too alarmed by it because I am asymptomatic, but she did warn me to pay careful attention to how easily I fatigue and any dramatic changes that may occur in that aspect. My mom then told me that when I was a baby, they were told about the condition, and they took me to Primary Children's Hospital to have me tested further. Primary Children's Hospital told my parents that I didn't have a heart-murmur and sent us on our way.

Talking to my roommate, I was reminded of a high-school basketball player about a year ago, who dropped dead after making a winning shot...because of an enlarged heart and a murmur. I have since decided to do a little bit more reading on the condition, so that I can be prepared to recognize any symptoms that could show up, without being paranoid that all the fatigue that I experience is going to cause me to keel over.

Now I just have to find out what is wrong with my joints. Ouch.