Not an Uneventful Trip

I’d like to say that our trip home today was uneventful, but it wasn’t.

During the first couple weeks at Mayo this summer I had two incidents were I either lost consciousness or came close to losing consciousness. We learned that I have a condition called Vasovagal, which is a type of Reflex Syncope.

So, what is Vasovagal (Reflex Syncope)?

Reflex Syncope is a brief loss of consciousness due to a neurological induced drop in blood pressure. Vasovagal syncope is typically triggered by seeing blood, seeing or experiencing pain, emotional stress, or prolonged standing. Typically, when I have an episode I experience lightheadedness, nausea, the feeling of being extremely hot or sometimes cold (accompanied by sweating), dizziness and sometimes a spinning sensation. The symptoms usually become more intense over several seconds to several minutes before the loss of consciousness (if it is lost).

Anyway, I had an episode today on the plane just as we were landing in Grand Rapids. It was scary because I didn’t know what to do on the plane and it really scared and freaked out Jon. So what was my trigger today? I think it started with the stress of moving out of our apartment in Rochester and traveling home, but the final trigger was a show I was watching on the plane. I was watching “The Great British Bake Off”. Sounds pretty tame, but in this episode one of the contestants cut themselves, put on a glove and kept working. But then later they revealed the cut was worse than originally thought and they removed the glove on air. That sight was all it took to trigger an episode. I did not lose consciousness (although I thought I was going to), but I did leave the plane fuzzy headed and in a wheelchair. We sat outside our arrival gate for a little while and then I was fine….a little weak feeling, but fine.

This was not the homecoming I wanted.

This aside, it now feels so good to be home! I’m looking forward to an “uneventful” day tomorrow.

P.S. Sorry, no photo today.