Unsafe at any speed

Teh Sick took a new turn today, a really scary one if you don’t know what’s happening, and kinda scary when you do know what’s happening.

Sitting at my desk this afternoon, in the middle of a conference call, I almost passed out.  I never quite lost consciousness, but I had that “stars floating in front of my eyes” and overall tingly feeling when I came back to full consciousness.  I recognized it as soon as I was at myself again—I had an attack of cough syncope.

I’ve had it once before, years ago.  It’s caused by coughing so hard that the neck muscles go into spasm and close off the carotid arteries completely, and you lose consciousness.  As soon as you pass out, of course, you quit coughing, the neck muscles loosen, the carotids open up, and you wake up again.  It’s a bit like being strangled momentarily, but without the ugly bruises afterward.  But bruises or no, it’s dangerous.  Imagine, for example, what happens if an attack hit while I was driving at 65 down the interstate.  NOT a pretty thought, is it?

Fortunately, I was sitting at my desk when it happened, and I came to again right away, so I don’t think anyone on the con-call even noticed.  So when I got off the call, I went to Beetle’s* cube, told him what was happening, and said that I probably wasn’t safe to drive myself home.  He went and rounded up an L1 tech who lives near me and had him drive me home, while Beetle played Tagalong Charlie in his car to take the L1 back to Circulith afterward.

I did have the gumption to call my doctor’s office and tell them about it, and I just got a call back asking “Can you be here at 8:15 in the morning to be Dr. V’s very first appointment?”  I told them I’d manage it some way.

* My current manager.

Some mass-market torches buried a reconstituted hamster in Grant’s Tomb.  Fnord.