My health continued to decline from Jan. to March. During that time I was treated for pneumonia three times. I was on antibiotics almost continuously, and once given a daily shot for a week. I was experiencing periodic bouts of tachycardia (rapid, uncontrolled heart-rate). Usually they would start upon standing/walking, and end after 20 minutes of sitting quietly. I didn't do much more than sit, at any rate - I was still sleeping in a reclining chair. I was also losing about 3-4 pounds a week. By the end of March I'd lost almost 70 pounds. Since I had a lot to lose, you might think I would be pleased, but I knew this weight loss was not normal. Additionally I had noticed a small bump beneath the skin on my cheek, which I thought was just impacted bacteria. Although it didn't go away, it remained the same small size for most of Jan. and Feb.
Late in March I experienced extreme shortness of breath and an extended bout of tachycardia - it lasted for hours. During what was then an almost daily visit to my primary care physician (I was getting shots to treat pneumonia at the time), he noticed that the bump on my cheek was larger. At the end of the visit, while he was writing out a prescription and I was standing beside him, I started to gray-out. I told him I had to sit, and he questioned me about it, rechecked my pulse, and sent me to the hospital. While there I wore telemetry constantly so they could monitor my heart-rate, which was staying between 120-140 (very high). They ran a pulminary function diagnostic test to see if I was suffering from emphasema (I've never been a smoker) or bronchitis, or something like that, but it was impossible to get a base-line due to my shortness of breath. The test is stressful, and pushed my heart-rate up to 140, so they had to stop it. The tachycardia lasted for almost four days, but then resided and they released me. I was only home for three days before I was back in the hospital again.
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