For the last six months or so Sharee has been randomly fainting. At first she complained of feeling a little dizzy occasionally if she stood up fast and then one day while visiting her parents she turned pale and grabbed onto me. We quickly got her a chair and sat her down. She couldn’t hold her head up and her lips turned gray. It was all very strange and quite scary. We wondered if it was maybe because she had been donating plasma and was left with no nutrients for her own body. We really didn’t know.

For a while she could feel it coming on and could prevent it by laying down. She became very creative in coming up with reasons to lay down around people when she didn’t want them to worry. For example her exercise classes would suddenly have an exercise that involved laying down.

Unfortunately, this ability to sense it coming on and prevent it didn’t last. Our son, Joshua, one day asked Sharee if she needed to lay down. He said she looked white. She hadn’t noticed. Then at her grandmother’s funeral she fainted in front of her entire extended family and was rushed to the emergency room. They tested her and couldn’t see anything wrong. But they forbid her from driving until it was figured out.

That was a month ago.

She has been going to doctor after doctor and doing test after test. Finally this last week, she met with another heart doctor who upon only hearing the symptoms was very certain he knew what it was. He said there was a test she could do, but he was willing to diagnose her without even doing the test. He was that confident. She is getting the test done this week – just because of how serious fainting can be. What she has is called Vasovagal Syncope. Which means that the nerves that control the function of the heart and blood vessels aren’t working right – especially while she is standing. There are some things she can do to prevent it from happening again, but she will have to be careful the rest of her life.

Sharee had been worried that it was all in her head and she was going nuts. I knew whatever it was would eventually turn up. I am just very excited to have actually figured something out and be able to move forward. I have worried a lot about her and been frustrated that I couldn’t help more. I am grateful for good doctors who have put in the time and effort to know their stuff and be able to now help people like us.