A lot can change in a day...

My wife and I woke up Saturday morning, August 8th, with a full day planned. We had some family and friends in town, so we created the perfect itinerary to show them around our new home, Nashville. The day went pretty much according to plan... until the end. But we'll get there in a minute.

We started the day with a taste of the outdoors by paddle boarding down the Cumberland River. And if you haven't been paddle boarding, I highly recommend it! It's a ton of fun and a great way to keep you active. However, if you're not okay with the possibility of ending up wet, then I'd maybe pick a different activity!

We all had a blast! If you can believe it or not, no one fell in. Some might call it skill, but I call it a miracle. The entire trip was very enjoyable. The weather was great and there weren't too many big boats passing by causing hurricane-like waves. However, the morning did start on a sad note as my wife accidentally dropped her sunglasses in the water as she was getting on her paddle board... don't worry though, I got her some new ones for her birthday!

After our little excursion down the river, we all agreed that it was time to go take a nap and grab a shower before we embarked on the rest of our day. After we all went and got cleaned up, we met at the Nashville Farmers Market for lunch and coffee! We walked around some of the different shops on the inside and then made our way outside to checkout the local vendors and produce. After we spent time there, we went down to Broadway so our family and friends got the full-blown Nash' experience. We also checked out went another touristy part of Nashville called 12 South. It's where all the famous murals are! The ladies then proceeded to take what seemed like a thousand of the same picture.

The next part of our day is what I would usually call my favorite part... DINNER! This is where things started to take a turn for the worse... We drove out to Franklin, Tennessee eat at the Americana Tap House. It's a great little place with a cool atmosphere! Not too pricey and delicious food... just how I like it!

As we were enjoying our delicious Nashville Hot Popcorn Chicken Bites I started to feel awful. My stomach began to hurt. I was getting extremely hot (disclaimer: not because of the chicken), and I started to feel lightheaded. So what did I do? I did what every collegiate wrestler was coached to do... I toughed it out. After we all finished eating and paid for our food, we went and walked around downtown Franklin. Nothing was really open so we didn't stay too long, but as we were walking around, I started to feel worse and worse. We eventually decided it was time for all of us to turn in for the night.

My wife, my brother-in-law, and myself thought it would be a good idea to stop and get a thermometer on the way in, just in case. As soon as we got back to our apartment, we found out that my brother-in-law's truck had been broken in to... talk about a bad day. After we called the police and filed a report, I went inside and opened up the thermometer. I was starting to get hot to the touch, but I had chills. My first temperature reading was 102.9. Just a few minutes later, I took it again, and it had went up to 103.3... This freaked us out, and we immediately started to think that I might have COVID-19. My wife called her friends to let them know we were about to make a trip to the ER to get tested.

We went to the ER at Tri-Star Hospital. I explained to the lady at the front desk that I had a fever, my chest was starting to feel weird, I was really tired, and I had cold chills. They eventually took me back to a room after waiting for 2 hours in the lobby! They hooked me up to an IV, drew a lot of blood, and ran an EKG (heart test). After about half an hour of waiting, my nurse came in and told me that my troponin levels were very high. Troponin is a protein that is released when the heart is under stress. The nurse said it didn't make sense because my EKG looked good, but she took more blood to run the test again. A few minutes later, she came back and said my levels were even higher than last time!

After she left, one of the doctors on staff came in my room and gave me some of the most frightening news I have ever received. She explained what high troponin levels meant. "It can mean you had a heart attack, you have a blood clot in your heart, or you're in the early stages of heart failure. It could be something else, but we have to rule out the other three things first." She then got up and left.

I went to the ER with my wife thinking that the worst case scenario was Coronavirus, but within a few hours, I learned that there was a possibility that something was seriously wrong with my heart. The worst part of all this was that my wife, Randi, and I were not even together. The hospital wasn't letting her in due to the chance I could still have COVID-19.

Eventually, I had a rapid COVID-19 test done, and they determined that I was negative. Sunday morning rolled around, and it was 6:00 am before Randi was finally able to come see me in my room! That was one of the longest nights of my life, but the journey wasn't over yet... To make a long story a little bit shorter, I had to stay in the hospital for the next couple of days. They ran all kinds of tests on me like EKG's, X-Rays, Echocardiograms, CT-Scans, and even an Arteriogram (which is where they enter through the artery in your wrist with a tube and go all the way up to your heart, so they can see how your heart is functioning). It was a long couple of days filled with worry, uncertainty, confusion, and fear. BUT GOD HAPPENED.

Good news finally came. My troponin levels were coming down, and the results from my tests looked great. The doctors on staff had come to a diagnosis... it was Pericarditis. This is when a viral infection finds its way into your blood stream and then finds its way into your heart. This causes severe inflammation to the pericardium (sac-like tissue around the heart) and can lead to even worse heart/cardiovascular issues later on.

Thank the Lord we caught the infection early enough that the cardiologist believed I would make a full recovery with no issues in the future. So after several days in the hospital, we were finally able to go home. I am now doing so much better. I 100% believe it is because of God's grace, all the prayers from family and friends, and the amazing nurses and doctors we were surrounded by.

I wanted to share this story with you because life can change at any moment. Something that starts out as small and insignificant can quickly become something life altering. Often times, there isn't anything we can do about it. It's outside of our control. I don't say that to scare you, but hopefully, to encourage you!

Enjoy life. Take in every single moment. Be a positive light to those around you. Show love to everyone. Be intentional. Take your relationships with others seriously. Don't take a second for granted. Our next breath isn't promised, and our plans for tomorrow may never happen. So let's live the dream today, right now, in this moment!