It began with the sound of boiling pasta

It all started with my wife noticing that, at night, while sleeping, she could hear a gurgling sound from my exhaled breath. She likened it to the ‘the sound of boiling pasta’. I felt a rattling sensation in my chest too. When I listened, I could hear a ‘pop rock’ sound. I thought it might have been walking pneumonia.

“I’ll just go across the street to the walk-in clinic and get an antibiotic. It’ll be cleared up in no time.”

This went on for a week or two. Then I was snoring. I noticed, when sleeping, it felt like someone was sitting on my chest. I couldn’t get my breath. As soon as I sat up, I was fine. The ‘last straw’, while at work, walking at a normal pace, I had to stop and catch my breath. “Okay stupid, something is going on. You better go and get this checked out”.

After some self-diagnosis, evaluating my symptoms, I saw the symptoms online to be very similar to walking pneumonia. “Ah-ha! That’s it. I know it”. A quick visit to the walk-in and I’ll be all set, so I thought. Little did I know that this was the beginning of my journey.

I asked what qualifies me as an article contributor to this site? I read about how people with congestive heart failure have a much more difficult time than I am currently experiencing.

Everyone’s journey is different. There are people who have been on this journey for much longer period of time. There are others who have just started this journey. I have only been on this journey since November 2015.

Compared to less than a year ago, my life now is entirely different – a 180º shift, to borrow from a popular colloquialism, that is relative to only me. So, that is the perspective that I am only qualified to discuss.

And I will relay my journey as a patient with heart failure in a series of stories on this site.