So, my problems started coming back the first week of school.  At first, they weren't too bad.  I had headaches every couple of days, and sometimes nausea.  Sadly, things continued to get worse.  The nausea and fatigue were happening daily.

     Then, in November, I had a choir concert.  After an hour and a half of standing up for rehearsal, I was incredibly light-headed.  I ended up passing out on the way downstairs, just five minutes before the concert.  My head was jammed between the radiator and the corner.  The paramedics came and took me to the hospital.  This was the first of my syncopal episodes (blackouts).

     I continued to have blackouts and drop attacks.  When you have a drop attack, everything goes black and your legs suddenly drop from underneath you.  You are never actually unconscious, so you definitely feel it when you hit the ground.

     At our 11:00 Christmas Eve service, I started having trouble standing up at all.  I was trying to stand up and sing the hymns, (Christmas Carols are my favorite), but I felt the world fading in and out.  My vision would get blurry, then go back to normal.  The ground would move back and forth.  So I sat down until the end of the service.  When it was over, I tried to stand up, but I couldn't walk.  My legs were really shaky, and the ground wouldn't stay still.  It was really scary.  I knew that something was very, very wrong.