Do I need to retire my “I fainted in public” anecdotes?
I am self-aware enough to know that I have been using my anaemic episodes to fill in the lull in conversations, especially with new people. It's my attempt to be a “pick me” girl by telling people how I literally had to be picked up. Perhaps it is also my attempt to come to terms with how embarrassing the situation was.
I should preface this by saying I do not make it a habit to pass out. It was just two unique incidents that I choose to find hilarious. No, I do not have POTS. What I do have is hereditary ovalocytosis, which makes me prone to anaemia. The oxygen is not going up as needed sometimes. When I get up too fast or I am not taking care of something, my vision turns blue as a warning that I am about to drop. Normally, I can lean on something or move to sit down but on these two incidents, I did not manage to catch myself. Instead, the floor did the honours.
The first time I fainted, I was out with friends who had no idea I was about to give them a traumatic experience. I, too, did not know it was going to happen. We had a long night and I was most likely tired. Anyway, when we were standing around saying our goodbyes, I felt it coming and passed out right there on the side of the road. It has been two years and I still have the faint scar from scraping my arm on the pavement. It was, by design, not a funny situation but when I came to a few seconds later, I started laughing because 1) I knew what had happened 2) it is just my reaction to anything humiliating and 3) the way my friends reacted tickled me in hindsight.
The second time I fainted was just a few months ago. I had kneeled down to help my son with something and when I got up, I immediately knew. I blacked out right there outside a busy mall in Kuala Lumpur. My husband did catch me before I went down, but there was only so much he could do before my unconscious body decided that I needed to lie on this dirty floor right now. I woke up to my son's concerned voice. I was only out for a few seconds, apparently but it felt like he was waking me from a very satisfying nap.
Obviously, there is a cadence to how I retell these stories to people every single time but the WTF reaction is my favourite. It is a topic that people engage with and like most conversations, it really helps branch out into multiple other topics. My medical emergency makes a good prompt.
I am hoping there will not be a third incident but if there is, I guess I will just have a new season of “so yeah, I fainted in public” anecdotes ready to go for future conversations.