Storms And Sickness

Well it’s 6am and I’ve been up pretty much all night.

I went to bed around midnight, but was woken up at 3:30am by tornado sirens and very loud thunder. (Supposedly, a tornado touched down somewhere not too far from where I am). Of course, usually a tornado siren would send me into a panic. But I live in a 32-story concrete building in downtown Tulsa, so it doesn’t worry me too much. Anyway, my sister was frantically calling me because she saw on the news that there were funnel clouds in my area. But my phone was in the living room and I was in bed in my room, so I didn’t hear it. I was so tired from my recent lack of sleep that I ignored the loud thunder and sirens for as long as I could. But then it got so loud that I couldn’t ignore it. I got up and called my sister back, who lives 9 miles southeast of me. She was totally freaking out.

Now, I’ve seen some storms in my time in New Hampshire - they have some really nasty ones in the early to late summer. But this one… wow. I have to give the midwest props for allowing me to experience one of the most incredible thunderstorms I have ever seen in my life. I tried to get some pictures but it was too dangerous to be outside in all that mess. That’s OK… I have no doubt that I’ll soon be able to get some good storm pictures. After all, it’s Spring and I’m in the midwest…

I tried to go back to bed around 5am, but it just didn’t happen. I feel terrible physically - there is a weird tightness in my chest that is getting worse by the day. It’s to the point that I feel like I can’t breathe! As soon as this storm lightens up (yep, it’s still raging), I’m heading for the walk-in urgent care. I have been feeling “weird” and having this tightness in my chest for over a week now, and now it’s really worrying me. Something is definitely wrong. Everyone I know out here is sick - all of my family members, that is. But none of them have this crushing chest tightness. I’ve had this on and off since my last few days in Nashua…