My road to diagnosis began with an infection; a yeast infection to be exact. That’s right, I, a male, had a yeast infection.

Now, I’m like most guys when it comes to the plumbing, and was rather embarrassed by the fact that something was wrong downstairs. And, like an idiot, I delayed going to the doctor by trying “home remedies” first, in hopes that I might be able to avoid having to go the doctor. After reaching the end of my rope with the problem, I broke down and went to the doctor December 5, 2008.

I didn’t know it, but the doctor said that yeast infections are a common occurrence among people with diabetes. Given my weight, my long family history of diabetes, and some other factors, the doctor suspected that I had diabetes. It was noted that my blood pressure was rather high when they checked it, and again given my family history, the doctor thought there might be something wrong with my heart as well. And after a 3 week barrage of poking, prodding, waiting, and worrying, I went in for the results on December 29th.

“Well Mr. Durbin, I’ve got the results back from all the tests we done over the last few weeks, and you do have diabetes; you have type 2 diabetes,” said the doctor. To be honest, that news didn’t really come as a surprise. Well, not as much as what she told me next, anyway.

“There were some abnormalities noted in the echocardiogram we did. Your heart is moderately depressed, and is only pumping at 30% to 35%. I have consulted with a cardiologist, and you have an appointment with him in the morning,” said the doctor.

Her words hit me like a ton of bricks. Actually, scared the hell out of me is more accurate, and hearing the cardiologist say that I had congestive heart failure the next morning only compounded those feelings. Oh sure, I was glad to know what was causing me to feel so bad, but the severity of my problems out weighed any relief that I felt.

Both my primary doctor and my cardiologist agreed that I had one thing going in my favor, my age. Given that I was 24, they thought that I might have a good chance to turn the heart problems around and restore at least some of the strength after a while. It would just take a strict diet, some exercise, an insane medication regimen, and a whole lot of persistence. And something must be working, because I’m still here.

There is a lesson to be learned here, and that’s to go to the doctor if something is wrong with you. It doesn’t matter how minor or how embarrassing the problem may be. There is no shame in going to the doctor; your health is too important not to go. It could very well save your life.