Some happiness is unexpected

A few years ago, after exhibiting a rather odd assortment of symptoms, I went to see a doctor.
几年前，我发现自己有些奇怪症状，就去看医生。
15 minutes later I was diagnosed with a progressive, painful, long term, incurable disease that affects, among other things, your internal organs (like the heart and lungs) and is one of the leading causes of complete disability in the United States. (“But, are you certain?” I asked. “Pretty much”, he replied. “I’m sorry”.)
15分钟以后，我被诊断出得了一种无法治愈的慢性病，会逐渐加重，让人痛苦。除了其他影响之外，这种病还会影响人的内脏器官（如心脏和肺），是美国导致全身瘫痪的主要原因之一（我问：“你确定吗？”，他回答说：“很确定，抱歉。”）。
The side effects of the medication prescribed to control the symptoms (such as liver damage) left me questioning if the treatment was worse than the disorder. Not taking the medication early leads to irreversible damage and deformity.
控制症状所需的药物治疗的副作用（如肝损伤）使我怀疑治疗会比不治更严重，而不早用药又会造成不可逆损伤和畸形。
Have you ever felt a full-blown panic attack? Heart beating out of your chest, shaky hands, a stress-induced fever? I felt like that every second of the following four days. I couldn’t sleep more than two hours at a time. I lost half a pound a day.
你是否曾陷入过全面恐慌？心要跳出嗓子眼了，手发抖，激动发热？接下来的4天里我每一秒都是这种感觉，一次睡眠不超过2小时，一天体重就下降了半磅。
I arrived a few days later for my second opinion. I went to the lab, drew three vials of blood, then had to wait 7 days.
几天后我又做了第二次咨询，我去化验室抽了3管血，需要等7天。
By Monday evening, I had not slept in four nights. Wednesday morning, I felt like death would be an optimistic outcome. This feeling was more pragmatic than depressive. The disease leaves you crippled. Which meant not only that I’d be in unbearable pain and unable to do anything for myself, but that I’d take down with me the people that I love, who’d have to take care of me. I’d had a wonderful life. Would it be worth living unable to clean myself after going to the bathroom?
到周一晚上我已经4天晚上没睡觉了，周三早上我感觉死也可以是一个乐观的结果，这种感觉比抑郁更有用。这个病会让我瘫痪，这意味着不仅我自己要承受难以忍受的痛苦，自己什么都做不了，还会毁掉我所爱的人，他们还得照顾我。我原本拥有很好的生活，可要是上完厕所自己都不能洗手活着还有什么意思？
I got my blood test results ten days later. They were clean. No evidence of the disease. I cried.
10天后我验血的结果出来了，血液很干净，没有生病的迹象，我哭了。
For a long time I continued to have unexplained symptoms. Since then I take my health – what I eat, how I approach exercise – more seriously than ever.
很长一段时间我一直有原因不明的症状，从那以后我比以往更关注自己的健康——我的饮食，锻炼方式。
It took about 5 years to feel 100% like myself.
5年以后我才彻底恢复正常。
How the cornerstones of our lives are so intolerably fragile.
我们生命的基础是多么的脆弱不堪一击呀。
I’ll say this much: if you have your health, everything else is solvable. Everything.
我想说的就是：只要拥有健康，其他都不是问题，一切都不是问题。
Health. Health is the most important thing.
健康。健康最重要。