Three years ago to the day I was hospitalized for the first time on account of my heart trying to kill me.

What's happened in the last three years? Here's the quick timeline:

• July 13 2010, Josh goes for a cardiac stress test, his heart goes into Ventricular Tachycardia and hits 255 BPM. Is subsequently hospitalized and diagnosed with ARVC: his heart is turning to fat.
  
• Plans emerge to implant an ICD (defibrillator), however an MRI discovers water near his heart and the surgery is postponed and Josh is sent home to recover.
  
• Josh's Dad speaks at a relative's church, after someone offers to see Josh for free.
  
• After much consultation, it's decided that Josh probably doesn't have ARVC, tests are done to try and figure out what exactly it is.
  
• After stuff keeps coming back negative, it is theorized that Josh's pectus excavatum (sunken chest) is rubbing on his heart and causing trouble. CT Scans show that, yeah, his sternum and ribs are pushing on his heart. It looks almost heart-shaped from above.
  
• Nuss Procedure is performed on November 8 2010 to correct his chest.
  
• Normal procedure entails a bar being inserted and turned, breaking the sternum out and the ribs along with it. Josh's doctor has the idea to nick the cartilage between the sternum and ribs, causing nothing to break and reducing recovery time. Due to some plotting on the doctors' part, this is all done through the public system and paid for by the Singapore Army.
  
• Everything seems normal.
  
• In December 2011 Josh temporarily goes off his medication and another stress test is performed. No VT. However, ECG still shows an anomaly.
  
• Late October 2012, Josh stops taking his medication again because, y'know, Hurricane Sandy. Never gets back into the habit. Terrible.
  
• March 21 2013, date is booked for Josh to have bar removed on June 24.
  
• May 3 2013, Iron Man 3 is released, in which Tony Stark has his Arc Reactor removed. Josh checks over his shoulder.
  
• June 12 2013, Josh does another stress test (still off medication). No VT. ECG appears normal. Prior anomaly is gone.
  
• June 24 2013, the exact same team that put the bar in take it out, at a different hospital, and, due to more plotting on the doctors' part, all covered by Josh's insurance. Now with no metal bar in the way, an MRI is done
  
• July 5th 2013, Josh's cardiologist informs him that everything checks out. No more scarring on the heart. Heart is no longer weirdly shaped. ECG is normal. Josh doesn't have heart disease.
  

So yeah. As that last sentence says: I don't have heart disease anymore. I'm fine. Healthy. Normal. Or at least as normal as I'm gonna get. Bad news is I can't use heart disease as an excuse anymore.

Frankly, it's been a heck of a time. No one likes being told their heart tried to kill them when they're 19 and no one knows why. Yet every twist and turn since has fallen so perfectly into step (doctors accommodating financially, timing being perfect, not dying at any other point along the way, etc) that, well, it's hard for me not to see a plan in all this. This could have gone very differently. I could have had the ICD in me and needed my batteries changed every few years (and the whole thing replaced every so often too) and been unable to do a lot of things I do. I could have died at any point along the way. This could have all gone down at a point when neither army nor insurance could help pay. And yet it all happened when it did and how it did.

So what now? Well, tonight, a beer or two and video games and movies, as is tradition. After that I've got another stress test coming up (because the insurance is paying for it, so let's go for it again, yeah?) but in the couple weeks since the surgery I've worked up enough of a sweat/pulse that it's certain nothing will happen. I'm fine. The bar that used to be in my chest is sitting on my desk next to my phone.

Thanks to all of you; thanks for listening to my late night ranting, thanks for the prayers, thanks for the hugs, thanks for putting up with my endless barrage of heart disease jokes. Seems like this heart disease thing is finally over.