One day, Carol, a 32 year-old preschool teacher suddenly felt a strange tightness at the right side of her body while walking on the way to school. Previously, she had to endure terrible head aches while doing her lesson plan. She wondered is these two painful incidents were somehow connected or whether these were signs of a more serious health problem.
At the end of the school year, she took a vacation to spend more time her family. But another reason she had to take a furlough was to get a much-needed medical examination. She wanted to know the reason behind the mysterious stiffness she felt on her body, and this she could do by going to a trusted doctor.
Getting a medical check-up was something she could no longer afford to delay. She already felt uneasy, even worried, about the sudden attacks of head aches that had haunted her for the last two years. To help relieve the pain, she always took cold showers. She thought that the cold water would somehow soothe the painful headaches. One time, while taking a shower, she accidentally slipped. That nearly fatal slip landed her in a hospital where she had to undergo a CT scan. The doctor, wanting to make sure...