It happened out of nowhere. One minute I’m watching Supernatural on tv, my furbaby Samantha on my lap, relatively pain-light thanks to pain meds, the next minute tears are rolling down my face. No particular reason. I didn’t see a Folgers© commercial or have Sam claw me in a sensitive area. I just started crying. And couldn’t stop. My breath hitching as I tried to keep quiet and not let Mom hear. I hate for her to hear me and worry. The more I tried to hold it in, the harder it became. I started to have trouble catching my breath, could feel the signs of a panic attack beginning. My heart raced, I was sweating, and had chills. Dizziness and nausea came next. I tried breathing exercises to no avail. Samantha was purring and kneading on me, which usually helps. But I had waited too long and gotten too worked up. I got up and made my way to the bedroom for anti-anxiety meds. I took one with a big glass of water. I took a couple deep, cleansing breaths. Slowed my breathing. Eventually stopped crying and began to feel better. I scooped up Sam and sat back down in my chair. After a while, I began to doze and fell asleep to an encore episode of Supernatural which always eases my mind. My last conscious thought was Sam purring and wondering how much worse this panic episode would have been had I also seen a Hallmark© or Phone company commercial. I’m afraid I’m turning into a emo pile of mush. Hopefully, this too shall pass. In the meantime, carry on and always keep fighting!