yesterday

I ended up in the ER again. It was half an hour after Miss A's shift started and I was watching the boys and man, it came on like a ton of bricks upside my head. I text messaged her, and got hold of hubby, and she got a ride home from the guy next door who is also her landlord, and hubby met us at her work place (midpoint) and he took me to the ER and she took the van and the boys home since we couldn't drive 2 cars.

I felt like I was going to hurl. I was dizzy and nauseated and my head screamed at the sight of any light at all. The poor boys...I put a movie in for them and tried to keep an eye on them till Miss A got home; they were so good! They sat on the couch and Kenny sat on the floor and they watched their kid song video till Mom got home and she took us up to Flying J, me with a towel wrapped around my head to keep the light out. She and hubby moved the kids over to the van and she took them home. We headed for the highway.

There's an ER at a hospital up the highway from us that was bought out by another hospital system. They've switched to almost exclusively psych but since psych patients try all kinds of interesting stuff, and because, if they closed, there would be no ER for almost 50 miles for some people, they kept the ER open. Thank goodness!

They put me in a dark room and shut the door. 3 minutes later they moved me to a "curtain" and I promptly but kindly informed them if they didn't put me back in the dark, quiet room I was going to puke. They got my vitals and put me back in the little room. I had to leave the door open - claustrophobic, you know.

My blood pressure was !!158/110!! and my pulse was 124. This is NOT normal for me and a good indicator of the pain I was in.

I handed them my list of allergies, meds, and what doesn't work for me. They were glad to see it and I was glad not to have to tell them all of it. I told the nurse when he asked me what worked that the last time they had given me a shot of Dilaudid in my butt. The doc came in and messed with me a bit, and then I got my shot. OUCH. That stuff stings!

They kept me about 15 minutes till it kicked in, and then put me in a wheelchair and took me to the door where hubby had the car waiting. By this time I was more like a lush than I ever am unless I get this drug. I can't walk straight, I get dizzy, and lightheaded, and nauseated, and DARN IT ALL I FORGOT TO TELL THEM TO ADD PHENERGAN...

We stopped on the way home for a drink. Hospitals dry me right out, and my rapid pain-induced breathing (I'm a mouth breather) didn't help, either. At least my claustrophobic head wasn't fighting with me - the pain had lessened so that I didn't have to decide if I wanted the towel wrapped all the way around my head so no light would get in or if I wanted to breathe.

Got home, and by the time I got in here to the couch I was fighting not to puke. Yum. What a marvelous feeling that is! I have some oral Compazine here so I had hubby bring me one, and then I had him bring me a bagel to gnaw on since I hadn't eaten in hours and knew from the feeling in my tummy that I needed to get something into my system. I fell asleep 3 times while I was eating it. Chew chew...doze...chew chew...The nausea finally left after about an hour, thank goodness.

I dozed on and off till after the 10:00 news and then we went to bed. Let me tell you, those sheets felt great!

Hubby and my oldest daughter were invaluable. They helped me in spite of their own concerns about my condition and their calmness (or apparent calmness, I know they freak out when this happens) helped me to remember to breathe and not scream.

I love my family.