What a headache!!

On Saturday, we dropped the big kids off at my parents' so they could begin their Nana Camp adventures. On Sunday morning, Mom called to say that all three kids had been throwing up and having diarrhea all night. They weren't feverish and felt fine between spells, so we decided it was probably food poisoning and to wait and see how the day progressed before pulling the plug on Nana Camp. Meanwhile, at our house, Jeff had woken up with much the same problem and proceeded to spend the rest of the day zonked out on the couch. Mom called several hours later to report that the kids seemed to be feeling pretty good and were all loathe to give up their Nana Camp, so off they all went to Port Aransas, and they having been feeling good and having fun ever since.

Clay and I had not felt even a flutter of the tummy bug, confirming the food poisoning theory. I was determined not to be sick, regardless, because I had a very busy week ahead, teaching a class for new and returning CC tutors and helping with the CC conference on our campus. As I prepared for bed last night, I was joking along these lines, telling Jeff I would just have to blow him a kiss goodnight, since I couldn't risk getting sick.

Well, about 1:30 am, I woke up and needed to go to the restroom. And that's where my plan broke down. And, where my memory starts to have gaps. Either before I actually made it to the restroom or right after, I felt a bit dizzy and thought I would just grab hold of the counter for a moment to steady myself. The next thing I knew, I was feeling a cold, hardness underneath me and a crazy stinging in my eyes. And, a little while later I realized I was lying on the bathroom floor, vomiting. I rolled over to my side, to try keep further debris from my eyes, and that's when I realized that my head hurt really, really badly. I reached up to touch it, noticed that it felt wrong, and surmised that I was having that dream of everything going wrong before a big event. This wasn't happening, it was just the stress in my head getting to me. Oh, but the headache just would not quit! I tried to find my voice, but, instead, only heard myself moaning.

Jeff had heard me get up and heard me throwing up but had assumed that I had caught what the rest of the family had and wasn't too worried. He heard me hit the floor, but in his middle-of-the-night fog, thought the crash was coming from outside. Eventually, he called out to see if I was all right, and I finally found my voice long enough to utter his name with some urgency. Imagine his surprise when he entered the bathroom, to find me lying in a pool of my own vomit and blood. He was talking to me, but I couldn't really make sense of his words. And then, he was trying to clean me up. When I went into the fetal position in the shower, cringing at every touch to my head, he declared that we were headed to the ER. I was in no position to argue, so off we went.

After administering an EKG, a CT scan, an i.v. and a shot of morphine, they began the process of trying to clean me up. When they finally got down to the wound itself, they determined I would need 8 staples to close up the 2-3 inch long gash. The sight of the staple gun terrified me, but with all the numbing shots and morphine, the installation of the staples wasn't too bad. And, fortunately, they didn't have to shave my head--just trim the hair in a few places. The CT scan reported no problems, but the EKG showed that I have Prolonged QT Syndrome, a congenital arrhythmia in the heart that may cause episodes of fainting. They don't know for sure that that is what caused me to pass out, but they did recommend I follow up with a cardiologist.

So, 2 1/2 hours later, I left the ER with a head full of staples, a prescription for pain meds and anti-nausea meds, and the worst headache of my life.

Needless to say, I didn't make it to my class today. My wonderful in-laws were here babysitting Clay and myself, while Jeff was in Austin. They were taking care, not only of us, but the house and laundry as well. I'm taking the pain meds and am resting, and obviously, have lived to blog another day. I hope to be back to my normal self before too many more days. The staples will come out in a week, and hopefully, the headache will go away before that. If it weren't for that pain, though, I would definitely feel like I was living in some made up drama. I have never, ever done anything like this before, and I hope to never do it again!

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