Last Tuesday I left home at 8:00 to make my 9:00 physio appointment in Nelson. After working with Stu for an hour, I had some errands and a quick stop at the fabric shop in Nelson before I headed to Castlegar. There I had banking and errands for DH to do. By this time it’s 12:30 and I had to head to Trail to take the courtesy car back and pick up our car at the body shop. It was a very warm day and I had the AC on in the car. I planned on grabbing lunch in Trail at a favourite sushi bar since DH wasn’t with me. Before I got to Trail I started to feel very dizzy and my head started aching. I pulled in to the rest stop on the highway, thinking that a short stop would help me feel better faster. I opened the windows wide and just put my head back for what I thought was a couple of hours.
The next thing I knew someone was knocking on the window and calling my name. When I managed to open my eyes I found some RCMP officers talking to me. Then I was being loaded in to an ambulance. The attendant tried to get an iv started in my left hand. After several attempts the second attendant took over and managed to get one started one in my right hand when he listened to me that the right hand has better veins.
By the time I got to the hospital I understood that it was now Wednesday and I had been in the car for almost 18 hours.
I remember someone asking me if I was all right. I gave him some money and asked him to get me some water. Apparently this person didn’t come back with the water and either I gave him the $1500.00 for the body shop bill or he helped himself to the cash. Either way it is gone.
At the hospital I had to convince them I didn’t do drugs and wasn’t drinking the day before. They had me hooked to a heart monitor right away. A lab tech came and took 18 cc of blood for a full barrage of tests. Next up on my fun adventure was a CT Scan. When the dye went into my vein it felt as if they were injecting molten metal. That was one of the most painful experiences of my life; worse than child bearing. Turns out the dye caused an inflammation of the vein.
By this time I was in full panic mode worrying about DH. I couldn’t find my phone or my glasses. I started crying and explained to Andrew, my nurse, that I hadn’t talked to DH and I didn’t know if hospital staff had. Andrew hurried over to the desk and came back with a phone to call my hubby. He dialled the phone for me and when I heard Bob say he was there and trying to get in the nurse went and got him.
I was so glad that DH was there when the doctor came in to say they needed to do a Lumbar Puncture to see if I had an infection. None of the other tests had shown any problems or reason for the dizziness or excruciating headache. The doctor understood my explanation when I told him it wasn’t a migraine. I get them once or twice a year and this was different. Then I realized that a “Lumbar Puncture” is the new name for a Spinal Tap. The doctor had consulted with a Neurologist in Kelowna and that was the specialists recommendation. Lucky me. I told them to go ahead but warned the doctor that he would likely have a problem getting me frozen. He laughed and told me not to worry. He was explaining everything he was doing to the intern he had shadowing him and really wasn’t listening to me. Then he was sure I was frozen and tried to put the needle in my spine. When I hollered at the pain he stopped and tried sticking me with more freezing. It didn’t work. He tried 5 times to get it frozen enough to be able to do the procedure. Then next step would be to knock me out. He decided to consult with the neurologist again. They concluded that due to my heart issue it might be a better idea to schedule an EEG and an appointment with my doctor and let him determine the next step.
End result was they let me go home with DH. No driving until I see my doctor. I managed a shower the next morning to get the red disinfectant off my back. The bruising and prick marks on this poor old body are a sight to see! My left hand is one solid bruise from the base of my fingers to my wrist. There are poke marks on the veins on my wrist as well. My right hand is swollen from the back of my hand to mid way up my arm and the vein they injected the dye in is red and inflamed. My back looks as if I was attacked by a porcupine DH says. I think it will be a few more days before I can do any sewing.
Today I had my appointment with my doctor. He doesn’t think I require either the Lumbar Puncture or an appointment with a neurologist at this time. Once I have the EEG that might show those options need to be utilized. For now he thinks resting and staying well hydrated will make a difference. I had to admit that I have been sleeping 12-18 hours a day right now (no I don’t have sugar diabetes and my blood sugar was low and I was dehydrated at the hospital). We think being dehydrated and not having food were definitely contributing factors. I forgot to take water as I usually do when DH is with me. I always make sure he has a drink so I get mine at the same time. I also was getting lunch after I got the cars switched. He says I can drive to the Guild to teach this weekend and I am allowed to drive over to a friends if I get cabin fever while DH is golfing.
The worse thing about all this adventure is that DH told his daughter what happened so now she is increasing the pressure for us to move to Vancouver. As far asI am concerned that would be the worse thing for DH. He goes out our door now and plays golf every day. He has company with all of his buddies hanging out at the clubhouse. If we move to Vancouver we will wind up sitting in an apartment all day and he will just atrophy. DH also told my son. My son just asked if he should start trying to find us a home on a golf course near them or if they should start looking here for property. They were planning on doing so within 5 years but think it might be better to move that plan up since I might need help looking after DH sooner if I start having problems.
So the adventure shows that I am better at looking after DH than I am myself, that doctors and hospitals can be quite an experience, and that DH has a big mouth! In spite of the pain and having so much money disappear I still believe that good people do good things. At least that man stopped to see if I was all right. I guess he thought he needed our money more than we did. The fact that I was driving a car from a body shop might have been an indication that our car was being repaired. If he had meant me harm he could have just thumped me on the head. All in all life is not boring and I just got a telephone call from my oldest grandson. They are having a baby in December! 🤪. Another great grandchild for me! MUST DESIGN A QUILT! 💕
Again I will thank you for taking the time to read my blog. I do hope you are having a great day with some time being spent doing something you enjoy! Tomorrow I am going to look at pattern to find which quilt I am going to make next! 🤔 Carol
Quilt Schmilt 