Yesterday's Madness

Yesterday was a crazy day for me as far as health goes. This blog post might be too much information for some people since it talks a little about bowel movements and that sort of thing, so skip this one if you're the type of person who gets bothered by that.

I woke up at about 6:30 AM as usual, but I was feeling a little bit queasy. I didn't think much of it, though, since it wasn't a very intense feeling. I began my morning routine as usual, but after my shower I was still feeling queasy and gross, so I decided that I should stay home from work. I wrote an e-mail to my coworkers to let them know.

Emily left for work at about 7:45. I don't know when my mom left, but whenever it was, that's when I was now home alone. I had many bowel movements that weren't fun, but that was about it. Then the queasy feeling in my stomach got a lot worse and I felt like I had to throw up. Since my bowels were so weak, I figured it would be best to sit on the toilet and hold a trashcan between my legs to throw up into. That's what I ended up doing, and at first I just dry heaved several times, but eventually I threw up.

After I had thrown up, I tried to relax. I was watching some nerdy videos on my laptop to get my mind off of the sickness, but I kept having to pause it to collect my composure. Eventually I felt the need to throw up again, so that's what I did using the same method as before. At that point, I felt like I was probably done throwing up, but I wouldn't be surprised if it happened again.

Slowly my condition worsened. I started getting short of breath and I felt dizzy. Throughout this whole time, I had been texting Emily to keep her updated. I could no longer focus on texting, so I called her. We decided that she should come home from work. She wanted me to stay on the phone with her, but at this point, I felt I needed my mom's help since she was so much closer than Emily or else I might pass out, so I called her. Unfortunately, she wasn't answering. I called and called, but there was still no answer. My breathing was so bad at this point that I was feeling very light-headed and my whole body felt like it was asleep and that I was about to pass out. That's when I decided to call 911. The last time I called 911 was when I was about 5 years old and didn't know any better. As I was giving them my address, I had big gaps in between each number because I was having such difficulty talking. Finally my mom came home while I was on the phone, so I had her come in and help me. She continued to talk to the 911 lady while I began my third puking session into the trashcan. After I finished, I didn't feel like I needed an ambulance since my mom was there, so my mom told the 911 lady that we would go to the hospital ourselves. And that's what we did.

At the hospital, we tried to go into the normal part so that we wouldn't have to have such a high bill by using the emergency room, but they referred us right to the emergency room. Once in the emergency room, my mom explained the situation and they put me in a wheelchair. I kept asking for oxygen and water, but they wouldn't give me either due to protocol. I didn't like that.

They put me in bed and did lots of tests. Soon Emily came and was at my side, which I was very grateful for. They would only allow one visitor at a time, though. At one point I started feeling extremely cold, most likely because of the IVs. My whole body was shaking. They kept asking me to slow down my breathing, but I could not. They put some kind of heating pad thing on me and that eventually helped a lot. I eventually fell asleep.

Emily called my manager to let him know that I most likely wouldn't be at work the next day either. She also called my dad and asked him to come give me a blessing, which he did. It was very good to have that.

I think I was at the hospital for a little under six hours altogether. It was quite an experience. I think all they really knew was that my white blood cell count was elevated. I'm guessing they'll know more later.

Today I'm feeling much better. I'm still having lots of bowel movements and I still feel weak, but this is nothing compared to yesterday. Yesterday was pretty scary, and I'm so grateful that my family was there to help.