What a long strange trip it’s been…
I was at work on Monday, May 23. I had a meeting at 9:30, so I slipped into the bathroom to take care of my morning constitutional at 9:15. I have IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome,) and I was a bit constipated. I took care of business by pushing, then had the most horrific headache I had ever had in my life. I managed to wipe and flush and staggered to the little couch we have
in the ladies room.
I was sweating profusely. I had no idea what was going on. I managed
to get to the sinks and dampen a paper towel. I tried to cool myself
off a little. Then a friend came in and she asked if I was okay. I
said no. She called the “health manager” or whatever he’s called (I
work in a big comapany) and he took my blood pressure. It was 202 over
127! He used to be an EMT, and told me that was way extremely high,
and recommended that they call an ambulance. I agreed.
The ambulance took me to a nearby hospital. On the way I called my
husband Tom who is a local truck driver and was about an hour away. I
told him not to worry, I was okay. Yeah, right!
When we got there, they gave me a CAT scan. I had had a brain bleed!
OMG! Then they said they couldn’t treat me at that small hospital and called for a transport to Hermann Hospital in the Medical Center. One of the best. My head was still killing me. And they wouldn’t let me drink anything.
I called Tom again and told me they were moving me to Hermann. Poor baby was freaking out. They had pre-arranged a spot in the Neurological ICU. An open room with about 15 patients. They were all so sick! Stroke victims and seizure victims. I didn’t belong there!
I was pretty scared. Then they gave me some morphine for the pain. That made me calm down a lot! 
Things get a little blurry after that. Tom got to the hospital, but the visiting hours are very short in the ICU. He took my valuables, and kissed me. He looked so scared. They took me to get an MRI. They kept asking if I was claustrophobic, and I am a little, but morphine helped a lot. I slept through most of it.
Still no water! Well, little sucks from a sponge-thing. They had to wait until I got my angiogram. I slept through that, too, of course.
When I woke up in the ICU, the doctor came by and told me he didn’t find a reason for the brain bleed. No aneurism or tumor. It could have been caused by my blood pressure spiking because of straining, or my headache might have caused the blood pressure to spike.
And, oh by the way, they discovered I have Type II diabetes. My blood
sugar was 356. (Normal is 80-130.) Frickin’ wonderful.
So, three days in the ICU, then they moved me to a private room. It was huge! Like a VIP room. They said Tommy Lee Jones stayed there once.
They wake me up to prick my finger. Then later to inject insulin. And to give me anti-seizure medicine. And assorted other medicines. Repeat ad nauseum. No rest for the weary.
So I was released on Monday. It feels so good to be home! I missed sleeping in my own bed with my husband. I missed my dog, Blaze. I missed my home cooking. Hospital food only tastes good after fasting for 24 hours. I missed the SDMB, too.
So there you have it. I’m feeling so much better. I am not released for work for two weeks, so I can get caught up on all the doings around here!