Surprise

I’m always taking care of others. I didn’t think it would be me that needed the help, but that day certainly came last Saturday. After a month being busy and enjoying the month of June traveling to ball games, going bowling with the grandkids, and just spending time at our pool, I fell ill this past Saturday.

The day began like any normal Saturday morning. I puttered around the house, worked on my summer course for the university, but felt a bit tired. I was to pick up my granddaughter at 3:30 at camp.

After arriving at camp, 3:30 came, and I went to stand in line to sign my six year old granddaughter out. Standing in the very hot, thick humid air, I suddenly felt a bit dizzy. I bent over trying to get some blood to rush to my head. I attributed it to either my sugar issues or the heat and humidity. Luckily, the my granddaughter’s softball coach was in front of me. She asked me if I was ok, and I told her I was dizzy. I have had issues in this kind of weather before at the county fair working in the hot sausage booth. My sugar always went out of whack and made me feel horrible with the same symptoms I was experiencing. I went over and sat down on the bench, and the coach said she’d sign out my granddaughter. The camp nurse came out and brought me a candy bar. I ate it thinking it was just my sugar. My granddaughter and I went back to the car, and I sat and chatted with her about her day for awhile until I felt back to normal. I drove home and felt fine, except I did take a wrong turn trying to go the back way. I will just go out the front entrance from now on. So much for the short cut.

We arrived home, and I told her to go get her swimsuit on and I’d take her to the pool. All of a sudden while she was changing, I started feeling nauseous. I went to the bathroom and threw up. I came back out and she was ready, but I felt weak and was sweating like crazy. I told her to sit and watch her cartoon for a bit, just because Grandma didn’t feel very good and needed to sit. Bless her little heart, she went and got a blanket and covered me up. Then she went and got me a cup of water. I love this child. I kept feeling worse, and I knew I couldn’t drive. I texted my son who was at a wedding, and told him to come home because I was sick. I texted my daughter to come and get my granddaughter. It was all I could do to text at that point. I remember my son walking in and I told him to call the squad. I remember him taking my temperature, and it was 94. I remember my son telling my daughter to take the granddaughter to my house. I remember my abdomen starting to hurt with sharp pains while I was sweating profusely and felt so cold. I was throwing up violently. I threw up horribly in front of my granddaughter, and I hope she is not scarred from this incident. It was all I could think about besides the pain. Thank you Jesus this didn’t happen in the middle of the state park. Thank you that I was able to drive home normally. HE was watching over me.

The squad arrived in about eight minutes I think is what my son said. They took some vitals. The ride to the hospital was so bumpy it was not funny. I had a hard time communicating what was hurting, so I just used my hands to show them where I was hurting. I was having a hard time breathing, but later, they said it was my anxiety causing that. They gave me oxygen and that seemed to subside a bit. When I arrived at the emergency room, they kept asking me the stroke questions, like can I smile, stick my tongue out, wiggle my tongue, lift my leg, and so on. I knew what they were looking for, so I thought to myself, it must not be a stroke because I can do all of these things. I remember thinking maybe it was a heart attack since women have heart attacks differently. That was ruled out.

They gave me at CT scan next without the contrast. This was what diagnosed my small bowel obstruction. I was swelling a bit in the intestines with infection and had a small internal hernia. The first course of action was to rest the intestines. That meant I had to have an NG tube inserted through my nose to my stomach. UGH. If that didn’t correct it, then it would be surgery. How I prayed silently that surgery would not be the end result every single second between that time and when they ran another test to see if it looked better with the antibiotics and rest. In the end, the NG tube saved me from having surgery. I am so thankful. I had good nurses during the stay. I had a woman doctor that I loved. She was kind and caring plus super knowledgeable.

I came home on Tuesday evening. The doctor told me to take a walk up the hall before being discharged and then asked me if I wanted my cane or walker! WHAT??? This girl gets around on her own! It was a relief to hit the door and curl up in my own bed. The hospital beds are too short for my long legs! I still am a little tired and just taking one day at a time. Thank goodness I am feeling better. My daughter has five appointments in the big city this month. I need to be able to care for her.

Later…