Apr 30, 2010

God Had Other Plans: Tuesday, November 17, 2009


I must take a quick moment to tell you about my husband, Dan. Obviously, he was the one to take me into the hospital on Saturday morning. He had to repeatedly answer the same four questions each time I woke up, Where am I? Why does my head still hurt? Does my mom know? Did you tell Erin I can’t come see her today? In the past, he always got annoyed when I’d tell him the same story over and over. I think God has a sense of humor even during the bad times.

Anyways, what I was going to point out is that he never left my side. He stayed in my room every night, he prayed with me, and he read the Bible to me for hours on end. There really are so many other things, but most you don’t want to hear about. Let’s just say he dealt with the good, the bad, and the very ugly during the hospitalization. I could never say enough about the wonderful, caring husband he was to me. He is truly a man of God, and I am honored God let me spend my life with him.

Back to the story: I am doing very well. So no more neuro checks every hour all day and all night. Thank you Lord for some real sleep! I am being transferred to a regular room for my last night in the hospital, Tuesday, November, 17. I’m going home on Wednesday to wait for a surgery date to be set.

Tuesday night my friend Megan came to see me. We had a great visit. We talked and laughed for a long time. It was so good to sit and chat. My roommate that night wasn’t the most pleasant. She complained loudly and snored even louder (this is all before 9pm!). Sometime, Meg left for the night.

Dan didn’t have a chair that laid down in the room. This is going to be a long night. Oh we had no idea…

I don’t know the real time frame, but within 30 minutes of Meg leaving, another headache started with a vengeance. Sharp, searing pain is shooting in my head. We push the call button for the nurse. She says she’ll be right there.

She’s not here. Push the call button again.

“Something’s wrong. We need you to come”

She’ll be right there. Nothing. Pushing the call button repeatedly now.

I start to cry which makes it even worse. It’s a lot more scary when you know what is going on. I ask Dan if I’m going to die. It’s all very real now. He starts to tear up. “No, you’re not going to die.” He starts to pray.

No nurse. Where is she????

Push the call button again. (Funny thing about being in a regular room versus the ICU, the nurses don’t come running when you push the call button on the regular floor. Bummer for me.)

Finally the nurse arrives. I am going immediately down for a CT scan to see if the brain is bleeding again. It HAS to be. It feels just like before but worse.

There is no transport bed available. I am in one of the older sections of the hospital, so the only choice is to wheel my bed down to where they do the CT scans.

The trip was horrible to say the least. I’m curled in the fetal position just trying to bear the pain, and the bed is hitting every corner and doorway on the way down. Murder.

In the elevator, I try to explain to the nurse that I’m not faking the pain. I’m really in a lot of pain right now. In fact, I could only whisper it hurt so much. She says she knows I’m not faking, but I still don’t think she believes me. I again try to tell her I’m not a winer like my roommate. She says she knows. I give up.

Results from the CT scan: my brain is hemoraging again. I am taken directly to ICU again. It seems like forever, but I finally get some pain meds. Fentynol is a beautiful, wonderful drug. Relief is on the way…

3 comments:

Tim said...

I had returned to Illinois for class by this time. This is new information for me.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for adding praise for Dan. He really was wonderful through all of that.

It's hard to read about you being in so much pain. I love you, sis!

Buzz

Tobin and Erin said...

This makes me want to cry, all of it. Wish I could have been there for it all, and I'm so thankful that Dan was there for you every step of the way. What a wonderful husband!