Monday night we had a very lovely family home evening with the Barney's. We learned about animals, and played with, get this, edible peanut butter play dough. Shane had come home a little late from work and cooked and eaten some dinner with Nathan. I had been feeling a little gross during the day, so I'd eaten some cereal a little earlier in hopes to settle my stomach. During FHE, Shane mentioned he was going to have to take some meds for his head, because he had a good one coming on.
Family Home Evening ended in success. The Petty's headed upstairs to get the midget in the tub. Shane ran out to the truck to find his pills (ibuprofen.) He sat down on the bathroom floor to visit as I continued to scrub the child. He looked miserable. His eyes started watering, as they do when he has a bad headache. I suggested he call Casey (a good friend, who also sustained some major head injuries) to see if he too was feeling the pain tonight. (Shane and Casey are like twins...so I wondered if maybe there was a weather connection.) Shane had his phone out of his pocket, but before he could do more, his head went back against the wall and I could see that he was not doing well. Shane tells me he's feeling a little dizzy.
Next thing I know, his nose is GUSHING blood. Now, once in a while he'll get a little splatter of blood...but not a Gusher. Shane is still pretty with it until now. Now there's blood running down his throat and he's sort of gagging on it. He's grappling for the toilet but can't get there. He's too dizzy and sort of falling forward from his seated position to a position of being on all fours, and choking on blood. He's not really able to respond to me.
Okay, I'm officially freaked out by this point. Not sure what I should do. Do I grab Nathan (who is thankfully pretty clueless at this point) out of the tub? Do I call 911? Do I keep Shane from falling over? I decide to run down the stairs and get Travis and Amy. They run up the stairs after me. Shane, by this time, is vomiting bloody stuff.
Someone tells me to call 911, which I do, once I locate the phone. Amy helps me give Shane's condition to the dispatch lady. Travis keeps Shane conscious, as Shane is really trying to lose it at this point. Travis puts his hands on Shane's head and gives him a blessing. Amy tells me to get a washcloth for his head, and I do that too. Nathan is wondering at this point what is happening. I tell him calmly that Daddy isn't feeling very good.
A few minutes have passed from the time Shane sat down to where we are now. Shane calms down. Stops bleeding, stops throwing up. We keep him sitting. He says he's fine, and to cancel the Ambulance. I'm thinking "not on your life..." which is sort of what I'm fearing at the moment. He's doing better now, and says he can stand up, which he demonstrates...so I DO call to cancel the ambulance, and tell them we're driving over to the hospital. Amy says she'll get NQ out of the tub and will watch him. I have a terrible time trying to find my shoes. I slip on my sneakers without socks. No time for socks! I let Nathan know we're going to the Doctor, but we'll be back, and that Aunt Amy will watch him for a while.
I get Shane to the van and to the hospital. I walk him to the door, where he continues to try and convince me that he's fine and let's go home and he'll go to the Dr. in the morning. We sit outside the ER doors for longer than it took us to drive over. Finally I convince him we're going in. His head is still killing him, he's still dizzy, and I sure as heck am not going to let him go home until we just talk to someone. So we go in. And get signed in. They're not sure where to put us because they're waiting for an ambulance to come in and that it sounded really serious. I told them that that's us, we just called and canceled the ambulance...and then I describe the symptoms I described over the phone. They put us in the trauma room ASAP.
Dr. Clifford comes in to see what the matter is. We tell him. He says there's no way Shane's leaving without them getting a look at him. (Shane is NOT thrilled by this.) Shane gets his stats done, a x-ray scan, blood drawn and all that good stuff. Travis has joined me and has called the parents. They show up shortly. After an hour or so, we get some results. He's perfectly healthy. Everything looks great. Sure his Blood Pressure was a little high on the 'normal scale' when he first came in, but then, who wouldn't have high blood pressure after that? His head is good, his blood is good, his vitals are great. Shane is going through possible scenario's with the Doctor about what may have triggered the attack. Shane is frustrated that there's no apparent reason for the episode. So if I'm so healthy what made that happen?? We are all wondering the same thing.
Doc Clifford suggests going to Shane's General Practitioner and setting up some appointments at a brain clinic, where that's what they specialize in...brains!! He also tells us if another attack like that happens that there is no emergency treatment needed. Just to calm down and wait it out, and not to worry about it being an aneurysm or seizure or any other serious trauma. That, he says, is the good news. Bad news, is we just don't know what triggers it, and that's where the clinic can help. He mentions there are ways to filter extra 'noise' visually and hearing wise, as Shane does easily get over-stimulated. (Never take him to Wal-Mart when he has a headache!!!)
By now, I'm a bit tired. I let the doctor know I need to sit down, he slides the stool over to me. I sit down. I get REALLY light headed. I put my head down on the edge of Shane's bed. Then I think I might throw up. So I say so. There's a sheen of sweat taking over my head, and my ears start to ring. Kind of feels like I'm under cold water. The Doctor looks at me and says that I need my own bed, quickly. So they bring in a wheelchair and get me moved over to it. Doc tells me to breath slowly and they wheel me to my own room and get me on my own bed. Apparently I look far worse than Shane does. A nurse brings me a warm blanket. Lori comes and sits by me as I close my eyes and breath and concentrate on not passing out.
Soon I'm feeling better, they take my blood sugar, check my pulse and color. I'm there for, I don't know maybe 10 minutes. They're about to release Shane, and me, so Lori takes me home and makes sure I hydrate. I remember that I have taken Shane's shirt, so I ask Lori to take one back to him.
Back at the house the dishes are done, the counters clean and the babies in bed. Amy comes to hear the report. I let her know what happened, then I drink a bunch of water and crawl into bed. Shane is about 12 minutes behind me. He comes home, takes a shower and also comes to bed. (They gave him a shot of something, but I don't know what.)
The next day, we're worn out. But go about our day...and overdoing it. Shane still has a good headache, I feel WEARY. We close the day by eating dinner, watching a movie and going to bed early. (We skipped the primary appreciation dinner, but thought it best.) By Wednesday, however, we're feeling quite ourselves again.
Yikes...this was NOT the fun stuff.
