Friday 14 November 2008

Sometimes my life is like a movie...

...Sometimes it's in the "wow - this is such a glamourous moment that it can't be ordinary life" way (very rare those times) and other times it's in the "does this crap really happen in real life" way. This morning was the latter.

Let me back up a little... This week has not been a good one for sleep. Between my cat going missing and TSC having a nasty cough, I really haven't had much shut-eye. So last night I took one of my herbal sleeping pills. Now don't let the word herbal fool you - these babies could knock out an elephant. I crawled into bed at around 11pm and slept blissfully until 02:08, when TSC shook me awake.

"I can't breathe," he wheezed. "I'm going to the hospital. You stay here and sleep."
"Are you mad?" I answered drowsily. "I'm coming with you!"

So we pulled on some clothes and headed to the nearest hospital, which is only five minutes' drive from us. After waiting around for awhile and filling in the necessary paperwork, the nurse took us through to a cubicle. TSC lay on the bed and she did all the usual stuff - took his temperature and his blood pressure, asked him whether he suffers from asthma (he did as a kid), how long he'd been coughing and so on. The doctor came in and listened to his breathing with a stethoscope (sp?) and said he needed to be nebulized and be given a steroid. All was fine until this point, and I was leaning sleepily against the wall, watching proceedings and trying to stay awake.

But as the nurse got out the huge needle (I have a severe phobia of these things), missed TSC's vein the first time and stabbed him a second time, I turned away. I can't watch the needle going into the skin, it freaks me out. The smell of the vapour from the nebulizer was making me feel a little ill, so I stepped out of the cubicle into the corridor to wait for TSC. And all of a sudden I felt really strange - like a bunch of bees inside of me rushed up from my feet to my head all buzzing at once.

And the next thing I remember is waking up on the floor. Everything was blurry and I was surrounded by six or seven hospital staff.

"Are you ok?" TSC's doctor asked.
I blinked a few times, trying to figure out where the hell I was and why I was lying on the floor.
"Just lie still," said someone. "You've had a little fainting episode."
"Oh, ok," I said stupidly. I wanted to vomit.
"You really don't like needles, do you?" said another.
"No, not really." They all laughed gently.

I was picked up by two of them and put on a bed in another cubicle with a blanket over me. The doctor told me to rest and not to get up. But I was suddenly so hot, so I threw the blanket off. The world was spinning. Shutting my eyes seemed to make it a bit better.

After a few minutes the doctor came back in.
"Do you always react to needles like that?" she asked me curiously.
"No, never before," I said. "I haven't slept this week so I took a tranquiliser. I think that, plus the smell of the nebulizer is what hit me."
She didn't seem to question my answer.

Once I felt a bit better, she let me get up. TSC was frantic - he hadn't seen what had happened and had just heard that I'd passed out.

"Are you ok?" I asked him woozily.
"I'm fine. Are YOU ok?" he said.
I didn't feel great, but I nodded. I'd hit my head quite hard and my left elbow even harder. They were both starting to hurt and the nausea and dizziness wouldn't go away.

After what felt like forever, TSC was given some meds. He paid and we left. We got home just after 3.30am and after a quick session of hugging the toilet bowl, I got into bed and slept again.

This morning I feel like the bees are still there, crawling aorund in my head. I feel queasy and dizzy and I still don't have a clue what's wrong. I called my mother (who's a GP) to check out TSC's meds with her (they'd given him an atibiotic and I'm not too keen on taking those unless absolutely necessary) and told her the story. She couldn't believe that the doctor hadn't checked me out properly and taken my blood pressure and blood sugar.

I just feel like such a chump - here I am being all brave and selfless and taking my man to the emergency room, and I'm the one who ends up being carried around by hospital staff! So lame.

Anyway, I can't wait to get today over with and get back into a bed. This has taken forever to type, so I'm going to end it now. Have a great weekend, all.

20 comments:

Janine / Being Brazen said...

Shame, girl. That sounds awful. I have never fainted like that - but i can imagine it must have been a horrible experience. Hope you feel 100% soon.

I also hate needles. I never EVER watch them go into my arm if i have to have an injection.

Hope your man is feeling better now.

Have an absolutely fabulous weekend

*big hugs*

Tamara said...

When I was a kid i thought it would be glamourous and romantic to faint. It's only ever happened to me twice and on both occasions it was anything but! Thanks for your kindness. TSC is much, much better.

MsBehavn said...

I'm also surprised that they didn't at least do a set of vitals before letting you leave! Have you taken the herbal tranquilisers before? There might be something in them that caused a drop in your BP.

Hope you and TSC have a good weekend, Tam!

Tamara said...

Msbehavn: Yup - I've taken them a couple of times before and they've always worked wonders. The whole thing is a bit bizarre. Have a good weekend to you too - the big day, right?

Unknown said...

Shame, so sorry to hear about all that! My God, so in the end, why couldn't TSC breathe properly? And what do you think was/is wrong with you?

If I may ask, (I also suffer with insomnia now and then) what are those herbal sleeping pills called? Can you buy them over the counter? I've tried all kinds of prescription sleeping tabs and they all make me feel ill the next day. I would love something "herbal" (natural) but I've never found that they really work.

Tamara said...

Kitty: TSC seems to be suffering from asthma again. Now that he's got an inhaler he's doing much better.

As for me... Only my good Lord knows what stunt my body's busy pulling now.

The pills are called Tranquin. they're like Biral, but a bit stronger and less expensive (works for me). You can pick them up off the shelves at Dischem or most chemists and they contain all the usual natural sleep-aiding stuff - passiflora, valerian root and so on. They smell gross but don't leave you feeling like a zombie the next day.

po said...

Poor Tamara. How is your head now? Maybe you are slightly concussed?

I seem to have a similar problem to you. When I was going for my operation and they took a blood test I nearly passed out in the nurses office. How feeble am I. Just a tiny blood sample.

Tamara said...

Po: My head's a bit better, thanks, friend.

That's the weird thing... I hate needles but I've never passed out because of them, even when I had to have a whole bunch of them at once. I swear that it's hospitals that make me ill!

Arkwife said...

Awe....that's not cool. You're sure you're not pregnant?

(I know, I'm obsessed with pregnancy lately)

Unknown said...

Thanks, they sound good, that whole zombie thing isn't nice.

Anonymous said...

Surely they should have realised that the site of a needle cant do that?

Hope you feel better asap!!

Gill said...

Hope you're feeling better Tamara? I sometimes get a "bees in the head" feeling like that when I have a sinus infection on the go - but not the fainting thing. Maybe you should go and have a check-up just in case?

Hope the both of you feel better after a relaxing weekend!

ExMi said...

that almost sounds like fun. what were those herbal sleeping tabs called?

Unknown said...

I am glad you are ok now. I wonder if perhaps it wasn't a combination of everything that has happened to you. This past week. It probably just all caught up to you.

That buzzing feeling I have felt after awakening from a fainting episode when I was sick. It is a weird feeling at best.

Hopefully all of you physical injuries heal quickly

Anonymous said...

needles o needles. i hate them and i took a test on saturday, i just look away and try and imagine me in a happy place.

i hope you are all better and brand new now, i wish you a lovely week.

Tamara said...

arkwife: I am VERY sure ;-)

HMR: That's what I figured!

Gill: I seem to be fine now so maybe it was just a combo of drugginess, the smell of the nebuliser and stress. I'm not a fan of my GP, so I try not to see her unless I have to. Still trying to find someone I'll like better, but I'm fussy so it's a challenge.

exmi: Trust you ;-) Tranquin.

dizzblnd: Probably, hey. My mother bandaged my elbow and it seems to be fully recovered now, which is good coz I hate walking around with a bandage on and having people ask what happened. I usually make up a story.

31337: Thanks, hey. I really hate needles too. I once bit a nurse who did a finger prick. But that's another story...

Caz said...

Oh no! Shame man.
It's something about that hospital smell...
when the band had his wisdom teeth out I fainted too!!! SO EMBARASSING! He was flapping about in his open back gown worrying about me when HE had just come out of surgery. Felt like a fragile Victorian wisp, swooning and fainting. so not cool!

Tamara said...

Caz: yep - I loathe hospitals. It was the same with TSC - he was trying to jump off the hospital bed while i lay in a puddle on the floor ;-)

Anonymous said...

i await that story, sounds like it shall be hilarious!

AngelConradie said...

oy t, thats really not lekker! i can't believe they didn't check you out more.
are you feeling better after the weekend?