The Day After

I woke up on Friday, August 17, 2012 feeling wonderful. I joined my mom downstairs and she said, "How do you feel? You look great." I told I felt really good. We had breakfast, everyone got dressed, and talked about what to do with the day.

There's this little produce place that I had joined a few months earlier and wanted to take my mom. It's only open two, sometimes 3, days each week and one never knows exactly what they'll have. For a small monthly fee I have privilege of shopping there and my family has enjoyed eating more fresh and organic produce because the prices are so low. Mom wanted to go, my kids were along for the ride, and we arrived shortly after they opened at 11:30 am.

I don't know what we bought, but I know I was feeling good when we left and headed to another store that mom doesn't have access to in her state. It was just a short drive away and we headed there.

By the time we arrived around 12:30 at that store, I was feeling tired, but OK. We walked through the store. Found some good deals, but within 30 minutes, I looked at my mom and said, "I think I need that wheel- chair from the front of the store. Can you go get it for me, please?"  She walked to the front of store and returned with it.

My mom and my two kids wheeled me through the rest of the store. I assured them that I was OK and just feeling tired. When we left at 1:15, I was weak and totally exhausted. We drove straight home, where I landed myself on the couch- too tired to walk the steps to my bedroom on the second floor.

Around 3 pm I checked my temperature. It was 99.8 degrees. I was sick. My normal body temperature is a cool 96.6 and when I hit 99.0, I'm sick. Like, laying on the couch bundled up and not moving sick.

At 4:00 Mom stuck the thermometer in my mouth. It read 101.4. I called the OB/GYN office. Of course, it was a Friday afternoon and they'd already closed up shop for the weekend. I followed the instructions to get a call back from the doctor on call. He called me right back. He asked for details like when I started feeling bad. He assured me that I hadn't "over done it" shopping. He was concerned about the late onset of the fever. He said, "If this was Thursday night, I might have you just wait and come in tomorrow, but it's Friday and the office won't be open until Monday. You shouldn't have spiked a fever this afternoon. I think you should come in to the emergency room. I'm already here waiting for an expectant mom to deliver. Please, tell the E.R. staff that I'm here already and told you to come in." By 4:15 pm I was off the phone and calling a close friend, asking her if I could drop my kids off- I was going to ER. Mom called my husband and my dad. They were out working on our "dream home (which, truthfully warrants a blog dedicated that particular adventure)," and it would take them 35 minutes to drive home and a bit longer to get cleaned up for the hospital. She said she'd call them when we knew something, but don't worry about hurrying in.

At 4:30 we dropped my kids off with my friend. They were excited to spend time with her two children, and I told them I loved them and would see them later in the evening. We pulled out and headed to the hospital. I sipped on a Crystal Lite "mocktail" on the way. I felt awful. I was thirsty. I was so very cold.

4:45 pm, August 18, 2012: My mom pulled up to the ER entrance at the hospital, got a wheelchair for me, wheeled me in, and went to park the car. I signed-in, shivering in the wheelchair. Within 5 minutes my name was called. I told the staff that I was just 36 hours post-op after an endometrial ablation and was running a fever. I anticipated waiting for an eternity before being seen. Instead, I was wheeled right over to be officially signed-in. I had my insurance card scanned, answered questions about my health, blood pressure checked, and my temperature checked in at a cool 100 point something. Apparently drinking that cold drink wasn't the   smartest thing I could have done. My mom came in and I was relieved. I seriously could not answer any more questions.

To my surprise, 5 pm found me in ER room 7.