Friday, July 23, 2010

In Which Sandy Saves Me Once Again

When I started this blog I committed to being totally honest about what was going on in my life and how I felt about people and things. Well, that got me in trouble once...the being honest about how I felt about people...

I have "edited" myself from time to time about my feelings, but never about what was going on with me. Today was the first time I hesitated about being "completely truthful" and I will explain why later.

Yesterday I passed out, or almost passed out, or something suspiciously like passing out and Sandy came home just in the nick of time to find me and get me "fixed" again. We learned something important in the process.

I don't remember completely what happened, but Sandy came home and saw me sitting on the deck with my head down on the table. She asked me if I was all right and I didn't answer, so she talked louder, asking me if I was all right. I yelled "I'm FINE" and she got pissed and let the dogs out....then she looked at me again and saw I didn't look right, I guess I raised my head and blinked a few times or something...then put my head back down.

She asked me if I had a stroke, "no" I said. "Do I have to call 9-1-1 and get an ambulance to take you?" "No" She felt me and found me to be cold and clammy...I was sweating like crazy.

She got me a G2....my magic medicine...I drank about 3/4 of it and felt a lot better. She took my blood pressure...it was low, but coming up.

She got me in the house and turned the A/C on...I had shut it off and had opened the windows to air it out and to save $$ on the A/C....it was 79 in the house.

I couldn't remember for quite some time why I was outside in the first place, what had happened...nothing.

Carol came over and brought soup as soon as she got the message on the phone about me passing out. So sweet....we had just decided that I should have soup for supper and bingo...there she was with the soup!

I realized later that I had not been feeling well for sometime yesterday, even though I had taken it easy all day. My electolytes were down, probably from the heat the day before and from all the diarrhea I've been having. I need to drink G2 when that happens...I had been drinking, but ice tea and coffee, stuff like that.

So now I know that when I see the "whirly gigs in my eyes" and I feel weird in the head like I did just before this happened, I need to drink my G2 and get my electrolytes in line where they should be.

I also realize I was close to passing out at the Sox game on Sunday too. I had the same feeling and I responded so fast to the G2 Sandy got me.

Now the reason I was reluctant to be forthcoming about this incident. I know that Maria and Birgitta are going to worry like crazy about me when we are in Sweden together. I don't want them to worry. I'm going to find out if they have Gatorade/G2 in Sweden and I will stock up and drink it when I'm there.

I also didn't want to hear about how I'm "doing too much" etc., the one day I do nothing is the day I pass out! Go figure!

It's all over now, I know what to look for and I know what I have to do to keep from getting in that condition in the first place, as I sit in my recliner and sip G2!

Later, after all that excitement...Sandy got to play nurse again (she misses it so...now that she's in IT instead of nursing...ha ha) and flushed my power port. It has to be done every six to eight weeks. She has supplies to flush me four more times to save me trips to the doctor's to get it done. She said she got good blood return and a good flush...so everything is working fine there. I have to keep the port in for at least a year after finishing chemo...to make sure I don't need it again. The day I get my port out will be another milestone for me. We'll really celebrate then!

All the excitement is over folks, no more to see here! I am so glad that I married a nurse, one who comes home at the right time to find me unconscious on our deck!

Later!

1 comment:

Carol said...

So glad you havre this figured out, we all worry about you, a know!!Passing out is a scarey thing....what do your Dr's say about it...or don't they know about it yet? Take care friend....I watch Jim like a hawk but I am no "Sandy"...