Brittney Loves Bob: A Trip to The Emergency Room

Being sick is never fun. Sitting in a hospital room while doctors and nurses casually throw around words like brain-bleed, or stroke is even worse! Friday I had the misfortune of getting a splitting migraine, one that came on very suddenly and with no warning whatsoever. I really felt like my brain was getting bigger, but my head was getting smaller, and while all that pressure was building, someone was thumping me on the head with a hammer. I put some peppermint oil on my head, and the headache did retreat a little, but then the other symptoms started. First I lost all the feeling in my right hand, then all the feeling on the right side of my face. All the while, my vision was lessening, I had tunnell vision with blurriness and I was seeing double all through a white fogginess. I was getting concerned, so I went to Marcie and tried to explain what I was feeling, except I couldn't talk. I couldn't remember how to say simple words like numb, face, lips, nose, mouth, eyes, etc. I also kept talking about presents, losing my train of thought and slurring my speech. At this point I was terrified, and my Mother-in-law was as well. She suggested I try to eat something to see if that would help, and then she was going to take me to the emergencey room. After a quick bite to eat, I was able to gain some of my speech back but now I could add nausea to the growing list of symptoms. I called my boss to let her know I would be at the hospital and couldn't make it to work, and then we were off. As I sat in the emergency room I talked to my husband and mom and filled them in on what was going on, before going back to talk to the doctor. The doctor ran a couple simple tests and was able to deduce that I wasn't suffering from a stroke but he was concerned I might have bleeding in my brain. He ordered a CT scan and they hooked me up to a heart monitor. As I waited my turn, Bob arrived. He seemed to be the most concerned out of everyone, so I did my best to re-assure him that everything was fine, even though I wasn't sure it was. I was honestly pretty calm considering where I was, it was almost surreal. Finally after a pre-cautionary pregnancy test to make sure I wasn't pregnant, I had the CT Scan and it came back normal. The doctor then diagnosed me with Complex Migraines, which can exhibit all the same characteristics of a stroke, and he told me to go home, take some aspirin and try to sleep. I went home, put on some more peppermint, took some excedrin, ate dinner and tried to sleep. The experience on Friday completely drained me for the rest of the weekend! I ran some errands on Saturday, trying to act normal but all I could think about was sleep, so on Sunday that's all I did!

Bob taking pics of me while we waited for
the CT scan results

I look way too happy to really be sick...

Pointing at the source of my problems

I totally rocked that hospital gown!

Luckily there were a couple things that lifted my spirits despite my scary and exhausting weekend. Earlier in the week I was able to rescue a 2 day old baby Dove after it fell from it's nest. I picked it up from the sidewalk (with gloves of course!) so it wouldn't get stepped on, and made it a cute little box house. Then a girl from work, Michelle, drove him up to a bird rescue center in Ogden that was willing to take the little guy. I named him Jeff, and knowing that I did something good for another living thing helped me stay in good spirits over the weekend. It also helped that I had my cute little buggers (Jazzy and Cleo) keeping me company. I think they could tell something was wrong, because they followed me everywhere and cuddled me all weekend long!