here’s a beauty from the azalea festival car show out in south gate. sun still going up, shadows filtering through the trees.
a week ago today, i was set to be taking pictures at the bombs on the bay show in san diego. i had a three-day weekend scheduled, hotel booked.
instead, saturday morning, i hear my name being called. i roll over and instead of bedsheets, i see carpet. i turn over and see my better half coming toward me quickly, looming over me. it’s a weird, worms-eye view of the world…how did i get here? i’d gotten up to use the bathroom, and remember standing in the doorway, but don’t remember how i ended up on the floor.
i get sick, explosively, a couple of times. apparently i passed out again, eyes rolling up, turning whiter than i already am, foaming at the mouth. i don’t remember that. i remember seeing my reflection in a mirror, and thinking i look kind of pasty, like maybe the light bulb has a bad color cast.
i get walked down the hall to the bed. better half is calling my son, asking him to come take me to the hospital. kid is forty minute drive away with no traffic; he is there within thirty. better half has been checking my o2 and pulse. o2 is low, pulse is racing.
i have a dream with the bright light, and shadowy figures in the distance. better half wakes me up, an ambulance has been called.
emergency personnel are concerned, and question everyone. stupidly ask me questions, that i can’t recall; apparently i was still being a smart ass with some of my answers–my own kid said it wasn’t the time for that–i don’t remember him saying that or being a smart ass. nice to know i’m consistent, normal or fucked up.
ambulance crew decide to carry me out the front door and down the steps instead of listening to one their own, who have been there before, saying out the back, a ramp, no stairs. a female officer has me under the arms, around my chest, and a male has my thighs. by the time they get me to the stairs, my boobs are being pinched by her arms, her strength is slipping, and the guy is pinching my leg with his grip. i’m saying, just let me walk. by the time we are at the bottom, on the sidewalk, the girl is almost dropping me, but the guy has let my legs go, so i can stand and get on the gurney.
i’ve only been in ambulance once, but not as a patient. let me just say, whittier has some bumpy roads, as the guy tries to insert an iv in my arm. turns out to be a crap iv, and the hospital can’t use it, but it is left in for the balance of the day.
better half can’t leave his mom, and is left helpless on the doorstep. my son is sent to sit with me in the emergency room, which ends up being about ten hours, before they admit me for the night.
after all the tests, they still didn’t know what happened. all the doctors stopped by the room for a minute, so they could bill me for their time, guessing stomach flu or dehydration. sent home the next day, late afternoon. arrive at home, with a fever i didn’t have at the hospital. took a pill, it went away and didn’t come back. very weird.
took a couple of additional days off past what was my three-day weekend. saw my own doc, so i have more tests scheduled. i’m guessing dehydration, but why so suddenly and grossly violently, is the question. i did go to work for a couple of days, and other than tiring, was ok.
i’d meant to go to chino yesterday for the corn fed run, but frankly, i’m a little scared to go too far. i went to covina instead, where i expected some friendly faces, just in case anything happened. i wasn’t disappointed, and saw several people i knew. they would keep an eye on me.
i’ve got a second trip planned for chicano park this weekend. hoping all will be good to go. will try to talk my mom into going with me. better half is worried. he’s a worrier. if i don’t feel good, i won’t go. simple.
at least my kid got the hotel to refund one night on my reservation.