Growing up, my mother (and especially my grandmother) told me to always wear clean underwear in case you were in an accident and had to go to the hospital. I am pretty sure I am not alone in this. Yesterday, I discovered that you always want to keep your room clean in case you have a crazy muscle spasm in your neck while you are in the shower, which renders you a light-headed nauseated mess wrapped in a towel on your bedroom floor forcing you to call your in-laws to come take you to the hospital.
For the second morning in a row, I woke up with a stiff neck. It wasn't nearly as bad as the day before; however, it was still uncomfortable. I did my rounds on my email and Facebook, started the shower and went downstairs to put the night's dinner (meatloaf) in the oven to save time before heading to my small group for church. The water was hot when I got back upstairs and I was ready for my morning shower. Aaah....
I do not remember exactly when the next delightful even occurred but I know I was not done taking my shower yet. I began to massage my neck on either side of my spine when I hit something (probably a nerve). The pain was excruciating, my right arm went limp and I found myself leaning on the shower wall crying like a baby. A few seconds later, I was able to stand straight (not a good idea, by the way). My vision began to get a little fuzzy and a wave of nausea hit me. Talk about scary. The last time I felt like that was when I was pregnant with my daughter standing in a Subway restaurant getting ready to order, fainted right on the floor at the front of the line and woke up to my husband yelling my name. Not good memories.
Anyhow... I squatted down in the shower just until the feeling faded and by sheer will, was able to grab a towel and make it to my bedroom to get my cell phone. By this time, it was a little before 5:00 in the morning. You can imagine how many of my friends were awake at this point. That's right...NONE! I know that my mother-in-law wakes up pretty early to go to work so I tried to call her. It only took a couple of times before she realized some crazy person was calling at the butt crack of dawn and called me back. I was a bubbling mess laying on my bedroom floor wrapped in a towel with my hair soaking wet. With my hands and voice shaking, I was able to tell her what happened. By this point, both of my children woke up to the sound of their mother sobbing.
Needless to say, they were a little concerned. My in-laws let me know that they were on their way over and hung up. Next I had to figure out who was going to watch my 'kids' at school. There is a short list of people I would call in a situation like this and one of them is a gold medalist in sleeping. :) (♥ you, L!) The other one has a husband who is a super light sleeper so they won! Again, babbling like an idiot, I was able to let her know what happened and tried to give her some idea of what to do with my students at school. The phone calls were made and then the wave of thoughts came over me...
I had meatloaf in the oven that was supposed to be done soon. I had no clothes on and my mother and father-in-law were on their way over. The upstairs to my house was a disaster area (thanks to my hurricane children). I had NO clue how I was going to get dressed and in case we needed an ambulance to move me, there was NO way I was letting them see me in nothing but a towel.
This is where my kids jumped in and became my little heroes (especially my daughter). Still laying on the floor in excruciating pain in nothing but a towel, I directed both of my children to get themselves dressed and ready for school. I told my daughter how to turn the oven off and they both went downstairs. You have to understand here that my children HATE to go downstairs by themselves when I am upstairs. There was absolutely no whining this time. My lil' guy followed my daughter downstairs. She told me later that she was about to give up because she was scared but then my son saw the letters O-F-F. Mission accomplished!
Here's where it gets interesting (or funny, whichever way you decide to look at it). My daughter (6 1/2 years old) went to get me clothes (the whole nine). I specifically told her that I needed my 'boy' underwear. If an explanation is needed you'll just have to live without it. I managed to roll over in my towel so she could hook my bra. I had to send her back down because the underwear she picked was definitely NOT what I wanted anyone to see me in. We tried to get my pants on (with no success) around the time my in-laws got to my house. My mother-in-law came up stairs and got a towel to wrap around my neck for support but couldn't lift me up by myself. My father-in-law was called up stairs and four of us helped me change my pants. Talk about team work. [Side note: I have come to realize that people really don't care who sees their skivvys when you are in so much pain.]
We got all the school stuff together for my kids and a short time later were headed to the local ER. Every time the brakes were pressed or we turned I felt miserable. We finally made the 20 minute drive (it felt like 20 hours) and there was barely anyone there. Wow, did I luck out!
The wait did not seem too long from triage to get a room and then to finally see the nurse practitioner. He let me know that I was going to get a few different drugs (one of them an IV with valium). I don't think I have ever been so excited to get stuck with a needle. Within 5 minutes of the valium, I was asleep. My mother-in-law waited patiently in the quiet room as I slept and never left me. I don't know how I got so lucky to have such an amazing 'family'.
I woke up about an hour or so later. With very little prompting, I started spilling my guts about a lot of things that I don't think I ever would have said had I been fully aware of myself. In my entry about donating blood, I mentioned that I talk a lot when I'm nervous. Apparently, I just talk a lot. :) The meds just helped me reveal too much.
I was diagnosed with a wryneck. (nothing worth writing home about) The rest of the day was spent on my in-laws couch asleep and feeling wonderful from all the medication I had to take.
I realized yesterday (reminded, really) what amazing children I have. To be so young and still be able to remain as calm as they did was so awesome. I was so proud and feel like God gave me a way to remember what a blessing they really are. Not only that but my in-laws sacrificed their day to help me. The kids still went to school and both of them had good days despite being up an hour earlier than usual and the 'excitement' of the morning.
As I sat in the seat waiting for triage (and even now), all I could think was how lucky I was that I had:
two amazing people who were willing to come help me and my kids
a wonderful relationship with my in-laws despite so many hard times we had been through in years past
two awesome kids who were able to see beyond themselves to help their mom
co-workers (and friends) who were able to come up with plans at the last minute and calm my students because they had a test scheduled for the next day
an emergency room that was nearly empty
friendly (and funny) ER workers to help me feel at ease
and a GREAT God to remind me of all the blessings I have in my life
I didn't think the lesson I was going to learn was going to be so quick and definitely did not think it would happen in this way. It is the daily lessons that are constant reminders of how blessed we are to have special people in our lives. I hope that I can maintain this level of awe and not take it for granted as easily as I sometimes tend to do. It reminded me how life can change in an instant. We better be prepared and we better not waste one precious second.
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