Thursday, November 8, 2012

The Scariest Night Of My Life

We are still alive over here. I just realized that it has been forever since I have blogged about anything! We have just been so busy lately. There is a lot to catch up on! But more on that another day.

Last Thursday was the scariest night of my life. Ever. 
Literally.
I honestly thought that I was going to die.
I promise I am not being dramatic.

It all started around 7:30 when I was giving Ellie her bath before bed. My arm was feeling kind of funny. I was getting random jolts sent through it; it felt like it was kind going numb or tingly so I just figured I just had a pinched nerve or something.
After Ellie's bath I took her into her room and put her on her changing table. I went through her usual routine- drying her off, putting on lotion (this little piggy...), and I got out a bum genius and was stuffing it with an overnight insert and my arm did it again. So I shook my arm out and told myself to concentrate on what I was doing. After I put her diaper on I sat her up to put on her jammies. Which is when I realized I couldn't move my left arm. 
I couldn't feel it. 
Something wasn't right. 
I felt like it was paralysed.
I took my phone out of my pocket and dialed Mike at work but before he could answer my face went slack. I couldn't feel it. I couldn't talk. I couldn't move. I thought "Oh my gosh I am having a stroke."

As the rest of my body was going numb/shutting down I knew that my legs were giving out and I fell to the floor. The phone dropped out of my hand and I could feel myself losing consciousness. All I kept telling myself was "Get to your phone. You have to get to your phone." And then I was out. 

Mike answered my call and could hear Ellie screaming in the background. He said my name over and over when I didn't respond he figured I had butt dialed him and hung up to call me back. When he called back and I didn't answer he knew something was wrong.

We figure I was out for around 5 minutes or so from the time I called him and when he finally got through to me. I don't remember if I called him or if I answered his call. It's all a little bit fuzzy. But he said that I was hysterical and sobbing and couldn't tell him what happened.

When I came to I looked up to see that Ellie was still sitting on her changing table happily pulling all the wipes out of the container. All I could think was thank God that she stayed put. There have been a few times when I would step away from her when she was on the changing table to get a pair of socks out of another drawer and I would always tell her "Ellie don't move. Stay there. Don't move. Good job!!" So she knew to stay put. Praise God she was ok.

 Mike raced home from work to take me to the ER and I was really weak and shaky and pretty dizzy. He was driving a little faster than the speed limit so of course we ended up getting pulled over on our way to the hospital. Mike told the cop that we were on our way to the ER and he offered to call us an ambulance so that "I could get there faster and safely." but we declined that $1,000 ride since we weren't very far from the hospital.

After taking some blood, doing an EKG, and running some other tests the Dr. told me that my potassium and sodium were low, and electrolytes were off and they thought that was why my body kind of just shut down. So they gave me an IV and two giant horse pills of potassium and sent us on our merry way.

It took me a few days to recover. I was absolutely exhausted and my amazing husband let me sleep as much as I wanted to over the weekend. Wake up at 11, nap at 1:30, sleep until 4:30....it was nice. You know how when you get a charlie horse in your calf your leg is sore for a few days after-well that is how every muscle in my body felt from Friday thru Sunday. I was so sore all weekend.

I won't lie I was terrified of the thought of Mike going back to work on Monday and I may have cried about it Sunday night, but can you really blame me? I am beyond terrified that this will happen again . Terr-i-fied.
I think Mike is a little worried too.
He constantly texts me through out the day asking me if I am ok and seeing how I am doing. It's so sweet.

I made sure that I had babysitters for myself all week so I wasn't alone and thankfully have continued to feel better and nothing has happened since. I am still pretty shook up over it and am afraid that something like this will ever happen again but I just pray every day that God will keep me safe and healthy...and eat a nice big banana with a side of Gatorade.