Lots to Say!

Well, it's been an eventful two weeks around here. The fair came and went and as usual we went in once just to look around. I worked with Kelley and Darcy again feeding the entertainment. I really love those two women. Kelley and I have been great friends for so long now and Darcy, well, Darcy is family. They both are and that's all there is to it. This year we fed Foreigner on Thursday night and then Kenny Rodgers with The Oakridge Boys on Friday night. I made the rolls at home on Thursday and had them in there by 2:00. Everything went off without a hitch. I was tired when I got home but not any more tired than I have been the past year.

Friday I got up and mixed up three double batches of rolls and was about to start rolling them out when Kelley called and told me I had to be across the tracks by 11:00 because they were closing it off for the horse races. I grabbed the rolls, leaving a huge mess in my kitchen, and headed in to the fair.

I got there just three minutes too late and they wouldn't let me drive across. I told them I was going to have roll dough all over my car but they wouldn't budge. I even offered to bring them some but they said they had their orders. I called Kelley and she sent Cody up to the gate to help me carry the rolls across the track and then drive me back to the kitchen. I rolled them all out in less than an hour and it was nice to have the smell of them baking in there. Some of the entertainers even stole one as they came out of the oven. I know they're good, but they're especially good right out of the oven.

I didn't stay to listen to the concerts, I was just too tired. Friday night I was especially tired and told Kelley I would do the clean up and then I was going to go home after that. She told me that would be great and to go when I needed to. Her husband was there to help her pack stuff up and take home. I had told Bob that I would clean up my mess in the kitchen when I got home but when I got home I was just so tired. I told him I'd clean it up in the morning. It was such a mess, the Bosch was still soaking in the sink, there was flour out and all over the cupboard but I was just so tired I didn't care.

I got in the shower and that's about the last thing I remember. We were supposed to be in Idaho Falls at 9:00 Saturday morning for a bone marrow drive for Trevor, Krystal's two year old son. Krystal is my niece who lives in Michigan. Her little boy has some rare disease and without a bone marrow transplant, he won't make it to Christmas. it's a very sad situation. Bob woke me up at 8:00 and said he was getting in the shower and told me that I needed to get up and get ready. He knew I'd showered the night before so it wouldn't take me long to be ready to go.

I was so tired, I just wanted to sleep. I laid my head forward on the bed, begging him to let me sleep. Then I started to shake. I was convulsing and out of it but I kept telling him and Amy to let me sleep. Bob asked me what my name was and I told him Dori, but I didn't know the rest. Then he asked me when my birthday was and I didn't know. He asked me to name my grandkids and I couldn't. I kept getting mixed up. He told me to get dressed because he was taking me to the doctor. He thought that I was having a stroke.

Amy was standing at the end of the bed crying and saying that she couldn't do this again. Still all I wanted to do was sleep. Bob got me my clothes and I tried to put them on but I couldn't even do up my bra or button my shirt. I put on odd shoes but thankfully they fixed that for me too. He and Amy put me in the car and took me to the hospital. I vaguely remember getting to the emergency room because they took me in and put me in the same room Shay had been in. All I remember was thinking that this was the same bed that Shay had died in and then I don't remember anything. The next thing I remember was Bob helping me into a gown. I thought I was on my way home but it was almost 6:00 and I was in the ICU. Bob made the comment that my garment top was dirty on the sleeve but I knew it wasn't because I had put clean ones on the night before after I had showered.

When I was finally coherent enough to understand what was going on, they told me I had a severe case of pneumonia. It was then that I finally noticed what they had done to me, I had three IV's in my right arm and two in my left arm. I had a catheter, which I was not pleased about in the least. They didn't want me out of bed at all but once I convinced the nurse that I had a bladder the size of Texas and only had to go two to three times a day, she called the doctor and he okayed taking it out. What a relief!

I was also on oxygen at 6 liters. That's a lot of oxygen. Amy couldn't stay, it was just too hard on her but Bob was there with me and actually looked a little concerned from time to time. He never left, even while I slept. For a minute, I think Bob thought that I had taken too many of my pain pills but I hadn't taken any. They did some blood test in the ER to see if there was any hydrocodien in my system but there wasn't. For some reason they did another test to test for the same thing so at least Bob knew that wasn't it. Dr. Call said that when the O2 level in the body gets that low, 72% when it should be closer to 100%, that the CO2 takes over and poisons the body and sometimes they never get the patient back. Scared Bob pretty good I think. I was out most of the day and only remember bits and pieces of what happened. I have to go with what Bob told me happened.

I spent two days in ICU and then two days upstairs on the Med/Surg floor. Both Dr. Poulter and Dr. Davis came to see if there was anything they could do. I had a really nice visit with Dr. Poulter, I'm so glad I changed pain doctors. Then Dr. Davis came and withdrew the saline from my lap band and told me to come and see him in two weeks and we'd start out again slow.

I finally came home on Tuesday and was home from school that week and most of the next. I had to come home on oxygen and I hated that. Finally on Sunday, I was tired of it and just took it off and went outside to clean up the patio and back yard. I'd let it go and the kids had made a bit of a mess. My blood pressure was also very high when I left the hospital, 200 over 111. They added another blood pressure pill and put a patch on my back that continually gave me medication to lower it. By Monday when I saw Dr. McKinlay my O2 level was 93 without the oxygen and my blood pressure was 140 over 86. Much better for me. I just hated using up all of my sick leave the first month of school but I guess with what they pay me, I can afford to take a few days without pay if I have to. I still have my personal days set in stone in March for Hawaii with Cyndi and Kevin.

I guess I'm lucky to be alive. If Bob had not woke me when he did and made me get up I probably would have laid there and died in my sleep. I had also asperated in my sleep which could have killed me as well. That was what was on my garment sleeve that Bob noticed in the hospital. I didn't know that until I got home and checked my nightgown. As I think more and more about it, it really is a wake up call. I need to simplify my life, remove as much stress as I can. I've been doing some reminiscing with an old friend who was very special to me. It has helped me ponder my life and the things that are important to me. The only side effect that I have from the pneumonia besides not being able to finish a sentence because of shortness of breath, is a case of dejavu. I'm a little light headed and dizzy most of the time and I really don't like it. Hopefully it will pass as the pneumonia clears completely up.