casey almost died
adventure!
On
Tuesday, February 5, 2002, Casey almost died. The day started like any other
day in history; the sun rose at 6:47 a.m. over the dismal parking lot outside
my window, and light filtered in through the curtain. I awoke in a cold sweat
at about 8:00 a.m. and put on my bathrobe. My roommate told me I should go to
the heath center since I was shaking uncontrollably. I said I was going to class.
I took a shower and changed, then realized I felt worse than before.
I gave
up on going to school and I went back to bed. A few hours later, I felt well
enough to walk, and so I made the journey to the student health center to be
diagnosed and possible treated. I filled out my paperwork in the waiting room
and then sat there from about 11:00 to 11:30, and then was called in to see
the doctor. Well, it really was a resident nurse, but I didn't really care because
if they could give me something that kept me from feeling like dying, I would
be happy.
She
took my temperature, blood pressure, and heart rate, only to find that I was
running a 103 degree fever and my resting heart rate was over 100. So I was
sick, but this I knew. She then gave me some Tylenol and sent me back to the
waiting room for some good ol' R&R. Apparently many students had been getting
the flu and coming in with very similar symptoms. Finally, I was called back
in and again tested, this time having a 99 degree temperature. Satisfied, she
sent me over to get some blood work done for a real diagnosis.
I sat
down in the chair and a new lady told me to pull up my sleeve. I revealed my
sickly right arm and got a lesson on vein finding while she suck
ed
out some of my life fluid. Once that was done with, she taped a cotton ball
to the hole with about a foot of masking tape and then sent me back to the waiting
room. She was not very considerate to the fact that I have arm hair.
I waited
some more and then I started feeling a little nauseated. My vision blurred,
and I stood up to go vomit in the bathroom. Unfortunately, my body had other
plans and I went reeling onto a different bank of chairs. Then a beautiful voice
drifted through the swirl towards me, "Um, there's someone passing out
out here. God, do I have to do their job for them?" My angel.
Everything
went crazy and three people half carried me into the observation room and laid
me down. One jammed an IV in my arm, and they put an oxygen mask on me. Then
my hands got really tingly and all of a sudden I couldn't move them. They became
deformed claws and refused to work, and the tingling spread up my arms. Soon,
I couldn't move any of my body, and the tight tingling was in my chest. My tongue
and lips were numb and tingling, like my whole body was pins and needles. It
was about this point which I considered the possibility that I might not make
it through this.
I
was asking questions like, "Why can't I feel my hands?" to which they
responded "Stay with me," which wasn't very encouraging. They told
me I was going to the hospital and the paramedics were on their way. This was
going to cost a lot of money. I asked them if I had to go to the hospital, and
they told me yes. I asked if it was going to cost a lot of money, and they told
me probably,but to try and not think about that. I decided they were right and
went back to thinking about how I was going to die.
They were
shouting my blood pressure and pulse measurements to each other every few minutes,
and saying things like, that's a little low for someone this big. This big?
I'm not a very big boy. My only guess is that I had the approximate blood pressure
of a turtle.
By
the time the paramedics arrived with the police, I was making some improvements.
The numbness had left my chest, and I was starting to feel my legs again. Everyone
waited for me to come out of it slowly, and within 5 minutes, I was able to
sit up and even stand on my own accord. The paramedics decided I didn't have
to go to the hospital if I didn't want to, and so I stayed behind. They drained
another bag of fluid in me, totaling one liter in the arm, and then decided
I could go. I called Andy and Mike and asked them to pick me up. They arrived,
but when the lady asked if someone would be there to stay with me, they both
said they had to go to class. The lady changed her mind and I ended up having
to stay a few more hours. Apparently, I couldn't be left alone or else there
would be no one to dial 911 in case I started to die again.
They
found a back room for me to lay down in which was also occupied by a girl who
was also on an IV, but for dehydration form being sick. The nurse working on
her was new and didn't have much experience. I knew this because the other one
in the room had to tell her every single thing to do in order to put the IV
into her arm. The first time it didn't even take and she just bled everywhere.
I started to feel sorry for her, but then realized I didn't really care about
her and went back to thinking about myself.
