Sunday, September 26, 2010

Nervous

     On September 30th, 2009, we were visiting a good friend of ours in the hospital. Actually, the very same friend that was coming into the large amount of money.  He was having cancer removed from his throat, and we went to give him comfort and to just be with him. I was only a little over a week away from my due date, and boy was I feeling it! I was huge! I'm a bit of a shorty, so Jeremiah had nowhere to grow but OUT. Everyone was convinced I was having twins...much to my chagrin. 
     As we walked into his room, I immediately noticed his drainage tube. I had never seen one before and I thought it was gross but manageable. After talking with our friend for a while I noticed Trevor was gone. I didn't really think anything of it. Maybe he went to the bathroom and needed some time. So I just kept talking to our friend and the other friend that had come with us. A while went by and we decided to give our friend some rest. Trevor hadn't come back yet and we were headed to the elevators to see where he was. He walked out of the bathroom right as were entering the lobby. And he looked strange. 
     I asked him if everything was okay, and he said, 
     "Yes, everything's fine. I think seeing _____ drainage tube made me a little queasy. I walked out of the room for some fresh air, felt better, walked back in, then started feeling really bad, so I started walking to the bathroom. Half way down the hall I lost vision in both eyes for about 30 seconds. When I got to the bathroom I waited for my vision to return and just rested." Now, if the love of your life and husband says that to you, and you are 9 months pregnant, what do you think the normal reaction would be? On the inside I about died. On the outside, I about died. I stopped him and looked at him. 
      "Honey, are you sure you are okay?" I was shaking. I had no idea what any of those symptoms meant. He assured me he felt fine now, and we got on the elevator to go home. About a block away from the hospital he said,
     "I've lost feeling in my left hand." 
     I don't really remember a lot after that, only that I was supposed to be on bed rest at home because I was having contractions and Trevor had to go back to work to do Youth Night. I made him promise me he would call me with any more symptoms. He said he would and assured me his feeling had returned. So I went home, poured myself a bowl of rice crispies, and started watching "What Not To Wear." 
     20 minutes later he called.
     "I'm feeling really disoriented and when I reached down to pick up something off the floor, I smacked my head into the table." He was getting a little nervous now, because he was in martial arts and his balance and coordination was amazing. This really threw him off. I started getting really worried by now, but said, 
     "One more symptom and you call me and we are going to the ER." I knew all the symptoms he had already had probably weren't bad enough for an ER doctor to check us out very seriously. I figured, one more different symptom and we are definitely ER worthy. I tried very hard not to panic, and forced myself back to my Rice Crispies and television show. I tried not to look at my phone every 3 seconds waiting for it to ring. And then it rang. And my heart stopped. 
     "Honey, I lost vision in my left peripheral. I'm really nervous." 
     I said, "Be ready in 2 minutes. I will be there to pick you up and we are going to the ER." He tried arguing with me about it, and through angry tears I reminded him that I was 9 months pregnant and this seemed really serious and I would rather it not be something terribly wrong and us not do anything about it. He consented. 
      So they dressed Trevor in a white gown and hooked him up to an IV. 3 different nurses and 2 doctors came in over 2 hours, making Trevor re-tell his story. Finally, our "official" doctor came in, and sat down. She had a clip-board in her hand and a smile on her face. 
     "Basically what you guys are describing is very common. It's called a vagal response. It happened when Trevor saw the blood and all the symptoms following this episode are normal." I let out my breath and smiled at Trevor, then smiled at the nurse who was giving me very good news. I knew Trevor would be "just thrilled" with the fact that we spent 3 hours in the ER and all they told us was that he got squeamish at the sight of blood. But then she went on. 
     "One of the symptoms that you had does concern us a little. The loss of peripheral vision in your left eye. We want to run a MRI on the brain to make sure there is nothing going on up there." We said alright and she left. Trevor immediately said, 
     "MRI's are really expensive, Marybeth." I shook my head and said, 
     "I would rather pay all that money to find out there is nothing wrong, than to have not payed it and there had been something very serious wrong." He said, "I know, you are right." Then we waited for the results. 

To be continued....here







1 comment:

  1. i bawled like a baby. you guys are so strong. God is amazing and you guys are proof that anything is possible with God and his strenghth and your persistance to ask God everyday for strength.

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