ER Trip

Well... We had a great time with Jonathan's siblings. I'll post pictures later. I decided to tell of my weekend visit to the ER.
Suffice it to say the boys left Friday at noon for the ranch for their wild boar hunt. They called at 5 to say they were 30 minutes away and would be completely out of cell range while there. We would talk Sunday on their way back home.
I went to bed Friday with intense lower-abdominal pain. I awoke at 2:45 in excrutiating pain. I headed to the kitchen to get some medication, and I lost my vision briefly. I reached up into the cabinent.... and suddenly found myself waking up from the kicthen floor looking at the ceiling, wondering how I got there and how long I'd been there. I had passed out. :/ I thought, "I've got to get back to bed" and headed to my room... Again, only to find myself on the floor of the closet, staring at the ceiling wondering how I'd gotten there. I assume both times were only a few seconds, but I can't know. I did later discover I'd bruised my head a little.
I figured this was serious, and headed to wake Catherine up. She was very alert and calm (I was too). She brought me the computer and I looked up a hospital. They apparently can't give medical advice, so gave me a nurses' line. I called & explained my situation. The nurse said, "This is an emergency, you can't drive yourself, get to a hospital." All we had was the Mustang, and Catherine can't drive a stick. So not wanting to wake our friends at 3 am (and them not being close anyway), I called those infamous numbers - 911. In less than 5 minutes, 2 police cars, a firetruck, and an ambulance were at our house. They took vitals (all good) & asked questions. Then I went to the hospital.
The guys in the amblance were very nice (I guess that's what Josh does, right?) and actually diagnosed the cause of my problem correctly (I'd later find). I did not let them start an IV (they gave me a choice). At the hosptial I was given an IV for fluids, some Demerol (that make me loopy) and given an exam. The inital thought was this was a strong over-reaction to some medication I've been on for 2 months (meaning, my body is suppose to react to it, but it did more than it should have).
I did have to have a CAT scan to rule out appendicitis. I had to drink about 48 oz of this chalky, white, coconut-flavored contrast. ICK! Catherine so graciously poured it every 20 minutes and helped coach me to drink it all. She chased nurses down when we were forgotten (in 9 hours I think I was only seen by doctors/nurses about 7 times). I finally was sent home with some painkiller and an antibiotic in case of infection. I had a lot of fluid built up and a little blood, which were both the cause of the pain. This was from an oversized cyst. Catherine was such an angel, reading to me and just being there.
It ruined a lot of our fun plans, but she was so sweet. I took the next 2 days easy, the boys returned (without any kills, I'm afraid), and Jonathan and I went in yesterday to my normal doctors for follow-up ultrasound, review, etc. Everything appears ok, but they want to see the cysts shrink and disappear (which they should).
I can't explain how utterly helpless you feel when you experience something like that and your husband (your protection and head) are compeltely unavialable. But isn't the Lord absolutely sovereign? What unique timing - it could not be a mistake. I don't pretend to understand, but I do profess faith that what He does is Right. BTW, Jonathan made up for not being there by being there when my pain levels increased on Monday morning and he held me and prayed for me, and showed so much tender care. I got to feeling better and was really touched at how sensitive he was.
I do hope not to experience this again, and I won't soon forget this weekend.