|
6-27-2002 - 09:20
Thursday, June 27, 2002 Happy 4th Birthday to Me!Today marks the 4th anniversary of the day I came home from a 12hr night shift with a blistering headache and the chills. I took 2 Tylenol and crawled into bed...literally. Ray came home later that afternoon, found me with a temp of 105 and semi-unconscious. He called 911. Can't sneak much past ol' doc Hawk. I don't remember a damn thing about it. They say I quit breathing once in the ambulance and once in the ER. Again, I don't remember. I've worked in ERs, I don't want to remember. My diagnosis was Vancomycin Resistant Strep Meningitis and it burned through my neurological system like Sherman through Atlanta, taking everything in it's path. Apparently I contracted the strep from one of my patients, a cute little guy who had been treated with a lot of antibiotics for multiple ear infections over his very short lifespan. The child died. I didn't and the CDC wanted to know why. I have a few theories, but my money is on the assertive physican boyfriend who is a gifted diagnostician and doesn't take 'No' for an answer. I also had excellent nursing care and my conviction that my work in this lifetime simply wasn't done. So, what did I learn, you ask? You just can't go through a shitstorm like that without learning something, right? I learned nothing about the nature of God and heaven. No white light, no smiling Grandmothers. I did that most of the clich�s you have ever heard are true. When you have your health, you have everything Live in the Moment, you could get hit by a bus tomorrow...or a drug-resistant germ HMOs really ARE life-threatening Don't let your family leave the house without saying 'I Love You'...every single time Serious illness is harder on the family than the patient Money ain't much Nurses really are earthbound angels Wash your hands, drink lots of water, get enough sleep More people care about you than you realize and you are tougher than you ever imagined Happy Birthday JJ, I am glad you made it
| 
