Fainting, a Mouse, and Olive Garden...

So yesterday was a weird day. Well, at least one part of it was...

After work I was able to sleep 5 hours which isn't enough, but more than my "normal" has been lately. Why doesn't my body understand that it needs more sleep?

After I woke up I talked with someone at Medical Express about the things that needed to happen before starting my next job in Phoenix. Each hospital has different requirements, so there are always a few things to take care of. I found out I needed a repeat Tdap (Combined Tetanus, Diphtheria and Pertussis Vaccines) and also a varicella titer (proving I'm immune to Chicken Pox since I had it as a kid), along with a few other things. When I called the hospital's Employee Health office to see if they could help me, they agreed and asked if I could be there in 20 minutes. So, I grabbed a piece of toast, changed clothes and hopped in the car. Knowing I can sometimes be a hard stick for drawing blood (required for the titer), I drank a bunch of water while I was in the waiting room. The Tdap was obviously no problem (except my arm is sore today) but the titer, well.... that's another story.

As per all my other blood draws, my veins immediately went into hiding. They pop up nicely when I'm warm, but of course I had just thrown on a t-shirt since I was running out the door and knew they would need to get to my upper arm. The first nurse decided not to try (always a good choice if you don't think you can get it!) and the second nurse looked around a long time until she felt like the best option was in my hand. It hurts a little more, but is usually more visible. Well, since I was feeling like things were going well, I decided to watch her go for it. Bad idea. I can do pretty much anything to any patient of mine and have no problem whatsoever. I'm happy to share all the things I actually get a kick out of, but I don't want to make any of my faithful readers sick! :) But, note to self: don't watch them do things to ME!

I started to feel a little lightheaded and looked away immediately knowing what the problem was. The nurse was having no luck with my hand veins, which were perfectly visible, and after digging around a while, she gave up. I started to feel even more lightheaded and asked for a glass of water and put my head between my knees. I sat up slowly, felt pretty okay, and then all of a sudden... much worse. I told her I was going to need to lie down and while walking the 10-15 steps to an exam table, with her right by my side, realized all the blood drained from my head and next thing I knew, I was waking up on the floor. Hmmmm..... How did that happen? My left hip and left shoulder have a couple of nice bruises today, but luckily the nurse helped me fall correctly so I didn't hit my head.

It was such a strange feeling! I have been a nurse for a few years, have obviously helped many patients with many things, and have even been in the exact situation of "helping" patients faint, getting them to the bed or floor correctly so they wouldn't injure themselves. I didn't like being on the other end of things! The worst part was, I knew what it was doing to those nurses helping me, in that it interrupted their day and made everything a little harder. And, it was Employee Health not an acute floor on the hospital where there are more resources around! They were so kind and helpful, but I felt pretty bad for messing up their day. After just a few minutes I felt much better, and the tingling in my arms went away and I felt pretty much back to normal. But, I still didn't have my blood work done, so one of the nurses walked me across the street to the hospital lab to have someone else finish the draw. Luckily one poke with great results meant I didn't have any further problems. And, I laid down for that poke and watched the ceiling! :)

The biggest annoyance of all this happening is that I was short on time to begin with. I had plans to meet a friend in Rochester for dinner and a little shopping since it was my night off, and was now running late. Luckily, Kristine is an understanding nurse and was more concerned for me than being on time! Kristine is a nurse I worked with just a little in Fergus, but our friendship has grown since we both moved away to start a new adventure, right around the same time. Knowing I was now feeling perfectly fine, I didn't want to miss out on getting to hang out with her and we had some fun plans!

We met up at a cute shop in Rochester called "The House of the Crafty Mouse". The website's not all that great, but it's a unique store with all sorts of fun stuff and my mom and I have enjoyed shopping there in the past. One of the best things about being "homeless" is that it's really easy to save money with finding all kinds of great things and not buying any of them because what... they'll just sit in storage indefinitely? No thanks! It was great to wander around the store with Kristine and catch up with her as we looked at all the cute stuff.

Then, we hit the highlight... Olive Garden! I love their salad and breadsticks and since Kristine felt the same way, we had both been looking forward to this! We both ordered the Capellini Pomodoro with chicken, and since it's one of their lighter fares, no guilt involved! We enjoyed an evening of great food and great conversation, and I left the restaurant disappointed that we hadn't spent more time together in Fergus and that I am now leaving the area. But, email friendships are fun and I know we'll be able to continue that! Thanks for the fun night, Kristine! I'm so excited to hear how God continues to use you in helping people heal in Rochester!

So, my day was a weird one, but luckily ended much better than I thought it might. And by the way, I felt completely fine even before I left La Crosse to head to Rochester.