Trip to the ER

I had myself a nice little trip to the ER today. My sister had her babies (one boy, one girl) early and by Cesarean section and she's unable to drive for two weeks. She was released from the hospital today and her husband had to work, so I was the person to pick her up, gather all the stuff from her latest stint in the hospital on bed rest (Sorry, she delivered at 27 weeks. The babies are doing fine, but are in NICU since they were so small, under 3 pounds each and can't breath on their own yet), and take her to buy a breast pump (Is my life glamorous or what...keep reading it gets better), then take her home to her house across the valley from us. Not a problem. I'm unemployed.

So, I got the call to go pick her up at about 10:00 and the hospital was about 5 minutes from the house. I packed all her gear up in the car, then we went and saw the babies. Holy tiny! Their little stomachs were just pumpin' in and out with the speed of the ventilators. I believe my sister said 600 breaths per minute, I can't remember too clearly. Anyhow...we were on our way to Babies R' Us and she realized she left her purse and wallet in the car and in her hospital room respectively. We turned around and got the required items, went back to Babies R' Us and were on our way to her house. We got to her house and we carted in the various paraphernalia to the house. She asked me if I wanted to sit down for a while and I said sure. I folded her husbands suit jacket and put it on the piano and that's all I remember.

The next thing I know, she's telling me not to move and that I had had a seizure. Yes, that's right ladies and gents. I am officially in the broken toy pile! She had called 911 and the paramedics were there and were asking me all sorts of questions like what was my name, what my date of birth was, what month it was (pretty sure I answered this one wrong, it's hazy), what day it is (failed), who was President (answered this right after some hard concentration...I almost answered Bush, then Osama. No...Obama!) and some others. My sister was terrified (rightly so, I was out for a few minutes apparently and bonus, wet myself! That's the other glamorous part) and I could tell she was freaked out just by the sound of her voice. I was carted off to the hospital in the ambulance (not a good idea for those who get motion sickness and are strapped to a gurney) and duly put under observation. My parents were volunteering at the Olympic Oval for Long Track Speedskating and my sister had to call my dad to have my mom meet me at the hospital. Six long hours later, no new answers were apparent. It appears that the seizure was triggered by medication and I will now be going through withdrawals for the next few days because I get to go cold turkey for all of it. No biggie, I can do it. I was released from the hospital and am now home.

I am now required to go see a cardiologist, my primary care doctor and I'm on 2 blood pressure medications. What joy is mine. Oh, and I can't drive. Oh, and my parents are going out of town on Tuesday. Does the good news ever stop around here? The good news is that there are no neurological symptoms and it was most likely a freak happening. At least, I certainly hope so!

So...between the brother in Texas whose family has spent most of the past 2 years in a hospital with their middle child, my sister who was on bed rest for 5 weeks and the babies who are still in NICU, another brother who had a ruptured appendix and still has a hernia, and my stint to the ER, I think our family has officially had enough of hospitals (well, it would have been enough with just the Texas Beam's, but we have to push our luck, of course!) and it's not over yet! At least one family will have a stint in the hospital for the rest of the year (My sister's babies) and we never know what else will happen!

Keep throwing good thoughts our way, we certainly need them!