Saturday night at Lutheran General

Nope, it's not a new television series and Lutheran General is not a stand-up comedy club. LG is indeed a hospital and it's where I was for 6+ hours on Saturday night.

First, I'm fine now.

So how did I end up there? Well, after preparing for the Bears game (making chili, inviting people, building my screen so I could use my heater in the wind, etc), I headed out towards O'hare to meet a friend for some food and watching the Big 12 championship game (college football). As I approached the entrance to the highway, I checked my blindspot by turning my head and noticed that I got a little dizzy. After merging and driving for a bit, I noticed that turning my head at all was becoming a problem. I got off at Cumberland and pulled into a Dominick's. My thought at this point was two-fold 1) only two days ago I had thought about putting some of my anti-vertigo medicine in my car in case I was out and about and started to feel dizzy, but I didn't; and 2) Dramamine is an OTC equivalent, though not as potent.

So I stumbled into Dominick's, found some chewable Dramamine, opened it up in the aisle and chewed and swallowed the pills. After some water at the fountain, I paid for the pills and headed out to the car. Then it started getting really warm. The temperature outside was about 15 or so and I had my coat off and took my sweater off as well. After getting to my car and sitting down, I called my friend to say I wasn't going to make it and why. Then I called my folks to see if maybe they could come pick me up. During that call, the attack hit, vomiting ensued and my sweating turned into something much more intense.

Fortunately I was still able to communicate a bit (this ability becomes greatly diminished as the attack progresses), so I was able to tell my mother where I was and what medicine I needed. She called 911, got transferred by the Naperville 911 to the Chicago 911 (mistakenly) and then transferred to the Park Ridge 911. They finally dispatched an ambulance. All the while I'm in the parking lot with my door open, in the second parking spot from the store, but 30 yards from the entrance, throwing up and periodically closing the door as the sweat all over my body was making me really, really cold when it contacted the 15 degree air. Of course it didn't keep me from sweating even more though.

The ambulance arrived and I used my last bit of energy to lay on the horn and stick my hand up (which of course induced more vomiting). One of the big problems with vertigo is that when you move your head AT ALL, it tends to induce vomiting. Not fun. Some interesting/ridiculous things happened before I even got to the hospital. The EMT's first wanted me to get myself out of the car. Now, if you can picture the scene in your mind, what would lead them to believe that I could get myself out of the car? And they asked several times. They asked me a bunch of other questions, most of which I could not respond to. I remember vividly in the ambulance, eyes closed because now even SEEING things moving caused me to vomit, they asked me which hospital I wanted to go to: Lutheran General or Resurrection. Really? WTF? Does that really matter to people who are nearly unresponsive? Then the EMT's got a call from 911 saying they had my parents on the line and wanted to know which hospital we were going to. So they ask ME where my parents are coming from so they can pick a hospital. Seriously?? Am I only the only one noticing me vomiting every two seconds and my head looking like I just got caught in a tsunami??

Finally I got to the hospital, as did my parents, and I was given an IV. Well they tried at least. One hole in my right arm. Didn't work. One hole in my left hand. Didn't work. Finally the third try was a charm and I got the IV with the much needed anti-nausea medication. As it turns out, the anti-vertigo medication only comes in pill form so they have to stabilize me first so I can consume a pill without throwing it up.

Then the chills came. I was shaking like a leaf despite the 8-10 pre-warmed blankets thrown on me. Why? The IV drip is room temperature, say 70 degrees, and my body is at least 98. Doesn't it make sense to warm the IV fluid a bit so your body doesn't shiver so much as the fluid entering your body? Once the bag was empty, the chills stopped for a bit. After one bag of fluid, I was able to take the pill medicine and so they then started a second bag. More chills.

So after 6+ hours of this, I was finally discharged and went home with my parents. Meanwhile, my car was still at the Dominick's so they have to be called so they wouldn't tow my car. I had one guy meeting me at my house in the morning for the Bears game, so he had to be called. And two other people were meeting me at the game that had to be called. Fortunately one of the residents-in-training knew how to use an iphone so I could direct him how to retrieve the necessary phone numbers.

All in all it was quite an ordeal. Of course endless thanks to my parents for staying with me through the ordeal. Thanks to my sister Lori to who brought over Gatorade and spare pajamas for me to sleep in and my niece who lent me her stuffed koala bear for moral support while sleeping.