On Tuesday, I woke up with a sore throat and stuffy nose. I figured I was just getting a bit of a cold. I had a z-pack called in and knew I would kick whatever it was by the weekend. Throughout the day, I started feeling worse and worse. Before I knew it, I had chills, a fever, body aches...the whole nine yards. Despite not feeling well himself, my sweet husband ran to the store to get more cold/flu medicine. After drugging myself up and eating some ramen noodles, I was in bed by 6:30. I couldn't remember the last time I felt so bad.
I woke up the next morning and immediately knew that this wasn't just a little cold. That is also when the headache set in. Anytime I moved or got up to walk around, it felt like I was getting knocked in the head with a baseball bat. No matter what medicine I took - I couldn't shake the headache.
After a few days and a lot of rest, the other symptoms slowly by surely started to get better besides the headache. My head was actually getting worse each day. Luckily, my mom works at a doctors office so I have access to medicine when I need it. She dropped off some Bupap after work and after several hours of that not working - they called in hydrocodone. My head hurt so bad at this point, Mark and I decided that if my head wasn't better in the morning - I probably needed to go see a doctor.
I woke up Saturday and oh my goodness - the headache had spread to my entire head (before it was concentrated to the back right side). I couldn't move or walk without screaming in pain. (And I have to say I have a pretty high pain tolerance.) I tend to push through those types of things, but I knew something wasn't right. My mom called me right as I was waking up and she could tell it was worse than the night before. She picked me up and took me straight to the ER.
Once I arrived, they started me on an IV mix of Benadryl and some other drug that I can't remember. They assumed it wasn't a migraine because I wasn't sensitive to light, but they didn't want to start me on too much without knowing the cause. It made me so cold and I was shivering so badly. (ER's need thicker blankets!) From there, they took me in for a CT Scan. Try laying still when you are shivering uncontrollably! Luckily, the benadryl had kicked in a bit and that mixed with my narcolepsy allowed me to fall asleep while they were prepping the CT Scan and I slept right through it. While they were waiting for the CT Scan results, they started me on Morphine, which didn't help at all. The doctors decided at that point to do a spinal tap to eliminate meningitis, aneurysm, West Nile, etc.
A spinal tap is performed by sticking a huge needle in between two vertebrae in your spine to collect fluid. I ended up having to do this 3 times. The first two times, the numbing shots had not numbed my back enough. And it hurt. so. bad. Mark and my mom were in the room with me at this time. Mark was so sweet and held my hand and my poor mom couldn't watch. I can't even describe the pain of the first two attempts besides that I was seconds away from getting sick. While we waited for the results, they put me on an IV of Demerol.
Luckily, the spinal tap came back clear. From the CT Scan, the doctor advised that the virus I had earlier in the week had gone up into my sinuses and along with some major neck spasms - it was causing really bad tension headaches.
I left that evening and was told to switch between Motrin and Hydrocodone every few hours until I felt better. Two days later, my head is still hurting off and on and my back hurts so badly from the spinal tap. I'm so thankful it wasn't something more serious, but I pray to never, ever experience that pain (from both the headache and spinal tap) ever again.
In church, we've been going through 1 Peter and I am so thankful, as it focuses on trials and history will show - I don't always handle trials so well. This weekend certainly didn't go as planned. It was draining, painful, and scary at times. It completely ruined my plans (which I hate!!!). But it did make me even more thankful for my husband and my mom, who took the best care of me (seriously - they were AMAZING). And it allowed me to spend a weekend on the coach with Mark. Even though we didn't feel good, I loved spending every second with him. It's these moments that instill in me that God's plan is much better than my own.
Thank you to all my sweet friends and family that have reached out to Mark and me to check in. We appreciate your thoughtfulness and prayers!
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