Monday night:
Had terrible headache. Went to bed at 10pm in hopes that it would go away as I slept.

Tuesday morning.
6am. Woke up with the headache, felt incredibly nauseous. Pull myself out of bed to take Paul to work. Ask him to get a bag from the kitchen. Don’t even make it to the car before I lose my stomach contents in the bag.

Drop Paul off at the station, come home. Technically don’t have time to go back to bed, but I do anyways. Woke up at 7:30. Tried to get out of bed, but throw up again. (Okay I’ll stop with the yucky details now. :-))

Continue to try to get up for the next two hours, but am unable to make the room stop spinning. Try to drink lots of Gatorade but it doesn’t stay down. Call in sick to work. Head is killing me. Lay down with a cool washcloth over my head. Feel extremely guilty about calling in sick to work.

2pm. Wake up and feel a bit better. Want to talk to my mom, but can’t find her. (Find out later she’s in Dallas this week.) Call Susan instead, who gives me the perfect blend of encouragement and distraction. Hear Hans gurgling in the background which makes me laugh. Finally have to hang up because I can’t sit up any longer and can’t get cell reception in my bedroom.

Sleep another two hours. Wake up at 4, knowing I have to pick Paul up from work soon. He offers to walk home (which takes him about an hour – 3.5 miles), but I would rather him home sooner. Throw up for the last time that day (lost count). Feel better and am able to drive to get Paul. He drives me home. Head still aches. Convince Paul to take me to the urgent care center. Try to find one that doesn’t close at 5. Consider driving back to the one near our old apartment, before we find one a little closer.

6pm. Arrive at the urgent care center. Fill out paperwork. Try to remember my SSN. Write it wrong 3 times. I hate filling out paperwork when I’m sick!! Write family medical history. Am annoyed by multiple misspellings in the forms – wonder who is in charge. :-p

Nurse comes to get me. Sits me down in a room, takes vitals. Asks me all the questions I just answered on my paperwork. Seems annoyed when I am slow to answer. She is NOT the high point of my visit. Tell Paul I miss the urgent care place near our old apartment; they were really nice.

Doctor comes in. He’s really nice and makes up for Mean Nurse. He asks Paul and I what we do for a living, and tells us we’re so smart, he’s impressed. I think that’s ironic since he’s a doctor. He puts me at ease and doesn’t make me feel stupid. He says I’m very dehydrated.

7:30pm. Hook me up to an IV and saline to get some liquid back into me. Most. Painful. IV. Ever. Mean Nurse does the poking. Blood everywhere – all over the bed, the floor. Wishing Mean Nurse would let someone else do it. Get a shot in the behind for nausea. Wishing Mean Nurse hadn’t done that either – I still can’t sit properly. Lay there half-sleeping. Paul is bored and plays Sudoku on my iPod.

9pm. Released from urgent care. Went through three bags of saline. Feel a bit better but headache still there. Doc tells me to call my PCP because he’s concerned I might need to be hospitalized if dehydration continues. Go home. Think about doing my Bible study but decide just to go to bed.

Wednesday morning.
6am. Take Paul to the train station. Still sleepy, but no nausea! Decide to be late to work and go back to bed. Struggle to wake up and finally get up at 9am. Call my primary care doctor, make an appointment with nurse practitioner at 10am. Realize I don’t have a lot of time, so I hurry to get dressed. Call work to say I’d be in late. Leave the house.

10am. Still feel dizzy, but no nausea. Go to my appointment. Nurse tells me I am dehydrated, but don’t need to be hospitalized. Gives me a prescription in case it happens again and tells me to drink more fluids. Go to work. Eat lunch – I’m starving. Decide to drink a Coke and take some meds since I seem to be done throwing up; headache goes away.

I seem to be feeling much better now (Thursday morning). Hopefully this doesn’t happen again! Specifically, next week while I’m in California.