The first few days in the hospital

The first few days of that hospital stay are kind of a blur. My mom had completely lost her mobility by then. She had a motorized scooter at home and had to be pushed in a wheelchair to go to appointments. My dad, who used a cane at that point, was able to push her wheelchair and brought her to see me only one time, when I was still in the ICU. Otherwise, my dad came to the hospital almost every day. I will never really know what kind of grief my parents experienced seeing their almost 36-year-old daughter in ICU. Not cool.

My best friend, Beth, visited me. She has said she didn't like the numbers on my monitors in ICU. They scared her. Otherwise, my boyfriend at the time, Jason, and my dad's good friends Bill and Nancy, also visited.

My care team in the ICU was amazing. The ones who especially stand out in my mind include nurse Amanda, nurse Laura (who Amanda was training), and tech (nurse's assistant) Krisann (my former middle school basketball teammate). By Wednesday I was starting to feel a little better. Kris helped me bathe and she washed my hair. They got me sitting in a chair. Amanda came in my room and sat down on the edge of the bed. She said we were going to have "a talk".

She asked me to tell her my story and why I had ended up in the hospital. She asked me if I was going to start taking care of myself. I told her I was. And I meant it. That talk from a young rising star nurse was the beginning of my turnaround. 

But controlling my blood sugars was only the beginning of the challenges I faced. More to come . . .

January 20th, 2008

Sunday, January 20th, 2008 was the day my life would change forever. You will have to excuse me, because as I am sure you can understand, quite a bit of it is a blur. I hadn't been feeling well for a few days the week leading up to that weekend. However, by Saturday I felt well enough to attend basketball games at my alma mater, Moravian College, and an alumni reception afterward

Anyway, Sunday I woke up feeling quite ill. But I dragged my butt into work at Schuylkill Valley Sports in Allentown. Honestly, I will never really know how I made it through that shift. I had two high school students working with me -- Erika and Dave. They basically ran the store that day. I will always remember them and forever be grateful to them for that.

After work, my dad picked me up. Dave and Erika rode with us across the mall parking lot to the bank to drop the deposit in the overnight box. Then Dad drove me home. We left my car at the mall. I think my dad and his friend picked it up later that week.

Dad was going to drive me straight to the hospital, but I do remember suggesting to him that I go in an ambulance so that I would be seen sooner.  I knew it could take a while going through an emergency department waiting room.  So we went home and called 9-1-1.  The nearest hospital to the apartment where my parents and I lived was Lehigh Valley Hospital-Muhlenberg.  It was only a mile away.  In retrospect, I was fortunate to be taken there.  It would have a profound impact on my future, which I will write more about in future blog entries.

I don't remember a whole lot that happened once I got to the hospital. I do remember many people surrounding me in my little room in the ER. Later, I remember realizing I had been taken to the Intensive Care Unit. I recall quite clearly that I wasn't allowed anything to eat or drink for quite a while, and when a doctor finally allowed me to have some water, I called him a "rock star".

I will write more about that first hospital stay, as well as a couple others that year and some other health complications related to diabetes, in upcoming entries.  Thank you for reading this blog.