bobquasit: (Default)
bobquasit ([personal profile] bobquasit) wrote2009-01-24 12:32 am
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Hospital

Last night Teri and I were having dinner (Sebastian was with her mother), when she told me that she felt funny. The whole right side of her body felt "mushy", and the right side of her head was tingling.

We went home and called her doctor. She was out on maternity leave, but the covering doctor called back soon and told her to go to the emergency room if she still felt the same way in an hour.

She really didn't want to go to the emergency room. She told me she felt a bit better, and went to bed early. I did some stroke tests before she did, and she seemed fine. I should probably have insisted she go to the ER.

The next morning - this morning - she said she felt better, though not perfect. I was worried, but wasn't sure what to do. So I went to work. At around 9:30 that morning, she called me. She was at work, but she was really dizzy; the feeling of strangeness on the right side of her body was much worse.

I had her call her doctor, and called my parents to see if they could give me a ride to her work - since I take the T, I had no way to get there on my own. And Teri certainly couldn't drive to pick me up! I considered an ambulance, but she didn't want that.

Her doctor told her to go to the emergency room, and specifically recommended Miriam Hospital in Providence. My father drove me to meet Teri, and I drove her to the emergency room at Miriam. I'd never been there before, but after following the directions I discovered that I actually did pretty much know where it was - it was remarkably close to the bus station where we pick up [livejournal.com profile] stairflight sometimes.

They ran a bunch of tests. Neuro tests, of course; lots of them. A CAT scan. Cardiac enzymes. Thyroid. You name it! They also hooked her up with an IV, and pumped four bags of saline into her; apparently she was dehydrated, or they thought she was (it might have explained the symptoms). They hooked her up to a heart monitor as well.

All of the tests came back fine. She passed all the neuro tests with flying colors, as I knew she would (I'd observed her pretty carefully). The EKG and cardiac enzymes were fine. But her heartbeat was too fast - it was in the 110-120 range, and it should have been around 90. Her blood pressure was also much higher than normal. Usually it's quite low, but now it was in the 120/80 range.

Jeeze, I'm tired. Let me wrap this up for now. They decided to keep her at the hospital overnight; they got her into a room at around 10PM. I wasn't allowed to stay with her, so I'm home for the evening. Sebastian is spending the night at Teri's mother's house.

With any luck I should be able to bring Teri home tomorrow. I think she'll be okay.