Once, apparently, is NOT enough

So, on the drunkenst day of the yet (aka St. Patrick's Day) I had the experience of being in the hospital. Yay. Thursday was a manager's meeting (no, not what made me sick) out at Somerset Mall. So, after the meeting, Carrie meets me out there so we can shop for a bridesmaid dress for her. And, happy to say, we were successful!! However, about halfway through shopping, I started feeling dizzy and weak. I figured I was just tired and had low blood sugar. So, I got a soda, and we continued on our way. However, by the time I was driving home, I had already thrown up the soda, and wasn't sure that I would even have the energy to drive home. Stubborn me, though, drove all the way (when the smart thing to do would have been to drive to my parents -- half the distance!) I was in so much pain, Rob took me to U of M hospital, where I sat in Triage for SIX hours! I was running a fever of 102 and had scary low blood pressure. Finally, I got into a room and had a nurse see me. Then a couple hours later, finally a doctor saw me. Now, while in Triage, they drew blood and had me pee in a cup for them. Standard procedure and such. However, once I got into a room, they wanted to draw blood AGAIN! I have tiny, itty bitty veins that are hard to find! So, I argued "what was wrong with the blood I already gave?" The nurse didn't know that I had already given blood. However, I did not stave them off for long. I had lost enough fluids that they had to give me an IV (Oh, it hurt like a mother-fuck and I bawled like a baby!) and draw blood TWO more times AND have me pee in a cup AGAIN. Worried that I might have appendicitis (I was showing some signs, like the pain and the fever, but my white blood cell count wasn't elevated), they wanted to do a CT Scan. This proved to be problematic, as I am allergic to the iodine IV they give for this. So, they had me drink a nasty solution which made me very sick: my blood pressure dropped even lower and Rob said I turned white. I was in sooo much pain. Well, after managing to keep enough of the nasty solution down, they did a CT scan, eliminated appendicitis as a suspect, and figured that I have a nasty virus. And not the only one in the hospital, apparently. Among the drunks sleeping it off, the poor folks that the drunks hit on the road, there were plenty of people in the fetal position with the same pains as me. It's going around, and it's hitting hard. They kept me overnight (and then some) for obsevation to make sure that I could keep fluids down and the the pain was subsiding. So, finally, I am home. Rob has made me non-chicken soup. He is sooo good to me! I'm going to head off to bed soon. Got to get up and go back to work in the morning.