Welcome to summer! It is a beautiful day here in Calgary, and I hope
everybody is having a good start to their week. I am writing to you all to give
you an update on what happened to me this past two weeks:
Two weeks ago, on a Saturday, I was getting ready to go out to a
movie with my mom, sister, and my sister's kids. However, I didn't end up going
because I started to feel really dizzy while waiting for my mom. It felt like
the room was spinning around really fast and I felt nauseous. I moved to the
floor to stabilize myself before I started to throw up, and thankfully my
roommate was there. She asked me if I wanted her to call 911 and I did not want
that. Stupid me! She decided to phone my mom instead and my mom insisted in
calling 911. My mom entered the condo and said that she thought I was
experiencing vertigo because she had had it before. The ambulance then arrived
and asked about my symptoms before putting me on a gurney and taking me to the
hospital.
Initially, I thought I was only going to be at the hospital for a
couple of hours and that all would be okay. In reality, the hospital staff
wanted to run some tests and I was booked for a CT scan to see what was really
going on. Once the results were in, they told me that I had a mini stroke and
that it may have been the result of numerous falls I had had over the years (in
which I had hit my head). They told me that they needed to do more tests and
keep an eye on me. Looks like I wasn't going home any time soon! I told my mom
that if something bad happened while I was there, that I wanted her and my dad
to let me go because living a life in a bed is not the life I want to live. At
two in the morning, I finally got to sleep before the doctors woke me up to
tell me I was being admitted and that I had to move to the tenth floor (so much
for sleeping). Once I was up there they had to do another test and I was given
a room with multiple patients already in it.
In the morning, I wanted to go to the bathroom but I had no energy
to get myself up. The nurses asked me if I could go in a bedpan and I refused,
so they went away and came back and they said they'd put me on a catheter. I
was so tired and couldn't sleep, couldn't eat, and was scared that if I ate I
would throw it up. I had a lot of visitors though, my parents, my sister, my
roommate, some support staff, my best friend. There were many tears.
The next day, I had to do another CT scan for my head and the doctor
said you have two options: Your brain could heal on its own and you would have
to take a baby aspirin - or it will not heal and they would have to perform an
operation. I was put on the eleventh floor to be watched, which was bigger and
nicer because I had my own room with a privacy curtain that I shared with one
other person (not multiple). The doctor came in on Wednesday and let me know I
was doing fine and he was moving me back downstairs. They eventually wanted me
to stay for one more day because they wanted me to get up on my own in my
chair, but we didn't have a place for my wheelchair because I was back in the
room with four other people. So on Friday morning, I went to see the
physiotherapist and they said “If you can get up and out of your chair, you can
go home.” I was scared because I had no idea if I could do anything since I had
been in bed all week. Thankfully, I did it and I finally got home! Being in the
hospital really took a toll on me so all I was able to do was lay on the couch
and go to the bathroom.
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