Recap of March and April

Thankfully it's May! As if the 5 nights we spent in the hospital in March weren't awful enough we had to top that crises with another one in April. Seven long nights and days. I can't seem to move forward until I get rid of some of the experiences we went through. It's like I'm frozen in that time warp. The 12 nights are blended together in my mind without the separation of 3 weeks between the first hospitalization and the last one. Both times I called 911 and both times the same marvelous paramedic arrived. Steve has been here twice before so at least he knows Stacy's history and the last time he was here said, "I''m not liking the blue color she has, I've never seen that before." It's good to know that I wasn't imagining things.
March 24th, my 38th anniversary - that is if I were still married, started out being a day full of tension. Stacy had a headache and was vomiting. Migraine, PMS, dialysis reaction, what?? Nope, a Grand Mall seizure finally alerted us to what was wrong. I always hate to dial 911 because it seems like overkill when a police officer, two firemen and the ambulance arrives. All I ever want is a paramedic and a quick drive to the hospital that an ambulance provides The other thing I hate doing is answering the police officer's inquiry about what meds Stacy takes. There are so many that I just hand a basket full of them to the officer. The next question is always, "Could she have taken too many?" So I stand in the middle of the room, and I'm always in my robe, no matter what time of day it is and tell the story for what will be the first time out of about 10 or so times I'll repeat it during the day.
When Steve took her blood pressure in March it was off the charts and they didn't wait for me to gather some things together and join them in the ambulance!
I don't remember the drive to the hospital but Mom (My second call after 911 is to my mother and she always is waiting at the hospital when we arrive!) told me that I ran across the terrace from the parking garage into the ER and started through the doors in search of Stacy without stopping at the front desk. She was already in a cubicle, vomiting, crying and about ready to have another Grand Mall. I yelled that she was going into another seizure and the savvy nurse ran for a shot of valium. The doctor said, "Oh I don't think so, she looks like she's exhausted from the vomiting." I nearly said, "are you nuts, I know the signs," when the nurse looked at me for confirmation and I nodded a yes and she jammed the needle into the I.V. which promptly stopped the seizure. "I guess maybe she was going," the doctor said. The nurse later told me that she always takes her cues from parents or caregivers.
The BP was 236/115 and stayed there for hours. Of course the first thought everyone had was that Stacy had had a stroke because she was so out of it, but I know how she is after a seizure and continued to believe that I was seeing post-seizure and not something new. Many tests later my belief was right on target.
I had packed an overnight bag and a cot was waiting for me in Stacy's room in the critical care unit where we stayed for 5 nights. She had dialysis treatments in her room by her favorite dialysis R.N. , Robert, who is employed by the dialysis clinic. She was hooked up to so many monitors that it always seemed that someone was in the room checking on them. So much for rest.
On the 29th she was released, against my better judgement, and we went home with 3 new blood pressure meds. For the next 3 weeks her BP refused to budge and remained alarmingly high. I waited for the next
crises to hit and it did!