…and the TL;DR version is he ended up in an ambulance to the ER and spent the night in the hospital.
The long version is…longer.
So, Hubby needed new glasses. And since both of his sisters have either developed glaucoma, or have increased pressure in their eyes, he knew he needed to get checked for that as well. So he got an appointment at the place I’ve gotten my glasses at before in the mall and, Wednesday afternoon, there we went.
I should add that Hubby doesn’t handle medical stuff well. And as far as blood draws go, he’s pretty much a fainter. But he’s had eye exams before, worn glasses for decades, and has had his eyes dilated before with no problems.
I go into the room with him, the exam goes fine, she puts the two different sets of drops in his eyes, gets him set up for glasses, and then does the pressure exam. Not the puff of air, a different one. His pressures are elevated, but not too bad, and no nerve damage, so she suggested he go to an ophthalmologist for a follow up.
I noticed him sitting there, looking a little quiet and queasy, but thought he was okay. We get out to the waiting room, and now he’s looking pale and grey and starting to sweat and said he needed to sit down. Then, next thing I know, he’s slumped over on his side into the next chair and his legs were shaking. But he was immediately talking to me and lucid. I thought okay, that’s weird. They called the mall security, but by the time they arrived, he was talking and seemed okay. One of the girls at the eyeglass place ran over to the food court next door and got him a cup of ice water.
He’s talking to me, lucid, looking a little better, then basically does it again. This time, he was talking and sort of stopped talking and his body went kind of stiff and like he was rising up out of his chair, but then immediately, less than a second later, he’s fine again. I said that’s it, you’re taking a ride in an ambulance. He had no history of seizures, but to my untrained eye, that’s exactly what it looked like. While waiting for the paramedics, we get him down on the floor, on his back, and he’s immediately feeling better and his color comes back. (Yes, yes, I know. Face is red, raise the head; face is pale, raise the tail. But I wasn’t thinking like that at the time because while I have had first aid training in the past, it’s been years, and it was my HUSBAND.)
Well, I’m in a panic at this point. The paramedics get him loaded up, I’m on the phone to my parents and to Sir to let them know I’m on my way to the hospital. Meanwhile, Hubby’s chatting up a storm all the way out to the ambulance. They told me where they were transporting him too, and I had to go run to my vehicle.
I figured because I got caught at a light, I’d be behind them. Via that route (that they told me they’d take) it’s like 10 minutes or less if there’s no traffic. I get on the toll expressway, I’m flying down it close to 100, thankfully no traffic on it that time of day, get to the ER, run in…
I’d beat the ambulance there.
*head/desk* All the front desk could tell me was they had one incoming. My parents (who live 10 minutes from the hospital) also beat the ambulance there.
Finally, the ambulance gets there and the triage nurse comes out to the waiting room to reassure me that he’s okay, he’s lucid and talking and fine. They get him into a room, FINALLY let me back there (by now it’s nearly 3 pm) and then…
We wait.
And wait.
And wait.
And, believe me, I GET it. My son has spina bifida, and I cannot tell you how many ER trips we’ve made (sans ambulance) with him, and I KNOW the drill. I know patients are seen in order of priority. He was hooked up to monitors and was in no distress.
Finally, after a CT scan and a video teleconference with an off-site neurologist, it was decided to admit him overnight, keep him on monitors, and do more tests. But otherwise, he seemed fine.
He was stuck in the ER until nearly 9pm, when they finally had a bed open up. It was in the ICU ward, but it was, literally, the only bed they had outside the ER. (So we’ll have to check his billing to make sure they didn’t bill him as an ICU patient, because he wasn’t admitted as one. They actually thought he’d be spending the night in that ER room.)
By the time they discharged him around 4pm Thursday, he’d also had an MRI, EEG, EKG, carotid artery sonogram, cardiac sonogram, and a shit-ton of other tests. To which we learned there’s nothing wrong with his cardiac system, neurologically he’s perfectly fine. They called it convulsive syncope, basically meaning he fainted, shook, and there’s no apparent cause. (It wasn’t a seizure, and he doesn’t have epilepsy, and they totally ruled out a stroke.)
So the good news is that except for fainting, we’ve learned that he’s perfectly healthy. LOL No apparent signs of arterial clogging, etc. While I’m not happy that he had to spend all that time being poked and prodded, because he was miserable, I do not regret erring on the side of caution and making him go in an ambulance to the ER, because I didn’t know at the time what we were dealing with. I do know that he will never go to ANY medically related kind of procedure without me in the future. And the next time, if he shows symptoms, I’ll immediately get him down on the floor, feet raised, and see if that doesn’t alleviate his symptoms. They basically told us their best guess is that he fainted, and it was just him.
Considering he’s 64, and this was not only his first ambulance ride, but his first overnight stay in a hospital, and his first ER trip as the patient instead of the parent of the patient, and his first CT scan, and his first MIR, he’s done pretty well. LOL I’m choosing to look on the bright side.
He keeps apologizing for scaring me, but I told him that I’d MUCH rather be scared and it’s a false alarm, than had it been something far more serious.
So how did you spend your Wednesday and Thursday? LOL
Heavens to Betsy. Tymber, big squishy hugs to you and your husband. I’m SO happy to hear that he is fine, and so sorry that you both had to be worried over this. And yes, far, FAR better that you got everything checked out and find out it’s a false alarm. Whew!!! My week was quite boring in comparison 😉
So glad you erred on the side of caution….sometimes it’s hard to tell if anything is actually wrong, but he also seems pretty healthy all around if that was his first of all those things! <3
Tymber, I so know all the emotions, the fear OMG the fear… the adrenaline going and then nothing… the fall when it is over and one just want/needs to cry to let it go. a few years ago my husband’s work phoned to say he was on the way to the hospital with a suspected heart attack… I rushed in to be left outside for HOURS! knowing nothing! to say I didn’t cope well would be an understatement! It wasn’t a heart attack – cause was undetermined and he is very healthy and we work to keep it that way.. So I feel for y’all and so glad to know that Hubby is fine and now at home. Hugs to y’all.
(((HUGS))) I’m so glad it worked out okay.
I’m glad things turned out so well. I spent my Wednesday at work, drove to another town, went to a chircopractic treatment, visited my lawyer, went to two banks, a newspaper, a convience store, a farm and ranch store, a livestock auction market and then home finally. Thursday, I took the dog to the vet to be fixed, worked and went to the dentist, then got the dog and went home. Yes, I’m running all over the place and today I stayed home, but had two guys come to look at the team that’s for sale and an auctioneer come to look at what to put on the sale bill. Busy.
I understand you going with hubby, I was doing the same thing when I was married, cause he just didn’t understand what was happening. Now he’s got to figure it out for himself. Hope your weekend is uneventful and you get to catch up on your rest.
Hey there girlfriend!
Sooooo glad everything is A-OK. I know the panic from the civilian side and the adrenalin from the clinical side, so I sympathize and empathize. Here’s a (((hug))) for you and a (((hug))) for your hubs.
Tymber, after all the scary stuff that I really hate that you and yours had to go through, how awesome for you both that his tests were all normal. I am an ultrasound technologist (general, OB-Gyn, vascular and echo) and I have to tell you that, at his age, all that stuff could have been a really bad surprise. I know that you know this, but for what it’s worth, I’m thankful that the news is good. (Selfishly, of course, because if you’re happy, you write stuff that makes me and the rest of your fans happy!)
When I first saw the post on FB I was so worried it was going to be more bad news. Better to be safe than sorry! I’m so happy that nothing major turned up!
I am so happy that it turned out okay… at least now you know that Hubby is in relatively good shape… I know the feeling of being a helpless bystander and I give you lots of hugs for being strong for Hubby… lots of cyber love to you!!!
So happy things went well. Scary stuff!! But we left Wisconsin Wednesday morning in -8 degree weather heading to sunny Florida. Not too far from you actually . Got here Thursday noonish. So takegoodcare of your hubby and son and yourself. One of these days gonna see if we can meet up. Luvya…..
Sounds like an allergic reaction to the dilating drops. I Googled fainting after eye exam and tons of results came up. Possible he is allergic?
So scary remember a few years ago when my dh work called to say he was having a heart attack and they had called 911. I get to the shop and he is in the ambulance which is not moving because they get the IV in to start fluids. They finally decided to go ahead to the ER and let them do the IV. Really that sounds like a good idea to me. Ambulance and me made it to ER at the same time. Lots of waiting, lots of heart test, an overnight stay. Conclusion he’s heart is fine, not sure what caused the episode, but given how hard it was to get the IV in they feel that dehydration was the most likely cause or at least a large factor. I called him up at work for weeks after that to remind him to drink water. He has a beer I make him drink a glass of water.
Figured it was a good thing no one was checking my vitals that day.
Thanks, everyone. 🙂 He seems to be okay now, but now I’m scared to let him out of my sight for too long, even though I know that’s not reasonable or even rational. LOL Buuuuut that’s just me.