Visit to the ER (long post, sorry)

I am not a morning person. Keep that in mind while you read this.

Thursday morning, I woke up at 5:30. Fed Baxter. Took pills. I was still rather asleep. Hit the shower. Once I had gotten dressed it was 6:30. I took my pills. While walking into the living room, I stopped in my tracks. Um. Oops. My brain suddenly realized what I had done. Crap!

I yelled at Sarah in the shower, asking what she thought I should do. Call the pharmacy. Okay. The pharmacist says that I should be alright, just to eat some candy to counteract the double dose of metformin (normally a diabetic drug) and not to stand up too quickly since the double dose of blood pressure meds will lower it more than usual.

Fast forward. I'm about to teach my first class, but I'm feeling a bit weird. So I come up with an alternate lesson plan (War Games). We're not supposed to show movies. Unless they're tutorials or Hamlet or something. Dang English and Social Studies teachers. Just as the students are finishing up the warm up and I'm ready to start the movie, in walks the principal. Some students were still working, but others had moved on to perusing the web. (Also a big no-no.) And of course, I was sitting at my desk. I could feel the bad evaluation coming. Luckily, a student asked me a question and it naturally got me off of my butt. I could then circulate the room and attempt to redirect them to another assignment. The principal left, had apparently counted the students off task, and I just about collapsed from embarrassment.

My cheeks start burning, so I ask the teacher across the hall to keep an ear out while they start the movie. Just a quick jaunt to the nurse to double-check my temperature, just to be safe. 99.3 or something. No biggie. I don't remember if I volunteered the information or was asked why I was worried, but before I knew it, the nurse was on a crusade.

When she asked if I could call someone to take me home (I was a bit too dizzy to drive), I figured she'd hand me a phone and let me take care of everything. Yes, I could try. What's a number you can call? My dad at ###-####. She dialed ... and didn't hand me the receiver. She actually talked to my father herself. Like I was a student. I'm not feeling so great, so it takes me a while to take control of the situation.

Long story short (really - it could be longer) ... no one is able to pick me up. They just happen to have their own lives, imagine that. We (meaning the nurse) finally get to talk to my doctor. She recommends going to the ER, just to be safe. Since I can't get there any other way, some nice gentlemen in a square white truck with sirens get to drop me off. At least I didn't have to sit in the waiting room.

I ended up getting a bag of IV fluids and a hospital meal. That's it. And I got to sit in the ER for between 4 and 5 hours. With 30 channels of daytime talk shows and soap operas. Alone. I found it rather amusing that they kept on asking me if I had taken the pills twice on purpose. Um. No.

Good news is that everything is alright. I just didn't have to take my meds Thursday night. After about 24 hours, it was all out of my system. Of course, it threw me off a bit. I take some stuff that messes with your brain chemicals. I ended up showing the movie on Friday. (Screw the rules. I have a continuing contract.)