Tuesday, December 13, 2011

How Phoenix Tried to Kill Me - Part 2

In retrospect, I'm not sure why I didn't go back to the hospital at some point over the next two days in Phoenix, because I was nearly incapacitated with pain, which had spread over my left side and chest by Sunday morning. Probably I didn't want to lose another day of vacation just so they could tell me to ice the shoulder again, but I was losing time in other ways. On Monday - Halloween - I skipped out on seeing Trelina's parents that morning so that I'd be able to go trick or treating with Jasmine that night. As it turned out, I spent most of that night first stretched out in my sister's recliner and then in her spare bed. No trick or treating for me.

My memory of those days is foggy, but the real problems started on Tuesday, when we were packing up to fly home.

You remember how in Inception, Leonardo Dicaprio talks about how you never go anywhere in a dream - you're just in one place one moment and in another the next? That's what that Tuesday was like for me, like photographs of a day rather than a single continuous stream of activity.

Click. I'm getting out of bed. Click. I'm in the shower and Trelina's poking her head in to ask if I'm alright. Click. I'm staring at my breakfast, with no desire to eat it. Click. I'm at the airport waiting to board. Click. I'm on the plane.

I was still in a lot of pain, but based on what I found out later, I'm pretty sure I was also a bit oxygen-starved at this point too. Poor Trelina had to take care of me AND Jasmine for that long (thankfully non-stop) trip home. Most of my "awake" periods started with her saying my name sharply because she could see that I was starting to go glassy-eyed.

As with the rest of the day, I don't remember much of the flight home.I'm pretty sure I didn't actually sleep, and I'm certain I was in agony, but the blackouts - or whatever they were - ended up being a blessing. I'm sure if I hadn't been checked out most of the time, that I couldn't have made that flight home. I would have been writhing in the aisle and screaming the whole time.

Getting off of the plane and getting our luggage was a bit of an ordeal, but Trelina handled it without much help from me and got us to our car without incident. She wanted to take me straight to the ER, but it was after midnight and I just wanted to try to sleep. So we went home, deciding that if I didn't feel miraculously better in the morning, the hospital was going to be our first stop.

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