Knock Out Weekend

A couple weekends ago was one for the blog!  It started earlier in the week.  I had gotten a rash all over my arms that itched like crazy.  I transferred it to my neck and ear and feet, so I wasn't surprised when I found a small patch on my low back as well.  I was thankful that it didn't itch, because itching that region would have looked a little, shall we say... unpleasant.  Thankful by midweek, the rash started going down, but the patch on my back did not.  It looked like it was a bunch of welts and then it started to burn. Pretty soon my whole hip hurt and all the lymph nodes in my right hip swelled up.  Everyone kept telling me to go to the doctor or at least show one in the ER where I worked frequently that week.  But really who wants to say, "come here, Doc.  Look at this rash next to my butt."?  Friday night I tossed and turned.  I couldn't sleep on my front because of the swelling, I couldn't sleep on my right side, because of the pain and I couldn't sleep on my back, because of the pain.  I had pretty much decided what it was already and knew I was too late to get medicine for it, but I decided I at least needed something for pain, so that I could sleep.  I got up around 6 am and headed to the ER.  Sure enough, I was diagnosed with shingles.  Rob started calling me grandma.  It made me feel really old.  Seriously, only 70 year olds get shingles, right?  Apparently not!

After I got some medicine for night time, I came home, relaxed in a bath, and decided to go with the kids to see the flag football game that Sam and Rob were playing in with the ward.  Just as we were driving out of our subdivision, I got a call from Rob.  They were taking Sam to the ER.  He had recovered a free ball, but in the process had got a knee to the eye.  It cut him open and knocked him clean out.  When I got to the ER, he was already in the back.  I said "hello, again" to the triage nurse and went back in with him. The doctor had just arrived and had gotten Sam up to examine him.  He wasn't actually a doctor.  He was a med student.  Sam noticed that he had a penchant for attracting med students.  Right then he wasn't noticing anything, though.  Instead his eyes were rolling in the back of his head.  I told the med student to let him go and laid him back down.  Sam started moaning and I asked him if he was nauseated, which he was.  That's when I told the med student that we wanted a CT scan done.  

I am so thankful for the medical insurance we have.   Otherwise I would have just watched and waited and not asked for a CT scan.  I liked knowing for sure that he did not have any swelling or bleeding in his brain.  In the end he got 6 stitches to impress the ladies with.  Aw, the pain of being a boy!