Early morning wake up

Early this morning I got a rather stressful wake up and had to call an ambulance for Robert.

Starting this out - Robert is 100% okay. 

He woke me up scratching his head about 3 am. Not waking me up by saying "hey Becca, my head itches." No, he was scratching in his sleep, scratching and scratching and scratching.  I asked him if he was okay, but wasn't immediately concerned that he didn't respond. He is a deep sleeper and it is hard to get him to wake up enough to communicate with me.  And then he stopped scratching.

So I put my head back down and closed my eyes and he started again. I made more of an effort to wake him, but still he wouldn't wake and wouldn't stop scratching.  After 10 minutes, turning on the lamp and shaking him - his eyes opened. But he wouldn't stop scratching. And he wasn't talking to me. I was asking him if he was okay over and over and telling him I needed him to answer me, but nothing.

I went and got some water and made him sit up. (You know, in case his mouth was really dry and that's why he couldn't talk. That makes sense right? Don't judge me, it was 3 am.)  I was still asking him if he was okay and he looked sorta blank. He didn't answer me. And was still scratching.  Then he started pulling at his lip and opening and closing his hand while looking at it funny.

My first thought was that he was having a stroke and his face and hand was numb.  He did nod when I asked him if his lip was numb (yay, response...kinda) and he said "mmhuh" when I asked if he knew his name and my name. Then I asked him to say my name. Nothing.  No response.

I grabbed his socks and was going to put his socks and shoes on, load him and the kids up and drive him to the hospital.  Then I thought, what if it is a stroke and he gets worse.  It's an hour drive.  Not to mention that I will definitely freak the kids out. 

New plan: phone - 911.

It seemed like it took fffffffooooooooorrrrrrrreeeeeeeevvvvveeeeeeerrrrr for the ambulance to get here, but from the moment I finally got him awake at 3:10 to the time they were throwing questions at me it was 17 minutes, and at least half of that was the time spent before I called.  While waiting and still on the phone with the 911 operator, I walked to the front door to the bedroom like 20 times to unlock the door, turn on lights, and see if they were here yet.  I did think to lock the dog in the bathroom so he wouldn't go nuts barking at the strangers in the house, and he did go nuts.  Yay for brain cells that work.

And he woke up for them - like fully woke up.  He spoke, answered questions, and understood (sorta) what was going on - mainly that he woke up to a bunch of strangers in his bedroom poking at him and asking him questions, but he didn't know why.   I told them which hospital to go to and followed them out.  He was having trouble walking, but did walk, and there were two very large EMT/firefighter guys on either side helping him walk.  It was very reassuring when the EMT guy turned to me and said they weren't going full siren to the hospital so I shouldn't drive that way either.  I said okay and closed the door.

I let Yoda out of the bathroom so he could huff around the house and make sure the bad guys were going to eat us or something, then got me dressed, the kids up and dressed (well, they dressed themselves).  I had them pack some books and their DS so they would have something to do and called Robert's mom.  Then grabbed my Kindle (for my something to do), made sure I had my wallet, grabbed Robert's phone and wallet in case he wanted them and socks for his feet because he left barefoot.  I should have grabbed shoes too, but it was 3:30 in the morning, I was freaking out but trying not to show it so the kids would stay calm, so I didn't think of it.  For the most part I was able to keep me, Barbara, and the kids calm all morning.  Robert's mom tends to freak out a little easily.  Especially when it comes to Robert or the kids.  It's not a bad thing Barb, love you! And Carus was/is rather concerned, but we reassured her all was okay I just wanted a doctor to help daddy because I couldn't and now we are reassuring her that he is definitely completely okay. Adam has handled it all very maturely. Man, he is growing up so flipping fast.

The kids and I drove to the hospital in the pouring rain and I stayed under the speed limit the whole time. Be proud of me. I wanted to speed, so badly. So really be proud of me.  I wanted to be there now, not so many minutes from now. But it was too wet (stupid rain, stupid Oregon) and I was hydroplaning a smidge as it was, so cruise control and restraint were my friends. Barbara was just a few minutes behind me and we showed up at the hospital just a few minutes after Robert had arrived.  And he talked to me (yay).

They had given him some Benedryl and he immediately improved - looks like it was an allergic reaction.

After several hours of waiting around, and sending gramma and kids off after food and coffee (thank you Barbara! both for watching the kids and the coffee, mostly for watching the kids) the doctor came in and was like Yeah, sometimes we have an allergic reaction to something.  Could have been something you came in contact with, or ate, or a spider bite, or just random.  Next time, take Benedryl and then come in if it gets worse.  Oh, and we'll prescribe you an EpiPen to have on hand just in case. 

I felt silly calling an ambulance for an allergic reaction where he wasn't having trouble breathing; and if I had thought of allergic reaction maybe I could have dosed him with some Benedryl and all would have been fine(maybe, not sure if we have some, will be checking after I finish writing).

But then again, maybe I did make the right decision.

Thank God for my job and the awesome health insurance we have because of it! It is really nice to not have to worry about how much an emergency room is going to cost - yeah, it will be expensive, but at least some of it will be covered. And some is better than none. Every time I use it I am thankful that we have health insurance and aren't like the many that don't or can't have it. It is a nice convenience.

I was able to drive us home okay, which is a feat in itself because Robert is not comfortable being in the passenger seat and I get so nervous when driving with him.  He was the one that taught me to drive - at first, until he freaked out on me for no reason and I put an end to his lessons. Now I revert to the just learning to drive person every time I get in the car to drive with him.  I guess it's lucky I did forget his shoes, if I had remembered he would have insisted on driving. 

We got home about 8:30 and came in and went to bed where we all slept off our early morning adventure (except Adam, cause he has trouble sleeping during the day). 

And that is how my Sunday turned into a completely unproductive day.

Well, I did write this post.

* * * * *
I did check.  We do have some Benedryl in the medicine cabinet. And now I know how Robert's allergic reactions look...

As to what he is allergic to. We have no idea for sure.  We are thinking that perhaps it was the scratches he got from the rose bushes he ripped out yesterday.  I'm not sure if his doctor will want to test to see what it was - or if Robert wants to be tested.

* * * * *
On weekends, at least one morning a weekend, I try to make breakfast. Something more than cereal, like bacon and eggs or biscuits and gravy or waffles or ...  This morning we had planned on having waffles with strawberries and whip cream.  That didn't work out well when we were just arriving back home about the time we would be making breakfast so it got ditched.

Then, later, I decided to ditch dinner plans instead and have breakfast for dinner.

16/365


* * * *
I think I'm going to start posting the weekly menu on Sunday or Saturday... or something.  I never get around to updating the menu page.

Weekly menu 1-16 to1-22

My menu originally had a FFY (fend for yourself night), but with the waffle dinner it has been removed and all dinners were moved down a day.

Sunday - Waffles
Monday - Roast chicken, red potatoes, green beans
Tuesday - Beef and broccoli
Wednesday - Chef salad
Thursday - Baked potato soup
Friday - Chicken noodle soup and grilled cheese sandwiches
Saturday - Beef enchiladas