Wreck of the Day

So on Monday, I claimed I was having a horrible week - and it was only Monday. Now it's Wednesday & it's just gotten waay worst. This morning Chris left for his "field trip" at around 5:30am or so. At a little after 6am, I received a call from him. I was still sleeping & assumed he forgot something or something lame so when I answered I wasn't fully awake. From the first words, "Hello, Alicia?" I knew I wasn't speaking to Chris. I thought it was one of the other mining kids pulling a prank on me or something. Basically, I was extremely confused. As he was introducing himself I didn't really process what he was saying. I couldn't tell you his name or who he worked for or anything about the initial part of the conversation. But then the voice on the other end mentioned "Chris" and "seizure" and it clicked & I immediately jumped out of bed.

I've known Chris had epilepsy for quite some time but he hasn't had a seizure since long before I've been with him. (He claims like 5-7 years ago.) First I though he crashed while driving (he was designated as one of the drivers to drive the van - full of 10-11 other students - to the Phoenix airport) so it's safe to say I freaked out. The guy on the phone told me to meet him at UMC so I got dressed, brushed my teeth, and hopped on my bike & headed down towards where I thought UMC was. Halfway there I started to panic more as I realized that they're probably going to expect me to take him home with me. I felt like an idiot as I realized that there was no way I could take Chris home on my bike. (Ok, truth comes out now, I don't have my driver's license - I have my permit, but not my license. I just haven't felt comforable or confident about my abilities yet.) So I called Chris's mom. No answer. So I called Roy. No answer. Finally, Roy called me back & I told him what happened & that I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do. He offered to meet me there. Then I got a hold of Chris's mom & she said she was on her way.

After wandering around the buildings for quite some time - trying to find where the ER is, or at least a sign for it - I checked in & was escorted to Chris's room. I entered the room to find Chris with a towel over his face, blood all over his clothes and in his hair and just everywhere. I said "Hi" let him know I was there now & just stood there. Then the doctor came in & for some reason I started getting really hot and sweaty. Then I became nauseous so I excused myself from the room. As I was walking out I began to get dizzy and I must've looked like hell because as I passed the front desk, the guy offered me a bucket. I was extremely close to vomitting - twice - but I managed to cool down. Nothing really triggered it - I'm not grossed out or afraid of blood & the doctor wasn't doing anything gross or scary - he was just asking basic questions. It was weird. His mom came up after I was cooled down and such so we continued to wait for them to take some x-rays, do some blood tests, and yada yada yada.

He bled a lot, but he fortunately didn't break anything. He cut his upper lip pretty bad and had to get a few stiches for that. His nose is pretty swollen and bruised. But he didn't break anything.

Like I said, I've know he's had epilepsy for a while. And I sometimes thought about it and always just hoped I wouldn't be there to witness it. But I thought as long as he was taking his medication he would be fine and seizure free. He's had little twitches before in the morning where his hand jerks & he often times drops a cup or bowl or whatever he's holding. But I thought that was the extent of his seizures. It's scary. To think he could have been behind the wheel. That it could happen again. That he could be driving with me in the car - or anyone for that matter. It's scary. And something we both have to live with.

I'm just going to thank God that it wasn't worse and just relax and take care of my baby right now.