Blind Prophecy

Well, despite the accusations and insinuations of certain family members, pro-gun advocates and anti-queer activists, I can say with a relatively high degree of certainty that there is nothing wrong with my brain.

Last night, after watching Battlestar Gallactica, I was doing a bit of Internet surfing before going to bed, when I was very suddenly hit with the worst, most intense headache I’ve ever experienced in my life. For the first few minutes, I couldn’t even move, just lie still as the back of my head pounded in a way I’ve never felt before.

I grabbed some Tylenol as soon as it started to chill a bit, and found that if I was standing up, it didn’t hurt quite so bad. After a few more minutes, I decided to call the 24-hour advice nurse from my insurance company.

Here’s the thing, if I’d waited another 20 minutes, the headache would have died down enough that I probably wouldn’t have done anything. But at the time, I was freaked out. Big time freaked out. I couldn’t slow my heart rate, I was having trouble breathing, and I was basically having a panic attack on top of everything else.

The advice nurse told me to get myself to the ER.

By the time I got to the ER, I still had the headache, but it was manageable. Still, when I told the doctor my medical history and described the symptoms, he said that he was pretty sure it was nothing bad, but let’s do some tests to be sure. So I had a CAT Scan and a spinal tap. I’ve never had either procedure done before and I’m not terribly eager to have either one done again. Especially the spinal tap.

Although it was a little cool when the doctor showed me the spinal fluid in the little vials before sending it to the lab for analysis.

Both the CAT Scan and spinal tap came back negative for anything out of the ordinary.

Since I’d been able to doze off on the ER bed for a few minutes and seemed to be feeling better, we decided that what had probably happened was that I’d had a muscle spasm in my neck related to poor posture while working on my laptop in bed. Then I got so scared that I made it worse.

Anyway, I finally got home after 4 am and into bed. Now, my back is still sore from the spinal tap, my head still aches a little bit, but it’s all manageable by Tylenol. I’ll probably spend the day at home, though, taking it easy.

I have to say, even though it turned out to be nothing serious, I’m proud of myself for going to the ER. It’s sometimes hard for me to admit that I need help, especially around medical issues. I spent so long without insurance, I’m in the bad habit of just accepting it when my body is doing something strange and figuring out how to cope with it on my own.

Filed under: personal by Jere Keys