Adventure to Urgent Care

It all started friday night. I had a headache, so I took some advil and then it was fine.
Saturday morning I got up, the headache was way worse, and I was dizzy. So I got my water bottle and went downstairs o the kitchen. I filled up my water bottle, turned to get some advil, realized that I was way sicker than I had thought, and then next thing I know, my mom is yelling out my name and I'm on the kitchen floor.
I had a Temp of 101.6. I was so freaked out that I couldn't get up for a bit. My head hurt so much and the shock that I had actually passed out made me not want to get back up again. I spent the rest of the day on the couch, with a cold washcloth over my eyes and an ice pack behind my head. But I saw Pan's Labyrinth! I had been wanting to see that. By evening, I felt okay. My fever spiked during the night though. I was woken up by my mom's icy hand on my burning hot and sweaty neck. She left and cam eback with some extra strength tylenol and a small cup of water.
Sunday was pretty much the same deal of couch time. I could use some covers now, because I wasn't in as much danger of over heating myself.
My mom even stopped at Panda Express to pick up some orange chicken for dinner, since my dad and bro were still at work.
Monday (today) My dad woke me up around 10:30, saying to get up and get dressed because my Mom was going to come back from work and take me to urgent care.
I did not want to go. But I was convinced and so off we went.
I got there and the wait in the waiting room was okay, but when we got in the room in back, it too freakin' forever to get the doctor to come. I told my mom that that must be what hell is like, waiting forever for the doctor that never comes.
So he finally came, and did all the regular testing. Then he said they were going to hydrate me and send a note to get blood work done. we agreed and off he went.
Then it hit me. they want to hydrate me. That means an IV. ughhh!!! AND blood work!!! All of that swirls around ont tiny little evil prickly word. needles.
inside of me!! They were going to stick one in and leave it there!
The nurse came back in with the iv bag, and my mm was just like..." So is the IV really necessary? Can we just get her some gateraids and have her drink the rest of the day?" The nurse was like, yeah, I understand, sure you can do that.
So he leaves with the bag and needles.
Whew! that was a close one!
next thing I know, the Doctor came back in and explained that the IV was really the best way to go and that they were going to use the same insert for the blood wok as they were goign to the IV. so he talked it all up, convinced mym om that it was the best way to go. and my mom pretty much translated all the doctor mumbo jumbo he had said by telling me that, " it's better fluid for you than anyting you can drink." "it's formulated for your body, so it'll take all if it and use it right away and it wont waste as much."
The IV takes an hour to do, but the blood work takes the same amount of time. ahhhhh!!!!
So the IV was back on. Apparently they got one of the best IV inserters to do mine, but I'm pretty sure that's what they say about everyone who is about to insert sharp things into a finicky college student. But I accepted the lie for the sake of my insanity and sat back and let then suck a small vile of my life away, and then insert along tube into my arm. It was all going fine ( after the initial shock of feeling the stupid needle under my skin) until the little asian woman that did the incertion told me not to bend my arm, because the needle was there. I shot a glance at my mom, and I knew she saw terror in my eyes because right away she said "uh-oh. I think that was the wrong thing to say" the asian woman tried to soothe me, saying that nothing was ther, and I didn't have anything to worry about, but the damage was done. it was still there, inside me. And it stayed there. occasionally I would have moments when I would feel it, and then it would feel sore and tingly and i would start to tear up and panic. But my mom was there, and she did her best to keep me distracted. She played eye-spy (even thought there were only 4 color to choose from) had me guess a number from 1-10, and even attempted to tap dance.
I was helped a lot by you guys, texting back and forth, typing out the word with one hand distracted me from noticing the little silver menace lurking under my skin.
Finally it was all done. my blood test was fine except for some strange reason my platelet count is down. =/ they didn't know what that meant, so guess what? I get more follow up appointments with more blood tests to figure out what's wrong with me. oh joy.
on the way home we stopped at a jack in the box. Because the people at urgent care didn't give me a sticker, and I was a darn brave girl who deserved a large cookies and cream milkshake.
I was doing fine after, but then things started to get worse. I'm dizzy again and my head hurts. Fever's down for now, but I'm about to head off to bed, so that means it's bound to go up again in the middle of the night. I'm drinking lots and lots of water, and peeing like a race full of race horses. In fact, I've got to go again, and hit the hay* cuz I'm darn tootin' tired.
love all of you!

-Brenna Kathleen

*get it? "hay" race horse? :D
Jojo, your puns are rubbing off on me

The End of the First Semester

WE'RE DONE!! :D Finals are over and we're all heading home. This is a very bittersweet reality however. Since we haven't told you yet, here's some bad news: Nunu isn't coming back next semester. :'( We are all very sad and we will miss her dearly, but sometimes that's just the way things have to be. God has us all in His hands and He's got our best interests in mind, even though it might not seem like it to us. And don't worry, you haven't seen the last of her! She's going to keep blogging...she's still part of First East, even if she doesn't live here anymore. The rest of us are going to skype her, facebook her, call her, send her tons of letters, etc. Kendall and I are both getting our wisdom teeth out and we're planning on calling Nunu when we're drugged up.

We are all pretty excited to see our families. Nunu left this morning to drive up to Oregon. Brenna's mom came tonight to help her pack up, and then they drove off to San Diego. I fly back to Minnesota tomorrow morning. Hopefully that all goes well and my flight doesn't get delayed. It's supposed to snow at home the rest of the week. I'm also kinda worried that they're going to yell at me for doing something wrong when I check in. I've never flown alone before. Kendall flies back to Northern Cali tomorrow evening. Right now, she's at some weird Torrey Honor student event called Dead Kitty or something. No one really knows why it's called that or what it is...guess we'll find out.

I don't think there's too much else to tell...I suppose I could regale you with stories of our college Christmas, but I've got to go pack up. There's soooo much to fit into two tiny suitcases. I've got to be pretty cutthroat with which clothes I want to bring home. :) Farewell, friends!

-Jojo

Nunu's Birthday!!!

Well, it was last week. But we weren't here, so we celebrated tonight!
First, we kidnapped her!!!

Then we drove her around, confused her by driving around campus and back through, then to the gas station, then to starbucks :D
We finally got to the beach!
and it was time to bust out the jones soda and get a fire goin'
we had all the good stuff: jones (we pronounce it: ho-nehs) soda, oreo cookies with peanut butter, and of course the fixin's for s'mores!!!






THEN!!! We went Drive-thru caroling!!!!! We stopped by Big Lots and got some candy canes, then we drove home, rehearsing songs and stopping by fast food places on the way back. The people LOVED it! :D




I love this one! We ran into the car ahead of us so we had to keep singing a while, but the guy's reaction is awesome! Complete with a jazz hands ending


Finals are fast approaching! We've got to study study study and work work work! for me it's more like study, paint, study draw, paint, draw, study, paint, draw, cut, glue, maybe study. Oh, the joys of being an Art major :D