A Horrible Week

October 12, 2008

This has been a very trying week. A week that could have taken our lives in a very different direction.

I worked at the hospital Monday and Tuesday. On Tuesday, while at work, Aly’s boyfriend called me and said there had been an emergency. Aly was unconscious and coming to the ED by ambulance. He said he found her unconscious, and said they thought she had a seizure. Aly was unconscious. no, No NO!!! This is my baby, my precious baby and nothing was wrong with her! No, not Aly! My heart sank. Panic set in. Immediately I felt my legs tremble. I remember getting up, walking to another nurse, telling her to take my place in triage; finding the charge nurse and telling her I was clocking out. She gave me a blank look; I then told her Aly is coming by EMS, unconscious. She reserve a trauma room for us.

By the time the EMS call came in, my mind was already racing. I had found the key people, gave them all her information. I knew with the EMS call she had regained consciousness… she was talking anyway. John arrived before the ambulance. He said she had called and said she didn’t feel well. She didn’t think she could drive home. She was at Starbucks, in her car, but very light-headed and felt faint, dizzy; she needed him to drive her home. She was only 3 blocks from home and John was 20 minutes away, but she felt bad enough to call him to take her home. Something was wrong, very wrong.

When he arrived, he found her, shoulders drooping, eyes open, but unresponsive, ‘like nobody was home’, drooling, she’d had a seizure. He ran into Starbucks and asked them to call 911, then back to her. He tried to straighten her, remove gum from her mouth, but her body didn’t work, she didn’t respond. First Responders had arrived to the scene and placed oxygen on her. Soon afterward the ambulance came, and loaded her to the rig. Inside, she regained consciousness still confused and combative. It took them several minutes to establish an IV and prepare to transport her. Later, she would tell me she could hear voices telling her to calm down, telling her to sit back, however, she couldn’t see anybody. No wonder she was combative. After her vision returned she became cooperative.

She arrived at the ED confused, disoriented, tearful, and frightened. Quickly my friends worked on her, trying to calm her, allowing me to be her mom, not a nurse. She couldn’t answer simple questions, couldn’t think of where she was or what month it was. Her heart rate was too fast, her oxygen levels too low. I was fearful of the worse scenarios… brain tumors, A-V malformations, bleeds, heart problems–my mind was racing. Rapid testing was taking place; chest x-ray, EKG, blood work, CT of her head and chest, MRI of her brain. We knew she had a seizure, but why? A neurologist was consulted. At first, he thought maybe simple seizure. After his exam he decided it was more complex–she displayed symptoms of both syncope and seizure, yet we didn’t have a cause for either.

To my relief, they decided to admit her. She complained of a terrible headache. Tears rolled silently down her face. Nausea gave way to vomiting. She looked terrible ill, much different than just a few hours before. Something was very wrong- we were missing something. One after another test failed to give us any answers. What was wrong with my little girl? What happened??

Later that evening, her father drove her car back to our house. He returned to the hospital and stated her car had an exhaust leak! Could it be carbon monoxide poisoning??? A simple test would give us the answer; we asked the doctors to order the test. Within the hour, they drew the blood. Seven hours after she first slipped into an unconscious state we finally began to realize what had happened to our precious Aly. Her COHgb level was still 9%!! At the time of discovery it was probably over 18-20%!!

She stayed in the hospital for 3 days, and recuperated well. She stills has severe headaches and becomes very shaky while up. She has slight vision problems, stating it takes a second for things to come to focus.

We could have had such a different outcome. The morning after, I finally allowed myself time to think about how close we came to losing my beloved daughter. What if she hadn’t phoned John?? What if he had delayed or waited another 10 minutes before getting to her? What if…. While laying on the cot next to her hospital bed where she deeply slept, peacefully and perfectly, I finally wept. What IF…. I couldn’t have survived losing her.