One for the "Let's Not Do That Again" File: Part 2
Thanks for the gentle prodding to update. I have a habit of getting wrapped up in whatever is going on and I forget to make the time to do that. I intended to update last night, but I was a little preoccupied (
see below).
Saturday started off great. I pretty much zonked out Friday night and slept late on Saturday to catch up on some much needed Z's, then got up ready to get shit done. I ate a quick lunch (unusual for me, somehow I usually end up not eating on Saturdays) spent some time cleaning and vacuuming 'Casa de Cockroach', did 3 loads of laundry, made a few calls, ran some errands, went grocery shopping, then came back for 2 hours of intensive lawn mangling. After all of that (and feeling quite proud of myself for getting so much done), I wandered back inside for a bit of toob time which quickly led to a few more Z's stuck in for good measure.
Work is done, it's time for fun! So up I get and haul my carcass away for a shower just in time to head out to the club to hang out with some friends. A lot of laughs, 4 beers and 3.5 hours later it was time to go. Club 1 is done so what to do? I know! I know! We'll hit Club 2!
So off we went to continue our revelry at an after hours club. Got there at 2am still having fun. I knew I'd have to drive home around 3:30 (or so I thought ), so I got one more beer to nurse for the rest of the night while we continued cutting up, as usual. Well, at 3am I decided I was done for the night and was saying goodbye to a buddy of mine when the world went black. He told me later that, in mid-sentence, somebody flipped a switch and my lights went dark and I hit the floor. He and another friend (both big guys) picked my rag-doll, corpse-like ass off the floor and tried to stand me up. Not happening, so they lifted and got my legs under me again...still jelly, I'm completely out. They say the third time is the charm and so it was in this case. I stood up and the first thing I remember is thinking they had all lost their collective minds because they kept asking me if I was OK. I had no idea that I had even hit the floor and by the time I was standing was perfectly awake and coherent. Total time out: 1 minute. Now, both these guys are bouncers so they've seen plenty of people pass out, but this had them both spooked because they both knew how much I hadn't had and they both said they had never seen anyone collapse like that. Perfectly coherent one second, out the nest. I just went limp. No warning...nothing.
Well, everyone there was aware of the brain reconstruction I underwent, courtesy of my accident, about a year and a half ago so there was more than a little bit of concern. After talk of an ambulance, we decided that someone would drive me to the emergency room, instead. Once there, and after the staff heard about my prior accident, things got busy. Blood work, CAT scan, head and chest X-ray...and all the while, I feel fine. While the Dr. is telling me that he doesn't see anything wrong in either the CAT scan or X-rays, the nurse comes in with the blood results. Blood alcohol: 0.013 (impaired is 0.08 here in PA)...that certainly wasn't it. 'Hmmm' says the Dr. while looking at my blood results. He then proceeds to give his best Homer Simpson impression (complete with 'Doh!') and says he should have thought of this sooner. "What did you do today?", he asked. So I told him. "Did you drink anything today?" Well, I had 4 and a half beers, but I already told you that. "No, before the bar. Alcoholic or otherwise." Now it's my turn for a 'Hmmm'. No, I don't think I did. "Well, these results show that your electrolytes aren't far off, but you are severely dehydrated. Next time, mow the yard with a Gatorade in your hand. For now, we're going to get some fluids back into you. You aren't leaving here until you have to pee." I swear, he really said that.
After I stopped laughing, got the fluid replacement lecture with special emphasis on 'beer doesn't count', and got pumped full of 2.2 Liters of iv fluids, I finally had to pee and got released. That was it. I got home, at last, around 8am and crashed hard.
Moral of the story: Drink something, stupid!
A big 'hats off' to my buddy Jake and his friend (whose name I didn't catch) for taking me to the hospital and to Sue and the guys for arranging for someone to have my truck waiting for me at the hospital when I got out. It's good to have friends and you guys are the best!!!
Thanks for the gentle prodding to update. I have a habit of getting wrapped up in whatever is going on and I forget to make the time to do that. I intended to update last night, but I was a little preoccupied (
see below).
Saturday started off great. I pretty much zonked out Friday night and slept late on Saturday to catch up on some much needed Z's, then got up ready to get shit done. I ate a quick lunch (unusual for me, somehow I usually end up not eating on Saturdays) spent some time cleaning and vacuuming 'Casa de Cockroach', did 3 loads of laundry, made a few calls, ran some errands, went grocery shopping, then came back for 2 hours of intensive lawn mangling. After all of that (and feeling quite proud of myself for getting so much done), I wandered back inside for a bit of toob time which quickly led to a few more Z's stuck in for good measure.
Work is done, it's time for fun! So up I get and haul my carcass away for a shower just in time to head out to the club to hang out with some friends. A lot of laughs, 4 beers and 3.5 hours later it was time to go. Club 1 is done so what to do? I know! I know! We'll hit Club 2!
So off we went to continue our revelry at an after hours club. Got there at 2am still having fun. I knew I'd have to drive home around 3:30 (or so I thought ), so I got one more beer to nurse for the rest of the night while we continued cutting up, as usual. Well, at 3am I decided I was done for the night and was saying goodbye to a buddy of mine when the world went black. He told me later that, in mid-sentence, somebody flipped a switch and my lights went dark and I hit the floor. He and another friend (both big guys) picked my rag-doll, corpse-like ass off the floor and tried to stand me up. Not happening, so they lifted and got my legs under me again...still jelly, I'm completely out. They say the third time is the charm and so it was in this case. I stood up and the first thing I remember is thinking they had all lost their collective minds because they kept asking me if I was OK. I had no idea that I had even hit the floor and by the time I was standing was perfectly awake and coherent. Total time out: 1 minute. Now, both these guys are bouncers so they've seen plenty of people pass out, but this had them both spooked because they both knew how much I hadn't had and they both said they had never seen anyone collapse like that. Perfectly coherent one second, out the nest. I just went limp. No warning...nothing.
Well, everyone there was aware of the brain reconstruction I underwent, courtesy of my accident, about a year and a half ago so there was more than a little bit of concern. After talk of an ambulance, we decided that someone would drive me to the emergency room, instead. Once there, and after the staff heard about my prior accident, things got busy. Blood work, CAT scan, head and chest X-ray...and all the while, I feel fine. While the Dr. is telling me that he doesn't see anything wrong in either the CAT scan or X-rays, the nurse comes in with the blood results. Blood alcohol: 0.013 (impaired is 0.08 here in PA)...that certainly wasn't it. 'Hmmm' says the Dr. while looking at my blood results. He then proceeds to give his best Homer Simpson impression (complete with 'Doh!') and says he should have thought of this sooner. "What did you do today?", he asked. So I told him. "Did you drink anything today?" Well, I had 4 and a half beers, but I already told you that. "No, before the bar. Alcoholic or otherwise." Now it's my turn for a 'Hmmm'. No, I don't think I did. "Well, these results show that your electrolytes aren't far off, but you are severely dehydrated. Next time, mow the yard with a Gatorade in your hand. For now, we're going to get some fluids back into you. You aren't leaving here until you have to pee." I swear, he really said that.
After I stopped laughing, got the fluid replacement lecture with special emphasis on 'beer doesn't count', and got pumped full of 2.2 Liters of iv fluids, I finally had to pee and got released. That was it. I got home, at last, around 8am and crashed hard.
Moral of the story: Drink something, stupid!
A big 'hats off' to my buddy Jake and his friend (whose name I didn't catch) for taking me to the hospital and to Sue and the guys for arranging for someone to have my truck waiting for me at the hospital when I got out. It's good to have friends and you guys are the best!!!
VIEW 5 of 5 COMMENTS
tobaselly:
welcome to SGPhilly
misterusername:
I had the same thing happen to me once. Except I was leaning out the door of a moving bus to puke when I lost consciousness. I woke up in my own puke with a bunch of people standing over me. It was bizzare.