The Scariest Moment of my life
was April 5th, 2008 at about 2:30 in the morning. My wife Amber had come home early from work because of a bad migraine and very high blood pressure. We were sitting on the couch talking when she grabbed her head, immediately laid down, and told me to call 911. Something you should know is that Amber is a registered nurse and knows her body very well, so when she says that something is wrong and to call 911, I take her very seriously.
She then began to cry hysterically while trying to explain to me what she was feeling. A tremendous rush of pressure in her head, pressure behind her eyes, tightness in her chest, blurred vision, and nearly about to pass out. As she is telling me all this I am repeating for the 4th time our address to the 911 operator as well as telling her repeatedly that we do not live in a sub-division. The pressure subsides for a few moments and then comes back again before the ambulance arrives. Every time the pressure comes I see this fear in Amber’s eyes that I have never seen or experienced with anyone in my life, and the worst thing was that there was nothing I can do to help her.
The paramedics get to the house and wheel Amber out to the ambulance to take her to the hospital. At this point I have already called Larry, our Campus Pastor, to meet us at the emergency room and gotten Kenadie’s things together. I rush to the hospital to catch up with Amber only to find that she is going to have to wait in the waiting room. WHAT!? She came in by ambulance and you are putting her in the waiting room! I couldn’t believe it but unfortunately there was nothing that we could do but wait. Luckily Larry and Deanna, his wife, graciously offered to take Kenadie back to their house so that she could sleep and we could focus on figuring out what was wrong with Amber.
Not even an hour into waiting Amber begins to have the same problems again. The triage nurse checks her out, tells her that she is just hyperventilating and needs to calm herself down. WRONG! Will someone please knock this woman out before I do. But again we waited and waited. Until 3 hours later when something new happened. Amber’s fingers began to curl in towards the palm for her hands and she couldn’t move them at all. Then they begin to turn blue and she begins breathing heavily and cannot control her breathing. At this point I am frantically telling the nurse what is going on and that she needs help NOW!
They rush her back into the ER and lie her down on a bed in the hallway. They put a mask on her and start rubbing her fingers and arms. After about 5 minutes her fingers look normal again and she seems to be okay for the time being. Again she is told that this was all caused from her hyperventilating. Three hours later they put her in a room and slowly begin to run some tests. A very long story shorter, 13 hours later all the tests (CAT Scan of her head and chest, Lumbar Puncture, blood work, and 2 EKG’s) come back normal. At this point they decide to admit her as a patient since she is still having the episodes.
So now it’s 11pm the same day, Amber has just gotten into her non-private room and they tell me that I have to leave. That’s right, I can’t stay because she is sharing a room with someone else. I couldn’t believe it, definitely one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. Luckily someone finally decides to hook us up as she realizes Amber works at this hospital. Hello?! We have been telling you all this since we got there. So she puts Amber’s name at the top of the list for a private room because there were none available at the time. So the next day they put Amber in a private room and I am able to stay through the night the following evening.
After 2 nights and a few more tests (MRI, carotid doppler, and an EEG) they couldn’t find anything wrong with her and decide to discharge her. Amber and I decide to do some digging on a medication she had began taking a few weeks back, Topamax, and realized that was what had caused all the problems. Her body had gone into Metabolic Acidosis, not something you ever want to experience. The sad thing was that the many doctors that saw her all refused to believe that the medication had anything to do with her symptoms every time we brought it up to them.
Since this happened she hasn’t had any symptoms resembling what she had that weekend. It was definitely the scariest moment of my life and something that I hope Amber nor I ever have to experience again. By the way, we just found out the cost from the hospital that weekend…$43,000.00, how crazy is that!? Thank God for insurance. 
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