Today's adventure in the ER
Cut for TMI.
This morning at 6 am, I was awake (I keep weird hours, generally awake all night) and Stan got up to go to the bathroom. I don't usually talk to him when he gets up to go to the bathroom in the night, because that makes it easier for him to get back to sleep afterward, so he just went in without a word. This next part I only learned afterward: he had terrible gas/gut pain, and strained to poop, and then collapsed. From my room, I heard a tremendous crash. He didn't answer my questions about whether he was okay, so I got up and stood outside the bathroom, and heard...very loud snoring. That was a serious WTF, so I opened the door and found him face down on the floor in a puddle of urine, still snoring loudly. It was abnormally loud and I was extremely weirded out, so I yelled his name and he didn't respond. I continued yelling and shook and slapped him a few times, and he still didn't wake up, just continued snoring. I threw water on him (he hates getting sprayed/doused with water, so I figured that would shock him awake) and he still didn't wake up. Then he abruptly stopped snoring and I was afraid he'd stopped breathing.
Overall, he was unconscious for a few minutes, though I don't really know how long. It probably seemed longer than it was. I was just about to call 911 when he slowly came to, quite confused and disoriented. I asked him if he wanted me to call 911 and he said no -- a doctor and nurse later said I should have. He just wanted to go back to bed, but I was freaking out that he'd had a stroke or brain bleed, so I insisted we go to the ER.
There were only a few people in the ER waiting room when we got there, but of course we waited and waited (in the end we were there 8 hours, and went about 5 hours before seeing an actual doctor). Most of that was in the treatment area, not the waiting room, but not long before we left a doctor mentioned there'd been a multi-casualty incident which slowed things down. While he didn't say what it was, I'm pretty sure it was this.
Anyway, Stan started to feel better after some lingering nausea and retching. They ran a variety of tests, including an ECG and CT scan, which apparently came back normal. Because he'd been straining to poop when the episode happened, the obvious conclusion is that it was a Valsalva Maneuver (which isn't really serious), but the doctor was concerned that it lasted for several minutes, he'd seemed disoriented, and lost control of his bladder. Since there was nothing obviously wrong with his heart or blood sugar, they're concerned it was a seizure. (Edit: I forgot to mention that if it had been fainting, the doctors would expect he'd have felt something right before it happened, and he has no memory of feeling anything. As far as he remembers, he was sitting on the toilet one moment and feeling normal, and then found himself on the floor.) He'll be seeing a neurologist soon, and has been forbidden from driving until getting an all-clear. Since I can't drive, this is kind of a problem, but we did get through years in which neither of us drove, so it's not insurmountable (although he biked for a lot of that, and I certainly don't think he should be biking either). He'll also be wearing a heart monitor for a few days.
At the moment he feels better, although obviously I'm worried he'll have another incident. I dunno, fingers crossed that it isn't serious :\
This morning at 6 am, I was awake (I keep weird hours, generally awake all night) and Stan got up to go to the bathroom. I don't usually talk to him when he gets up to go to the bathroom in the night, because that makes it easier for him to get back to sleep afterward, so he just went in without a word. This next part I only learned afterward: he had terrible gas/gut pain, and strained to poop, and then collapsed. From my room, I heard a tremendous crash. He didn't answer my questions about whether he was okay, so I got up and stood outside the bathroom, and heard...very loud snoring. That was a serious WTF, so I opened the door and found him face down on the floor in a puddle of urine, still snoring loudly. It was abnormally loud and I was extremely weirded out, so I yelled his name and he didn't respond. I continued yelling and shook and slapped him a few times, and he still didn't wake up, just continued snoring. I threw water on him (he hates getting sprayed/doused with water, so I figured that would shock him awake) and he still didn't wake up. Then he abruptly stopped snoring and I was afraid he'd stopped breathing.
Overall, he was unconscious for a few minutes, though I don't really know how long. It probably seemed longer than it was. I was just about to call 911 when he slowly came to, quite confused and disoriented. I asked him if he wanted me to call 911 and he said no -- a doctor and nurse later said I should have. He just wanted to go back to bed, but I was freaking out that he'd had a stroke or brain bleed, so I insisted we go to the ER.
There were only a few people in the ER waiting room when we got there, but of course we waited and waited (in the end we were there 8 hours, and went about 5 hours before seeing an actual doctor). Most of that was in the treatment area, not the waiting room, but not long before we left a doctor mentioned there'd been a multi-casualty incident which slowed things down. While he didn't say what it was, I'm pretty sure it was this.
Anyway, Stan started to feel better after some lingering nausea and retching. They ran a variety of tests, including an ECG and CT scan, which apparently came back normal. Because he'd been straining to poop when the episode happened, the obvious conclusion is that it was a Valsalva Maneuver (which isn't really serious), but the doctor was concerned that it lasted for several minutes, he'd seemed disoriented, and lost control of his bladder. Since there was nothing obviously wrong with his heart or blood sugar, they're concerned it was a seizure. (Edit: I forgot to mention that if it had been fainting, the doctors would expect he'd have felt something right before it happened, and he has no memory of feeling anything. As far as he remembers, he was sitting on the toilet one moment and feeling normal, and then found himself on the floor.) He'll be seeing a neurologist soon, and has been forbidden from driving until getting an all-clear. Since I can't drive, this is kind of a problem, but we did get through years in which neither of us drove, so it's not insurmountable (although he biked for a lot of that, and I certainly don't think he should be biking either). He'll also be wearing a heart monitor for a few days.
At the moment he feels better, although obviously I'm worried he'll have another incident. I dunno, fingers crossed that it isn't serious :\