Wednesday, July 13, 2011

My Very First DB Meetup

When I became a part of the blogging community, it never occured to me that I would want to meet anyone in person. I have no idea why. I guess my health crisis last fall changed everything.

Mikey over at Tu Diabetes has been organizing monthy meetups for a long time, and always kept me on the list. When I got the email that there was going to be one on June 28, I really wanted to go.

That morning I was out walking and an elderly lady was pulling out of her driveway. She motioned for me to go ahead, and when I was directly in front of her car gunned the accelerator and knocked me to the pavement. I was terrified I'd broken something. A man on the other side of the street said he was an EMT and asked if I could wiggle my finger and toes and if I'd hit my head. Yes. Yes. No.

I went home and rested and then went to the meetup. I was feeling a little wobbly but attributed it to the heat. I immediately felt at home with these people. Very pleasant. There were three pumpers, one poker and one pen user. Conversation flowed smoothly.

Scott offered me a ride home and I accepted. Two seconds after we'd gotten up from the table, I found myself sitting on the floor. Of course, everyone suggested I take my bg - 217.

So Scott and I toodled off and my head began to swirl. I don't think he knew I was about a millimeter from upchucking in his front seat. I crawled into bed with all my clothes on and by the next morning felt a little better.

I went to Urgent Care and they said I had an acute strain of my torso muscles. My upper left stomach was starting to hurt.

The pain increased and on Sat morning I woke up and was hurting so badly I could hardly turn to get the phone to call the ambulance.

I was whisked away to my primary hospital and about 15 minutes later the doc said I had a ruptured spleen and was bleeding into my belly. They wanted to save it if at all possible, so I was transferred to Hennepin County Trauma Center, where they could operate within a minute's notice. I had to have ultrasounds every half hour. Then I developed a 103 fever and rapid heartbeat. On Friday I was still feeling very ill but they said I could go home.

The weekend was horrible. I went to my sister's for a night but there new dalmation puppy got on my nerves. Today was the first day I felt reasonably okay. Still very weak and shakey and flooded with memories of my big hospital stay last fall.


Here we have Scott, me, Dean, Ann (and her adorable super pooch service dog, Lili), and Mikey. Mikey's son was behind the camera.


And who is this man with the vibrant smile? A potential car jacker?

15 comments:

Colleen said...

I'm so glad you went to the meet-up.
Jeez - hit by a car - sigh......
Love the photo of ALL of you!

Rachel said...

Oh, K, I can't believe your rotten health luck.

(Though I am glad you got out to see everyone before you felt like total youknowwhat.)

The DL said...

I'm sorry to hear about all your troubles! I hope you feel better soon.

Auntly H said...

Yikes! I hope you have a speedy recovery.
I keep meaning to go to that meet-up, but it hasn't worked out so far. I'm going to try for the July one, though.

George said...

Scott called to tell me about your rough day and the meet up. I am so sorry about all the other stuff. I hope you feel back to normal soon.

I want you to know that I was thinking about you all that morning. I told Scott that I was hoping that maybe by some stroke of miracle we would cross paths and meet. It was weird when he told me you went to the meet up. I actually started crying because you were on my mind. Weird and then not weird.

I hope the next time I am in Minnesota we can meet and you will not get hurt! We can't have that happen again.

<3 George

Scott K. Johnson said...

Holy Sheet Kathy!!!!! The car ran you over and ruptured your spleen?!?!!? OMG!

I think you've earned new bragging rights for attending a meet-up even with a ruptured spleen and internal bleeding. I knew you were hardcore, but whoa!

I'm sorry that you have been feeling so bad, but am glad that you are back home and resting.

Please reach out if you need anything. Much love to you!

Kelly Booth said...

I am so sorry that you were hit by that woman. That is horrible! Next time anyone waves for me to go ahead, I will think of you and wait until they pull out.

I am glad that you were able to make it to the meet-up though. That at least would be fun.

Unknown said...

Holy Moly!!! That is some story. I had a feeling that some part of you was injured by the way the story was twisting and turning. I am glad that you are feeling better. Love and best wishes. Your VLOG during D-Blog-Week made a lasting impression on me.

Valerie said...

How scary! I'm glad you were able to get to the hospital in time.

Zazzy said...

Oh - wow! I can't imagine! I'm so glad you're feeling better and you got to go to the meet up. I would sure like to meet you sometime. Take care of you and big hugs!

worker said...

holy cow!! im so bummed to hear this
i was worried and called to ask scott if you were ok. omg this is unbelievable.dam what were we thinking.im really really sorry.you will go down as the only person to make a meet up after getting hit by a car!!
im so glad i got to meet you.is it ok to say thanks for coming?
get better soon.

Pearlsa said...

So glad you are healing (((hugs)))

Molly said...

Oh. My. Gosh!

What a story. Seriously, that is horrible. (the being hit by the car and having injuries, not the meet up part)

Hope that you can rest and recover from that trauma.

Hope to meet you sometime soon.

Molly and Dixie

Karen said...

Oh my goodness!!!! Boo to that woman for running my good friend over!!! I'm glad you are healing and I'm glad you made it to the meetup. There is something magic about hanging out with a bunch of DOC members (and the magic is doubled when one of them is Scott!!)

Electronic Medical Records said...

That was an emergency well handled and you would need to take precaution and care for the suture.Good that there was timely medication this time around.Wish you a speedy recovery.