Wake up, Chris… you passed out.
Last week Holly came down with some bug that was going around. She told me Thursday morning at work that the previous night she had to crawl to the bathroom to get Advil because she was too weak/high fever to walk!!! (By the way – I made her promise to wake me up next time anything like that happens again!) Anyhow - she told me she was still feeling horrible so she was hoping I could come home early. Naturally this had to happen on a day when I had 5 customers coming in to the office for an all-day meeting where my presence was required!! Fortunately the meeting cut out a couple hours early – but sadly I couldn’t get home till 4pm.
Around the time I left work I’d started to feel pretty bad myself – enough to know I should go to bed early – so I went to bed when the kids did around 8PM. By time I hit the hay I had those fun “fever shivers” which I’d slept through many times in the past – often making it to the morning feeling much better. …but that’s not how it went this time!
At 10:40 PM I woke up with the worst (feeling) fever I’ve ever had.
I was incredibly hot, had a huge headache and could barely move. I shoved the sheets off and ripped off my socks but neither of those things helped. There was also some kind of intense thing happening w/my breath or my heart beat – like there was a very small remaining number of them if I didn’t do something fast. It was a feeling I’ve never experienced physically before – something truly life-threatening.
I looked over at Holly and of course made same mistake she did the night before and decided to NOT wake her up to get the Advil. Instead I propped myself up and stumbled over to her side of the bed (where the Advil was). The last thing I remember was touching the lid of the Advil container.
Moments later I opened my eyes and saw Holly’s shadow leaning over me saying “wake up, Chris”. I then realized I was not in bed… I was on the floor! On the other side of the bedroom!? Holly told me that after I grabbed the Advil she saw me tumble backwards and pass out – slamming into the TV on my way down. I then felt my fever again and remembered what was going on… so needless to say I was really freaked now!
(from my 365 sketch project)
Most of you who know me probably won’t be shocked to hear that I was of course thinking I had mere minutes to live at this point. Every 20 seconds Holly was out of the room to get another washcloth to cool me down felt like an eternity and I was sure it would all end while she was away. It might all seem funny now (picture helps) but man it was seriously intense.
After Holly had planted 6 or so cold wash cloths on me, gotten a straw from downstairs for my water/Advil and calmed me down for 15 or so minutes my panic level started to go down a bit (one of reason’s the photo to the left exists btw) and while the rest of the night was still scary it was all downhill compared to where it all started at 10:40.
From Friday to today Holly’s been taking care of all of us: Lincoln came down with stomach bug and Corgan… well… used up a lot of diapers in a small amount of time. She put up w/my paranoia about the kid’s (minor) fevers and my own slow recovery (she recovered a good 2 days ahead of me!). Thankfully we’re all pretty much back to normal now (kid’s runny noses never go away right?) and I am hoping to go back to work tomorrow.
Through the whole thing I learned, once again, that Holly is an amazing wife and Mommy and one of those core things in my life I know I don’t deserve but am very thankful for :).
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