An Angel For Guidance

It was October 21,1998, My Parents Wedding Anniversary. Mom and I had gone shopping weeks before to find a new shower curtain for my bathroom. We hung the curtain outside for a week or so just to get theplastic smell out. On this night my Dad hung it up for me. At about 8:30pm,they went home. Mom and Dad live on a boat and I live in an apartment in the same Marina. They're close by if I ever need them. I laid down on my bed with the cat and called a friends. We talked for about 20 minutes, I was suddenly getting really sleepy , so I said good-bye and decided to get ready for bed and watch some TV I was having some trouble breathing, as I had been off and on all day at work. I just thought it was something in the air irritating my allergies as usual, so I didn't think anything of it. I did my nightly routine of inhalers. Something's not right, the inhalers are not working. "Relax" I thought, it will all go away in a minute, just relax! But nothing was working. I started to feel numb. I knew I was in trouble! I reached for the phone to call my parents. I hear my dad's voice and I say,"Help,I can't breath!" According to my parents they were in my apartment within seconds. I remember hearing my Dad say,"She's Purple!"

Suddenly, there was a bright light with a haze around it. "Where am I?" Every thing is so dark, except for this one bright light that won't go away. I blink my eyes because it is so blinding. I see a shadow in the light. I move closer. Hmm....wait a second, I'm walking! Where is my wheelchair? What in the world is going on? I must be dreaming, that's it, I'm dreaming. I'll blink my eyes and this dream will be over. But when I blink, the shadow is closer, I'm still here. Where ever here is. I look at the shadowy figure again. It's a person, a girl. I know her! I recognize her as an old friend from High School. I start running to catch up to her. Without a word, she puts out her hand to stop me. Something is telling me to come closer but she won't let me. I turn around to see if I can go the other way, there's another shadow in a bluish light, it's a man, an old friend, he's holding his hand out for me to come, and I hear voices.

"Start another IV","Let's run a CAT Scan",I hear. I start to tremble,"What in the world is going on here? What is happening to me? I still don't understand where I am, but this man is letting me know it's OK to come towards him. Then I hear my Dad's voice,"Come on kid, come back to us." I hear a voice say, let's go outside, we don't know how much she can hear. "Wait a minute",I think to myself,"the last thing I remember was not being able to breathe. That must mean, I'm in a hospital. But why can't I see anyone?" I try blinking my eyes again, it's hard to open them. I try to move my arms, but I can't, it's like I'm frozen. OK, I have to get someone's attention to let them know I'm here. Let's see if I can move my head. Yep, I can move it a little, but no one must be watching, no one said a word. OK, concentrate and let's see if I can move my arm. Nothing! My only hope is to try and blink and hope someone sees me. Blink, blink. I hear my Dad,"She's awake!" I hear my Mom, we're here honey, wake up. You're going to be OK. I try to speak, but can't. I feel something in my mouth. Mom says, you've got tubes in your mouth to help you breath. They're uncomfortable and make me gag. I hear the doctor say,"Now that she's awake, let's get her to a room." He tells my parents that I'm not out of the woods yet because I can't breathe on my own, so I will be put in ICU at least over night. I'm awake off and on all night. My mom is staying with me. When I can't sleep I'm restless and want to try and communicate. Mom attempts to understand my sign language, which isn't easy but we get through it. She's yelled at for not letting me relax. I know now that if it wasn't for her keeping me talking and being there, I would not have made it through the night. I was restless and uncomfortable, and I still couldn't open my eyes and could barely move my arms. I found out later that they put drops in my eyes to keep them from drying up. And they paralyzed me to keep me from pulling out the tubes. When I was awake, I concentrated on breathing on my own. I knew that was the only way I was going to get the tube out anytime soon. By morning I am more aware of what's going on. My eyes hurt and I still can't open them. I can move my arms now but they're heavy. Mom says I have IV's in both arms and they've tied me down so I don't harm myself. The doctor comes in to check on me. He says I'm doing great and in about two hours I can have the tubes taken out. Let me tell you now, that was the longest two hours of my entire life. I could not wait to get that tube out of my mouth (if any of you have ever had that done to you, you know what I was going through, and it's not fun)! Finally, a nurse comes in and starts to take the tubes out. First I feel a tug on my nose, OUCH! I didn't know that was there. OK, here we go, now for the tube in my mouth. One,two,three,POP! Cough, Cough! I felt like a cork was pulled from my throat! I'm told that I need to stay in ICU one more night then I can go to a regular room on Friday. On Friday, October 23, I am in my own room. Dr. Stephen Hannen,whom was my admitting ER doctor, comes to see how I am. He tells me we still don't know what caused it, but I had an allergic reaction. I told him everything I had done that day. The last thing I remember eating was a Sloppy Joe sandwich and some pringles potato chips. I would spend the weekend in the hospital.

When I was discharged on Monday, October 26, my papers simply said, do not eat sloppy joe or pringles. I remained tired all weekend and when it came time to come home, I told Dr. Hannen I didn't feel ready. Something inside me said to stay there. He just said, it's jut anxiety and you need to rest at home, you can go back to work on Wednesday if you feel up to it. OK, I thought, you're the doctor, I'll go home,but....I just didn't feel comfortable. My Dad came and got me on Monday and we went home. I was week and very tired and just wanted to go home and take a nap. We pulled up into the parking lot and I was greeted by my cat Sandie,who was very glad to see me. We got into the house, I was sweating bullets and Sandie walked away from me but laid on the floor watching. I went to the bedroom to lay down. Still sweating, I suddenly couldn't breathe. "Oh No" I yelled! Dad came into the room and I told him I couldn't breathe again. The next thing I know, I'm waking up in the ambulance! I feel the tube in my throat again. I woke up a lot faster this time for some reason. I immediately started resisting the tubes but the paramedic held my hands down. I must have blacked out again, because when I woke up, I was in the ER Mom came from work and both were with me. I hear the nurse say that I'm awake. I hear Dr. Hannen say,"If she's awake, I want to hear her story about what happened. Except for the sloppy Joe and pringles,every thing was the same as it was that night. He said, "Take everything off that girl that you just stuck in her, she's allergic to Latex!" I don't think I've ever seen people move so fast. I was kept over night and was told to see my allergist with in 10days. Now began the research on Latex Allergies.

I had heard about this allergy before, but just in the last few years. You see, I was born with Spina Bifida. People with Spina Bifida are second inline to Nurses to get this allergy. It's a progressive allergy, most don't know they have it until something severe happens unfortunately. I had suspected it for about 3 years, that I did have Latex allergies, but never could convince a doctor otherwise, even my allergist said, I "couldn't" have it. Well, after my two episodes of anaphylactic shock, my doctors have been listening to me more. The first time I saw my allergist after I got out of the hospital, he actually apologized for misdiagnosing me. Thanks to my computer I can now do research on my own before I go into the doctor. It helps him and I both understand what's going on with me. So I make it a habit of researching before an appointment on anything I have questions on and then I present it to any one of my doctors. Most of them are comfortable with the fact that I'm ready to argue with them on my treatments. I don't even take a prescription anymore unless I've looked it up first. The Internet has become a great tool for me, not only because of my disability but because of this allergy too.

This site is dedicated to my Mom and Dad. I would not be alive today if it wasn't for them starting CPR before the Paramedics arrived. To the Paramedics who responded so quickly. And last but not least, to Dr. Stephen Hannan and the staff and Lee Memorial Health Park in Ft. Myers Florida.