Beach Weekend 2011

Hi friends! We just got back from BEAUTIFUL Mexico Beach, where we had a [mostly] wonderful and relaxing time. The beach was great, but it was too windy to lay out for more than hour...it is February after all. Still, we were able to sit up on the fantastic balcony and look at the water which was good enough for us! It was stunning! Here's a picture to give you an idea of how the weekend started out. (I didn't get many due to a teensy distraction...more on that later)

After a beautiful day at the beach where we inevitably ran into 2 of Tyler's students, we decided to go to Toucan's for a beachy dinner. I wanted pasta and being the Picky Peggy that I am, I wanted the shrimp pasta even though I don't like shrimp--I'd just eat around it. The shrimp pasta suited my needs better, it had mushrooms (maybe my favorite food even though they don't have much of a taste) and yummy alfredo sauce. I got the pasta, and after fishing out the giant, veiny, yucky shrimp, I ate about 3/4 of it. DELICIOUS. If you ever go to Mexico Beach, try Toucans. It's expensive ($17 for my shrimp pasta), but its really good. I digress. Afterwards, my throat was hurting and I thought the only way to remedy it would be ice cream, so we got some and sat down to watch 3+ hours of Sybil. And then I couldn't finish my ice cream (HUGE red flag). My throat was swelling up and closing at a regular pace. I started drinking as much cool water as possible (felt better, anyway) and took advil (stupid). After about an hour, we knew there was no reason to be waiting.

Unfortunately, the closest hospital was in Panama City and we had to drive 30+ minutes to get there. I was panicked. Tyler was scared to death, he didn't admit that of course, but his white knuckles said it all. Having never been to the ER before, you already know how cautious and nervous I am so this shouldn't surprise you, I was a real basketcase. Shaking like a leaf and needing to use the potty REALLY bad. We made it to the hospital and by the grace of God, we were the only people in the ER--thank you off-season! 

By this point, I am gagging if I try to say a word, so Tyler (and his super-sensitive gag reflex) is doing all of the talking for me. I'm assuming the ER staff thought I was either insane or spoke another language, because they all looked so confused. We got checked in and 30 minutes later I'm talking to a PA. The PA was AMAZING by the way--very thorough and very sweet. She immediately recognized my symptoms(closed throat and rash) as a severe allergic reaction..we quickly put together that shrimp was the culprit. She hurriedly got a nurse and set up an IV for me with a nice little benadryl/pepsid/steroid cocktail. Now the steroid got me all kinds of wired and one of the side effects makes you "feel like you have ants in your pants." I thought that meant I'd be antsy. NO. It felt like I'd pulled my pants down and sat on a fire ant bed.  I was squirming and wishing I could just let my throat close on up because that was awful. If anyone ever warns you of such a side effect you get down on your knees and beg for something else. I wanted some ice water poured straight down my pants. Luckily it was short-lived and I was blessed with Benadryl...which made me woozy and sleepy. Sweet PA was talking to me and I have no clue what she said. I just wanted to hug her and fall asleep. Then the steroids had me wide awake again. Then the Benadryl knocked me out again. I was up and down and feeling crazy and "experiencing every unfortunate side effect you could possibly experience" STORY OF MY LIFE! Here I am feeling groovy during a Benadryl phase... 

After the IV cocktail we had to wait. So, inappropriate drugged Hannah came out and did some texting. Mostly I just sent things like "at the hospiatl apprently have shellfigh allergie. dont get your girl prego" Hahaha, it was so much fun reading that this morning! I also had some great things to say, so Tyler wrote them down. I'll add that at the end. After some waiting and watching the wooziness not wear off, the nurse brought in a giant bag of saline to give me, and took me to a room with a bed. I had to document my first wheelchair ride. I also tried to impress the bored/annoyed nurse with my sweet A&P knowledge. I let her know that I was aware what was happening with haptens and the "first line of defense" of my immune system, and that I knew the definition of a uvula (mine was swollen--its that punching bag in the back of your throat). She told me I would get bored with wheelchairs if I stuck with nursing even though I thought this one was cool. This picture must've been taken when I accidentally fell asleep.

Once in the room we got to watch TV, which was conveniently turned to WCW or some other "wrasslin" show. I was awake and asleep in cycles, and when I was waking I was watching the bag of IV fluid drain, all while saying hilarious things I can't remember. Here are the intelligent quotes Tyler recorded:

"I hate peanut butter, especially on bagels."

"My teeth are happy"

"You know what I need? A smartphone. Hannah is...(dozes off)...in the hospital"

T: "Would you please say more hilarious things to me?" Me: "I don't have time. I'm TRYING to heal!"

"Oftentimes I feel a disconnect from my body"

"Just write it down while I lay here and SUFFER."

So, if you ever want to hear me be hilarious on command, feed me shrimp. Also, I have to note that this was all funnier because the swollen throat gave me a speech impediment. To avoid gagging, I didn't say R's. So it was all "suffa" and "smat phone" and "TWYING to heal" I'm guessing I sounded like Bahhhbra from Teen Mom 2. Maybe I should get one of her signature blue shirts.

Ok, this is too long, but I'm still shocked that I've spent time in the ER and I had to record it. I'm on steroids ALL week and taking 2 tests + working 2 jobs, so please pray for me (and mainly Tyler!)

XOXO,

Hannah