Wednesday in the ER.

Everyone told me how hard the adversary would work on me before my mission, and trust me he has, but I never thought I would end up in the hospital!

Last night I decided to go for a run after dinner. I was having a hard time breathing, but just chocked it up to being out of shape. By the end of the run my throat was burning so I decided it must be allergies. I hurried home to take an allergy pill. By this time my hands were also burning-- not good. The back of my mouth started to feel numb and I got a little panicked. I decided to hop in the shower in case there was still pollen in my hair bugging me or something. After being in the shower for about 5 seconds I realized my throat was getting worse so I ran and got another allergy pill (something I NEVER do.. these pills are super strong and make me sooo drowsy, but it was that bad). My dad came in the kitchen and I asked if I was going to survive, totally teasing me for being a drama queen, but when I broke down in tears and tried to talk to him, but couldn't, he knew something was wrong too. We got my Mom and my dad called our home teacher who is a dermatologist while I headed back to the shower hoping washing my hair would still help. I barely got the shampoo on my head when I heard clear as day "you NEED to get to the hospital, NOW". I followed the prompting, shampoo still in my hair and soaking wet, threw on the nearest clothes, and got my parents. We sped to the hospital. Seriously, I've never seen my dad drive like that in my life. I could feel my throat swelling as we drove, it was getting hard for me to breathe, and I started to get really freaked out thinking that soon I wouldn't be able to breathe at all. Luckily when my dad dropped us off at the ER it was empty! A doctor got me in a wheelchair and rushed me back to a room. Also luckily, I saw a good family friend who is an ER doctor on the way and he immediately came to my rescue. They got an IV in me, pumped me full of drugs, hooked me up to all kinds of machines, and asked me a bunch of questions I couldn't answer. When the drugs started to kick in I got soooo woozy, I thought I was going to pass out. My heart was also racing like crazy from the medicine--freaky. My Dad gave me a blessing and told me that everything was going to be alright and I felt calmness finally wash over me. The nurse layed me down and I was overcome by sleepiness. I had two super drowsy allergy pills in my system and now they were filling me up with Benadryl, after all. Every time I would start to drift though my body would start shaking like crazy. It got so bad that I couldn't take a breath without shaking all over. So, they wrapped me up in a few nice warm blankets and I was out like a light. I honestly have no idea how long later, could have been a few minutes, could have been a few hours (I was seriously out cold), a nurse woke me up and told me I could go home! They unplugged me, wrote me a million prescriptions, and sent me on my way. Honestly, I was pretty freaked out to go home. At this point I could breathe but still couldn't talk very well and the doctor told me the swelling could reoccur, how comforting. I was terrified to go to sleep because I kept having the thought my throat would swell up while I was sleeping but I would be so out that I wouldn't realize and wake up. Luckily, I made it through the night!
The Doctor told me it was definitely a food allergy, but I've never had an allergic reaction to food before and we have no idea what it was. Scary! This really freaks me out because I don't know what food to avoid and if this happens on my mission it could take me a lot longer to get to a hospital. Yikes.
However, I'm so grateful to my Heavenly Father for prompting me to go to the hospital as when he did. I'm so grateful for my parents for responding so quickly and keeping me calm. Even though I was freaked out thinking of all the possibilities that could happen, I was comforted by my Father in Heaven the whole time and knew he was telling me that everything was going to work out. I'm grateful no cops were around when my Dad was driving 65 in a 25. I'm grateful my close friend was working in the ER. That was such a comfort to me. Even though last night was a little traumatic, it could have been so much worse. I feel so blessed to have my health and safety. I was definitely watched over last night.

I wish you all health and happiness.
xoxo