It's been a frustrating week in many ways, so I'm going to have to vent with a little whining.
Yesterday, though, was the worst. Babs is home for a few days, having completed her spring semester's work and exams. I had an appointment to donate blood at the local blood center. (I'm a member of the Commit for Life program, where you donate quarterly). Babs offered to come with me and donate as well--she'd given blood a couple of times before. After being screened, we were on adjoining chairs, hooked up and bleeding for the cause, when she suddenly said, "I'm feeling dizzy. I'm going to pass out." And then she did.
There was a great scramble among technicians who brought her back after about 10 seconds. I couldn't get up, but lay there anxiously watching. Of course we waited quite a while for her blood pressure to normalize while she drank juice and ate some snacks to revive herself. The general consensus was that her breakfast that morning wasn't hearty enough (she'd had a bowl of cereal about 9 am and then ate a piece of coffee cake just before we left for the center). Apparently she should have had some protein.
That killed the rest of the day because (as they advised us) she was tired, had to nap, and of course was shaken by the experience. Not to mention her mother's reaction! She's fine now, but I am sure she's daunted enough by the experience to be reluctant to donate again.
This topped off a week in which:
We had to cancel our plans to go to MO-Ranch for the annual church family retreat because of El Jefe's work schedule which was thrown off by his day on jury duty (AND we'd already given away our Astros' tickets for 2 games this weekend);
Portia had a fender bender in the parking garage of her apartments Thursday just before she left for a vacation Friday so guess who is now in charge of getting that claim processed and the car fixed long distance;
One of Portia's friends who is at U. of Michigan Law School and starting a summer clerkship at El Jefe's firm on Monday contacted us in a panic yesterday because his housing arrangements in Houston fell through at the last minute, so of course we will host him until alternatives are arranged; and
The lawn service came Thursday and cut not only the grass but the electrical wiring to the A/C system so we had to have an after-hours service call.
On the bright side, since Babs is now staying for the weekend, we were able to get tickets to see the Alley Theatre's new Agatha Christie play this afternoon to cheer us all up.
I feel better now. Thanks for listening.
UPDATE: Saturday afternoon, 4 pm. It's becoming comical. We drove downtown (40 mile roundtrip from Sugar Land) to the theatre and were greeted with a "sorry, the performance has been cancelled" notice! I have NEVER had that happen before. The play was sold out for both performances today, so they must be having technical problems or something. Now I'll have to call the box office and see if we can exchange the tickets for another day or get my card credited back.
We drove home and stopped for ice cream. Then had El Jefe drive us to the grocery store and Babs and I decided to whip up a dinner of shrimp and grits before the Astros game comes on at 6 pm. Sheesh!
Yesterday, though, was the worst. Babs is home for a few days, having completed her spring semester's work and exams. I had an appointment to donate blood at the local blood center. (I'm a member of the Commit for Life program, where you donate quarterly). Babs offered to come with me and donate as well--she'd given blood a couple of times before. After being screened, we were on adjoining chairs, hooked up and bleeding for the cause, when she suddenly said, "I'm feeling dizzy. I'm going to pass out." And then she did.
There was a great scramble among technicians who brought her back after about 10 seconds. I couldn't get up, but lay there anxiously watching. Of course we waited quite a while for her blood pressure to normalize while she drank juice and ate some snacks to revive herself. The general consensus was that her breakfast that morning wasn't hearty enough (she'd had a bowl of cereal about 9 am and then ate a piece of coffee cake just before we left for the center). Apparently she should have had some protein.
That killed the rest of the day because (as they advised us) she was tired, had to nap, and of course was shaken by the experience. Not to mention her mother's reaction! She's fine now, but I am sure she's daunted enough by the experience to be reluctant to donate again.
This topped off a week in which:
We had to cancel our plans to go to MO-Ranch for the annual church family retreat because of El Jefe's work schedule which was thrown off by his day on jury duty (AND we'd already given away our Astros' tickets for 2 games this weekend);
Portia had a fender bender in the parking garage of her apartments Thursday just before she left for a vacation Friday so guess who is now in charge of getting that claim processed and the car fixed long distance;
One of Portia's friends who is at U. of Michigan Law School and starting a summer clerkship at El Jefe's firm on Monday contacted us in a panic yesterday because his housing arrangements in Houston fell through at the last minute, so of course we will host him until alternatives are arranged; and
The lawn service came Thursday and cut not only the grass but the electrical wiring to the A/C system so we had to have an after-hours service call.
On the bright side, since Babs is now staying for the weekend, we were able to get tickets to see the Alley Theatre's new Agatha Christie play this afternoon to cheer us all up.
I feel better now. Thanks for listening.
UPDATE: Saturday afternoon, 4 pm. It's becoming comical. We drove downtown (40 mile roundtrip from Sugar Land) to the theatre and were greeted with a "sorry, the performance has been cancelled" notice! I have NEVER had that happen before. The play was sold out for both performances today, so they must be having technical problems or something. Now I'll have to call the box office and see if we can exchange the tickets for another day or get my card credited back.
We drove home and stopped for ice cream. Then had El Jefe drive us to the grocery store and Babs and I decided to whip up a dinner of shrimp and grits before the Astros game comes on at 6 pm. Sheesh!
6 comments:
You were good not to jump up and faint yourself! I would have had a very hard time continuing to lie down and would have made things worse, no doubt.
Will the lawn service take some responsibility for this? That is really unacceptable.
I hope the play is good!
ouch.
a problem shared is a problem reduced and I do hope that you enjoy the Agatha Christie :)
{{{{{{QG}}}}}}}}
My Thursday was miserable, and I felt better after venting about it in the blog. Thanks for letting loose - that's what we're here for!
Double ouch, triple ouch...I do hope things will soon look up. Good grief.
I, too, turned white and fell over after donating blood one time, and for the same reason; a long time since a small breakfast meant my blood sugar was low. So over I went. It was pretty funny at the time and even now in retrospect. My friends got a big kick out of it; I was, at one moment, chattering away whilst drinking my orange juice and the next, shutting up and toppling over. They said they'd never seen me shut up so quickly ever.
I'd really like to know why we can't have just one calamity at a time. Why do they come on us in bunches?
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