this year begins with an emergency room visit

lying in bed, minding own business... then sudden, excruciating, mind-blasting abdominal pain. endure, whimpering, for five minutes or so. realize it's getting worse. spend several minutes running around trying to eliminate potential culprits.

pain gets sharper. can't get a deep breath. cold sweat. shivers. can't stand up. grab phone, call 911. go me! decisive, appropriate action!

realize am naked.

root through laundry baskets. call shirley to help herd cats. begin to catch breath. collect all medication into one basket for EMTs. starting to feel better now. (obscurely pleased with self for excellent crisis-handling skills.)

EMTs arrive and do the things they do. pain is gone, breathing returning to normal, temperature normalizing. Shirley arrives; informs me am white as a sheet. EMTs stick ECG pads on me and make me wear the oxygen tube. never did that before, woohoo!

convince EMTs am feeling ok now, promise Shirley will take me to the hospital. drive to hospital. tell triage nurse symptoms, medications, allergies. wait. check in. wait. sit on gurney. tell nurse symptoms, medications. don't these people communicate? answer questions, wait.

really feeling perfectly fine now, other than some wooziness because i'd already taken my bedtime medications.

tell doctor symptoms, medications, answer same questions. wonder if am trapped in bizarre fractal dimension. wait. receive water, pee in cup, wait. huzzah! pee passes test! alas! doctors can't explain cause, refer to GP.

wait. sign papers. go home. post. sleep.

i'm fine.

in case anyone was wondering, i feel perfectly normal today, other than being tired.

other news: naomi_traveller helped me finally put up the matchstick blinds i bought last summer. they look nice.

laundry. i've done lots.