I collapsed in the ER foyer this morning.

I had been leaking cerebrospinal fluid for the past 48 hours, and was in a pain that I can only being to describe as excruciating.  I wouldn't wish it on ANYONE.  My friend Kim came and carried me to her car, drove me to the ER (with me crying and puking the whole way), then ran and got some people to carry me the rest of the way.

I cannot begin to tell y'all how much it hurt.  CSF is like a 'buffer'; your brain and spinal cord and nerve roots all float in it.  If there's not enough of it, then everything starts to sag.....and boy does it hurt.  The doc had to give me 150mgs of Demerol to get me comfortable enough to do the patch this afternoon...he said that he was prepared to give more; he'd had a similar thing happen to him so he knows how much it hurts.

So, I got a epidural blood patch.  Basically, the doctor drew 20cc's of blood from my arm and injected it into my epidural space to plug up the hole and stop the leak.

The results weren't instantaenous, but....4 hours later I'm home and am able to sit up without screaming in  pain for the first time since Thursday.  Now all I have to do is take it easy and allow my body to get my CSF level back to normal.

My boys are staying at Kim's house for the next couple of days, and D and I have already decided that when her husband comes back form the deployment he's on we're going to pay for them to go away for the weekend.  After what Kim has done for me the past couple of days...it's the very least we can do.  She's been an absolute angel.

(I think I spoke to my husband this morning, but what we talked about I don't know.  I recall him calling and my crying, but that's about it.  I'll have to wait for him to call or email tomorrow to see what i said...)

So, hopefully I'm fixed.  For now, anyway...