Proper handling of dehydrated WASPs...
Now that fabricdragon has confessed to allowing herself to dehydrate, I'll tell my side of it.
Background
Kirsten is prone to dehydration and heat exhaustion. A few years ago at Pennsic (click the link if you're unfamiliar with the event) she dehydrated while setting up her tent. She was taken to the Chirurgeon's (i.e., medic's) tent, where they gave her two (2) 1000ml (i.e., 1 liter) bags of saline solution. She fortunately recovered without having to go to the hospital for further treatment.
(N.B. #1: I did not hear about this until several days after it happened.)
(N.B. #2: The total blood volume for a woman her size is about 6 liters. This means that she'd reduced her blood volume by 1-2 liters, while increasing it's density and viscosity, thus decreasing oxygen flow. Oy.)
Last year (2006) at Pennsic, she collapsed in the parking lot of the Wal-Mart in the town nearest the campground. She was taken to the hospital and again given at least 2 liters of saline (I don't recall the exact amount). She called me from the hospital to let me know what had happened.
(N.B. #3: Pennsic is held in Slippery Rock, PA, which is about 1.5 hours north of Pittsburgh. We live in Philadelphia, at least a 6-hour drive away.)
I, naturally, panicked. I thought I was going to have to go out there to do something (don't ask me what). Fortunately (for our budget), she told me that she would call me if I was needed, but otherwise not to worry (sh'yah, right!). As it happened, she was alright the next day, and so I did not need to go out there.
Being utterly frustrated at my relative impotence in the situation...
(N.B. #4: Snarky comments here will get you soundly beaten the next time I see you!)
...I did the only thing I could: I called her friend Jane Sibley (aka Auntie Arwen, dba The Crystal Connection (go there and buy things!)) who was on her way to Pennsic and told her what had happened. She assured me that she would tell everyone she knew what had happened, and that they all would make sure that Kirsten stayed hydrated. They did, she did, and I was (and am) quite grateful for their help.
Anyway...
Current Events
Kirsten had gone to New York City yesterday morning (Tuesday, July 10th, 2007) to purchase pearls for her sales at Pennsic this year. She'd driven up to the Trenton Train Station, parked her car in their garage, then taken the train from there to Penn Station in NYC. I expected to hear from her at some point saying she was en route home.
So I'm working away in my cubicle yesterday when I get a phone call at around 3:20 PM. It went about like this:
Me: Hello?
Kirsten: (faintly and woozily) Hello?
Me: (worried at how she sounds) Hi, hon. What's up?
Kirsten: (still woozy) I need to go to the hospital. Sick.
Me: (panicked) What's wrong? Where are you?
Kirsten: (woozy) Dehydrated. On train. Heading to Trenton. Can you find me a hospital?
Me: (panicked) What train are you on?
Kirsten: (woozy) 3:01.
Me: (frantically searching NJ Transit's website) Okay. You'll be getting to Trenton at 4:04. Uh, uh, I can't get home until 4, and it'll take me an hour to get to Trenton.
Kirsten: (woozy) Okay. Gonna hang up. *click*
Time for full panic! Then, with my best "think fast, Rabbit!", I realized that my co-worker and assistant admin would be leaving work at 3:30. I quickly explained the situation and asked him for a lift home, to which he agreed. We got out at 3:30, and he got me home at around 4 PM. (Thanks, dude!)
Once home, I got another call from Kirsten's phone. It was the Chief Conductor from the train she was on. He said that they had called ahead to Princeton Junction for an ambulance and that they would be taking her to the hospital. I thanked the gentleman, and asked him to tell the ambulance personnel to call me when they knew where they would be taking her.
Having then gotten home at 4 PM, I waited. And waited. And waited. I tried calling her phone twice, but each time it just rang until it went to voicemail.
(N.B. #5: I didn't want to just head north at random until I'd heard something from someone (like, where to go). I figured that driving frantically through rush hour traffic wouldn't help anything.)
Finally, at 4:35, I got a call from the hospital. She had been taken to Princeton Medical Center in Princeton, NJ. They let me speak with her in the ER. She sounded marginally better, and said that she'd been given some fluids and was getting more. She got a nurse to tell me the directions to the place, and then the nurse hung up.
Scramble, scramble, throw self and relevant materials into the van and take off at around 4:50.
After only one minor mistake, I find the hospital. I rolled in at around 6 PM. The very polite guard at the ER walk-in entrance walked me to her treatment room.
Having had (as it turned out) nearly 1 liter of fluid already put into her by that point, Kirsten sounded worse than she looked. She was groggy and tired, and looked like she wanted to sleep. At the time I walked in, they were giving her a shot (through the IV) of Zofran (an anti-nausea drug).
I sat down and we talked for a while. Her lucidity kept improving as more fluid went into her. Over the time I was there, she finished off the second half of a liter bag of saline and another whole bag. In total, she got about 2.5 liters of saline put into her.
(N.B. #6: As noted above, this is nearly half of her blood volume!)
Her blood work finally came back at around 7:30, and it looked good (amazingly, her potassium was just fine, as was her blood sugar). They wanted to keep her around for another 2 hours, but she convinced them to let her finish her last bag and let her go. They finally got her discharge paperwork filled out and done by around 8:30 PM, and we left.
(N.B. #7: Princeton Medical Center ER is a very clean, very modern facility staffed by some of the friendliest and most professional people I've ever met. If you ever need ER services and are in that vicinity, go there in preference to anywhere else.)
After trying to back-track the directions I had and failing, we ended up on Route 206 South. This took us to I-95 West/South back into Pennsylvania. This was a minor annoyance, as I'd been trying to get back to US-1 South to get to the Trenton Train Station.
Once at the Station, Kirsten went off to find her car. After about 15 minutes, she tracked it down and called me to let me know I could head home.
(N.B. #7: I wasn't completely certain about the advisability of all this, since she still sounded rather ill; however, we did have to get her car home, and our options were rather limited.)
In the end, she got home at around 10:30 PM. After getting her drinks, helping her get around the house, et al, she finally got to sleep (with the help of some Nyquil) at around 1:00 AM.
Conclusion
I'm sorry she got sick like this again.
I'm glad I was in a position to help this time.
And I have a request for you all:
If anyone reading this finds themselves at Pennsic this year, which is traditionally one of the hottest, nastiest camping events ever devised...
make sure she drinks something!
I do not want to hear that she has gotten dehydrated again.
Granted, I have no effective control over her behavior, nor any effective or desirable threats to present to her in the event of her non-compliance; even so, I believe that she can be guilted into submission with enough work.
Please help guilt my wife into taking her own advice!
I know you can do it. We're all an extremely manipulative lot, and this time it's for a good cause.
And, Kirsten?
I'm only doing this because I love you (and you deserve it).
Your frazzled husband,
Wayne
Background
Kirsten is prone to dehydration and heat exhaustion. A few years ago at Pennsic (click the link if you're unfamiliar with the event) she dehydrated while setting up her tent. She was taken to the Chirurgeon's (i.e., medic's) tent, where they gave her two (2) 1000ml (i.e., 1 liter) bags of saline solution. She fortunately recovered without having to go to the hospital for further treatment.
(N.B. #1: I did not hear about this until several days after it happened.)
(N.B. #2: The total blood volume for a woman her size is about 6 liters. This means that she'd reduced her blood volume by 1-2 liters, while increasing it's density and viscosity, thus decreasing oxygen flow. Oy.)
Last year (2006) at Pennsic, she collapsed in the parking lot of the Wal-Mart in the town nearest the campground. She was taken to the hospital and again given at least 2 liters of saline (I don't recall the exact amount). She called me from the hospital to let me know what had happened.
(N.B. #3: Pennsic is held in Slippery Rock, PA, which is about 1.5 hours north of Pittsburgh. We live in Philadelphia, at least a 6-hour drive away.)
I, naturally, panicked. I thought I was going to have to go out there to do something (don't ask me what). Fortunately (for our budget), she told me that she would call me if I was needed, but otherwise not to worry (sh'yah, right!). As it happened, she was alright the next day, and so I did not need to go out there.
Being utterly frustrated at my relative impotence in the situation...
(N.B. #4: Snarky comments here will get you soundly beaten the next time I see you!)
...I did the only thing I could: I called her friend Jane Sibley (aka Auntie Arwen, dba The Crystal Connection (go there and buy things!)) who was on her way to Pennsic and told her what had happened. She assured me that she would tell everyone she knew what had happened, and that they all would make sure that Kirsten stayed hydrated. They did, she did, and I was (and am) quite grateful for their help.
Anyway...
Current Events
Kirsten had gone to New York City yesterday morning (Tuesday, July 10th, 2007) to purchase pearls for her sales at Pennsic this year. She'd driven up to the Trenton Train Station, parked her car in their garage, then taken the train from there to Penn Station in NYC. I expected to hear from her at some point saying she was en route home.
So I'm working away in my cubicle yesterday when I get a phone call at around 3:20 PM. It went about like this:
Me: Hello?
Kirsten: (faintly and woozily) Hello?
Me: (worried at how she sounds) Hi, hon. What's up?
Kirsten: (still woozy) I need to go to the hospital. Sick.
Me: (panicked) What's wrong? Where are you?
Kirsten: (woozy) Dehydrated. On train. Heading to Trenton. Can you find me a hospital?
Me: (panicked) What train are you on?
Kirsten: (woozy) 3:01.
Me: (frantically searching NJ Transit's website) Okay. You'll be getting to Trenton at 4:04. Uh, uh, I can't get home until 4, and it'll take me an hour to get to Trenton.
Kirsten: (woozy) Okay. Gonna hang up. *click*
Time for full panic! Then, with my best "think fast, Rabbit!", I realized that my co-worker and assistant admin would be leaving work at 3:30. I quickly explained the situation and asked him for a lift home, to which he agreed. We got out at 3:30, and he got me home at around 4 PM. (Thanks, dude!)
Once home, I got another call from Kirsten's phone. It was the Chief Conductor from the train she was on. He said that they had called ahead to Princeton Junction for an ambulance and that they would be taking her to the hospital. I thanked the gentleman, and asked him to tell the ambulance personnel to call me when they knew where they would be taking her.
Having then gotten home at 4 PM, I waited. And waited. And waited. I tried calling her phone twice, but each time it just rang until it went to voicemail.
(N.B. #5: I didn't want to just head north at random until I'd heard something from someone (like, where to go). I figured that driving frantically through rush hour traffic wouldn't help anything.)
Finally, at 4:35, I got a call from the hospital. She had been taken to Princeton Medical Center in Princeton, NJ. They let me speak with her in the ER. She sounded marginally better, and said that she'd been given some fluids and was getting more. She got a nurse to tell me the directions to the place, and then the nurse hung up.
Scramble, scramble, throw self and relevant materials into the van and take off at around 4:50.
After only one minor mistake, I find the hospital. I rolled in at around 6 PM. The very polite guard at the ER walk-in entrance walked me to her treatment room.
Having had (as it turned out) nearly 1 liter of fluid already put into her by that point, Kirsten sounded worse than she looked. She was groggy and tired, and looked like she wanted to sleep. At the time I walked in, they were giving her a shot (through the IV) of Zofran (an anti-nausea drug).
I sat down and we talked for a while. Her lucidity kept improving as more fluid went into her. Over the time I was there, she finished off the second half of a liter bag of saline and another whole bag. In total, she got about 2.5 liters of saline put into her.
(N.B. #6: As noted above, this is nearly half of her blood volume!)
Her blood work finally came back at around 7:30, and it looked good (amazingly, her potassium was just fine, as was her blood sugar). They wanted to keep her around for another 2 hours, but she convinced them to let her finish her last bag and let her go. They finally got her discharge paperwork filled out and done by around 8:30 PM, and we left.
(N.B. #7: Princeton Medical Center ER is a very clean, very modern facility staffed by some of the friendliest and most professional people I've ever met. If you ever need ER services and are in that vicinity, go there in preference to anywhere else.)
After trying to back-track the directions I had and failing, we ended up on Route 206 South. This took us to I-95 West/South back into Pennsylvania. This was a minor annoyance, as I'd been trying to get back to US-1 South to get to the Trenton Train Station.
Once at the Station, Kirsten went off to find her car. After about 15 minutes, she tracked it down and called me to let me know I could head home.
(N.B. #7: I wasn't completely certain about the advisability of all this, since she still sounded rather ill; however, we did have to get her car home, and our options were rather limited.)
In the end, she got home at around 10:30 PM. After getting her drinks, helping her get around the house, et al, she finally got to sleep (with the help of some Nyquil) at around 1:00 AM.
Conclusion
I'm sorry she got sick like this again.
I'm glad I was in a position to help this time.
And I have a request for you all:
If anyone reading this finds themselves at Pennsic this year, which is traditionally one of the hottest, nastiest camping events ever devised...
make sure she drinks something!
I do not want to hear that she has gotten dehydrated again.
Granted, I have no effective control over her behavior, nor any effective or desirable threats to present to her in the event of her non-compliance; even so, I believe that she can be guilted into submission with enough work.
Please help guilt my wife into taking her own advice!
I know you can do it. We're all an extremely manipulative lot, and this time it's for a good cause.
And, Kirsten?
I'm only doing this because I love you (and you deserve it).
Your frazzled husband,
Wayne