Good News/Scary News

I'll lead with the good news. While I was at the Student Health Center trying to figure out why I passed out this morning, they checked my blood glucose and it was in a healthy range two hours after eating a protein bar. So, yay! I seem to maybe be a little bit on track with the prediabetes reversal.

The scary news is, I fainted and fell out in the floor at work this morning. SUPER not fun. Funny now, but scary as all hell when it happened. I've been having dizzy spells and such for a couple of years now. Blurry vision and all. My doctor just brushed it off when I told him about it though so I just assumed it was anxiety or something. Stress, you know?

Well, today I was in the middle of training a new student assistant when my vision got really blurry and I became "swaying while I was standing" dizzy. I took a second to try and breathe through it like I normally do and it subsided a little bit and we carried on with the training. A few minutes later it hit again, fuzzy vision and overwhelming dizziness. I was trying to power through and get her settled on a training project though. My body, however, had different plans. As I was about to lead her to the computer, everything when black and I could hear my feet pounding (I guess as I staggered) and then I heard the crash of the box of metal shelving pieces I hit. The next then I know, I'm sitting up on the floor and everyone's "are you okay? What can we do? You need to go to the health center." Meanwhile I'm trying to figure out what the hell just happened. I mean, one minute I was on my feet and the next I'm on the floor.

SO EMBARRASING.

But also scary as all hell.

I sat on the floor for a bit trying to figure out if I was going to be able to stand and everyone's trying to get me to get up and go to the health center or call my mom or something. And all I could think to do was apologize to the new student assistant for passing out on her first day of work! lol

I did finally get up though, and wobbled to my desk with one of the supervisor's  beside me to make sure I didn't fall again and kept telling them to just let me sit. I just need to sit and get my bearings and catch my breath. I broke out into a cold sweat and just sat there.

Another supervisor came to check on me and I was trying to talk to her but felt the sudden urge to cry. It was SO WEIRD. Like, why did I want to cry? Nothing hurt. I was fine. I didn't die. And I'd been calm throughout everything else. Why did want to cry then? Blech. I held it together though and didn't cry.

So I sat for a while. I texted my mom who was in the next town over with my step-grandmother and asked her if she would be back soon to take me to a doctor and she texted back to go to the ER. I noped on that one hard.  But her concern did convince me to go to the student health center. Fortunately, it's just across the street from the library so I got a coworker to walk over with me to make sure I didn't fall out in the street.

A million questions and a blood test or two later and ta-da! I'm badly anemic. Not dangerous level yet, but getting there, according to the doc.

Which, honestly, I should have known. I've been craving and chewing ice for months! Like, it makes me mad if I have a cup of ice and don't get to eat it. Eating ice is a classic sign of anemia.

Which makes me question my doctor's efficiency even further. He should have caught that in my lab work in June. I didn't get this anemic over night. And like I said, I've been chewing ice for months. And having dizzy spells for a couple of years! But he dropped the ball on that one and that pisses me off! I give him all this money for lab work and he just picks and chooses which parts to be concerned about?  I could have saved myself a lot of embarrassment and money if he'd caught it in June.

Anyway, I'll be fine. Probably. The health center doctor gave me a prescription for iron and told me to follow up with my doctor. I'm thinking NOT. Definitely switching doctor's now.

But it was encouraging to see that my blood glucose was in a healthy range two hours after eating a Kind Bar. I won't know for sure until I get my A1C checked again in six months or so but still...a bit of encouragement in a scary day is always welcome, right?