I had such great plans!
My plan was to jump in a truck in St. George Friday afternoon, deliver a load in Denver on Saturday and pick up a new load, drive back to Grand Junction, swap trucks, and be back home sometime on Sunday. It was a great plan....but I never made it past Grand Junction on the eastbound leg.
I started feeling bad Friday night so I stopped on top of the hill near Ferron, UT and spent the night. I woke up with a gigantic headache and some severe pain in my chest. I made my way to Green River and stopped there for a few minutes to clear the cobwebs and then went on to Grand Junction. I had an errand to run in Grand Junction. The chain law is in effect in Colorado starting on Sept 1, and I didn't think to get chains before I left St. George, so I had to buy some in Grand Junction. The chains come in 5 bags that weigh over 50 lbs each. After I loaded these onto the truck I was exhausted. I doubted I could even climb back up into the truck. So my symptoms now are: severe headache, severe pain in the center of my chest, loss of strength in my legs and arms, and shortness of breath. Oh boy. I began to worry. I sat in the truck hoping things would settle down and I could continue. I sat that way for over half an hour and then sent a message to dispatch saying I was not doing well and wanted to go to the hospital.
I called 911 and asked for paramedics. Within moments the Grand Junction fire department was there helping me. The ambulance was there shortly after. I was still not doing very well. Had profuse sweating added to the mix. Then they hauled me to St. Mary's Hospital. The emergency room staff worked on me non-stop for several hours. They did CT scan of my heart and lungs to be sure there was no blood clots showing. They drew enough blood to keep a vampire satisfied and determined that it most likely was not a heart attack, but they didn't know what was really going on. I was admitted, and was sent to the Coronary unit. While they didn't think it was a heart attack, they couldn't rule out a heart problem. They found out that I had pretty high white blood cell count so they knew I had an infection of some kind, but they couldn't figure out what was the cause.
When it was obvious I wouldn't be driving the truck any further, dispatch sent a team to recover the truck and load. Those two drivers were pleasant and helpful to me including bringing me some of my clothing and other thing out of the truck I had been driving.
Sunday, we spent the whole day trying to figure out what was going on with me. The vampires went to work at 5am and continued all day sucking my blood. I was connected up to a heart monitor, oxygen, two IV drips and enough wiring to take care of the space shuttle. I was sent for chest x-rays and learned there was a "spot" on my lungs. I had begun to cough during the night, so the doctor wondered if perhaps I was enjoying a bout of pnumonia. As the day progressed and as the medicines began to take effect, my chest pain reduced somewhat. The headache never abated.
The waiting game continues......
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