Our Date with Doogie Howser

I've heard of that maternal instinct phenomenon where mothers can sense their child is in danger but I experienced it in a different way with Judd.

NUGGET: For the slight few who venture to this blog (hi Mom) I will spare the details as you already know them but to nutshell: Judd had a seizure & collapsed outside of Walgreens filling his Rx after being diagnosed with bronchitis.

I had talked to him several times that day & he promised to call me after triple-checking with the pharmacist that the new Rx had NO adverse reactions to his current army of meds. So I waited 10 minutes forever!

Calls & texts were left unanswered so I began to panic like Def Con 4 slightly. I called Mom & told her I had a bad feeling (see intro sentence) and knew something was wrong.

When he answered the phone he was conscious & in the ER at Gadsden Regional without a soul on the planet there with him.

NUGGET: His parents were THANK HEAVENS already on their way back from visiting his sister Mary in Arkansas & I was in Fort Payne as usual just coming in from work.

As soon as he got the first sentence out of his mouth I started packing a bag & getting in the car. I cannot tell you the number of times I prayed - maybe it was one big honking prayer - but the Good Lord & I were having a serious chat then, rest assured.

The trip there was horrendous interesting. I decided to get off the labyrinth that has become I 59S & travel (read: speed like a Fast & Furious stunt driver) US 11 but somewhere along the way my nerves overtook my brain & I made a wrong turn. A WRONG TURN!?!?

I can honestly say I have no idea where all I was except a nice old man in Leesburg gave me wrong directions which led me to a tiny diner in Hokes Bluff. From there I followed a waitress (whose father was the Chief of Police) with flashers on & pedals to the metal.

In the parking lot I thanked Christy (kinda neat her name has CHRIST in it, no?), gave her all the cash in my wallet ($22), got her cell number & ran into the ER where Judd's room was empty.

I will pause here to let you insert your own version of the terror & hysterics that ensued.

Judd came back from CT & I think I chapped his face with kisses. My AWESOME parents were on their way to be of comfort to me, to fill in for Judd's parents until they got there, because they love Judd very much & their general aforementioned awesomeness.

The next tango was between the following cast of characters:
* Doogie-Howser-aged doctor popping in rather pushing for an OK on a spinal tap
* Judd's mother Dana (via cell phone) frantic in the car decidedly NOT wanting a spinal tap
* Mary (also via cell) calling upon her nursing education trying to guide Judd towards the right decision
* My parents (again, via cell) who had gone to KFC because it is now 10 p.m. & Dad's diabetic
* Most importantly: Judd who is being so strong despite his fears & patiently waiting for God's direction
* Lastly, little old me who is in constant contact with all of the above trying to stall the impatient Doogie, assure Dana we won't rush into anything, listen to facts & risks from Mary, implore my parents to suck down the chicken & get the heck back here & of course be there for Judd. It's his body so ultimately the decision is his so we prayed about it. Several times. Like, to the extent that I grabbed his hands & started, "Dear Lord" and Judd sweetly said, "Baby, do you know you've prayed like 3 times in the last 5 minutes?" Ha

NUGGET: Judd refers to the spinal tap as a lumbar puncture because it makes him think of the horrible band & equally horrible movie. :)

The spinal tap lumbar puncture went as well as it could but I can't imagine how much it hurt Judd. I was allowed to hold his hands & talk to him & I even understood the unspoken rule of not beating the snot out of Doogie for stabbing my love with a needle long enough to be in a horror movie.

Insert 45 minutes of waiting on the results where my parents got back, Judd's parents were almost there & by the Grace of God Judd drifted off to a very deep sleep.

By then my blood sugar had dropped & I was quite shaky so Mom convinced me to go in the waiting room & eat my chicken they had brought back for me. I sat down next to Dad & inhaled the food. Seriously. It was not attractive. There was a man sitting directly across from me who actually got up and left! I'm sure I looked like a tribute from the Hunger Games as I gnawed on the bones.

Doogie came back in with a big smile on his prepubescent face & told us there was no spinal meningitis, intracranial hemorrhaging, bacterial infection of the brain, swelling or several other so-freaky-it's-diarrhea-inducing possibilities.

PRAISE THE LORD!


By now his parents are here & hugged mine as they left so we all shared the good news together with much hugging & deep sighs following.

He was discharged with Doogie's "best educated guess" of a perfect storm of spiked fever, severe sinus infection and a possible underlying minor virus.

I watched this man drift to sleep all safe in his bed while still trying to wrap my mind around his abundant strength, God's Amazing Grace & the unbelievable odds that he actually picked me. :)