Her: "You mean they didn't tell you why you had low potassium?"

Me: "No. They just gave me a pill and told me to eat more potassium-rich foods. But hey, I did eat a banana today... as well as almonds, peanut butter, and V-8 juice."

Her: "Well, you'd have to eat an entire crate of bananas to help your potassium levels."

Me: "Was I supposed to follow up with my doctor today? Because I didn't. They didn't tell me I needed to."

Her: "Yes, you should have talked to your doctor."

Me: "So can I wait until tomorrow?"

Her: "No. Go to the Emergency Room now."

By this time, it was 2:30 am. I woke up M so that he could get dressed and take me to ER. I had tried to sleep earlier but whenever I closed my eyes, the room felt like it was tilting. It was a similar feeling to being very intoxicated.

We went to the closest ER, which fortunately is only about 8 blocks from our house. I again started crying as soon as we arrived. I couldn't even answer the receptionist's questions. M had to be my voice.

After a brief evaluation, they whisked me into my own room. This room was a king's quarters compared to last night's room: it was large, clean, and sported modern, cutting-edge equipment.

Like the night before, they hooked me up for an EKG and started an IV. They took more blood. I used a bed pan for the first time (yuck!).

The care was a thousand times better than the previous night's, too. A very nice doctor named Martin arrived and spent a lot of time with me. He asked me a bunch of questions, told me all the possibilities of what my symptoms could mean, and what tests he was going to run. He then asked me if I wanted any drugs to help the nausea and dizziness. I said sure.

I had a nice nurse named Natalie. She arrived bringing Antivert and something for nausea. She let me take the antivert orally. She also started a fluids drip IV, which included the anti-nausea med. The fluid drip made my arm really cold and the anti-nausea med burned my arm, then my shoulder.

A strange thing to note was that I didn't have any short term memory. I couldn't repeat things that I'd said a few seconds earlier.

About half hour later, the body spasms started. Very scary. I asked M to find a nurse. Natalie arrived and asked what was wrong. I was momentarily confused. I looked at M and asked, "What did I want?" He told her, "She was having spasms." Martin soon came to the rescue. He determined that I wasn't having any success with the anti-nausea, but that the Antivert was helping slightly... which was good.

He also said the blood test had come back showing that my potassium was now at 3.7, which is just above normal. Yay! But that didn't explain why I was feeling so oogie.

He then asked me if I wanted a relaxant similar to valium. Of course I did. So Natalie gave me Ativan via IV.

The spasms stopped almost immediately. Ten minutes later, I was completely out.

I only remember hearing mumbling. A couple hours must have passed. M and Natalie woke me up. I couldn't really understand what they were saying, but I did understand that it was time to go.

M had to help me get dressed because I was so groggy. Did I put on my shoes or did he? I can't remember.

The diagnosis, according to the diagnosis print-out and M (because I was passed out): vertigo and viral episode/labyrinthitis.

After arriving home at 7 am, we immediately went to bed and slept until 1 pm. M got up to work from home. I passed out again until 3, until M woke me up to give me medicine and ask what I wanted for lunch. He went to fill my scrip at the pharmacy and to pick up gyros. He also brought me back Gatorade because the doctor had recommended it to keep my electrolyte levels up.

After lunch, I went back to bed and slept until 8 pm. I've been up for the past three hours; woo hoooo! But I'm tired and will be going night-night soon.

I've been putting off taking another dose of Antivert because it makes me so groggy. I want to see if I'm better before taking another dose.

Right now I don't feel normal, but I don't know if that's because I'm so drugged up or if I'm still sick.

My hair is so matted and greasy it's disgusting. I haven't washed it since Wednesday. My face is also an oil slick. I think I'll do a facial mask before going to bed.

So, in a nutshell, that was my exciting Friday. :( I hope the weekend will be better.