Test Stress!!!

This happened to me last Sunday night while driving my stepson home. I've been meaning to post it, but my life is a bit topsy turvy right now and blogging has NOT been a priority for me. I have to take a big state test this coming Saturday (November 1st) which I need to pass before I can even GET INTO a teaching credential program. It covers all material taught from grades K-12. Oh yeah, and I graduated high school in 1983, so most of this stuff I studied well over 20 years ago. Try cramming all that into your now middle-aged brain and making it stick. And there are only 26 questions (plus 2 short answer) for each subject! So how the hell do you know where to focus? The answer is, you don't. And you end up having a panic attack (fake heart attack) while driving your stepson home. So here is what happened that night.....

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Okay, so there I am having to drive my stepson home (hubby got called in to work OT), and I started to feel funny. Tingly arms and legs, profuse sweating in back of my neck and underarms, trembling hands, etc. Uh oh, I think my blood sugar must have bottomed out. This has only happened to me like a handful of times (a couple of times while pregnant when I didn't eat enough) and more recently a few months ago while my mom was here. Each time, I have had to get something to eat right away and sit down until the "episode" passed. But never has it happened while driving.

So, I call dh (who is a firefighter, BTW) to tell him I don't feel well. I get off at the next exit to get something to eat. 1.5 chocolate brownies later, and I'm feeling a little better, but still not 100%. I call dh's ex-wife to tell her we will be late since I don't feel well and am not ready to drive yet (forget the fact she does not offer to meet me to pick up her son, but...)

Okay, so I decide after about 15 minutes I need to just suck it up and get him home. So we get to his house, and the smell of the food I bought the kids is making me so nauseous I tell him to take all the trash in the house or I will throw up when we get there. So I call my mom after I drop him off and am driving home. I still don't feel well, and have even unbuttoned my pants since I just feel sick to my stomach. About 10-15 min after getting on the freeway, the tingling starts again in my hands and feet....accompanied by shortness of breath, sweating and more shakes. My mom says I sound faint. I need to get off the freeway (from the carpool lane). I get off, pull into a gas station and call 911. Feel like I am going to pass out. Having a hard time catching my breath. Am I having a heart attack? We will soon see....

So here comes 1) the ambulance, 2) the rescue squad, and yes, finally 3) the fire truck! By now, Katie is crying when she sees all this action, and she now says she has to pee. I am taken out of the car and put on the gurney (while frantically struggling to zip my pants) , soothe Katie, and calm Michael down, who is all excited to see all the firemen. Luckily, there is a female paramedic and she stands at the car door talking to Katie and getting her calmed down. So they're putting all these monitors on me, asking me my age, medical history, etc. The guys are all shaking their heads and saying my vitals are normal. BP is fine, I ask them to check my blood sugar, that seems okay (forget that I've just eaten 1 1/2 brownies and a soda!). So the captain asks my age again and says (with a wink) that his wife is around the same age and just started to have hot flashes. I am going, oh no, please do NOT tell me all this was for a hot flash! Of course now, I am feeling perfectly fine but am completely mortified and ready to crawl under the gurney. Katie still has to pee. Crap!

So the nice firemen stay and wait near my car (apparently I am NOT in a good neighborhood) while I take Katie to the bathroom. They joke with me that I just wanted to see all the hot firemen. I am telling them my husband will never let me live this down.

Oh yeah, did I mention that the 911 dispatch center called dh's fire station (because I had the kids with me and told them if they came to take me away he would have to leave work to get the kids), and they said they were going to transport me and so they shut down the truck at his station? (he is on the truck and if they are a man short, the truck gets shut down). Oh yeah, this is one giant fubar. I call him back and tell him they are NOT taking me anywhere and to stay at work.

The firemen kept asking me if I was under a lot of stress or worried about something. I almost started laughing. Oh, you mean like not having any money and studying for this test? Why no, everything is peachy!

I feel like an idiot. At least I didn't get them all out of bed for this! Good grief! Like a hysterical swooning female from the 19th century. Help, I've got the vapors, come save me!

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So that is what has been happening in my neck of the woods.....now you can see why I have been MIA all over the place. Good grief!!!!