Wolfpack Firsts

Tonight was Jr. Wolfpack Club night at the NC State Football game. We got tickets a couple weeks back and Isaac was so excited to be going to the game. It was Lucas’ first game and as soon as we walked into the stadium you could see the excitement on his face. He was dancing to the music, cheering, and having a great time!

But let’s face it, that’s not the reason you all are clicking on this blog post to read it (thank you Anna for your facebook post where you and Brian are forcing me to write this as you claim it’s an important life event. ) Its’ a long story, but let’s start at the beginning…

This morning, I tried to do something good for the world and donated double red cells with the American Red Cross at our church. Basically, they take 2 units of blood, spin out the red cells and put the rest back. According to the paperwork not really any different from giving regular blood. Of course there were issues…it took them an hour to even call me back and then the return needle slipped on my last return so I didn’t get all of my second unit of“other blood” back. But they said to drink water and I would be just fine. So I went on with my day drinking tons of water.

On the way to the game, I carried Lucas on my shoulders for a little ways and noticed it made my shoulders feel weird. I took him down and we went on to see some friends from college before going into the stadium. Once in the stadium, we went all the way to our seats in the upper level. About 15 minutes after getting to the seats, I started feeling weird. Bright flashes in my eyes, a little lightheaded. I told Brian I was going to go down and get some water before the game started. Once down on the concourse, I had some water out of a water fountain and stood there for a minute. I still felt strange, so I asked an usher where the first aid station was and walked that way. I stood outside first aid for a minute, then ventured into the hallway thinking air conditioning would solve my problem. They had a water cooler, so I went on into the room and told them I’d given blood this morning and that I was feeling a little lightheaded and got some water. I sat and drank the first cup and felt better. I was getting ready to leave when they requested I let them take my blood pressure. The woman came over and put the cuff on my left arm, pumped it up, then looked confused. She did it again. Then she said, I’ll try the other arm. And that’s when it happened….

My arm went completely numb, the room started to spin and I remember laying my head back against the wall. In the next moment, I remember voices, then thinking what is in my mouth, and then as my eyes opened two more pressing questions: how did I get on the floor and what is all over me? Yep, I passed out cold, puked all over myself and fell out of the chair onto the floor. By now the EMTs were by my side and the other patients in the room looked horrified! I was embarrassed beyond belief. What I gathered is that my blood pressure was nonexistent when that poor woman changed arms!

The EMTs wanted to take me to the hospital. I said no, so they gave me an IV (which nearly made me pass out again as they dug for my vein) in the first aid room. While getting my IV, a woman came into the room needing some help and wouldn’t you know they had to go get her daughter to find this woman’s medication. Yes, the daughter that is evidently dating or married to or some relation to THE David Thompson. So, in come David Thompson and Tommy Burleson (non state fans those are major players from the ‘74 national championship team…NCSU royalty) and I’m sitting in a chair with puke now drying on my shirt looking totally hot! At that moment I wished I was the kid that the EMTs were talking about that was unconscious behind the dumpster! Mr. Thompson was really nice and asked me if I was alright. To which I responded that there would be no more blood donation good deeds on game days. He chuckled and said he hoped I felt better soon. After the IV, I felt better and returned to my seat in time for halftime.

I kept Brian up to date with text messages. The exchanges went something like this:

Brian: “R U Ok?”

Me: “Yep, just drinking water in first aid”

Brian: “U still Ok? “

Me: “Yep, passed out and puked. I’m fine. Stay there with the boys.”

Brian: “U need me to come down there?”

Me: “Nope. Enjoy the game. Getting IV be up there soon.”

So that was our evening. The boys had a great time at the game. I had an interesting night with the wonderful ladies in first aid and still got to see the second half of the game. And now all I can do is laugh. I can now mark pass out, and meet a famous person while wearing an outfit covered in puke off my bucket list! I’m just thankful I had enough sense to come down out of the nearly top row of the stands before the big incident. Taking out a section of people would have been much worse!!

So what did you do on Saturday night?