Sister Needed A Break!

I know- there are SO many things that I want and need to blog about, but I have failed to do so.  Having said that, I am going to push them to the back burner and blog about our most recent event. 
Wednesday morning, June 2nd- I woke up to a headache.  It didn't surprise me because I had been waking up with a headache for about a week. Usually I would pop a few Advil and that would take care of it. Matt's Mom was at our house visiting the kids.  I kept telling her that my head hurt, and I wasn't sure why the Advil wasn't helping.  When we got from from running an errand, (scary to think I was driving all of us around with this) I went into the kitchen to take Advil again.  To my shock, I found little piles of Advil.  "What in the world??" Come to find out, I had never actually taken them. (WEIRD)  I immediately took four because I was in a considerable amount of pain. 

Jean needed to leave and it was nap time, so I figured it wouldn't be any problem. Right? WRONG!!
As soon as I got Cayden down for his nap, I went straight into my room and prepared to sink into my bed.  About 15 minutes into my nap, Brinley woke up.  "Oh great! Of Course!" Up we went.  She played and let me rest on the couch, but I really needed to sleep. Two hours later, she was ready for another nap. I had no more gotten her down before Cayden started crying.  "AGH!!!"  He still had a good two hours left before he was due to be up.  Nap time just wasn't meant to be.

The rest of the day went about the same.  My headache never went away, but I plugged along.  What else was I supposed to do?

Thursday, June 3rd, 5AM
I was in a fitful dream, begging Matt not to go to work.  I pleaded with him and told him my head hurt too badly to take care of our kids.  After much convincing, he agreed.  That was just a dream though it wasn't too far from what was about to happen.  I woke myself up and crawled out of bed to go get more Advil. I made it about halfway across the room before I had to stop and cry out to Matt.  He jumped out of bed and tried to find some stronger medicine for me. We got back into bed and tried to sleep, but couldn't.  By six we decided to call his parents and see if they would come up and help with the kids while Matt went to work.  Calling in the reinforcements for a headache was a first, but this was one MAJOR headache!!  Matt also called Creighton down the street.  He is a good friend and a PA, so we hoped he would have a good recommendation for us as far as seeing a doctor quickly. His wife, Crystal, was so sweet.  Creighton wasn't home, so Crystal was the middle-man and offered to keep Cayden.

I hated to barge in on her so early, but I desperately needed relief, so we took her up on her offer.  Matt rushed me to a clinic around the corner from our house.  The doctor almost immediately sent me out and to the ER, but not before I begged her for a simple sinus Rx. She assured me that I didn't need any sinus medicine.  I couldn't help it.  I clearly was impaired, and all I could think about was getting that prescription.  I knew it held all of the answers.  She almost gave in to my plea, but after failing her chin to neck test, she refused and urged me to head straight to the ER.  I was SO frustrated.  I told Matt I was refusing to leave the ER without a prescription.  I couldn't believe we were about to WASTE so much money to get a simple sinus prescription!!!

We arrived at the ER and Matt dropped me off.  I was climbing out of the car when my phone rang.  It was Courtney.  God must have put it on her heart to call me.  Funny how He works like that!  I wanted to talk, but I wanted relief more.  As I was closing the door, I heard Matt joking with Courtney and telling her I was being dropped off at the ER because I was pregnant again!  AGH!!  I didn't even laugh, and I didn't even hit him!!  I just closed the door and blindly felt my way into the ER.  Within 5 minutes, I was in a bed and in the worst pain in my life....  YES- you heard it right.  The Worst pain ever.  This HANDS DOWN was SO much worse than delivering Brinley without drugs.  Seriously.

They took me for a CAT scan and did a spinal tap.  The results came back... Meningitis.  I didn't even care. I just wanted relief.  The only thing that concerned me at this point was Brinley.  The doctors wanted her out of my room immediately.  I begged them to let me nurse her before she left, but they said no.  That was the first time I cried.  She had never had a bottle before, and she was hungry.  Brinley got the worst end of the deal that day.  Between my in-laws, Matt and Colette, I think she choked down a little milk, but mostly she just cried.  I've always said babies will eat if they are hungry enough.  That was true for her too.  The next morning, she gulped from a bottle that Crystal brought down.  From that point on, she was super happy and well taken care of.  I could worry about myself then and focus on getting better.

Sister needed a break, but I definitely went about it the wrong way!! The next few days were boring... actually, it is still boring.  I have to stay in bed or on the couch.  It is SUCH a bummer, but at least I am alive!  The infectious disease doctors told me to expect this type of lifestyle for one to two weeks.  I can't imagine doing this for two weeks, but we'll see.  It will be a week tomorrow, so maybe we're halfway there.  :)

This all happened so quickly.  We really didn't have time to inform anyone.  For those of you who have found out through the grapevine, I am sorry.  We did not mean to offend anyone.
I am resting, healing and hopefully will be back to normal very soon.  We covet your prayers and look forward to getting back to our "normal" life.  :)

Much love to you all-
The Culli Family