So this morning I woke up thinking, "I am the best step-mom ever". You see, I decided to take the day off (on a rather important day) to spend the day with my kids (okay, they might be step-kids but in my mind, since it's a shared effort and I have a role in their lives, so I claim them as partly mine. And yes, moms of the world everywhere who have a step-mom in their lives probably hate me for that - which I can appreciate but don't change. Anyway.....)
I took today off to take the kids to the zoo and hang out together, as we have them today and Chad had a work conflict. They have been begging to go to the zoo for the past month to see the new polar bear, and I would like to get some sunshine since I am so pale I am practically clear. I am surely not getting tan from inside my office all summer!
H had soccer practice in another county at 7:00 a.m. before our zoo adventure + all of the kids left things at their mom's house so I was up at 5:00 a.m. (on my day off) to get ready, pick up the kids from Chad, and drive them down to Alpine for soccer practice and mom's house. However, as I was trying to get ready, I had a little trouble....
I was plugging in my blow dryer (with wet hands) and my pointer finger slipped off the plug and right into the outlet. I can't describe the pain, but it was absolutely awful. There was a hot, searing pain throughout my entire body - it felt like I was on fire from within and I started screaming as loud as I could, although I couldn't control it and make myself stop. It just happened. And it happened so fast. I am certain it happened quickly (like a fraction of a second) but in that moment, I felt like it was 10 seconds and I couldn't pull my finger away fast enough.
I was alone and panicked big time. I felt like I needed help but it was 5:15 in the morning and I didn't know what to do. I felt like I should consult with someone, but knew that 9-1-1 is just a group of non-medical-professionals (let's be clear, I am not knocking on 9-1-1- operators, but as a person in healthcare, I can assure you that they are not healthcare professionals). I ended contacting a dear friend who is a trauma surgeon and works in the Shock/Trauma unit at Intermountain Medical Center....this is when it pays off to be a work-a-holic. Fortunately he was very sweet about my interruption in his sleep at a ridiculous time of the morning (only a truly great friend doesn't mind answering my frantic phone summons at that hour!).
He said to monitor my heart rate, as he said the electric shock likely went to my heart; my pulse was RACING, but had a regular rhythm, so he said that was a good sign. He had me rest for awhile, with my legs up in the air, and then continued to contact me every 10 minutes for the next hour. He said I would feel super lousy and nauseated all day, but should be fine. And he is right - that's exactly how I feel. Fortunately my heart rate has slowed down now, but I am still feeling very yucky.
I was late to pick up H, E, and S to take them back down to Utah County (so the Super Step-Mom status I thought I would be earning was tarnished in my mind with the tardiness). Fortunately H was only about 10-15 minutes late to soccer so not too bad. Overall, it was not as bad as it could have been, but I was disappointed with myself.
A shockingly not fun morning. :(
Holy cow, Sarah!
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