My Election Day

By Rachel Sokol/Greenwich Village Gazette

hat did you do on Election Day? Vote? Maybe?

I was in the hospital on Tuesday--Nov 2. Election Day. This is a crazy story. I was feeling incredibly dizzy and had non-stop, um, bathroom urges the night before. My shoulder was throbbing in pain--I'm getting ready for some cyst surgery and my shoulder (between my breast and my back) aches whenever I use my right arm too frequently (Which is a shame, since I'm a righty). So not only was my shoulder throbbing, but I felt dizzy, anxious and rundown on November 1st. Even worse, I had a stupid argument with a friend and there was a huge leak in my bathroom ceiling I just didn't have the energy to deal with.

I almsot slipped in the shower on election morning because I felt so light-headed. I managed to pull on my favorite gray pants and white t-shirt. I skipped the makeup and just dried my hair naturally, which is important to know for later in this story.

But everytime I bent down, I felt like I was going to pass out. This couldn't be good. Luckilly, my shoulder pain had subsided. I took off from work and decided to go to the health clinic at Lenox Hill Hospital.

I though they would just tell me I had a fever and to go home. Ten minutes later, I'm strapped to a hospital bed. The funny thing is, in my dizzy state, I managed to stumble over to PS 167 and vote before walking into Lenox Hill. I really think that my guy should have WON the election, considering I voted for him while I was ready to collapse on the floor, but it's too late now.

Sadly, I am having cyst surgery in a few weeks, so the last thing I needed was ANOTHER doctor's visit. But like I said, I just thought they'd tell me I had a bad cold or something and send me home.

Nurses admitted to Lenox Hill's ER on Tuesday morning for exhaustion and dehydration. It's weird because I used to laugh when I heard that a celebrity was 'taking a break' from exhaustion. But now I can see how easily it happens.

Apparantly, my blood pressure dropped 30 percent, which was giving me both the fever and chills simultaneously. Normal blood pressure is 170/80...I was apparantly gunning at 99/80....

This is what my hot doctor (heheheeh) told me. I somehow contacted an intestinal virus that decided to suck up some water in my body. A lot of water. I DRINK a lot of water, but that was only giving me the runs. (Yuck) Without water, my body was dizzy and weak.

So, what they did was this. I basically slept for 6 hours straight while an IV pumped liquid vitmains and water into my bloodstream. Normally, they give a dehydrated patient 2 pints of water. They gave me three. The funny thing is, I had to pee non-stop after they removed the IV. Having water pumped into your wrist is definitely very strange. Even stranger is that I FELT so much better after I was released. I felt like a deflated balloon that has been blown-up.

And I couldn't stop sleeping. On my frumpled hospital bed wearing a cold gown, I slept like a baby.

At one point, my sister came into the ER to visit me. My mom had called her and told her where I was when she became concerned. (The doctor had called my family on Long Island to tell them where I was) My sis came up to my bed and said to me, "I can tell you were really sick."

"How?"

"Because you didn't put on any make-up or blowdry your hair before you left to come here." To make matters worse, as I'm laying there hooked up to an IV, she says, "You're totally breaking out along your eyebrows."

Thanks. I needed that.

I told her to leave me alone and asked her if she voted before passing out and going to sleep. The last thing I needed was my sister telling me I was pale and ws breaking out as I lay in a hospital bed.

The man in the curtain next to me wrenched his back out carrying film equipment for CBS for election coverage. I overheard him talking to nurses. I wanted to ask him questions about his jobs and politics, but I was too weak and tired. Through the curtain, he asked me if I was okay. We could see each others faces through the curtain that separated our 'sections' in the ER.

"I'm dehydrated and exhausted" I told him. "They're pumping vitamins into my blood."

"I threw out my back. I may lose my job over this. Nice talking to you," he said as they wheeled him away to surgery.

I passed out again, using wrinkled tissue as a pillow.

The doctor told me that dehydration is VERY common among babies--not normally healthy 25-year old women. My hemoglobin test came back A-OK but I apparntly had a small amount of bacteria in my blood--part of the exhuation/dehydration caused by a virus. I did have a small fever--101 degrees--but it subsided when I was 'pumped.'

I was finally released from Lenox Hill at 10pm on Election Night. I lay in bed listening to the coverage on and off, and was brokenhearted to hear the next morning that Kerry was conceding. I honestly felt my stomach turn again when I heard the news. I gathered up my knapsack and just felt like I needed to get OUT. I was still feeling dizzy--but better--and Kerry lost when I was really rooting for him. Feeling sorry for myself, overworked and still exhausted, without telling anyone, I decided to go to Long Island. I needed to get out NYC for a bit.

I've been home for two days already under the care of my parents, who think I put way too much stress on myself. I am under strict orders from my doctors to drink a jug of Gatorade twice a week for the rest of my life. Okay, that's an exaggeration, but the doc said to down Gatorade (which I hate) as often as possible since my body likes to suck in my water.

Also, the doctor said that he could immediately tell I had dehydration because I looked pale, had swollen eyes and the tips of my fingers were wrinked and cold. Ew! He did a simple test with me...He pressed down on my palm. It the palm turned white, then IMMEDIATELY red again, I was fine. It it STAYED white--I needed vitamins and water STAT.

The first time he pressed my palm, it stayed white. After my IV, it was red.

Anyway, my parents were concerned, so I came out to LI to visit them. I have been really tired and depressed over my Democratic loss. I crawled into my old frumy twin bed at the home I grew up in and slept for hours on end, feeling hydrated but depressed. I'm glad I'm okay but I don't want to go BACK to a hospital in a few weeks for surgery. I am tired of hospitals and tired of this election and tired of paying so much money for my health insurance.

Thankfully, it was not much worse.

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