I have only passed out cold once in my life (I've had a couple of near misses but I'll get to that soon!) My mother was an excellent seamstress and used to make most of our clothes. She would have us stand on the kitchen table so she could mark and measure the hems of our skirts. Because we were elevated, she didn't have to sit on the floor. The system worked well till I passed out.

Being a typical rowdy girl that did not like to stand still, much less wear dresses, my mother basically had to threaten me to get me to cooperate. Once she had me, she would not allow me to escape till the task was completed. I liked to twirl and jump and squirm and it wasn't often that Mom would let us, much less encourage us ,to stand on the kitchen table. Every time I turned it seemed like the measurements would be off and Mom would have to start again.

Finally she had me stand in the middle of the table and told me not to move. She decided it was easier for her to move around the table marking the skirt than to have me jump all around. It was a good system and would have probably worked but no one told me not to lock my knees. As I stood there I virtually cut off my blood supply to my legs. I remember saying to my mom, "I'm not feeling very good" and bang down I went off the table and on to the floor.

My Dad, being a military man told me later that he had seen lots of recruits fainting while standing at attention in basic training. He told me the secret of not passing out while remaining at attention was to wiggle your toes. I never passed that secret on to my mom and come to think of it she never let us stand on the kitchen table again.

I almost passed out again right after our first daughter was born. I went to the bathroom with the assistance of the nurse and remember the room starting to turn black, and I saw little lights begin to spin. Fortunately, I was already seated so I just had to put my head between my legs , get some cold water to my face and thankfully the feeling went away. They tell me that was because of volume loss from the delivery.

The last two days have also been near misses on my passing out countdown. I am one week past surgery and have really felt well up till then. It seemed like every time I would get up to do a simple task, or just walk into the kitchen I felt like I was going to pass out. I would have absolutely no energy, break out into a cold sweat, get deadly pale and somewhat faint.

I am blessed with an overactive imagination and can have liver cancer in 30 seconds or less. I began to feel like Fred Sanford in "Sanford and Son" and say to myself, "This is the big one Elizabeth, I'm coming!" I do not like the feeling of sudden death, or passing out.

So yesterday after feeling faint just sitting in church, we went to the ER at University of Virginia. Basically, I found out 8 hours later that I'm going to live (thus the happy dance image of this post!) My electrolytes were out of balance and the fluid pill I normally take was making my potassium level low thus causing the horrible fainty feelings. They gave me some potassium pills, IV fluids, told me to quit taking the fluid pill and assurance. I say it was a good tip. (Almost as good as wiggling your toes!)

Have you ever passed out?

Labels: all about Me, Monday memories