Sorta scary

I had  a meeting this morning with a man whose company might print some brochures for us. But at some point while listening to him go on and on about his company and the town he lives in and all the other towns where his company has offices, I noticed that I started to feel a little light-headed.

Before work I'd eaten what I thought was a pretty good breakfast - some All Bran Fruit & Fibre cereal with yogurt and a glass of juice. So I knew it wasn't an empty stomach, and I hoped it would pass just by sitting calmly like I'd done Monday morning when I felt this way.

It took a while to get a break in the conversation when I thought I might be able to hurry through next steps and get him out the door. And in spite of hoping, it didn't go away by just sitting there. I'd never met the man before, so I didn't think I could just say, "Excuse me. I'm feeling faint,'' and lie down on the floor. I'm not that kind of girl. But eventually, as I asked for the name of the technical contact, tunnel vision began setting in a little.

THANK GOD I SHARE AN OFFICE WITH MY HUSBAND.

He heard me say, "Excuse me. I'm feeling faint,'' and ushered the man out of the office to the coffee machine so I could try and recover myself. I tried, sitting in my desk chair, to put my head between my knees. But it's become difficult lately to bend at the waist and breathe at the same time, so I thought I'd try a different position.

I was sort of draped on my chest and stomach over another office chair, my head and arms hanging over the back. I thought to myself, "This is a weird, sort of embarrassing position. I hope no one passing in the hallway has seen me. Then again, they might ask it I'm alright and I don't know when Charles will be back and ... how long has he been gone?"

And THEN I realized that I hadn't intentionally put myself in that position. I'd meant to sit on the floor against the wall.

So yeah - I'd blacked out in my office.

I slowly got myself up, closed the door to the office a little and lay down flat on my back.  It wasn't long before Charles returned, helped me to sit up, helped me to a chair (to sit in the proper position) and gave me some water and a spoon to eat some of the cottage cheese I'd brought to work with me.

I sat alone for a few minutes to make sure the light-headedness passed and then found them both in the lobby area discussing display materials. I quickly and apologetically wrapped up business with the printer and saw him off and generally felt fine the rest of the day.

I don't know exactly what caused it, but some quick Googling returned some pages about low blood pressure. (The nurse who took mine at my regular appointment yesterday said it was good.) But I'm definitely going to be more aware of how I'm feeling while driving and while walking the dog alone, especially in the mornings.

Comments

[Jenn]

That IS scary. Take care of yourself.

[Laura]

Definitely scary! I'd say to make sure you are eating lots of snacks throughout the day, just in case.