Morning Surprise

Imagine being in a deep sleep. Imagine that you have not had this restful a sleep in at least a month, if not longer. Now, imagine a newly 13 year old girl plopping herself right next to your blissfully sleeping self ... yeah, that was me, this morning.

Her symptoms were strange (what, you thought she was coming in at 5:31am just to cuddle?). She hurt; right in the center of her chest. She didn't have to throw up. Maybe she did have to. It hurt like a knife. No, like someone tearing her apart. No, like a knife. It wasn't her chest, it was her stomach - but not really. She didn't know where she was hurting - she just wanted it to stop!

I had never seen her like this before. All the times that she had been sick before, she had been calm, feverish, quiet. This morning, she was screaming, cool to the touch, and thrashing. One time, she sat straight up and pulled her arms back, elbows almost meeting behind her.

"If I stay like this, it doesn't hurt - I need someone or something to keep me like this."

But then, she would release her arms to the front, and throw herself down on the bed, writhing in pain. Are you seeing visions of "The Exorcist"? I was! Unlike the movie, she was coherent, her coloring was good, there was no projectile vomiting, no cursing, and her head did not spin around. Still, as I watched her throw herself all over my bed, I could suddenly understand why people in the middle ages might think someone in such pain was demon-possessed.

"Mom! I feel like I'm dying!"

Ok. That was serious. She was begging me for medicine - but what kind? What was wrong? How was I supposed to medicate these baffling symptoms?

All that was bad enough. On top of the goings on in my bedroom, my cat, Kiki, suddenly gets thirsty. I mean, really thirsty. Thirsty to the point of yowling at me and running to the sink. Well, too bad. Tabby is more important right now. Kiki jumps off the sink and runs to my bed. She jumps up and climbs on Tabby. She looks in my face and yowls again.

This is different.

Kiki is my anti-social cat. She is quiet, and hates to be near people more than she has to. She is not mean, but she is older, and doesn't like to be disturbed. For her to jump on top of a writhing child and look at me and yowl is totally out of character. She is making it impossible to ignore her.

She jumps down and runs to the bathroom again. She jumps up on the sink and yowls. When I ignore her, she repeats the whole business.

Maybe I was wrong about the demon possession. Both Tabby and Kiki are acting crazily. What is going on?

"Mom. My chest. It feels like someone is sitting on it...it hurts to take a breath!"

A heart attack??!! At her age?!?!

I don't know at all what is going on with her. She suddenly jumps up and goes into the bathroom. She gets the cup, fills it with water and drinks. Her breathing slows down. She gets another cup and takes another drink. I can see her relaxing.

"That seems to have worked, mom."

She crawls in bed, lies down, and falls into an exhausted sleep. Wait a minute! Where is Kiki? Oh. She is back on the bed. Lying down. Closing her eyes.

Do you think...? Nah...

Ya think?