The first time I ever fainted was two Thursdays ago. It was the evening if the last day of school, on 'ay 23. I can't imagine being able to teach with my symptoms that followed. This is one of many ways that I felt watched over because of impeccable timing.
I went over to Dave's to visit him before I went to Oklahoma to volunteer in relief efforts. As soon as I entered his house, I was not feeling well. I went to his bathroom to throw up but was unable to. On my way out of the bathroom I fainted and Dave took care of me.
I still felt good about going to Oklahoma. That weekend I was weak and pale but otherwise normal. My trip with Noelle, Sheredith, Ashley, and Julia was a huge success. We volunteered with cleanup on Saturday and Sunday.
Sunday night I became sick in the middle of the night while staying with my friend Eric at his apartment in downtown OKC. When I fainted twice in his bathroom, he thought I was banging around looking in his cupboards. When I puked, Noelle got me Sprite. I had stayed at the Baird's home, and my new friend Sarah Lewis, a cousin of my BYU friend Nicole. I'm glad I wasn't sick in Sarah's house, with all of her little ones running around.
I spent Sunday night in my sleeping bag in Eric's hallway, a few inches from the bathroom. He got me crackers, Gatorade, and Tylenol cold/flu, which lowered my fever. My vomit and stool was darker than usual, but I didn't think much of it (especially since I hadn't thrown up in a decade).
I spent Memorial Day watching the new season of arrested development, while Noelle and Eric cleaned debris from a donkey farm. I was so weak I had to crawl around. On Tuesday Noelle and I drove to Ace, Everly, and TK's home in Albuquerque. Noelle had to do most of the driving, and then did 10 more hours on her own to get to Utah. I stayed the night feeling sick and drove back.
I figured I had the flu. I watched movies and read books while my roommate amber helped to take care of me. I had had a cough since January, so on that Thursday I went to a lab to get tested in case I had valley fever. By Friday I was still dizzy and weak, so I called a couple family doctors. They couldn't get any new patient appointment in till the next Tuesday or Thursday. By Saturday I wasn't better, and hasn't heard back about my blood tests, so I went to urgent care.
I guess my urgent care doctor asked lots of good questions, but I guess he didn't believe me on one of them. The first test he gave me was a urine sample. Nope, I'm not pregnant. Nope, not sexually active. He decided I was having a mono relapse. ( It stays in your blood, so easy to get a false positive) This wasn't like when I had mono before. I'm not sleepy, I'm weak. He offered to test my blood, so I took him up on it.
On Sunday I took it easy. I hadn't eaten a real meal all weak, so my clothes fit great. I thought my teeth were turning yellow, but really I was just pale. I had my home teacher give me a Priesthood blessing. He blessed me with comfort and an added measure of the Spirit. I was blessed with patience with the doctors as they find out what's wrong with me, and patience with myself as I heal before returning to physical activity.
Monday morning, urgent care called and told me to go to the ER right away. They said I had profound anemia, my hemoglobin was too low, and I'll probably need a blood transfusion.
This call was not what I expected! I woke up my roommate Sheredith, and she took me. It turns out normal hemoglobin levels are between 12 and 15. If you are below 10, you're anemic. If below 8, you need a blood transfusion. I was a 5.4. Doctors think I was bleeding internally faster than I could generate new blood. They have me 2 units of blood. By Tuesday I was a 7.5, and on Wednesday a 7.9.
They admitted me into the hospital, even though I tried talking them out of it. They figured I was internally bleeding. I had an endoscopy on Tuesday and a colonoscopy on Wednesday. They couldn't find any bleeding so they think it stopped. My hemoglobin levels went up to 7.5 on Tuesday after the transfusion, and then to 7.9. They think the bleeding stopped and that my body is making blood again.
I had some awesome visitors: Sheredith, Dave, KariAnn, Erin, Blake, Elise, Lindsey, Ashley, Jeff, Amber, Brittany, my home teacher Bennett, and my visiting teacher Linda.
They let me go home on Wednesday. I'm still very weak. I'll meet with a blood doctor next week, and a couple other doctors after that. 
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