Inktober/Blogtober crossover: Day 18

Seeing as today's Inktober prompt word is "bottle," I figured I'd write about something of an obsession of mine:  I am rarely ever seen without a water bottle.

Now, staying hydrated is important and water is good for you, so it sounds like a great thing that I drink so much, but it's...  Well, I've reached the point where I'm utterly paranoid about ever not drinking enough.

It all stems back to one Summer many moons ago, when I was only 17 years old.  Mum and I used to earn some extra cash, cleaning a holiday house that belonged to a friend.  It was an especially hot day and I'd not drunk much.  Whilst I was helping clean the kitchen, I suddenly got a searing pain in my head and the vision in one eye briefly went completely and came back distorted.  I was horrified, especially as my face then went numb on one side and the numbness slowly began spreading down my body.  I felt sick and dizzy.  I had no option but to lie down, but the pain, distorted vision and nausea didn't go anywhere.

When we got back home, Dad immediately called the non-emergency medical number (whatever the precursor to 111 was) and the person he spoke to was concerned that my symptoms may indicate a stroke or a brain hemorrhage.  He was told to take me to hospital right away.

I was kept in overnight and given several tests.  The doctors told me that before I could go home the next day, I'd have to have a lumbar puncture.  I didn't know what that was, but they assured me that they would phone my mum well in advance of the procedure being done, so that she would have time to come back to the hospital to hold my hand through it.  I was somewhat comforted.

After a sleepless night and even more tests, the following day a doctor and a nurse arrived at my bedside, ready to perform the lumbar puncture.  They hadn't called my mum and suddenly, the words "spinal tap" were being used, which didn't sound remotely pleasant.  The nurse was told to sit and hold my hand, whilst the doctor said "ooh, your vertebrae are far apart enough that we won't need to inject any anaesthetic.  We'll just rub an anaesthetic wipe on your back and that should be fine."

MISTAKE NUMBER ONE.

I will save you too much gory detail here, but essentially, a lumbar puncture/spinal tap involves sticking a tube into your back and sucking fluid from around your brain, to check for anything that shouldn't be there.  Given that the levels of fluid in your head are being messed with, it makes you very, very dizzy and there's a lot of pain and nausea involved.  To ease the nausea and dizziness, you're supposed to lie still for several hours after the procedure.

Within around half an hour of my lumbar puncture being done, my parents arrived and were immediately told to take me home, as my bed was needed.  I had only been lying still for forty minutes when I was made to get up and walk to the car.

MISTAKE NUMBER TWO.

I didn't even make it home, before I was violently sick.

I was sick for two days, after that.  I had constant pain in my head and terrible dizziness.  I also had a large wound on my back that required antiseptic being regularly rubbed on it (when I was well enough to hobble out of bed to get Mum to help me...).

The eventual diagnosis?  Not a stroke, or a brain hemorrhage.  It was a severe migraine, caused by dehydration.

I'd had migraines as a child - really bad ones that happened usually every 3-4 weeks and would always make me very sick - but nothing as bad as the numbness, dizziness and distorted vision that I experienced that day.  And depressingly, the method of determining what was wrong had made me even more poorly than the migraine itself did.

I made a vow to myself, after that:  I would never, ever allow myself to become dehydrated again.

And so, ever since then, I am almost always found with a water bottle in my hand.  Yes, it's something of an obsession.  But I'm emetophobic and will therefore do anything in my power to prevent ever being that sick again.  Besides, as I said at the start of this piece, it is a good thing to stay hydrated!

People often comment on my habit of carrying a bottle of water everywhere I go, so when I saw today's Inktober prompt word, I felt compelled to finally explain myself.  

Now, all this writing has made me thirsty.  I'd better go and get myself a drink...