December 22, 2024

After being sick in October and November, I got sick again at the end of December. All of them were just cold symptoms. At the time, I was production stage manager of Shrek the Musical: On Tour and we were in San Jose, California.

A text exchange with Alpha

On December 22, I told my friends and coworkers that I wasn't feeling well. My friend Alpha, ordered me some food to the hotel and kept in touch to make sure I was okay. I went down to the front desk, ignored the food completely, and asked them to call an ambulance because I was feeling horrible. I still have no idea what made me call the ambulance, but thank god I did!

The ambulance took me to a local county hospital (which will remain unnamed for reasons that will become clear). I arrived around 1pm and was not seen by anyone until 6pm. At some point, they took blood and tried to get me to pee in a cup, which was unsuccessful. They tried a total of six times, but I was out of my mind. I filled the cup with water, peeled off the label, and just could not pee. I was dehydrated and hungry and they refused to give me an IV because I was capable of drinking out of a cup. They told my mom they would have to catheterize me if I couldn't pee in the cup, and I said "then do it!" but they didn't. In the meantime, my boss at work came to make sure I was okay. When he got there, I was slumped over in a wheelchair. Later, Alpha came to be with me so I wasn't alone. They wrote my altered mental state off as drugs and said I was just having an anxiety attack. They gave me Ativan, said there was nothing else they could do, and sent me back to the hotel in an uber. Luckily Alpha was there so I wasn't alone! Eventually, Alpha had to go back to university so two of my coworkers checked on me that night.