Sense of Impending Doom
I was pregnant at the time and had hyperemesis gravidarum (extreme “morning sickness”). I got put on home IV therapy because I was badly dehydrated.
The home IV people fitted me with my IV and pump, gave me a handy backpack with my supplies, and then they sent me home.
But the next day, I felt like something was terribly wrong, and I couldn’t put my finger on what it was. I had this awful sense of impending doom.
When I went to change the fluid bag for the IV, I couldn’t get it to work properly, so my ex and I went back to the medical supply people for help because I thought there was something wrong with the IV placement.
While I was there, they took my blood pressure and told me to go to the hospital immediately. They said they would call ahead to tell them I was on my way in.
It turned out that my blood pressure was dangerously high, and I was going into stroke range. I had developed preeclampsia, and I had no idea.
I was in the ICU for two weeks fighting against multiple organ failure and trying to avoid a stroke.
I lost the pregnancy when it was clear that there was no other option but delivery (you can’t cure preeclampsia except by delivery of the placenta, and my babies were too young to survive).
But I lived. Had I ignored that doomsday feeling, I would likely have gone to bed one night and not woken up the next day. Or stroked out one day. Or had a massive seizure.