Faint

My dog's teeth sunk hard into my hand as he bit me, trying to force his way to the front door where he knew people were about to come in from. It wasn't the first time. It hurt like a bitch, but I knew that I just needed to clean it up and throw a band aid or two on top and power through the pain. Unfortunately the band aids had evidently moved on me, and I had to go on a short hunt to find them. By the time I found them I had had to wash my hand a couple of times because of the blood, and it was becoming evident that something was wrong.

As I was putting the bandages on, struggling to actually open them because of the pain in the one hand as I tried to grip the wrapping, my vision abruptly started to fade. My vision sometimes likes to flip out on me, temporarily disappearing for a few moments after I stand up, and sometimes doing so on a delay, so at first I thought it was that. But it had been much too long since I had last stood up, and the fading lasted much loner than usual. I tried to push through it, but the more it faded, the more it became apparent I needed to get out of the bathroom. I made it to the hallway before my vision was entirely gone, and I tried to blindly stumble my way to the couch, but not being able to see where I was going made me afraid of running into something. All the while, the house cleaners were making their way into the house and preparing to set to work.

When my hand touched wall I knew I had gone too far. I've never been a good judge for distance. I didn't trust myself, and by that point I was literally stumbling, my stomach was weak, and I didn't know if I could do much of anything. I let myself fall into a seated position on the ground, and within moments I heard one of the cleaner's voices asking if I was alright. I considered lying. There wasn't much point by then. My vision started to come back as she rushed to call 911, and finally able to see I finished putting on the bandage. Sitting had helped, so I laid down on the floor, which helped even more.

It took much shorter than I expected for medics to arrive. Perhaps they had been conveniently nearby. I was feeling better already just from laying down, though as it turned out I could barely sit up, much less stand, so it was probably for the best that they came. I found out later I was pale as a ghost for some time after that, though by the time an actual ambulance had arrived I was getting better. But I was still shaking like crazy, and felt dizzy while standing, and my knees were weak. I don't think I would have made it into the ambulance if I hadn't had someone helping me.

I'm still not sure exactly what happened. I'm assuming it was some form of shock, though why it was triggered is unclear. But I do know I'd rather not go through it again.