a birthday spankin' part II

Published on: 4/4/2014

a birthday spankin' I'll never forget, continued...

I was going to start by saying I really had no idea what made me sick shortly after the polls opened. The stress of the whole break-in situation and the touch screen machine giving me grief, the large breakfast I ate pushing against my sore muscles, the pain meds I took, or a combination of all of the above. I was sweaty, clammy, dry-mouthed and I seemed hyper-sensitive to every sensation. One of my poll workers suggested it looked like I was hypoglycemic. I was pale and nauseous.

I was in bad shape, and wouldn't have complained had they hauled me out of there in an ambulance. Thinking I may be hypoglycemic I ate a candy bar, but all that did was make me vomit.

It's a good thing we had Dale from the city come out twice to help with the touch screen, because he was able to report back on my health and a replacement was found to take over for me. I was able to drive myself home, but vomited again in the driveway... for a total of seven times in the last hour.

I have no doubt what made me sick, because it happened again yesterday. I took a pain pill at lunch and had to leave work early because I was vomiting. A co-worker familiar with the pills mentioned that I had to drink prodigious amounts of water to help it flush through. It's something the pill bottle doesn't mention, and I can see exactly why I felt the way I did on Tuesday morning, dry mouth and all. He also mentioned I can't be taking them at work, which is fine with me. I hope I never have to take them again!

So, bottom line is I've had a horrendous week which snowballed from a little broken branch. I'm proud of and thankful to everyone involved... especially my wife and my doctor's office, my boss and co-workers, City Clerk Gina and all the Dist. 8 poll workers.

I'm glad things worked out well for the election, despite my incapacity. I was feeling better later in the day and able to return for the close and paperwork at the end. The team did a fantastic job without me, receiving the second-highest turnout in the city. We got results in right away and all the numbers were accurately recorded. We were completely wrapped up and ballots returned to City Hall at 10:00 p.m.

It was a trying week, but with good results. I learned a lot about me, and I learned I can depend on some pretty good people when needed.

Thank you for voting!