Developer Relations — Try Not to Die?
Complacent
Everything seemed like a perfect week at a hackathon 3 years ago… until I blacked out and woke up in the ER.
I have no known health issues. It was very confusing. How does a person prevent such horrific situations like this happen? How many others think everything is just fine and dandy with their body while traveling a lot for work? How many other Developer Advocates has this happened to but they never spoke up about it? This could happen to ANYONE.
My Story
I just finished a couple long days at a hackathon. Day 2 was rough though. I felt slightly off. I took an extra long lunch break to recuperate my mind, but it still didn’t seem like enough. (My colleague was NOT happy about that too). By the end of the event I had no energy. I ordered food in my hotel then ended up throwing it all up afterwards. Okay, maybe it was food poisoning? Something bad in the food?
By the next morning it was time to get up to take a flight. It was early afternoon. I felt slower than normal but kept seeing a few stars in my head as I left my hotel to the checkout desk. As soon as it was my turn, my brain completely shut down. I couldn’t even speak! The last time this happened to me was because I lacked potassium, so that was on the back of my mind.
I fell to my knees, and the hotel receptionist kept asking, “are you alright?” I kept telling her I need a chair to finish checking out. I cannot stand because I too feel dizzy.
Then I blacked out for a moment.
That’s when I knew the situation was serious. Security came to assist, put me in a wheelchair, gave me water, brought me back to my hotel room to see if I’d feel better resting. Then I mumbled I keep feeling like I’m on the edge of blacking out again. Immediately they brought me to the front of the hotel and put me in an Uber to the walk in. Two minutes of being seen, they had paramedics rush me to the Emergency Room. It was by this point I could no longer speak a word NOR open my eyes. The light of the outside stung and made my head feel excruciating pain. The doctor spent over 8 hours testing for every possible issue. They put an IV on me (of course).
The Results
When the pale-ness of my body finally had color by 8:00PM ish, my eyes started to open as if someone just woke me up. It felt like the wheels in my head began spinning again, as if it ran out of battery and needed a recharge. All of a sudden I was starving. Note, I was not capable of eating or drinking all day as my brain shut down. I yelled for the doctor to bring me food ASAP. Who does that?
I began the conversation with the doctor. Even after 8 hours, I finally was able to look at her as this was the first I had the ability to open my eyes.
“Okay, what’s wrong with me????” Is all I had to say to her.
She said, “How much water have you had in the last few days?”
I said, “Maybe 2 or 3 glasses a day?”
“Well, you need to be drinking electrolytes to retain the water. Your body is lacking electrolytes.” She continued.
Umm. What? All I can think of in my mind is one of my favorite movies. Where electrolytes make plants grow and electrolytes fill all the water fountains. I begin to imagine my face drowning in red Gatorade.
“You really should drink Gatorade periodically to regain your electrolytes. Or buy pedialyte”.
Okay. I missed my flight. Had to stay an extra day in New York. Spent 8 hours in the ER. Humiliated myself passing out at check-out at the Hilton. All because I should have had a Gatorade prior to prevent this? Okay maybe every body is different and mine doesn’t retain water as well as others do?
Don’t be Complacent. Take Care of Yourself
So the moral of the story is. Well, the subtitle of this. It’s easy to be complacent and think you feel healthy and fine. You can be fine one day and end up in the ER the next day. This also happened to another DevRel friend of mine who found out the cause of him blacking out was from drinking Redbulls daily. His doctor recommended he never touches them again and he’s been much healthier.
So remember these tips:
Don’t think you’re always fine.
Drink proper fluids.
Drink electrolytes once in awhile.
Take longer deep breaths.
Just…. Try not to die.
