So let my preface this by saying I'm totally fine now, aside from lingering soreness. I AM OKAY NOW. Last night was not an experience I would care to repeat, but it seems to be an isolated incident.

Went to see the new Bond movie, Specter, with my husband and mom-in-law. I like Bond movies, and I am not normally a squeamish person, but the obligatory "bad guy tortures James Bond while making the female lead watch" scene really, really got to me this time. I know this is a spoiler for those who haven't seen it, but personally I don't handle needles in eyes and/or brains well at all. I started to feel sick, dizzy, light headed and nauseous. The movie was too loud. I couldn't block it out, and even closing my eyes and putting my head down and trying to breathe deep wasn't helping, even after that scene ended.

I tried to leave the theater to get some air but couldn't get my breath back. I appear to have had a "vasovagal syncope" incident as a result. Basically the movie stressed me out so damn hard that I kept passing out. I made it out of the theater, but fell on the carpet just outside the doors. I remember thinking that I couldn't stay there. You're not supposed to sit on the floor in the movie theater, and the movie was almost over. If I stayed there I'd get trampled when people left. I wanted to go to the restroom because I still felt nauseous and thought I might throw up, and I was determined to get there, but we'd never been to this theater before and my body kept refusing to cooperate. I mostly remember being disoriented and confused about why I kept ending up on the floor.

There weren't many people around because all the shows were in progress, it was a small theater and the few employees working were concentrated at the snack bar. I passed out at least once more trying to get to the lobby, possibly twice. My memories of getting down the hallway are pretty blurry (I should also note that several other customers walked right by me at this point, and not one of them stopped to help or told the theater staff I was having trouble). Unfortunately one of the resulting blackouts happened in the corner of the tile floored lobby while I was still trying to reach the bathroom, and when I came to I realized one of my teeth was broken. Yep. I apparently went down hard enough to face-plant on the tile and snapped one of my front teeth in half. Just the tooth, though. The rest of my face is fine.

I managed to get up again and stumbled to the snack bar counter where there were actually some people around who finally helped me, called 911, and went to find my husband. I must have gone down again after I told them I wasn't okay, because I woke up on the floor again. The theater folks were super kind and helpful once they realized there was a problem. They got my feet elevated and iced my forehead until I felt less overheated, and made sure I didn't try to get up again. The paramedics checked me over when they got there, but we thought it would be better to have the hospital make sure nothing else was wrong. So I had my very first ambulance ride as a patient! x_x They put me on IV fluids and checked all my vitals and did a chest x-ray and CT scan to make sure there wasn't some other underlying cause that might have triggered multiple fainting episodes, and the verdict is otherwise I'm fine. I'm perfectly healthy and normal.

If I'd stayed down the first time I fell, I probably would have recovered without further incidents... but I'm stubborn and I was definitely disoriented. As a result, I have a broken front tooth, a very sore shoulder, sore knees, and my hands are pretty stiff and sore where I must have tried to catch myself. I jammed my right hand pretty good, and it's hard to hold writing implements right now, so I'm going to give it a few days before I try to draw with it. It's better this morning than it was last night, at least. I can type okay, so that's good. They told me to just take tylenol/ibuprofen as needed, and get my tooth fixed when I can. It'll probably be Monday before that happens, though. Yay holiday weekend! Ironically, it's the same tooth I broke as a teenager, so this is the second time I'll have to have it rebuilt. Go figure. It doesn't hurt, though I can definitely tell the nerve is exposed. Mostly it doesn't like cold things. We stopped for food after leaving the ER last night, and I was able to eat just fine, so I'll manage.

Just wanted to bring everybody up to speed on my Christmas drama! I mostly feel like an idiot for passing out. I'm not the sort of person who usually faints when I see needles. I don't like them, but they don't particularly scare me. I'll be fine. I just feel sore, dumb, and embarrassed about the whole stupid incident. I don't like being stared at or fussed over, and there was a lot of that going on last night.