My faithful Blog readers know that while I’ve been off on tour, I’ve also been battling a cold at the same time, warning my fans that if they happened to have compromised immune systems that they’d be better off having someone else bring their books up to be signed.

Given all that, it’s no surprise that I was busted by TSA for having a bottle of Robitussin in my carry-on bag.  In with all my cold remedies, I had completely forgotten about that one.  The good news?  It was unopened and still in the original packaging.  The guy wanded it, ran it back through the machine, and then returned it to me.

After that, I sat in the concourse, near the gate for our Alaska flight, autographing books for many of the passengers who were departing Tucson on that same aircraft.

On board, I sat in the second row in first class, and many of the book purchasers nodded and spoke to me as they filed past me.  The plane took off.  About the time we hit cruising altitude and the flight attendant came around delivering beverages, I noticed the my upper lip was feeling numb.  Sort of like when you go out into really cold weather and take too deep a breath.  I didn’t think I was sipping my bloody Mary THAT fast!!

Then the numbness started spreading to my cheek.  It felt like going to the dentist and having my mouth plugged full of Novocaine.  (If you know anything about my phobia of dentists, you know THAT wasn’t a good thing.)

By now my jawbone was starting to ache, and the numbness was spreading to my eye and nose.  Ever drink a smoothie too fast?  And now I had a headache, too.  The back of my head felt like it was about to explode.

Worried that these might be some sort of weird stroke symptoms, I finally told my daughter-in-law, Kathy, who has been driving Miss Daisy on the tour, and I also summoned a flight attendant who sent out the announcement, is there a doctor on board.  There wasn’t.  What there was was a nurse practitioner, Robin from Tenakee Springs, Alaska.  She came forward with a blood pressure cuff, checked my vitals and my eyes and verified that I had no stroke symptoms–I could smile, raise my hands, move all my fingers–and no symptoms of a heart attack–no pain in my chest, no shortness of breath.  But being in that much pain did raise my blood pressure.

So she stayed around and monitored me every few minutes.  She also reported her findings to Alaska Airlines folks on the ground who were trying to decide if the situation was serious enough to divert the plane to another airport.  Meanwhile, Kathy was logged on to her iPad, bringing Bill up to date with what was going on so he could contact our doctor and cancel my ride with Shuttle Express.  At that point it looked like once I got off the plane I’d be heading off to a hospital in an ambulance.

My blood pressure was still elevated, and then I started feeling overheated, so I asked for oxygen.  They brought me some, but the strap on the mask was way too tight on that aching jawbone, so I took off the mask and held the oxygen nozzle under my nose.  That did the trick.  I evidently had a serious sinus blockage which the extra air jarred loose.  After the best nose-blowing of my whole life, I was cured!!!!  The numbness went away.  The headache evaporated.  The gentleman behind me told me he had been praying for me the whole time, and I told him his prayers obviously worked.

As we started our descent, I was feeling amazingly better.  I knew that the entire planeload of passengers had been observing the drama from the back of the plane, so I asked the head flight attendant to please announce that I was much better and that they needn’t worry–that I’ll be around for a long time, writing more books.  The entire plane erupted in a round of applause.

So this is my round of applause and thank you–to Robin of Alaska, who took care of me; to the flight attendants who took the situation very seriously; to the medics who met us at Sea-Tac and pronounced me fit; to my fellow passengers who waited patiently until the medics hustled me off the plane; to my husband who dropped everything to come get me; to Dr. Garrison Bliss who would have come to the hospital had it proved necessary; and to Kathy who logged onto her iPad and made arrangements for alternate arrangements.

I’m grateful it wasn’t more serious.  I feel a little silly that it was minor.  I’m writing this so if some of my readers find themselves with similar symptoms they’ll have a better idea than I did of what is going on.

When I was a kid growing up in Bisbee, Arizona, I clearly remember that once some of the older boys in the neighborhood called me a “snot-nosed kid.”

Sixty or so years later, I evidently still am.