Did medical incompetence save my life?

All week I had a major headach that Excedrin and Ibuprofen just wouldn't touch. By Thursday it had gotten very painful, but I went to Spokane to see Ellis. I took about 5 Excedrin and 8 Ibuprofen that day. By evening I felt a little better. Friday it was a migraine. I tried to sleep that evening, but the pain was so bad! I decided around midnight to go the the emergency room, which means it was pretty darn bad because I don't go to the ER! When the nurse took my information down, he took my blood pressure. He said, "That is stroke blood pressure!" It was 217/126. Thankfully it didn't take long to get in. The doctor told me he wanted to do a lumbar puncutre and a cat scan. I said the cat scan was fine, but I didn't want a lumbar puncture! He told me it was necessary to rule out Meningitis, and that he had just done a LP on a woman a few days ago and she had Meningitis. He said, "I probably saved her life." We debated about the LP for a bit, and I finally agreed if he would give me something to calm me down. I was terrified of a Spinal Tap. I've seen them on t.v. and the patient always screams in pain! He gave me Versed, which is an anxiety medication and causes short-term memory loss. Fine with me! I remember bending over and praying that I wouldn't feel it. The nurse, whom I used to work with at Pizza Hut, later told me that she said "Just think of all the fun times we had together at Pizza Hut'." She then told me that I replied, "I don't think I still work there." But I wouldn't know what I said because I don't remember any of it. I remember a moment of being wheeled into get the Cat Scan and I remember the light going off. About 45 minutes later I woke up. My legs felt very restless. I sat up and the nurse came in and they sent me home. From what I have read, you should lay down for a few hours after a spinal tap, to lessen the chance of a spinal headache. No one told me this. I had to ask the nurse if the doctor had given me anything for my migraine because I still had it when I left. She told me he did, but didn't seem to certain of what it was he gave me.
Saturday morning Brian went to Spokane to get Ellis. When he got home, I was still laying in bed with a horrible migraine. We decided to go to the walk-in clinic. They told us the wait was an hour and a half. By this time, I was in total misery. My migraine was worse then the day before, and the worst one I have ever had. I was naseous and felt so sick. I only got a tiny bit of relief by leaning my head agains the toilet paper dispenser in the bathroom and moaning. After what seemed like forever, the called my name. They took my blood pressure and told us that I would have to go to the ER because my blood pressure was 'stroke territory'. GREAT! We had them call the ER to see what the wait was, because I would have rather stuck an ice pick in my brain then wait for a few more hours! The wait was about 3 hours, but they talked to the head nurse and they agreed to get me in right away. They gave me something to lower my blood pressure. They also gave me some pain medications that were pretty awesome. Laying down made me feel so much better! The next day I was fine if I was laying down. Very sick when sitting or standing. Monday morning we called my doctor and got in right away. He put me on 2 blood pressure medicines and gave me some Vicodan. Still felt horrible and had to lay down. I called the doctor with my concerns about still feeling so terrible. I could only walk if I was bent over at the waist. The nurse mentioned that the headache could be from the spinal tap. The doctor dismissed that, because I presented with a headache originally. He wanted me to wait it out for a few days. Brian called him again because I knew I shouldn't be feeling so terrible. He switched the pain medicine to Percocet.
I started reading more about Spinal Taps and now realize that although I don't know what caused the first migraine (blood pressure doesn't usually cause a headche- that's why they call it the 'silent killer'), the second and worse migraine was caused by the Spinal Tap. Up to 30% of people will experience this after a Spinal Tap, and laying down is the one thing that relieves it. So, here I am 6 days later, and I still have to lie down most of the day. Yesterday evening I was able to stand up and walk around for a few hours, but today I'm not. This feeling can last up to 2 weeks! So...the moral of the story is that if I wouldn't have had the first migraine, I would not have known my blood pressure was so serious. (I found out from my wonderful cousin that strokes at an early age run in our family!) And if I wouldn't have experienced the sickness from the Spinal Tap, I wouldn't have gotten in to my doctor right away and wouldn't have gotten on blood pressure medication and very likely would have had a stroke!!! So a couple of days ago I was very upset at the ER doctor for not having me lay down for hours afterward, and not instructing me on what to do to lessen the chance of getting ill from it. But now I am grateful for his incompetence, because it just might have saved me from having a stroke. Don't tell him that though! He already has a God Complex!