He was seated on the couch, waiting for the EMTs to arrive. He "dismissed" me, as is his habit. He never wants anyone to waste time on his behalf. But I stayed right there with him while we waited.
His wife and I gathered a few things and prepared to go to the Emergency Room and meet up with him. We decided to take two cars.
Once you're at the Emergency Room, time seems to stand still. Every little thing takes forever. I believe we arrived at about 4:30, and it wasn't until after 9:00 that he was situated in a room. The doctors were puzzled - knowing something was wrong but not sure just what. Once he was comfortable in bed, his wife and I left to get some dinner. LATE dinner, for sure! We split a meal at a Mexican restaurant. It was so good.
We got back to his room, and he was still awake. His wife planned to sleep on the little bed under the window. He looked at me and gestured as if to say "Where will you stay?" I laughed. I said "I'm not THAT good! I want to go home tonight!" He thought about it, then said "You have three more nights. You have Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday." As if - it would be fine for me to give up Tuesday night to stay at the hospital. How amazing is THAT! But I said no, that I really had to go. He said "Oh, you have to feed the cows!"
I gave him a hug, gave her two hugs, and made my way home.
This evening I got a call from her. Today is Wednesday, and all of this stuff happened yesterday. She said he was still in the hospital, and that they would be putting in a pacemaker tomorrow. His heart beat was so irregular, and even stopped at times. Well, no wonder he's been weak and getting dizzy and falling!
What if? What if a caregiver had not been there? What if nobody asked him to stick out his tongue? What if he EMT crew hadn't come? What if nothing had been done?
Lesson for this day: If something seems out of the ordinary, pursue that thought! Get educated about what signs to look for. Ask questions. Observe. Test.
I am so thankful that a major incident was avoided.
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