A couple of weeks ago, back on September 22, my husband of 42 years "fell out" on me. In other words, he passed out, I mean flat out, first on me and as I tried to catch him, onto the kitchen floor. There was no warning, nothing. One minute we were talking, the next he was on the floor, his head on the open garbage bag I was getting ready to tie up. It was terribly frightening. I thought he was gone. As I desperately called his name and kind of smacked him on the cheeks (because I'd seen people do this in movies and on TV), I yelled to my youngest son who happened to be home, to call 911.
I was about to begin a rusty form of CPR when he started to come around, but he was very very pale and sweating like crazy. The EMTs arrived and went to work. It was evident that he needed a trip to the hospital and a good checking out. As they were loading him onto the gurney, I noticed coffee grounds in his hair. I'd address that problem later.
At our excellent local hospital, all kinds of tests were done, but nothing was really conclusive. Sooooo, it was off to Emory in Atlanta. I got to ride in the front seat of the ambulance, a first for me in my life. At my age, the "firsts" happenings are getting few and far between. If I wasn't so concerned about the love of my life, I might have enjoyed it more.
At Emory, more tests were performed. As an aside, if you have to go to a hospital with something more serious than your local hospital can handle, and you live within traveling distance of Emory, go there. Everyone, from the cleaning personnel on up were just fantastic people. I didn't detect any negativism anywhere. It was pretty awesome (I know. That word is overused, but it fits.) And the medical care is outstanding.
Our four children, two grandchildren, and a son-in-law rushed to the hospital. Our sweet darling daughter-in-law was sick and felt it best not to come. Our grandson, who is an Asperger kid, declared that it was the worst day of his life and that nano technology needed to be speeded up to help find out medical problems and make them disappear. Oh, he's 10 and also absolutely brilliant. I adore this child. Our granddaughter who is five, wasn't quite sure what to make of her precious granddaddy being in a hospital bed, but she later drew a picture of him wearing yellow hospital socks. It's wonderful.
With no evidence of eminent danger to her daddy's life, my daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren headed back to middle Georgia, but the three sons stayed. They got some gawdawful (I later learned) motel room close to Emory. I opted to stay in the hospital room as close to my husband as I could. By the third day with no shower and wearing the same clothes, I was getting pretty gamey. So here's what I did. Are you ready for it? I asked my adult sons to get me a new shirt, and....wait...some new underwear. Yep, my grown handsome boys left to buy their mama some new clothes including underwear. I held off on jeans. Jeans can be worn for days without getting too bad. If a pair of jeans can stand up by themselves, then it's time to wash them.
The boys came back with a new Georgia Bulldog shirt, boys size large and some underwear that can only be described as the proverbial "granny panties." Three pair, pale blue, navy blue, and flowery blue all cotton with a little spandex. Guys, I love them. They are definitely not sexy, but they are comfortable, and at this stage in my life, comfortable underwear is a necessity. My boys did right by their mama.
My husband is home now. He didn't have a heart attack, stroke, seizure, or high blood sugar. He will be going to specialists to try to get to the bottom of it. And, one good thing, we finally got the coffee grounds out of his hair. Remember? He fell in the garbage.
We both have a new respect for each other. I love this guy. He's been with me a long time. I want him to continue to be with me longer.
So we're hoping for no more fainting spells although he doesn't like the term "fainting." He thinks it's too girly, so we say "fell out." Either way, it was scary and I don't want it to happen again.
Even if it means I could get some more comfortable "granny panties."
I was about to begin a rusty form of CPR when he started to come around, but he was very very pale and sweating like crazy. The EMTs arrived and went to work. It was evident that he needed a trip to the hospital and a good checking out. As they were loading him onto the gurney, I noticed coffee grounds in his hair. I'd address that problem later.
At our excellent local hospital, all kinds of tests were done, but nothing was really conclusive. Sooooo, it was off to Emory in Atlanta. I got to ride in the front seat of the ambulance, a first for me in my life. At my age, the "firsts" happenings are getting few and far between. If I wasn't so concerned about the love of my life, I might have enjoyed it more.
At Emory, more tests were performed. As an aside, if you have to go to a hospital with something more serious than your local hospital can handle, and you live within traveling distance of Emory, go there. Everyone, from the cleaning personnel on up were just fantastic people. I didn't detect any negativism anywhere. It was pretty awesome (I know. That word is overused, but it fits.) And the medical care is outstanding.
Our four children, two grandchildren, and a son-in-law rushed to the hospital. Our sweet darling daughter-in-law was sick and felt it best not to come. Our grandson, who is an Asperger kid, declared that it was the worst day of his life and that nano technology needed to be speeded up to help find out medical problems and make them disappear. Oh, he's 10 and also absolutely brilliant. I adore this child. Our granddaughter who is five, wasn't quite sure what to make of her precious granddaddy being in a hospital bed, but she later drew a picture of him wearing yellow hospital socks. It's wonderful.
With no evidence of eminent danger to her daddy's life, my daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren headed back to middle Georgia, but the three sons stayed. They got some gawdawful (I later learned) motel room close to Emory. I opted to stay in the hospital room as close to my husband as I could. By the third day with no shower and wearing the same clothes, I was getting pretty gamey. So here's what I did. Are you ready for it? I asked my adult sons to get me a new shirt, and....wait...some new underwear. Yep, my grown handsome boys left to buy their mama some new clothes including underwear. I held off on jeans. Jeans can be worn for days without getting too bad. If a pair of jeans can stand up by themselves, then it's time to wash them.
The boys came back with a new Georgia Bulldog shirt, boys size large and some underwear that can only be described as the proverbial "granny panties." Three pair, pale blue, navy blue, and flowery blue all cotton with a little spandex. Guys, I love them. They are definitely not sexy, but they are comfortable, and at this stage in my life, comfortable underwear is a necessity. My boys did right by their mama.
My husband is home now. He didn't have a heart attack, stroke, seizure, or high blood sugar. He will be going to specialists to try to get to the bottom of it. And, one good thing, we finally got the coffee grounds out of his hair. Remember? He fell in the garbage.
We both have a new respect for each other. I love this guy. He's been with me a long time. I want him to continue to be with me longer.
So we're hoping for no more fainting spells although he doesn't like the term "fainting." He thinks it's too girly, so we say "fell out." Either way, it was scary and I don't want it to happen again.
Even if it means I could get some more comfortable "granny panties."
5 comments:
*snort* I wonder what kind of conversation they had about what kind of underwear to buy for mom. You have very sweet sons! I hope the doctors are able to figure out what happened soon.
That was a scary thing to go through, Coleen. I'm glad to many things were ruled out and I'm happy to hear that Bill is doing better. It was so nice to visit with you both for a little while a few months ago. I love your writing and look forward to your daily posts every single day.
:-)Judy
Have I told you lately that your family is awesome? (I used that word on purpose) :) So glad Bill is OK. Loved to hear Jeffrey and River's take on the situation.
This was such a serious subject, but then you came out with your sons and the granny panties. I felt that I should not laugh, but I could not help myself.
My husband had an episode in August and like you, we are still going from doctor to doctor tying to find out why this happened. It is a frightening time.
Sometimes you just have to lighten up like in "Steel Magnolias." It was okay to laugh. I did and so did my husband.
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