Sunday, June 15, 2008

Sleepless night...

...even though I gave up on yesterday early and tucked myself into bed circa 9:00. I'd had enough, let me tell you.

At 9:15, just as I was starting to doze, the phone rang. It was D., the photographer. Could I drive him to the emergency room? He was having chest pain and an irregular heartbeat.

I was dressed and out the door in minutes.

It's 21 miles from my place to his, and a further 17 miles to the chosen hospital. There just aren't that many ERs around here these days and S., his girlfriend, works at this particular hospital.

All together, I made the 38 miles in 36 minutes.

He was admitted, and I sat. And sat. And sat. Emergency rooms are never fun places, but they seem especially busy on Saturday nights. I have previously managed to avoid sitting in an ER for any length of time. And I don't remember a hell of a lot about my last visit to one.

S. came down during her breaks and checked on him. Checked on me, too, and took me to the cafeteria for some much-needed coffee. D. has had a gammy ticker for years, and is diabetic. His blood sugar dropped while he was under observation; the resulting sweating worried the nurses, as that can be a sign of heart problems, too.

In time, he was stabilized and, when the doctor was certain he wasn't having a heart attack but just symptoms that have become somewhat normal for him, he was released.

It was 2:30. On Sunday-freekin'-morning.

So here I am, back at my place and unable to sleep, though I'm going to try again in a few moments. I'm glad I was on hand when my friend needed me, especially glad that it turned out not to be a serious as first thought.

But I can't help thinking Someone Up There is flinging just a bit too much dung, a wee tad more stress than I can handle, my way these days.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

my nights have been sleepless for other reasons, Eva is teething and not very happy about it. But I am so glad your friend is alright.

And more so that you were there, awake and answered the phone when he needed you.

Doug said...

A sleepless night is a fair trade for knowing your friend is all right. I've been awake since 5 after, well, about five hours of kinda sleeping.

Maybe you can get a nap in later.

Anonymous said...

I'll agree, the "dung slinging" does seem to be a bit excessive these days. I have to think He knows what He's doing, but I wish He would just make His point and let us get back to some semblance of "normal". Hope you get some rest today, Scribbs. :)

S

Anonymous said...

am glad you were home and available for your friend Mr Scribs..hugs xxx

Anonymous said...

So glad you could be there for your friend, and even more glad that he's alright. Hope you can catch up on sleep tonight.

Gill

Kimmywoo said...

That was a great thing for you to do Scrib, and I hope you get some good karma from it.

Anonymous said...

Big heart you've got, Scribbs! As one who's wrestled with Morpheus' AWOL antix for 20 years straight now (before that, I could always "cajole" him by getting enough exercise each day), I feel for you.

As for the direction the dung's coming from, I suggest you reconsider that it's rather a case of "below" than "above" (recall that several millenia back, a certain 2 people set off a Cosmic Mutation that has left us all saddled with fecal-matter fallout; it's not the fault of the Designer {wink}).

Blessings,

WMC

Breath-e said...
This comment has been removed by the author.