After a rather unusual winter in Florida, our return home was not without excitement, if you want to call it that.
The return ride was long and boring as usual but seems to get longer as you reach the Wisconsin boarder. We were about 90 miles from Jefferson and getting tired and needed gas. We could have gone another 90 miles but Steve took the wrong exit (Thank God) and we wound up in Rochelle Illinois to get fuel. After Steve filled the car we took off again and headed back to I90 for the last leg of the trip.
About five minutes from the gas station Steve said he didn't feel well, which for Steve is something he rarely says. He mentioned feeling light headed and having problems with his vision so we pulled into a strip mall so he could settle down and maybe feel better. He opened all the windows and turned the AC on. He was soaked from head to toe. He put the driver seat back and we just sat for a bit. He didn't seem to be coming around so I punched the closest ER into the Gamin and low and behold, the hospital was right behind where we gassed up. After a couple of burps he just didn't feel better to we switched drivers so I could take him to the ER.
Having not driven the car the entire time we were in Florida and I just had on a pair of sandals so when I got into the drivers seat and put it in reverse we went backward very "swiftly". Steve said, "Brian, you can't drive like that." I blamed it on my sandals and the sores they caused to my feet. We got the the ER and stupid me, I had him walk into the ER. They took him back to the room and I completed the paperwork. By the time I got done with the papers and got back to the room he was surrounded by doctors, nurses, machines and I was terrified. They ran the EKG and the other tests and came back and said, and I quote "Sir, you're having a heart attack and we're not sure if it's from blood clotting or just a blockage." They spoke to someone on the phone who told them to start a strong anti-clotting medication but they went through 19 risk factors with us including bleeding out. I asked what our choices were and they said it's this or...........
As things went on they mentioned transporting him to another hospital so I thought, great, another hospital in Rochelle. As the conversation went on there was mention of a flight. I perked up and asked, "You're going to fly him someplace?" They said yes, to Rockford and they were on the way. I burst into tears because I now knew how serious this was and was worried I could not find my way to Rockford from Rochelle so I called Steve's sister who came flying down to get me.
As we waited for them to arrive they put so much medication into Steve I was shocked he could stay awake. They were to do a continuous feed EKG but the nurses didn't know how to do it so they pulled out the owners manual. Steve sat up on the bed and said, "You're looking through the owners manual?!" The girls just kept hitting the button to run the EKG. All of a sudden I heard the sound of something coming in for a landing. Shortly thereafter the med flight team came down and began the process of preparing him for the flight. By the time they got done with him he looked like a large blue Taco. As I sat in the chair crying, that typical Steve came out and pointed to me and told the nurses, "He's got heart problems too, watch him." Leave it to Steve. They finished preparing the Taco for flight and took him away.
Not thinking clearly I went outside and stood in the middle of the road so I could see the chopper on the roof of the ER. The blades wound up a little and a little more and then took off as I stood in the road sobbing. Finally an ER nurse came outside and took me into the ER where we spoke and she gave me a box lunch because she knew it would be a long night for me. I told her we were coming back from our winter in Florida so she asked how it was. I started to cry and said, "We lost our little boy too." (Max) Her response was, "I guess it wasn't such a good year for you." I guess not. Shortly after that Shelba and Trina arrived to take me to Rockford where the helicopter landed with Cammi waiting for her uncle's arrival. Seems we had everything covered.
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