This being the first day of Vacation Bible School at the Sailor household’s church, I got home before CINCHOUSE and the kids today and was expecting some peace while I cracked open an adult beverage and got started on supper. Around the time I was expecting the brood to return an aggressive fist shook the front door. Being the father of three boys and a frequently frazzled wife, I figured it was one of them summoning my presence to help move the baggage train back in the house.

My sons are all still in the single digits in age, and frequently enjoy knocking with abandon or ringing the doorbell seventy to eighty times as they come and go, you know, because they can. So, there was I, cruising for the door at a brisk pace, ready to fire for effect on the young, recalcitrant offender. But it wasn’t one of my kids. It was my neighbor’s daughter, breathless exclaiming “My father’s choking–he needs help!” Needless to say, I shifted gears quickly and raced for the house next door.

When I got there, his wife was in tears beside him on the floor, pleading with the 911 operator to send an ambulance. We got him on his side and I checked his breathing. He wasn’t choking, but his breathing was labored. I checked his pulse and it seemed normal. He wasn’t responding to questions, though.

I told him to open his hand. He didn’t.

I told him to blink his eyes. He didn’t.

I looked for signs of shock, but didn’t see any.

Having exhausted my first aid knowledge, I did a mental inventory of neighbors to see if there was a corpsman or medical officer among the bunch (there aren’t), so all we could do was wait.

The ambulance came and took him and his wife to the hospital. Their two kids stayed with us.

An hour and a half later, his wife calls mine and says he’d had a grand mal seizure, and they’re going to do a CAT scan to see if they can find the cause.

Another hour and a half later, his wife calls again.

He’s got a tumor.

In his brain.

One moment he’s harrassing his son to clean up his room, and the next he’s on the floor in the hall convulsing. There’s tough times ahead for that whole family, so keep them in your prayers.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 22nd, 2009 and is filed under Life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.