Day 78 ~ Mortality Check

Day 78 ~ Mortality Check

Mar 19, 2014

My first: I had to call 911 and order an ambulance for a man that was having a stroke.

My Aunt Dora lives across the street from an 89-year-old man that needed some help cleaning his house. He was having foot surgery and was anticipating his inability to do some of the things he had been doing.

After meeting with Richard the week before and making arrangements to help him out, I found myself on my way to clean for him for the first time today. I called ahead to let him know I was on my way and he sounded good and ready for me. When I arrived and found him sitting at the table in the kitchen, he was complaining of being weak on his left side. I immediately offered to take him to the hospital and to stay with him until a family member was able to be with him. He thought about it and then asked me to call an ambulance. I was relieved to know that he was not going to be stubborn and insist on staying home. I dialed 911 and gave the necessary information the dispatcher requested in order for the paramedics to be ready to deal with the situation they were walking into. I had to multi-task…talking on the phone and trying to keep my little gentleman seated in his chair.

We called his brother who lived in the same town and also my Aunt Dora. Both got to the house around the same time the ambulance arrived. Richard was alert, but seemed a little scared and perhaps feeling his own mortality for the first time. His brother looked very concerned and was more than ready to follow the ambulance to the hospital. My Aunt Dora and I talked for a bit and then locked Richard’s house up. We went our separate ways…both of us swimming in pools of our own thoughts…perhaps including our own mortality.