Long Weekend

Things have settled down a little bit for now, but it was a very eventful weekend. Friday night, Jim and Marie invited Pat over for sushi. Shortly after dinner, Jim was convulsing again and was having a hard time breathing. Marie was forced to call the paramedics. When the paramedics got there, his oxygen levels were in the 50's. He spent the evening in the ER while they did ANOTHER cat scan and ANOTHER chest xray and MORE lab work! You know, the usual routine. Jim is the only guy I know that would remotely consider these tests his "normal routine". By the time I got there, he was settled down and doing ok. His fever was way up there, but his oxygen levels had come up. The chest xray showed more pneumonia and the fever indicated infection, though they aren't sure where. They decided to keep him in the hospital to monitor his O2 saturation and get some IV antibiotics. Considering that that was all...that was a huge relief to us all. Just a speed bump...not a road block...right?
They moved him to a hospital room and Marie and I finally left at around 1 o'clock in the morning and left Jim to get some well needed rest.
An hour later, Marie got the call that Jim had gone into cardiac arrest and they had to resuscitate him! He had ripped out his IV's, and taken off his O2. He was scared. Terrified at what had just happened to him. So were we.
Marie got there immediately and helped the staff get him talked down and hooked back up to everything. By the time I got there around 3am, he was moved to an CCU room and somewhat calm.
He recalled all of the events to me...so vividly.
"I died." he said
"And I didn't want to be there. It was a bad place. I wasn't ready to be there."
He had thought all of the nurses and doctors that were performing CPR on him were trying to put him in the "bad place." Which is why he had ripped out his Iv's and such. He now realizes that that was not the case at all. He apologized to all of the staff, even though it was not necessary.
He is now out of CCU, but not out of the woods...still in the hospital...still with not definite answers as to why...It is frustrating for us all.
I for one am just glad after this weekend's events that Jim is still with us. Still hanging in there. Still fighting.
Let this be a reason to give your loved ones an extra kiss at night. Live everyday as if it were your last. Don't ever forget to tell the people that matter that you love them. Trust me, you can't say it enough.