November 4th is just a bad day on my calendar of life. I thought that my world would start to normalize after everything that transpired in the year 2017 had me upside down. The 4th started out as a normal Saturday, going to work, selling jewelry, contemplating the Christmas season and going home to relax and watch some TV. There is a great little Chinese take out restaurant, Golden China, that has the best Chinese food in the area. Our family has been ordering food from there for twenty years. Joey even worked there for a while as a delivery person. I love their Shrimp with Garlic sauce… no carrots please. I placed an order around 4:30 to take home for dinner. The food always arrived at closing time at the store. Daphne, the owner, always threw in free egg rolls.
I arrived home and after putting the Chinese food on the kitchen table, I headed upstairs to change into shorts and a t-shirt. Lori was getting ready to go out with some friends from her school and Nick was hanging out, waiting to eat with me. A pretty average Saturday night. That would change in an instant. I reached down to the floor to pick up my clothes and Bang!!! I dropped to my knees. The pain in the back of my head was so horrible I could barely breathe! Like I had gotten shot by a gun, the bullet piercing my brain. I could barely hear Lori saying, “What’s wrong, what’s wrong!” I couldn’t function. I was able to only stand up with my head bowed between my knees. I laid in bed, trying to assess my situation. It was bad. I told Lori that I was sorry but please get me to the hospital! I could barely make it to the car. The drive to Doylestown Hospital was not fast enough. Lor did her best. The nurses took me back to a bed quickly and, as usual, Dr. Malibu Ken walked in and assessed my situation. Dr. Ken, not his real name, was always there whenever I had to visit the emergency room. He looked like a California surfer dude, talked like one too. He knew me well. The first step was a CAT scan to see what was going on in my brain. After that was completed, some Morphine to ease my pain. We waited for the results.
The twenty minutes it took for Dr. Ken to come back to my room seemed like hours. He asked me if I had ever had Migraine issues before. Bad headaches. Nope…never. His diagnosis was to send me home after the pain meds were delivered, with some additional meds if I needed them going forward. I wasn’t buying it. This was too severe. I never had anything like this happen before. I was right. No more than five minutes after he walked out, the curtain flew open and Dr. Ken was in crisis mode. Nurses were all over me and a gurney ushered in to take me to the Helicopter pad! What!! I was being evacuated to Jefferson Neurological Hospital. Dr. Ken explained to us that the CAT scan came back showing a brain Hemorrhage. A Subarrachnoid Hemorrhage. This was a devastating scenario that needed immediate attention at the brain trauma center at Jefferson. No time to spare. Was I scared? Damn right. WTF 2017!
Lor gave me a kiss and I told her that I loved her as they rushed me to the elevator. My life was flashing before my eyes yet again. How was this possible? So many years battling Leukemia, now this! The elevator doors opened and I was on the ground floor again. It was pouring rain outside. The Helicopter was a no go. It would be a hundred mile an hour ambulance ride, from Doylestown to center city Philadelphia. I thought that I was going to die from the ride. Forget the brain Hemorrhage! Bouncing around in the back of the ambulance, I couldn’t help but think that this wasn’t helping my situation. A normally hour plus ride turned out to be forty five minutes, sirens blaring. As we backed into the back entrance to the hospital, I could see the nurses awaiting my arrival. The ambulance doors swung open and out I went. Right to another elevator and into an operating room. The ice cold room was eerie. Big lights overhead, surgeons buzzing around, all waiting for me. This was a big deal. Within minutes, I was out for the count. 10, 9, 8, 7… all over again.
Next Up: “You’re A Lucky Man”