911...What's Your Emergency?

It went something like this:
5:30pm, Friday 2/20
I'm feeding the 3 little kids dinner as they stand around me because the kitchen is still a mess.
John is leaving work in about 30 more minutes as he's trying to get a plate to run, or something like that, but he can't talk because he needs to concentrate.
My cell phone rings, I answer via speakerphone, and the conversation goes something like this.

Jeri: hello

TPI, 5:47pm: Mrs. Riddick, this is Wayne at TPI. John wanted me to call you and let you know that 911 has been called and EMS is here. I think they're gonna take John to the hospital.

Jeri: are you kidding? you're kidding right? (because I'm thinking John is just harassing me after a not so fun day of parenting)

Wayne: No ma'am, I'm not kidding. I'm not sure exactly what happened, but John said he couldn't feel his left arm and was stuck to his chair and they wheeled him out of the cleanroom. They're outside now trying to get him set to go.

Jeri: Do not take him to RRH, you must take him to SWC. Tell them that. Do not go to RRH, they've almost killed both of us.

Wayne: Yes ma'am. I'll try. Steve will be calling you soon to give you more details.

Jeri: ok, thanks. I'll wait for his call so that I know where to go.

So after I hang up, I come THISCLOSE to losing it, but catch myself as I realize I'm sitting before 3 small children that can easily take on my emotions. A quick call to my wonderful brother Rich lets me know he's about 10 minutes away. By a miracle he was coming out so that the 3 of us could go to dinner after we put the kids in bed. And he was planning on spending the night. While still feeding the chompers, I called my friend JO and told her to pray. I had a feeling John would be ok, but it was going to be a long night. So JO prayed for him and got the same feeling I did. My mistake here was keeping her on speaker phone, because Jani got hysterical, scared. The boys pretty much just still wanted to eat, but Jani got it.

I had enough time to finish feeding them and shower before Rich got here and then I was off and flying down the road, flashers and all. I had to call TPI back and they said Steve was trying to get my # to call me. They did take John to SWC so that was great. Fabulous new hospital. By the time I go there it has been 1hour and 10min since Wayne had called. I was relieved to see Colleen, his boss' boss, turns out someone from management has to stay with the person until family arrives. She stayed longer and I was glad, she had all kinds of info on John, like the fact that he drank a triple espresso for breakfast!

So what happened? Here is John's words:

Around 5:30 or so I got really weak and put my head on the table next to the screen. I told myself you can’t take a nap at work and so I made myself sit up. I think when I sat up it felt like my head was spinning like a globe. I sat there trying to tell if I was really feeling wierd or if I was faking it. I decided I wasn’t faking it and I called to Mike and said "Mike, something’s wrong with me". He came over shortly and asked if I was kidding. I said no. My left arm was numb from shoulder to finger tips and for some amount of seconds I felt frozen in my chair. I tried to stand with his help but Steve and Mike had me sit back down (I think). After that a bunch of people helped me. I had severe motion sickness when trying to talk or move even an inch.

We were there until about 11pm, though the doctor said he could go about 9:30 or 9:45. So much for dinner at a normal time. The doctor diagnosed him with a severe case of vertigo and said the numbness/feeling stuck to the chair was his body trying to reset itself after being so dizzy. And it was all brought on by not drinking enough water and eating more solid food. We wound up eating at Chilis because besides IHOP or Dennys, not much is open at that time. We had some yummy potato soup, not what we were thinking we would have. I'm so thankful it wasn't more serious, and that we still have many more years to be together as a family.