I walked into the family room and found Gayle, my girlfriend, unconscious. She was slumped to her left side, her head hanging over the arm of the chair, with her eyes open, looking at the ceiling. She was still stiff, as a person at the tail end of a seizure. She would not respond to her name, she would not close her eyes.
Needless to say, I freaked. I called 911 and got her shipped to the emergency room. Don't worry, she's fine now. It was heat stroke brought on by not eating enough and the diet pill Alli.
I have to admit, when I found her, I panicked. I thought my girlfriend was dead. I couldn't see any breathing, and could not feel a pulse. But I was freaking out, so I wasn't doing a very good job if feeling for one.
The girl I love was not responsive and now limp as hell.
Nothing is more horrifying than the loss of a loved one. I've only felt this pain once before. In 1991 my younger brother was killed in a car accident. The horror I felt today far exceeded what I felt when I loss my brother.
She is upstairs now, having been released from the emergency room following an IV of fluid, an EKG, and is now full of pizza and Pepsi. She's tired, has a headache, and still not fully 100%. But the tests showed no damage. She is okay. And I know now just how much she means to me.
God, I love that woman. No matter how insane she acts at time, how infuriating she can make me with her incredibly illogical thinking, her almost mystical incantation of denial, and her immensely frustrating stubbornness.
Her sister once described a scene from years ago, when Gayle was having an argument with an old boyfriend. She was so intense and combative that she stood barefoot in the snow for over half an hour just to win the argument. So, when she gets exceedingly angry, I accuse her of being barefoot in the snow.
She was stubborn when she regained consciousness, not wanting to go to the emergency room because she did not have any medical insurance. But having passed out twice more in the ambulance before pulling away decided against her wishes. Even at the emergency room, after telling her the full extent of her condition, she was still angry. Once again she was weaving about herself that incantation of denial, down playing the significance of the event, and pissing me off royally.
Once she was home, and obviously stable, I blasted her on her poor eating habits and trying to lose too much weight. Hard. She got the ass chewing of her life. And her daughter, also frustrated by the illogical reasoning behind Gayle's denial, joined in on the confrontation. Of course Gayle, being Gayle, was once again barefoot in the snow. Damn stubborn woman.
Ah, but she's The GirlFriend™, gots to love her.
Needless to say, I freaked. I called 911 and got her shipped to the emergency room. Don't worry, she's fine now. It was heat stroke brought on by not eating enough and the diet pill Alli.
I have to admit, when I found her, I panicked. I thought my girlfriend was dead. I couldn't see any breathing, and could not feel a pulse. But I was freaking out, so I wasn't doing a very good job if feeling for one.
The girl I love was not responsive and now limp as hell.
Nothing is more horrifying than the loss of a loved one. I've only felt this pain once before. In 1991 my younger brother was killed in a car accident. The horror I felt today far exceeded what I felt when I loss my brother.
She is upstairs now, having been released from the emergency room following an IV of fluid, an EKG, and is now full of pizza and Pepsi. She's tired, has a headache, and still not fully 100%. But the tests showed no damage. She is okay. And I know now just how much she means to me.
God, I love that woman. No matter how insane she acts at time, how infuriating she can make me with her incredibly illogical thinking, her almost mystical incantation of denial, and her immensely frustrating stubbornness.
Her sister once described a scene from years ago, when Gayle was having an argument with an old boyfriend. She was so intense and combative that she stood barefoot in the snow for over half an hour just to win the argument. So, when she gets exceedingly angry, I accuse her of being barefoot in the snow.
She was stubborn when she regained consciousness, not wanting to go to the emergency room because she did not have any medical insurance. But having passed out twice more in the ambulance before pulling away decided against her wishes. Even at the emergency room, after telling her the full extent of her condition, she was still angry. Once again she was weaving about herself that incantation of denial, down playing the significance of the event, and pissing me off royally.
Once she was home, and obviously stable, I blasted her on her poor eating habits and trying to lose too much weight. Hard. She got the ass chewing of her life. And her daughter, also frustrated by the illogical reasoning behind Gayle's denial, joined in on the confrontation. Of course Gayle, being Gayle, was once again barefoot in the snow. Damn stubborn woman.
Ah, but she's The GirlFriend™, gots to love her.
Jesus, Rook. Ever since we started playing chess, there's been one disturbing problem after another for you. I hope that's just a coincidence, but it's possible that I'm just a walking bad luck charm -- some of my own bigger supporters have given up blogging or vanished altogether (The Heretik, One Woman Wrecking Crew, and Evil Spock, just off the top of my head).
All the same, I don't know how bad the heat and humidity get in Minnesota, having never been there, but here in central Virginia, they get mighty brutal this time of year. To top it off, I work in a print shop that seems to have been modeled after a kiln. I adjusted my own diet a couple years back, and am about twenty-five pounds lighter than I used to be. As a result, I can bear the heat and humidity a little bit better now -- smaller carcass to haul around, easier to cool off. But that doesn't get you off the hook. Fluids are eessential -- most of my coworkers chug soda, Gatorade, and even melted Slurpees like they're going out of style, but I tend to stick to water most of the time. (There's more than a little Spartan in me.) Ya still gotta eat, too -- for your girlfriend, I recommend more fruits and veggies (especially fruits) and less meat during the summer.
And don't even get me started on pills, diet or any kind. I hate 'em. I have one prescription only, and that's for blood pressure, which I choose not to screw with. My doctor put me on that in the fall of 2006. Given the political tenor of those days, the timing couldn't have been better.
Oh, wait a sec... your girlfriend stood barefoot in the snow for an hour? In Minnesota? Shit...