Today’s plan was to bring Anthony home for lunch but I got a phonecall at the crack of dawn from the nursing lodge to report that he’d had a bad fall and they would be getting an ambulance to take him to hospital. He’d been found on the floor next to his bed with his head bleeding and seemingly concussed. The nurse who rang me reassured me that he wasn’t anxious or in pain and, knowing how fond she is of Anthony, I took her word for it and decided not to freak out.
So I calmly got dressed and ready to go into the hospital, but waited for Ming to get home from milking the cows first. I rang the Emergency department and was able to speak to Anthony and the first thing he said was, “I’m such an idiot!” We had a bit of a chuckle and I said I’d be in soon.
Unbelievably, by the time I got to the hospital, and waited at reception (rather a long time), I was told that Anthony had just been ambulanced back to the nursing lodge. So I calmly left and headed to the nursing lodge to find him looking fine but with a wound to his right temple (the opposite side from where he had the skin cancer taken out last week). He was surprisingly nimble, so using his walker, we walked out into the patio and sat at a table. I teased him in my usual way and he held my hand in his usual way and then he went to sleep in his chair so I grabbed a magazine and read the latest celebrity gossip, then went down to the nursing lodge kitchen and asked if I could order lunch to have with him. No problem.
I went back to the patio and Anthony was still drowsing so I sat there calmly thinking oh this is so boring, then the lunch arrived – a beautiful roast dinner. At this point, I punched Anthony in the shoulder (lightly) to wake him up, but he didn’t respond, then I shook him and said loudly, “C’mon Ants – lunch is here!” No response. So I calmly went and got a nurse.
Well, there was a fair bit of panic when nobody could rouse him so once again the ambulance was called and a troop of nurses used the hoist to lift Anthony from his chair to a trolley to take him to his bed. They wheeled him off but I didn’t follow immediately because I was very calmly bursting into tears. One of the nurses came outside and asked if I wanted a hug but I said no thank you, not now, maybe later.
Once I got my stupid eyes to stop leaking, I went into Anthony’s room where the same nurse was taking his blood pressure and looking worried. He’d come to a bit but looked very dazed. I tried to jolly him up by mimicking what he’d done outside but he had no recollection of course and was a bit nonplussed at all the fuss.
The ambulance arrived and I met them at the hospital and, after several more tests including a catscan, he is once again going back to the nursing lodge, and I’ve just got home.
jmgoyder 