Ask The Audience: Scary Story Time

Ivy, I've had grandparents and parent die quickly and slowly. Both are horrible, but I think I suffer more from the death of my father, who went quickly. I ask; was he in pain? Did he get to say all he wanted to say? It haunts me even now, 9 years later.

Heather, OMG...I just read about Ellie. Hugs, kisses, plastic bubble to keep you all safe. You know how much I love you and the kids...would have terrified me had my Elizabeth done that when she was little. I'd like to shoot Trident. Anyone ever heard of triaging BEFORE making you wait??? If I blogged anymore, I'd have more caustic word choices for them.

Both of you are in my heart....Ivy and your family, Heather and yours.

xoxo

Ivy, I know where you are with your grandmother. My mother's death took much the same path, and we were all relieved when she finally passed on. I was 21, and as her next of kin, it fell to me to sign the papers to take her off life support. It was hard but I knew that's what she would have wanted because we had talked about it. I don't have any words to make this kind of situation easier to bear other than to say that it will end. Hugs to you and your family.

Heather, OMG, your description so sounded like what happened to my daughter at 10 months of age. I'm so glad your outcome was different!!! My daughter had been to the pediatrician - and pronounced OK except for a stubborn ear infection - the day before I woke up to find her purple and nonresponsive in her crib. It turned out she had meningitis for some time without any real symptoms (probably due to the antibiotics she was taking for the ear infection) before it got into a blood vessel in her brain and burst it during the night while we slept. She didn't die, but was left profoundly brain damaged. I had to sign her over to the state because I couldn't afford her care (I was making $800 a month and her care was over $5000 a month). That was 25 years ago, and remains my worst experience ever.

The second worst came last year, when a friend who was staying with us suffered food poisoning after a dinner date with his girlfriend. I woke up when I heard a crash - he had passed out and fallen on the way to the bathroom, and I barely got to him in time to roll him over before he aspirated vomit. My husband and I had to pick him up and hold him so that he wouldn't drown...he's a big guy and had just gone on blood pressure medicine, and this also caused his blood pressure to crash, so he kept falling unconscious. It took both of us to hold him and we literally could not leave him to get to a phone to call for help! Every time we tried to get him to lie down so he wouldn't fall, up would come some more and he would pass out again! This went on for four hours before his blood pressure stabilized and he regained consciousness. We were then able to get him into the car to go to the emergency room, where they discovered that he had been given the wrong dosage of blood pressure medicine. He's fine now.

Heather....I can only imagine the panic and distress this must have caused you. I am glad that your little lady is on the mend!!

Ivy...I hope peace comes to her soon.

-------My scary story only became scary recently...because I can only understand, now that I have kids, how scary this must have been for MY parents. (I am fortunate that our kiddos have yet to give us any truly scary moments, although my heart does jump up into my throat several times a week at the near misses!)

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When I was about 8 years old, I went swimming at the Y with my big sister and her friends. They were pressuring me to do a back flip off the diving board and I chickened out and felt so little and small for not having the courage to do it. So...I got out of the pool and got dressed in my cut off jean shorts and went to play on the wooden playground outside.

I was the only person out there and I climbed to the top of the playground to ride down the slide. Still feeling small and chicken....I decided to jump down off the top of the playground like the big kids often did. With no one watching I had the courage to do it.

I weighed all of 70 pounds, soaking wet. My jean shorts caught on a nail and instead of jumping off I hung upside down, dangling. I swung for a few moments and then went crashing down onto the exposed wooden beam base of the playground.

I probably knocked myself out because next thing I knew....I was standing up and there was blood EVERYWHERE. I immediately clapped my hand to my bloody forehead and said outloud "My name is Rebecca Tuck" (I remember being worried I had given myself amnesia.....ahhh, good old 80s tv!)

I casually walked back into the Y, having no idea how bad this gash really was....not noticing the distress everyone felt upon seeing me all bloody and banged up. I nicely asked the front desk lady to please fetch my sister from the pool because I wanted to go home!

---The ambulance arrived shortly after that. I refused to get on it, though, because I had remembered my father saying how much it cost to ride in an ambulance (my thriftyness started early, folks!). So, I rode to the hospital with my mom (who arrived about the same time). 27 stitches! Still have the scar and, today, I am the most uptight mom at the playground.

Ivy, You and yours are in my prayers. Heather, ditto. Life can be scary indeed. Glad the little one is doing better. Good for you for trusting your instincts and getting help.

Scary story from our family: watching my 13 year old get hit by a car. It was in a school zone, so at relatively slow speed, but still ...... she flew into the air and hit the pavement face first. Scary. Ambulance/ER/CAT scan/xrays/ the whole 9 yards. She was bruised and had a huge goose egg, but ultimately fine.
Afterward? She was mad that the local newspaper had said she was 12 years old, when she was 13 years and 9 days. Kids!

I'll be short and sweet. Or short for me at least.

-Being made to bury 6 kitties alive when I was 8.

-Loosing our first child at 20 weeks

-My mothers health at the moment.

-Issues with my son and his meltdowns

-the day we were told my daughter had mild CP

-When my son drank a bottle of Bath and Body works spray

First of all, Ivy, you and Heather are in my prayers. It sounds like the past few days have been trying for both of you. Ivy, I'm so sorry to hear about your grandmother, and I hope you and your family get some relief soon.

My scary story is not truely scary, but I thought others might find it funny. When my son was 17 months old we had tubes put in his ears because he had alot of ear infections. Of course, that means using earplugs anytime he was in a pool or the bath. Well, one night I had just given him a bath, and I laid him on the changing table and put the plugs on the table while I put a new diaper on him. While I was getting the diaper on I noticed he had started chewing on one of the earplugs, so I took it away, but I could not find the other one now. I start looking around on the floor for it, but I don't see it. The only other thing I could think is that he might have swallowed it, but I hadn't choke or struggle to swallow anything. I didn't think the earplug would have gone down smoothly, but at the same time I could not find the stupid thing. Because he was not acting like he was in any discomfort, I laid him down in his crib and proceed to get on my hands and knees looking for the missing earplug. I still don't find it. I then call my mother, who is also a nurse, to ask her what she thought. She was like me and didn't think he could have swallowed it without a fight, and she also thought, if he had swallowed it would probably pass through his system, but she didn't know. At this point I called the pediatrician's answering service so I could ask his doctor what needs to be done. While I was waiting for the doctor to call me, I start searching the same area again for the earplug, and I finally find it. It had bounced underneath the changing table. I called the doctor's answering service to cancel the page. Then I called my mother to say I had found it, and I was going to relax with a couple of beers.

My scary experience was just after my son's first birthday, a little more than 2 years ago. We were all still asleep when my son let out this horrendous yelping cry. My husband and I leapt out of bed, to see him having a seizure. When the seizure was over, he didn't start breathing immediately, and that freaked me out even more.

I am normally very cool and calm under pressure. But I had trouble giving the 911 operator the information they needed. The ambulance and fire truck found us, and they took him to the hospital. He had another seizure while we were in the ER, and they admitted him. He was not sick before the seizures, so they were not febrile seizures. He was there for 3 days. They (tried) to give him an EEG, but the sedation medication did not take, and he wouldn't stay still for the EEG.

They were finally able to give him the EEG a month later (after keeping him up most of the night), and they did not find anything wrong. He hasn't had another seizure since then.

Ivy, don't apologize. I know EXACTLY how you feel. My poor dad got so distressed over his mother's condition that it got to be, "Well, my mother hasn't died yet." I know it sounds terrible, but people don't get to judge...they just don't.

As for scary, I had a baby of mine almost die at 10 months because the stupid on-call doctor tried to tell me I was just a nervous mother. When I argued, he informed me he was the doctor. I disagreed and took my baby to ER...they later told me an hour longer would have made his recovery iffy. From that moment on, I've trusted my gut when it comes to my kids, with no apologies.

It is hard to let go and cling to the memories of the "good times"
You and your family are in my prayers. Pam, South Bend

Ivy,
Yes, I know what you mean. When Dad died, my brother was also very sick and on death's door. We'd get that look a lot. People start to think you are some kind of horrible person. But life has to go on, despite the state you are in right now.

My prayer for you is that she will go quickly and your dad will have the comfort from the Lord he needs to make it through. We told people that we'd already mourned the loss of daddy while he was dying and now we wanted to celebrate his joyous Victory in Heaven. Those who knew dad well, agreed to do so and those who didn't agree, mourned for themselves. Jesus said to "cry not at my death."

So I hope things go better for you and Heather this week. We are all sick here and sick of being sick. Come on Spring!

About four years ago when my husband was in SC visiting a friend and I was home with my two children my youngest at the time had a ruptured ear drum, took him to the doctor and got some meds... a few days later I went to pick my boys up from day care and he was getting red spots all over him... as the night went on he was swelling up, and looked like I beat him (he had welts all over him) That night I took him to the ER and it was determined that he was allergic to the meds. he was on. He did not even look like the same kid. I e-mailed a picture to my husband and he could not even tell who it was. His eyes were swollen and he had welts all over... This allergic reaction lasted a week, till all the meds were out of his system and 2 trips to the ER and 3 to the Doc. Scary, Scary, scary... I did not leave him for almost two weeks.

Ivy, Prayers for you and your family.

Heather, good thoughts headed your way - children and scary moments seem to go hand in hand. Hang in there...all of you.