I thought Mike was having a stroke. He was confused, muddled, didn’t know my name or who I was when I told him. He had for the last two days been fighting chills, sweats, fevers, projectile vomiting and I told him yesterday he was going to the hospital with me. Those were fighting words and it got ugly, so stupid me dropped the subject. He started feeling better toward mid-afternoon and I was hopeful the worse had passed.

This morning when I came in from feeding, I found him in his chair his teeth chattering, his words slurred. I took his temp 102.8 and just told him that I was done playing games and he was going to the hospital now! His response was to vomit all over me (not on purpose though). I told him to get in his wheelchair, but he couldn’t move. He was pale, clammy hands, sweaty brow- I’m thinking what the hell is going on here? I took his blood sugar it was good- not low or to high. I called his best friend to come over NOW and get him in the truck for me and then we were on our way to OHSU

Once there they determined he had heart issues, but it wasn’t a stroke. He also has a UTI and for those who don’t know in the elderly, this can cause all those symptoms and then they are okay and then are back to the episodes of chills, shakes, fevers, confusion and then fine again. They did a lot of tests on him and are keeping him for evaluation and further testing. I left at midnight and they still hadn’t found him a room yet.

On the way home, traveling the old highway and not the interstate, I got behind two cars who were also stuck behind this huge machine. It was taking up most of the lane and some of the oncoming lane as well. I thought it might be a front loader holding onto a few crushed cars or something. The first car decided to pass and when he moved over to pass this huge behemoth of a machine, the operator decided to be cute and moved over to block the car! I was hoping it might be because the operator didn’t see the car, but now after everything that happened, I don’t think that was a case. But this car was a compact and it finally just zoomed past. Second car same thing- tried to pace, got blocked and then tried again until finally found an opening and sped off into the night. That left me behind this machine and I noticed he was having problems staying in the lane so much so that the oncoming traffic was pulling over and stopping until it went by.

I’m going 10 miles an hour on a 55mph road and saying some rude words to myself but knowing with MIke’s truck I don’t dare even try to pass.It would never have worked. So I just stayed behind it. We got into silverton and there is a section of town that goes up a steep hill. When we got before the hill, I saw all these cop cars on the street- I have gone this way hundreds of times and maybe seen two or three cops during the trip, but suddenly it looked like a major bust was going down. Behind me a cop hit his blue lights, and I was getting ready to pull over when he shot past me and wedged in, in front of me and behind the machine. We were at the base of the hill at this time. I slowed down because I don’t want a ticket and I noticed another car behind me, not a police car, but the other cop cars were coming up fast. All of a sudden, I heard this huge screech and looked up. The machine had reached the bottom of the hill and in trying to go up it- couldn’t do it- too much weight. It started reversing fast and slipping down the hill- the cop in front of me hit his lights and started to reverse faster. But the idiot behind me didn’t give me any room to get out of the way, so I was stuck. The cop realized my predicament and reversed around me- by this time, the machine was on the other side of the street slamming into parked cars, I heard this huge BOOM and I just floored it and got out of dodge. I just missed being hit by something this operator hit. The cop literally saved my life. I figured with 52 cops right there in the thick of it, they really didn’t need a witness and besides I had bottle babies at home to tend to. I did stop a few miles down the road and shook as hard as Mike did when he couldn’t get out of his chair.

Tonight before I go to bed, my prayer will be- God can we not have another day of close calls like that for quite awhile?