On Friday night, Taigen and I had an obligation to have a meeting with someone and then do dinner. The kids had planned on going over to "Miss Lorrie's" (a lady from our church) for a sleepover. It was something that had been on our calendar for a while and the kids were greatly looking forward to it. We wrestled through whether or not to follow through with this plan. Marshall was coughing (and Shaylen had a residual cough as well), but he was looking more perky, had been on antibiotics for over 24 hours now, and his fever was low-grade (99 degrees). It was a tough decision, definitely not ideal, but we went ahead as planned. We loaded the kids up with their stuff & medicines. We gave Miss Lorrie instructions and dropped them off.
When we got back to the house, Taigen got in bed, piled a gazillion blankets on top of him, and went to sleep. The sickness had now come to Taigen.
When we met back up with Miss Lorrie and the kids, she said that they had had a rough night. They all looked exhausted. I guess they had periods of sleep interrupted by bouts of coughing. We knew it had been a bad decision for all of us. *sigh*
When we got home, Taigen crashed, the kids crashed, and I went to the church to do some secretarial work for Sunday's services as well as the Sunday that we were going to be gone. Taigen said he could manage getting dinner so I was to just stay through and get stuff done.
I was able to get everything done for church and got home by about 6:40pm. Everyone had eaten (or so I thought) and baths were in progress. I took Marshall's temperature. It had spiked again and so we made the decision to keep Marshall home from church on Sunday. This would be my third Sunday out. By now, surely folks were forgetting what I even looked like!
Sunday morning dawned. Taigen took his temperature and told me that his fever was gone. He wasn't feeling the greatest, but at least he felt good enough to eat a decent breakfast and go to church (or so we thought). I came down and put the breakfast dishes into a sink of hot soapy water and wiped off the counter. He did say to me before leaving for church, "I feel like we are limping to vacation." No kidding. Famous last words, eh? Taigen and Shaylen left for church. Shaylen had told me the night before that she was going to see if she could sit with the Gicks. She said that she had never sat with them before. I thought it was a great idea (remember this...it will come into play later in my story).
Marshall was perkier than he had been the night before, but still subdued. I threw on some althetic pants and a t-shirt, but avoided doing my hair and applying my makeup. Why should I bother? I would not be leaving the house again today (or so I thought...you catching a pattern here?).
Marshall and I crashed on our bed upstairs with a couple of Hardy Boy books. We were in the middle of reading our second one when I heard the doorbell. It was about 11:30am. I quickly went into the bathroom to actually look at myself. (I was a vision of loveliness, I tell ya! But it wasn't as bad as I've seen myself before. Ha ha!) Went I went down to open the front door, who was standing there but Mrs. Cooper!? She was all decked out in church clothes. I said to her, "What?! Are you playing hookey or did the service just let out super-early?"
She didn't really laugh. It was more of a "ha" and a sympathetic side smile. She stepped in the house and said, "Um, no. Your husband fainted this morning during the service. He's okay. I'm here to take you to the Emergency Room." I know I cried briefly. I remembered being completely overwhelmed with the sickness that is in our house! I told her that I needed to get ready. She explained that our friends, the Lemons, were bringing Shaylen home and would take care of the kids. I went upstairs to tell Marshall what had happened. I also let him know what was going to take place. I moved him downstairs to the couch and then proceeded to make myself presentable. When I came downstairs about 5 minutes later, Mrs. Cooper was her usual self and made me laugh by saying, "I wish my house looked this good when people unexpectedly stopped by." She really cracks me up. I had couch pillows, Nancy Drew books, Hardy Boy books, a stuffed animal or two, and three blankets out. I had dishes soaking in the sink. In a matter of minutes, I was going to have a family of 5 descending upon my house. At this point I didn't care, but I love that Mrs. Cooper made me smile. (She always can. I totally get her quick, dry wit. You would love her too if you knew her.)
Debbie Cooper and I rode in her car to the hospital. We made small talk in the car on the way and she relayed a little bit more of what happened. I appreciate her taking care of me. I'm sure I shouldn't have been behind the wheel of a car. No doubt I would have exceeded the speed limit.
When we arrived, Mr. Cooper was being dropped off by another couple from the church. The ER was packed. My first observation of the waiting room was that there was a pajama party and I missed the memo. Clearly we were a little overdressed. There was standing room only. So, we stood and waited for them to let me back to see Taigen.
Taigen's color was back, but he did look so tired. It was then that he confessed that maybe he was weak because he hadn't eaten dinner the night before. "Ya think?" I said. That got a weak smile from him. Scott Meroff was there with Taigen. He had stayed by his side. What a faithful man! I was so grateful for our church people!
From then on I began to unravel what happened from various and sundry people. Apparently, Taigen wasn't feeling the greatest that morning, but he thought he could tough it out. He taught his Sunday School class. (Karen P. told him later that she had thought to herself that he looked pale.) He went on into the morning service. We typically sing a hymn, have announcements, read a passage from Scripture and pray. Then we sing two more hymns. It was during that third hymn that Taigen began to feel worse. He thought about sitting down but told himself that he could tough it out. The people were standing on that third hymn, and on the last verse/chorus, the ushers came forward for the offering time. By this time, Taigen was feeling awful. Folks tell me that he was pasty white. He gripped the sides of the pupit and asked Jerry to pray for the offering. Then, I guess he softly repeated himself in a slurred manner. Taigen tells me that he doesn't remember saying things a second time because everything had gone black. Several people had noticed Taigen not looking right. A man in the choir had noticed and was already on his way out of the choir loft to help. Renee, the organist, was watching him grip the pulpit. A man in our congregation who is also a Boy Scout Troop leader noticed. Taigen started to go down and there was a small gasp. He thudded to the floor (no dainty buckling of the knees...he went down like a felled tree) and then there was another huge gasp from the congregation.
The men were on him in seconds. Taigen fell to the right, missing the pulpit and the mini-pew that's on the platform. They rolled him to his back and started making sure he was okay. Can you imagine what was going on in people's minds? Cardiac arrest? A stroke? A heart attack? Someone even said, "Check to see if he's breathing!" Someone took off Taigen's tie and unbuttoned his top button. He came to and they asked him, "What day is today?" He responded "Sunday" in a matter-of-fact way. Thankfully, we had an EMT from Portsmouth visiting our church that day. They had never been to HBC before. He came up to the platform, introduced himself and told them that he was an EMT, offering to look Taigen over.
Now, remember earlier in my story that I said Shaylen went to church with Taigen? She was in the service. Now if Marshall and I had been there, we would have been sitting in the second pew on the piano side. We always sit there. It would have been the perf...um, no, the worst seat. We would have seen everything. (Think: Traumatized twins) Shaylen had told me that she was going to try and sit with the Gicks. Unfortunately for her, but fortunately for this whole situation, was the fact that both Mr. and Mrs. Gick were in the choir, so she couldn't sit with them. She asked Mrs. Meroff instead. Here is what happened from Amy's perspective:
Oh my! What a morning. As the Lord would have it, all seats towards the front were we normally sit were taken. Right after Sunday School Shaylen asked if she could sit with us and Michelle chose way towards the back as the rows were taken up front. We were about the 2nd row from the back, thank the Lord for that spot today. Because we were so far back, I do not believe Shaylen saw her Daddy on the floor at all. I did! After that horrible sounding thump and [when] some ladies from the choir gasped out loud, I looked up. I left right away and told Michelle to stay right with Shaylen. I didn't think fast enough to take her out with me. I went out immediately to ask Dan if I should go get you. In the mean time, 20 seconds later, Wendy had whisked out of the choir and come taken Shaylen out. I told Shaylen "Let's go see the babies". I did not want her near the lobby windows or to see EMT's arrive with a stretcher. I assumed she had seen Pastor down. There must have been enough men surrounding him, and taller people standing in front of her that she did not see that it was him. As we went down the stairs I said maybe he did not have a big breakfast, and said maybe that is why he passed out. When she said in a puzzled voice, "Who", my heart sank as I then realized she did not know, but thankful she had not seen it all. I told her "Daddy" and she burst into tears. We went into the nursery with babies and talked a minute and then we prayed. She calmed and had a few moments of questions and tears, but was very brave. She asked if he was awake and Mrs. Norris went to check and came back with happy news that he was awake and talking. I took her up when Pastor asked to see her. I kept my hands firmly on her shoulders as he talked to her, not knowing how she might feel or respond - some might have felt woozy to see a loved one down. As we were leaving the auditorium, she hugged the Lewises, but as I saw the EMTs arrive, I took her downstairs again so she would not see the stretcher come in and cause her further worry. Poor little girl. My heart was so sad for her. I reminded her to pray if worry came into her thoughts...We are so thankful that Pastor is ok; that was scary.
Praise the Lord for the care of my little one by the dear and sensitive ladies of our church!
I'm not sure of the order of events from here on, but I hear that Mr. Cooper stood up at the pulpit, prayed, and then dismissed the congregation. What a scary morning for them all!Taigen had just a few more discussions with doctors and nurses before we left the ER. They wanted him to slowly stand up and check his blood pressure. I guess when the EMT's had done that in the auditorium it had dropped considerably. They wanted to make sure he wasn't going to faint on the way out. I called and texted family to let them know what had happened before everything hit the world wide web (i.e. Facebook) and made them panic. By that time, Taigen had stabilized so they took off his IV and chest "stickers" and let us go home.
Taigen and I stopped by the pharmacy on the way home to get Taigen's antibiotic prescription. He was already asleep when I got back to the car. My job was to take him home, get him settled, and make him rest. I got a phone call from Brenda (up at Cornerstone in ME). Word had already reached the folks up there and she called to let me know they would be praying. That was incredibly encouraging!
My dishes were done when I got home. Stephi had washed them all up. My kids had been fed and all was well in my house. I'm so thankful for my dear friends!
Shortly before the evening service, Mr. Cooper stopped by to check in on Taigen so that he could give the church an update. Also in our conversation he said that the deacons had discussed things and wanted to strongly suggest that we take an additional week of vacation. He said sometimes you hurry and get out, and just as you're starting to relax you have to turn around and come home. The deacons wanted to encourage Taigen to take the two weeks so that he would be sure to get ample rest. This was just so unbelieveably wonderful and overwhelming. We couldn't believe our ears.
Sometimes when I am expressing great joy or love to the kids, my eyes tear up. They look at me like I'm insane and ask if I'm crying. I tell them, no, my heart is just so full that it overflows. Believe me then when I say that my heart was definitely overflowing with joy and gratitude at this point. God has always been and will continue to be so good to us in giving us such a wonderful and caring church family. We are just so delighted to be here serving with them. We pray that our vacation will be very restful so that we can come back ready for the weeks and months ahead. Praise the Lord!
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