When I got back from Quebec, my mother was not doing well. In fact, I wasn't home but 10 minutes, exhausted from the flight, disappointed that most the people I met from around Canada seemed to be heading to France or somewhere for the rest of the summer and I had to go back home to my nightmare. It was bad enough she was calling me from home. She tracked me down somehow in Quebec and even had the police search me out at a bar! She was so insistent that she talk to me that they found me and took me to the school so I could call her!! I was so embarrased. I left for 6 weeks to get away from her illness, but she followed me there, calling me constantly. The teachers were telling me I couldn't have her call anymore and my french wasn't good enough, nor my heart bold enough anyway, to tell them the truth.
So, after enduring all this, and catching a cold on the plane, I arrived at my grandmas only to be told by grandma that I must go immediately to my mom's place. That a police officer and Sean were there, but that she wanted me and that she was threatening to kill herself. Beyond anger, I left in my grandma's RX 7. I arrived at my mother's, walked over to her, took the 'weapon' out of her hand (letter opener), and dismissed the police officer. When he hesitated and said he had to ensure she would be safe I think I said a bad F word and told him that 3 of her friends just committed suicide and she was very upset. They were all on anti-depressants at the time. This led to concerns about her safety so she moved in with me and Andrew at Grandma's house.
Now to diverge slightly. I had decided to take a First Aid course. For no rhyme or reason. It was a weekend course. Friday evening, all day saturday and all day sunday. On friday night we learnt the ABC's of life rescue as well as Grand Mal and Petit Mal seizures. We did well, so he dismissed us 45 minutes early...
I drove straight home to grandma's house. As soon as I walked in the door, my grandparents came up to me and said my mom was not well. That she was like a zombie. She walked past me..yup, like a zombie. She walked past a few more times, and seemed quite out of it. I tried to talk to her, but she was on all her meds and was not really coherent. She was abnormally odd though. She went upstairs. I was conversing with grandma and grandpa about what to do when we heard this wailing sound. About 30 minutes had passed since I arrived home. I ran upstairs faster than superman could have and found my mother stiff as a board, balancing with her head on the night table angled down to the ground with her feet just balancing like that. She was having a grand mal seizure. Normally, I would not have just come back from a first aid course on a friday night...EARLY yet. My grandparents caught up to me. My grandma ran and got a popsicle stick after we determined her mouth was locked shut and she couldn't breath and blood was coming out. I told her no (they told us at first aid to never stick anything into someone's mouth while having a seizure). I told her to go call 911.
I had moved her to the floor and assessed for the ABC's. Airway, Breathing and Circulation. So, airway. Wasn't looking good as it was jammed shut. So I moved her neck upwards as they had just showed us in class. BINGO! She finally started breathing. She is still seizuring and her whole body is stiff and shaking. I could only wait knowing it would pass soon. When it was over, I then put her legs up at a 90 degree angle as I had to treat for shock. Luckily, I didn't have to do the B or C from my course. Her mouth was dripping blood as her jaw slammed down on her tongue absolutely mashing the perimeter of it. Her molars had imprinted on her tongue and it was seriously mangled. The paramedics arrived and took over. By this time, she had just come out of the seizure. It seemed like an eternity to me They seemed stunned at all that I had done and how calm I was. I told them I just learnt it all in a first aid course and that I would freak out soon enough. I then rode with her in the ambulance and spent the night there without sleep. I then finished the rest of my 16 hour course over the next two days. Trying to digest and comprehend what had happened and why I just 'happened' to be let out of a First Aid course I almost didn't take and how all that allowed me to save my mother's life...at least temporarily. As I waited for the paramedics, I gazed into her eyes, beyond sad and could 'see' her telling me that she didn't want to exist in this body any longer...not this way. She didn't know at the time that she didn't have much longer left.
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