One Year Ago

This post is off-topic, but still fitting for my blog.

One year ago, I sat down to watch the 10 o'clock news and my stomach instantly dropped.  I had spoken to my husband a few hours before and he hung up suddenly, giving me a bad feeling that wouldn't go away.  The breaking news at the top of the hour was that seven firefighters were hospitalized for carbon monoxide poisoning.  The news didn't give any names, but I just knew that it was him.  I frantically dialed the emergency room and learned that he was there, indeed.  I ran around in circles for a little while after that, trying to decide what to do.  Our daughter had been in bed for a few hours and I did not want to wake her.  I eventually called my mom and asked her to come sit at our house while I went to the hospital.  I waited for what seemed like forever for her to get here and then rushed out the door.  I wasn't able to talk to him, so I had no idea how he was.  I finally arrived at the hospital after a white-knuckled drive to town (thirty minutes from where we live) and had to stand in line to talk to the lady at the registration desk.  A cop had brought in a drunk man and he was giving them a hard time.  After about twenty minutes of standing, I asked someone else in scrubs if they could give me any information.  She told me only the lady at registration could.  When I was able to speak with her, she let me know that he had been released ten minutes prior.  I rushed out the doors and over to the fire station. When I got there, he was already in his truck, getting ready to drive home.  I flagged him down and we got out and hugged and talked a little bit.  I was worried about him driving home, but he told me the doctor said it would be okay.  (I'm still not sure if that's true or not...lol)  He was sent home for the rest of the shift, though.

I was upset that he didn't call me, but he apparently told everyone not to call.  He didn't want to worry me.  We had a very frank discussion about how I need to know if anything happens, even if he thinks he'll be okay.  He recovered after several hours on high oxygen therapy, but he was very close to having to be hospitalized overnight.  They had (unknowingly) been exposed to an extremely high level of CO and started feeling light-headed after just a couple of minutes in the house.

I usually feel pretty confident in my husband's abilities and the reliability of his co-workers to keep him safe.  I don't typically lose a lot of sleep over his job.  However, I had a hard time coping with this particular incident.  He and his fellow firefighters could have easily died--another minute in that house could have been the end of them.  I'm so thankful that they are all here with us today.  I don't know what I would do without him.