What a Birthday

Mike called this afternoon to tell me he'd be late to TKD because his weekly basketball game had been moved from tomorrow to today. I told him that was fine...have fun, after all, it is his birthday and who am I to take away a stress relieving game of basketball with the people he works with?

We decided to have the kids do the 6:15 class because Mike had TKD at 7 and I had jiu jitsu at 7:45. That would mean the kids wouldn't be ferried around so much. At 5:50, I was getting the kids into the van to go when my cell rings. It's a number I didn't recognize but, being a Virginia number, it could have been anyone.

Me: Hello?
Caller: Hi, umm, this is Michael and I was playing basketball with Mike.
Me: Okay.
Michael: He was a little dizzy and, umm, we think he's okay but we thought we should call you.
Me: Okaaaay.
Michael: I mean, he's fine and all and the paramedics say that his EKG was good.
Me: Wait...what?
Michael: The ambulance is going to take him to the hospital but you don't need to speed or anything to get here.
Me: Hospital? The ambulance is there?
Michael: Yeah they're taking him to St Luke's. He was just kind of dizzy and you don't need to break any traffic laws or anything. We're all going to follow. Just meet us in Emergency. We haven't even left yet so don't go too fast or anything.
Me: Ummm...okay

I hang up and kind of freak out a little. I called TKD and told them we wouldn't be there. Master Dave told me to keep them informed. I called Dad who wanted to hop into the car and come in. I told him to wait until we knew more. At this point, Peter (Mike's boss' boss) calls to let me know they've arrived. Good timing, I tell him, because I was just pulling into the parking lot. I'm greeted at the ER doors by Josh, Mike's boss, who directs me to the nice lady at admitting. I fill out the paperwork, Josh and Michael take the kids and I head back to see Mike.

He's not hooked up to anything and the fact that he hadn't been seen by a doctor made me feel a little better...because if there had been a ton of people around, something would have been really wrong. Anyway, I sign some stuff for the paramedic and head back out to give the guys an update (which was really nothing).

Peter offered to run to McDonald's to get dinner for the kids and a soda for me (which was so nice of him) and Josh and Michael offered to stay to watch the kids for me. I thanked them all and headed back with the kids so that they could see that he was okay. At this point the doctor comes in and tells us that he probably had Hyperventilation Syndrome and not a heart attack. They ran a few more tests just to be sure.

I went back to the waiting room to give the guys an update and to make some calls. The guys go back to check on Mike while I sit for a minute and Hannah tells me that I need to get up because I was sitting in Josh's seat. Nice. Josh thought it was funny.

When I go back to check on Mike again, the doctor is discharging him. Oh. Well that's good. We walk out into the waiting room and the kids are eating the nuggets Peter brought them. Mike sits for a few minutes and they all talk for a while. When we left, they decided to wheel Mike out to the car in a wheelchair while Josh and everyone else were taking pictures.

It was even nicer than expected to come home and share Mike's birthday cake with him. Of course, all of this didn't do anything for my anxiety when answering the phone.