This is a short story, I think it's short. My mom had an unusual condition. She had the ability to take care of almost any crisis and then after it was over or if the doctor was present, she would faint. Here are some examples.
The first one takes place when I was about 4 years old and we still lived in Pennsylvania. I was out playing in the front yard on the sidewalk and I fell and landed on my knee. I had about a half inch cut and was bleeding a lot. I went crying into the house to Mom and she sat me down and she cleaned up the cut. She bandaged it and went into the living room to sit down. She was starting to feel light headed. I was still whimpering and I crawled up into moms lap as she sat on the sofa. As soon as I got up in her lap and laid my head down against her chest she passed out. Everything was over so she could relax and that meant she would pass out.
Now we're living in Calif. and my dad is diabetic and he takes insulin shots every morning. This was in 1955 and things were not as sophisticated as they are now and the only way they could test the diabetes was by using urine. That was not very accurate to say the least. Anyway, this one morning dad hit a vein and his insulin went through his blood and that caused him to go into insulin shock. He went into convulsions and hit his head repeatedly on the kitchen floor. In his insulin shock, he got up and went into the bathroom and closed the door and fell against it. I could have helped him by giving him something sweet, but I couldn't get the door opened. Back then we used Karo syrup, not orange juice as they recommend now.
Mom was at work and she had just started her new job and I didn't know the number. My brother had gone to school already. It's good that I hadn't gone yet. I couldn't get the bathroom door open and I was scared, but, for a 6 year old, I didn't panic . I called the operator and explained my situation, and all I could tell her was that my mom worked for a milk company in Santa Clara. She started to look and the only milk company was Carnation Milk. That was it! The operator called and got Mom on the phone. She also called for an ambulance to come for my dad. I explained everything to Mom and she said she would be home in about 15 minutes.
Mom actually got home before the ambulance got there. She tried to get into the bathroom and she couldn't get in either. Finally the ambulance got there and the two guys were able to push the door open and move Dad. They got him up on the gurney and bandaged his head. He had a cut just above his eye from banging his head on the floor. Mom got some syrup in him and they took my dad to our family doctor's office. As they brought my dad into the office and to an exam room, our doctor took one look at my mom and said, "We'd better take care of you first." So they got her to lie down on an exam table and gave her some smelling salts. Our doctor was able to see by my mom's color that she was about to pass out. See, the doctor was there and everything was going to be okay and my dad would be taken care of so Mom was no longer needed. Dad got 7 stitches from the head banging. One of the original head bangers.
The next story is about me again. Now I am 11 years old and John and I are in Boy Scouts. Well one summer day we had this wonderful idea to raise some money. Down the street there was an empty lot and there was a lot of wood and we had the idea to gather up the wood to sell. Some of it had to be cut. Well, being Scouts, John and I had our own axes that we got for chopping wood when we went camping. So we decided could chop up the wood so we could sell it. We stopped for a break. I had seen other people take the ax and stick it in the end of a log. Well that's what I planned to do but one problem, the piece of wood was only about 2 inches in diameter. Now this was way to small to make this work. But that didn't stop this know-it-all. So here I was in flip flops, which was my first mistake. I put my foot on this piece of wood and swung the ax and it ricocheted off the end of the wood and hit my foot just on the inside of the ankle. Boy did it start to bleed. I was screaming in pain and running home with blood all over the street. When we got home John called Mom at work, and told her what happened and she was on her way. John knew that he had to apply pressure on the wound. It hurt but he had to do it. When Mom got home she bandaged me the best she could and off we went to the doctor's office. Once at the office and the crisis was over, they made her sit down and have some smelling salts. Again, she knew everything was okay because the doctor was there and she would pass out. The way my foot was cut by the ax it couldn't be stitched, so I just got a bandage. Of course I have a scar, but I'm okay.
That was my mom in a crisis. She could take care of the crisis but once it was over she was useless.
The next story is about me again. Now I am 11 years old and John and I are in Boy Scouts. Well one summer day we had this wonderful idea to raise some money. Down the street there was an empty lot and there was a lot of wood and we had the idea to gather up the wood to sell. Some of it had to be cut. Well, being Scouts, John and I had our own axes that we got for chopping wood when we went camping. So we decided could chop up the wood so we could sell it. We stopped for a break. I had seen other people take the ax and stick it in the end of a log. Well that's what I planned to do but one problem, the piece of wood was only about 2 inches in diameter. Now this was way to small to make this work. But that didn't stop this know-it-all. So here I was in flip flops, which was my first mistake. I put my foot on this piece of wood and swung the ax and it ricocheted off the end of the wood and hit my foot just on the inside of the ankle. Boy did it start to bleed. I was screaming in pain and running home with blood all over the street. When we got home John called Mom at work, and told her what happened and she was on her way. John knew that he had to apply pressure on the wound. It hurt but he had to do it. When Mom got home she bandaged me the best she could and off we went to the doctor's office. Once at the office and the crisis was over, they made her sit down and have some smelling salts. Again, she knew everything was okay because the doctor was there and she would pass out. The way my foot was cut by the ax it couldn't be stitched, so I just got a bandage. Of course I have a scar, but I'm okay.
That was my mom in a crisis. She could take care of the crisis but once it was over she was useless.
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