Christmas could have been different

 Good morning, dear Blogger friends. As posted and illustrated yesterday, Christmas at the farm was, as always, BRILLIANT! 

But... 

...it almost was very different. 

On Saturday night, 23 December, I had fallen asleep at 8.45. I awoke with a start when Skabby (asleep on the floor beside my bed) gave a loud bark. 

When I checked, he had continued to sleep. I sat up in bed, wondering what he had heard.  Then I saw lights move across my bedroom window. I thought it was the nightwatchman doing his rounds with his flashlight. 

Watching I realized that it was a car's headlights and heard the vehicle stop on the driveway. I got up and looked out of the window facing John and Ron's home and saw that their house was ablaze with lights. Just then I saw Mandy, their daughter from Johannesburg, spending the week in the Valley at their timeshare, running down the garden path.

I grabbed my dressing gown, slipped my feet into shoes and went outside. John has been poorly these past two weeks. His heart rate has been very high and he has been short of breath. Ron had him at two different doctors on three occasions. By Thursday last week, the doctor had adjusted his medication and said he'd like to see him after the holidays. When Ron told me this, I said but the holidays are ten days long. Who knows that John may need a doctor before then.

This is exactly what happened. On Saturday, John took a turn for the worse; Janine said he was incoherent, his eyes were closed, and he was perspiring profusely. Janine had already phoned the emergency team, Freddie's,  who is always on call in the Valley and Winterton.  

The chief (Freddie) told Janine he'd already dispatched an ambulance from the city and that he personally was on his way to the farm. Janine and her daughter had their phone torches on; Mand's SUV's hazard lights were flashing and I had an old fashioned torch in my hand. We were waiting to see Freddie's vehicle turn off the main road onto the farm and would be able to help him to enter the farm yard without delay.

Which is what Freddie did. He duly arrived and taking his emergency bag, he ran into the house to the bedroom. Through the stress and anxiety about John, I chuckled when I heard him greeting old John with: Yes, young man, and what are you up to now! 

I also entered the bedroom at one stage and was horrified to see the state that John was in. Freddie had lifted him to a seated position with his legs over the side of the bed. He attached the tags to his torso and checked the ECG machine on the bed behind John. His heart, although beating quite fast, was quite stable and strong according to Freddie. 

Ronnie was sitting on the bed on John's left and rubbing his arm and shoulder. John still had his eyes closed and was mumbling and groaning terribly. Watching Ron, I felt such compassion for her. I could just imagine the anguish she was experiencing yet she stayed strong for John's sake. 

Freddie asked me to wait on the driveway as his daughter and another young woman were on their way. To show them into the house when they arrived. I did, and shortly Cassie arrived with her partner, Aneri, and I guided them to John and Ron's bedroom. 

While Cas set up the BP gadget. Aneri, moved to John' s right side, and with her knee on the bed behind John, she supported him. She rubbed his back and shoulders and continued to banter in reply to John's garbled chatter. At one stage she asked what John's age was. Janine, standing next to me, said he's 79. Aneri said, Mr. M, they tell me you're 79 but I think you're 21! He looked towards her voice, eyes still closed and a twisted smile on his face. 

I swallowed hard at a lump in my throat. 

I walked out onto the driveway again and met Gavin going to pack a small bag. He would travel behind the ambulance with his mother and sister in the car with him. I told him I would go back to the room and help his mom pack her bag and a few things for John. He said he would appreciate that.

By now the Netcare 911 SUV arrived and parked on the lawn. Freddie met the paramedic and showed him into the house. 

Emergency response from the city

Shortly afterwards, the ambulance arrived and entered the garden walking closely next to Gavin. They were very nervous of Jock and Smooch, the two black Labs on the veranda. 

The ambulance and flashing lights on the farmyard driveway

Now the paramedics were busy tending to John so Ron could focus on packing a small bag I checked she had her insulin. I asked her to open her purse and we checked that she had her medical aid card, John's ID, her ID and her bank card. She is very organized, and everything was in place.

We women sat in the lounge with Ron trying to catch our breaths after the upheaval. We could hear the men in the bedroom and we heard the paramedic say: this man is diabetic and is in insulin shock!  We looked at each other in horror. Not one of us had thought of John's sugar levels being so low; we'd been concerned about his heart. The GP had checked his sugar on Thursday and pronounced it normal. 

The administered a drip with dextrose intravenously and eight minutes later we heard John saying, lucidly and in true John style: What are all you gentlemen doing here! 

A little while later the men and Gavin came out helping John to walk to Gavin's SUV on the driveway. What a transformation!

We helped Ron collect her small bag and walked to Gavin's car with her. I told Janine in an aside, to check that their little beagle x Jack Russell, Dot hadn't got into Gavin's car. And sure enough, there she was. On her dad' s lap in the car!

Janine told Ron she'd take Dot home with her. Amongst her twenty dogs (five of whom are indoor dogs) is Dot's brother, Blue, So Dot would be quite at home.

I closed Ron's front door, ensured the two Labs and Meggie, the Staffie, were on the veranda and locked the gate.

By now John had been transferred to the ambulance and the paramedics were hanging his drip on a stand next to the gurney. Janine and I both went to the back of the ambulance and wished him well. 

Finally, Freddie's emergency vehicles departed. The Netcare 911 SUV pulled out with the ambulance behind it and coming up in the rear was Gavin with his mother and sister. 

Nine, holding a heavy Dot in her arms, said she would keep me informed. It was 1.45am! 

Next morning the WhatsApp message from Janine said John is stable; he's being held in hospital for observation. Gavin had returned home; Ron was in her house and Mandy had gone back to the timeshare. Each was trying to catch up on their sleep.

On Christmas morning, Ron went back to the city with their oldest granddaughter to visit John. While she was there, the doctor arrived and discharged John.

What excitement on Boxing Day afternoon when we all congregated in John and Ron's lounge to welcome the patient back into the fold.

It could have been so different...