He Would Not Wake Up

Getting up at 4:30 am recently I had the most terrifying experience in my life thus far.

My husband and I ride together to work. Mornings he gets up earlier than myself to have his tea and watch his news. When I awoke and entered our dark living room I observed him eyes closed in his armchair and thought; well this is weird he’s always wide awake waiting for me with coffee. I said his name and got no response.

 I then approached him turning on the lights saying his name louder, shaking him and still nothing. He had no color at all, was cold and sweaty, his breathing was shallow. I yelled to my adult son and as he tried to bring my husband around I dialed 911. Our life of 25 years together suddenly was flashing before me, I’d never seen anyone like this and I had never used emergency services.

The phone dispatcher asked what was going on and our location and explained he wasn’t local but was notifying a rapid response team near us. Eventually a team arrived and our living room filled with responders. They checked his breathing, his vitals, and tried to bring him around as son and I watched in shock. His blood pressure was very low.

 There were six men in the room, one suddenly wandered off into our bedroom looking around as my son asked him “what are you doing?” Another then went looking around our kitchen.  I guess to find a clue if he may have ingested anything. Before long they  packed him up and took him into the ambulance semi conscious and it sat there in the driveway while son and I gathered ourselves to follow them. 

When we arrived at the hospital we found my husband in an empty room on his own on a stretcher, nobody attending to him at all and it remained that way the rest of the day. He was awake but not, his blood pressure still quite low. He knew we were there. He was given a scan, blood taken, and hydrated with IV fluid which brought him around more. In the hours there one doctor came in once to explain they had found nothing and he would be sent home. He was never examined by a physician. He was so unsteady at discharge I had to put him in a wheelchair to our car.

 

My husband is a former athlete, army veteran, and very active normal guy with no medical history. Though in his late 60’s, he runs circles around everyone at work where he is a supervisor. This hospital was purchased by Beth Israel Lahey Health in 2024. Prior to that it was nothing at all like it is now. The experience was akin to a Quick-Care clinic visit and left us not wanting to go back. 

As an aging couple, competent medical care and safety are everything. We now know this establishment is no longer a facility that fits that criteria.