Twenty minutes
Wednesday August 29th 2007, 1:49 pm
Filed under: Life

The rest of the story:

So, there was the vice principal knocking on my window, thinking he recognized me but asking to be sure, “Are you Mrs. Hyde?” Yes. Can’t I just park? I mean, look at this jam! “No, I don’t think he can walk that far.”

MY kid??

Those 20 minutes it took me to get all those parents out of my frantic way so that I could drive around to the back of the high school gave me enough time to calm down and figure out what likely had happened, although, I only guessed the half of it. I finally got back there, pulling up alongside the firetruck, and saw someone gesturing dramatically with both arms, “In there!” Walked into the classroom to see my son half-lying half-propped-up on the floor, a cup of glucose solution in his hands, and asked him wryly, “So. You didn’t pack your lunch?”

“I TOLD YOU! I *TOLD* you!!” he exclaimed at the paramedics in total protest. My goodness, not one single ounce of sympathy from his mother, huh?!

It had been a beastly hot day, and he’d skipped breakfast. Hadn’t made a lunch. Didn’t want to drink out of the fountains, “They’re gross, Mom.” Got a real workout in gym. And then, the last class of the day, not feeling too well, he suddenly fainted as he stood to hand his test in to the teacher, and smacked his head hard on the desk on the way down. Out cold. The teacher called 911, the bell rang, I can just picture the other kids stunned, hesitating, and then stepping around him–and then the rumor went around the whole school that they’d watched this kid die in their class.

“They made me drink this really gross stuff, Mom.” Yeah, I know–I’ve done the glucose tolerance test, Type 2 diabetes is genetically dominant in my family.

And he was fine. And guess what? I didn’t have to nag him about making his lunch anymore.

But the next day, he watched jaws dropping all day long, time after time after time, every time he walked into the next classroom or across the Quad.  “But–you’re dead!”  Right, dude, do I look dead?

Make your own lunch. And for heaven’s sake, kid, don’t forget the water.


6 Comments so far
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I had a student pass out once. Not that dramatically, mind you, but with a fever and on a bean bag with a shawl. She couldn’t go home (parents out of the country for something), and the nurse wasn’t there that day. I got some water in her and kept her there and then walked her downstairs after class.

Oh, and then there was the girl during field in college. The teacher didn’t even see her pass out (while lecturing and should’ve seen it). I did, and so I jumped up and ran to her only to find her sweating to beat the band. I walked her down to the office and got her settled while they waited for her mom to get her.

I’m surprised the teacher wasn’t more okay with it. I’ve dealt with several diabetic episodes, and it’s no big deal. Usually kids give you clues ahead of time, though. Poor guy–I’ll bet he was teased for awhile on that one. Poor you–that drive had to be beyond frightening.

Comment by Carina 08.29.07 @ 2:53 pm

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Seeing as I work in a diabetes clinic, I witness this kind of miracle quite often! ha ha… there are a lot of “walking dead” out there.

Comment by Amanda 08.29.07 @ 5:10 pm

I freaked out my gym class once by passing out while waiting to go in the pool! I had slipped and smashed my foot into a door frame. Oops! Overload, passing out, and sent home. The kids were really nice, but I spent the next day explaining what went wrong!

Comment by Gigi 08.29.07 @ 6:43 pm

As I think you know, I used to faint occasionally, so I did it a few times in class. One of the most dramatic times was in orchestra while playing a piece by Bartok–who is long dead but still a little too modern for many orchestra musicians. Anyway, I come to on the floor
and hear the bass playing saying, “I knew Bartok was bad, but I’ve never seen it that bad.”
Then one of the violinists said, “Is her instrument OK?” She was
immediately scolded by a dozen people for such a trivial concern when nobody knew what was wrong with me. At that point I moaned, “IS my
instrument OK?”(Fortunately it was.)
Then there was the time in college when I thought I was going to faint, and in an attempt not to, I lay down on the floor. The professor looked taken aback and asked, “Is my lecture THAT boring?”
Anyway, pack a lunch.

Comment by Laura 08.30.07 @ 12:42 pm

A seasoned mom knows when to panic and when not to panic. You did very well. I bet he never forgot his lunch again. I passed out at the ballpark once and woke up in the back of an ambulance. Very emabarassing, I was 14 and it was a female thing.

Comment by Sonya 08.31.07 @ 5:44 am



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