Sleepless

“I can’t sleep.”

“Whah?”

I had nudged Denise awake. It was around midnight. She had been sleeping. I had been tossing and turning in bed since 6 pm.

I should note here that under normal circumstances I can fall asleep fairly easily. I lay my head on a pillow, I go to sleep. These were not normal circumstances. I had reached the conclusion that something was very wrong me. I uttered the words I thought I’d never hear myself say.

“I think I should go to hospital.”

Every thing you read about a heart attack tells you that the very next thing you should do after coming to a realization such as this is to dial 911. That’s not what I did. No, I came up with a brilliant idea. “I’ll drive over and you stay here with Morgan until her mother gets here.”

I have no doubt that in some heart disease pamphlet or brochure or poster there is an example of somebody taking this very same course of action. It will always be found under a heading like “Bad Example” or “What Not To Do.”

It’s kind of like the drunk who insists he can drive home. Fortunately for me Denise wasn’t having any of that. The end result was a compromise between me not wanting to make a big deal in the middle of the night in the neighborhood and me not driving.

Morgan’s mom showed up shortly and Denise drove me to the hospital. Once I was in the car the wisdom of this course of action became very apparent. I didn’t feel real good.

As we pulled up to the emergency room doors, Denise leans over and looks at me, “It’ll be a lot easier if we tell them we’re married.”

“Works for me.”

I now consider September 30th as our wedding day. We honeymooned in the ICU.