Saturday, July 18, 2009

Strange weekend

Friday around noon I received a text from my friend/business partner Claudia. It said: "Doug (her husband) was electrocuted at work. He is dead on my way to Jordan Valley Hospital." Holy Crap! Sick, sick feeling. A little bit later the phone rings and a hysterical Claudia is saying "Doug's not dead! They identified the wrong body?"

Claudia got a call from Doug's work saying he had been in an industrial accident and she needed to call JVH ED. She called and the nurse told her Doug had been electrocuted, they were doing CPR and it didn't look good and she needed to get to the ER. Claudia having been and ER nurse for years knows that is the ER's way of saying come to the ER so we can tell you he's dead. She demands they tell her if he is dead. A police officer gets on the phone and says he is very sorry but they tried everything and Doug has died. Claudia calls her three sons and tells them the awful news then she calls a neighbor to drive her to the hospital and at some point texts me. As they get closer to the hospital the phone rings and it is DOUG! I haven't had a coherent conversation with Claudia since she told me he was alive so I don't know what led up to the mistaken identity. Apparently a 39 year old who works for Doug's company was electrocuted and died yesterday. They haven't released that person's name. Isn't that just a horrible story? Ultimately, it turned out well for Claudia's family not so great for the yet to be identified family. But what an incredibly awful thing to go through. Her three sons all driving to the hospital thinking their dad is dead. Claudia driving to the hospital to see her dead husband. Just too stressful to imagine. I got sick reading the text. Claudia said the bright side is she has a good story to tell. I told her I could do without that kind of story.

Kind of on a funny coincidence. Claudia always tells the phlebotomy class a story about Doug. Thirty plus years ago before cell phones, answering machines etc Doug got a letter in the mail from the U telling him they had been trying to get in touch with him about his lab results and that he needed to call them immediately as he only had six weeks to live! Well, needless to say they had misidentified the labs. Doug seems to suffer from a case of mistaken identity!

Jenny saga. It's turning into incredible frustration. I have really about had it with being a .... I don't know the word....maybe putz. I asked Jenny if she would consider giving us custody of Sean what with Ryan being in jail until October (now she says September) and she got all kinds of defensive. He lives with us. She seems him twice a week and he sleeps at her house twice a month and the fact that we want custody is shocking. Jenny and the girls came to the lake today and it really is all about what I can do for HER. Not Sean but HER. I just don't think this relationship can go on this way. I don't know what the answer is because it makes me sick to think of losing Sean but the status-quo can't continue. I could scream or cry or scream and cry. Thanks to my husband, Bonnie, Charity and my niece Catherine for listening to me all day.

I think the giving tree has become a stump. Does that mean she will sit on me?

Don and I are spending the night at the lake with Alika, David and a friend of David's named Zac. They are all going to go boating tomorrow. I'm going to sleep and work on ppt slides. Sean's been getting up really early so I don't ever get to sleep in. Jenny took him home with her tonight. She said she was taking him to chucky cheese but I think the translation of that is she was taking him to jail to visit his Daddy because she was calling the jail on her cell phone in the car to find out if the jail was still on lock down. Oh what a life....How did I become involved in this.

How is that for a bunch of (*&^(*^@(*^@*(& _)* drama?

And that's my weekend in a minute. (Actually it took me two hours to write this because I stopped to talk to Bonnie for an hour then Charity called and that took another 30 minutes)

5 comments:

Jaclyn said...

Oh my word, that story of Claudia is more than this pregnant lady can handle. I think I cried a couple of times reading it. I am happy for her but sad for someone elses family. Tell her to give him an extra big hug from me (and no, I'm not coming on to him). Sorry about all of the Sean drama. I can't imagine how heart breaking that must be for all of you. I bet she is afraid if she gives up Sean completely that the gravy train will run dry and that is her tool to keep getting what she wants. It is too bad Sean is the one in the middle. Thanks for being such an incredible person and great example to all of us. Have a great weekend at the lake. Try to get some sleep while you can.

Sharon said...

Wow Carol,
Your life is not boring. Too bad Claudia has such a shock. We should all remember that life on earth is not a permanent thing so we have to live every day as if it is the last one.
I can feel your pain about Sean. I understand how you got involved - you have an abundance of compassion and caring. The world is a better place because of people who are sometimes labeled 'co-dependant' and 'enablers'. But it is a painful way to be.

Carol said...

Did my mother in law just call me a codependent enabler? I think she did. I am however sure she meant it in the most affectionate way.

Anonymous said...

Wow. That's all I can say after reading that post--wow. Claudia's story sounds like something I would read in a book. Crazy! And I think lesser people than you would have been "stumps" long ago in the Jenny saga. She called me a few minutes ago and I didn't answer, I wasn't feeling up to it. I'll let you know what she wants when I finally call her back!

Mollie said...

Bless Claudia's heart. After shocking news of the sort it's a wonder she didn't have heart failure.
Carol, you are Mother Teresa. It's in your genes. It's worth the fight because it's right. It's worth the crap. Hang in there.

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