There are two sentences that are equally true to describe what happened next:

#1: The next day, I suddenly found myself seated on my fourth airplane in six weeks, racing to be by my poor husband’s side after he was checked into a Miami hospital to undergo emergency surgery.

Or…

#2: The next day, I suddenly found myself seated on my fourth airplane in six weeks because of my husband’s stupid bloody schmekle. 

My emotions started to get very manic and contrary in every way after I got a call from a Miami number. When I answered the call, a German-sounding man with a very heavy accent (and terror in his voice) was trying to explain something to me.

“My name is Hans,” he said, “and I just dropped your husband off at the Eee-Rrr in Miami. He started bleeeding owt during his interview today… One minute, he was fine. The next, he said he did not feel well. When he leaned forward, there was very much blood — everywhere. Then your husband passed owt. You must come right away — you must come!”

Ugh… I would say that I couldn’t believe this was happening, but of course, I could believe this was happening! 

I had already lived through a couple of versions of this bleeding ER scenario, and so the shock wasn’t as jarring as it had been previously. But I was worried, and even my worries were conflicted and contrary. 

I wasn’t sure how much Lou told Steve about his health situation, and so I wanted to make sure that I didn’t let this “Hans” person worry that this was some kind of unexpected or random event; but, I also didn’t want Hans to know how bad things were with Lou’s health right in the middle of a job interview. 

So I assured Hans that I would get on the very next flight to Miami, and I’d be there as soon as I could. He said he would give my phone number to the ER staff so that I could get updates directly, but he also promised he’d keep me apprised as well.

When I told Dona the news, I think she had the same reaction as me. We both had a huge helping of concern on our plates, with a tiny side dish of annoyance. It just felt like we couldn’t get away from the bloody schmekle, and it was taking over our lives! But in usual fashion, Dona found me a flight that was leaving in two hours. If there were no delays, I’d be in Miami by late afternoon. 

What would Lou and I do without Dona? She’s a superhero, indeed.

So I packed another bag — only this time, I stuck some extra clothes in for Lou, too. Oh. And I packed an obnoxious number of dude dipes. (Those things are really expensive!)