i was about to take my first bite. the aroma, the sight, the anticipation, was making me a little giddy. it was a heavenly place, and they serve THE best blueberry muffin on the planet.

then, a cry for help. “CALL 911!”

we all stood up. the elderly guy was in his chair, hugged by a lady, who was crying. in seconds, they were surrounded by people. from where i was, the guy looked a little pale, he was clearly breathing. in about 3 minutes, paramedics came. i looked the other way, and they got an IV in! these guys work like lightning!

people went back to their salads, i went back to my muffin. the paramedics wheeled him away in a gurney, and i said, “for sure, they will take him to…(the hospital where i work).

fast forward to sunday night. i got report on my first patient. a pretty straightforward gentleman who had syncope. staying overnight for some tests, after waiting in the ER for over 28 hours. report was interupted by the patient’s wife, who wanted to tell the AM nurse she was leaving.

i remember her! no, not because it was her scream that took me away from my mouth watering muffin for a minute. it was because i do not easily forget faces from incidents that involve paramedics with pretty upper arm tattoos, who arrive in minutes, and insert IVs in seconds.

when i did  my initial assessment, he was getting ready to sleep. i told him i was about three tables away from him last saturday, before he was taken by the paramedics. worn out by spending his saturday night in an ER gurney, he was understandably not in the mood to be bubbly. he just said “really?”, and sort of nonverbally expressed his desire to go to sleep. now.

i left him in peace.

i was gonna tell him i foresaw the future, but i did not. obviously, he was not interested in my newly discovered career.