ER, yes, but not for the MIL

Funny how you think that when you put something out in the universe, it can actually turn out to be a twist of fate.

Before we left for dinner last night, we asked MIL if we should cancel our plans and take her to the ER instead to resolve her Xanax issue. She declined and told us to go on, so without hesitation we did.

We met up with the high school golf coach, with whom Rick coaches with, and his wife for dinner at a well-known Tex-Mex restaurant. I'd driven over to the golf course to meet Rick first, leaving my car in the parking lot so we could drive over together. I, of course, spent most of the ride to the restaurant complaining that "she" was driving me nuts and I was glad to be out of the house for the evening.

At the restaurant, we have a fantastic time. Great conversation, good food. We lingered longer, and as we were finishing up, bills already paid, we could see something was going on with Rick.

He was coughing, eyes were watering and he was drinking water to soothe his throat. At first, we thought it was just that there was something spicy in the paella he'd eaten for dinner. But as we started to leave the restaurant, he started to wheeze and indicated his throat and chest felt tight.

Now, we're all starting to think it's a food allergy, but the only think we knew for sure that would cause a reaction was dates, and so we weren't really sure what was in the paella to cause these symptoms. Was it something a little Benadryl would cure?

As we got in the car, we made the decision that this was more serious and so we headed to the ER, which was fortunately just blocks away. By now, it was probably 9:30 pm and I knew it was going to be a long night.

I was pleasantly surprised to see how quickly the ER attendants went into action as soon as they learned it was a constricted airway. He was immediately taken into an examination room for his vitals, the chest now rattling with congestion.

Whisked into the main hospital to another room where a nurse inserted an IV, just in case his condition became more serious and injected him with some Benadryl and a sedative while we waited for the doctor to come in. His blood pressure was going up periodically, but at least we need that he was getting priority attention.

Once we got him situated, I knew I had to call Linda. Especially given her frantic reaction to the news story the other day where she was CONVINCED that Rick was in the hospital somewhere as a result of a head on collision with a school bus.

So dutifully and calmly, I called her. Using a quite voice, I told her that we had been at dinner and he'd had an allergic reaction and that we were at the ER, but that he was fine. What I did not expect was that venom that would come out of her mouth, directed squarely at me.

MIL: How long have you been there? What were you doing? Isn't it kind of late to be having dinner? Are you sure you weren't having cocktails?

Me: No, Linda. We finished dinner and we came her immediately.

MIL: Why didn't you call an ambulance? How could you let him walk when he couldn't breathe?

Me: We were blocks away and we came straight here. He's fine.

MIL: He's not fine. He may be in stable condition, but he's not fine. You should have called an ambulance. What hospital are you at?

I stupidly tell her, knowing she's now a raving lunatic and that she's likely going to either try to take a taxi and come down to the hospital or call and harass the on call doctor, who has been absolutely wonderful.

At this point, I was tired of her unnecessary ranting. I handed the phone over to Rick and told him to talk to him mom. I figured talking to him would calm her down.

Fortunately she eventually settled down. He told her to go to sleep and we'd see her when we got home.

Rick had been given a breathing remedy which had helped loosen up his lungs, along with some other injections, and so he'd been doing my better by 11 pm. The doctor however felt that with an allergic reaction, it could returned and so they kept us there until 1 am to monitor his situation.

A little groggy, but none the worse, we got in his car and headed home. Exhausted I realized that my car would need to stay at the parking lot where I'd met Rick before dinner and I'd need to go get it in the morning.

My blood pressure still boiling from my conversation with Linda, I hoped we would not see her when we got home. A sliver of luck. We went to bed without further confrontation.

I'm wake now, Rick and Linda are still asleep and I'm still ticked at her. I'm going to take Zeke and walk over to get my car now. Maybe run some errands that need to get done and mull over how exactly I'm going to read Linda the riot act today for her behavior last night.

She's got me walking the ledge right now and if were an option I'd put her on the first train back to Wisconsin.