A year ago today, I got a phone call from Sarah’s doctor. Her blood pressure had dropped and they had sent her in an ambulance from the rehabilitation center to the hospital. He implied that I had better hurry if I wanted to see her before the end.<\/p>\n
Up until that point, I had been under the impression that she was getting better. I rushed over to the Emergency Department. She was happy to see me, but having trouble breathing. I asked the doctors, “You know she’s an asthmatic, don’t you?” They looked at each other and scrambled to get her some albuterol, which really seemed to hit the spot.<\/p>\n
They gave her the usual quiz to determine where her head was at:<\/p>\n
“What’s your name?”<\/p>\n
“Sarah.”<\/p>\n
“What’s the date?”<\/p>\n
“March first, 2003.”<\/p>\n
She looked at me and smiled. In unison, we said, “Rabbit, rabbit.”<\/p>\n
I didn’t mention that she was three years off.<\/p>\n
The nurse was completely baffled, and I explained the superstition: on the first day of any given month, if the first thing you say when you wake up is “Rabbit, rabbit,” then you’ll have good luck.<\/p>\n
“Who’s the President?”<\/p>\n
Sarah looked disgusted and spat, “Bush.” The nurse laughed.<\/p>\n
Eventually they decided to intubate her, and threw me out of the room, suggesting that I probably wouldn’t want to watch. She could tell that I was terrified. She grabbed my hand. “Hey,” she said. “I’m not going anywhere.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A year ago today, I got a phone call from Sarah’s doctor. Her blood pressure had dropped and they had sent her in an ambulance from the rehabilitation center to the hospital. He implied that I had better hurry if I wanted to see her before the end. Up until that point, I had been … Continue reading Though I’m far away<\/span>