Alice

For thirty-three years, Alice had loved teaching various mathematics in the local junior high school. Classes began at 8 am and continued until 4 pm, with a short lunch break and a conference period. Because she wanted to help students outside of class time, she had tutorials several days a week with a few eighth graders before school, beginning at 7:15 am., and some seventh graders after school, until 4:45 pm.

When she went home, she usually set about grading papers. She took a break to have her evening meal and watch the news. Lately, the news was so depressing that she limited her viewing to the brief “Good News” segment and the sometimes-correct weather forecast.

She continued grading papers and recording the grades. Next, she adjusted and finalized detailed daily plans from her written, comprehensive lesson plans. She made certain she had the necessary materials to meet the learning objectives through activities, assessments, and homework.

She was perpetually busy until it was time to bathe and go to bed.

On Saturdays, she did her shopping and visiting. Most of her friends were either fellow teachers in the school, neighbors, or women from church. She attended church choir rehearsal on Wednesday evenings and loved singing in the church choir on Sunday mornings. God was the center of her life, and church attendance was the highlight of each week. Whenever she had to miss church, she felt the week just didn’t begin right.

Since she and her husband, God rest his soul, had no children of their own, she loved her students all the more. She thanked God that she had such a blessed life.

Now, she was retiring at the end of this school year. The prospect both frightened and thrilled her, but it was time. Being busy had given her purpose, but now she wanted to slow down a bit. She did not anticipate being bored, but if she wanted, she knew she could be a substitute teacher at school or offer math tutorials from home.

Everything on her “bucket list” sounded good inside her mind, but she also wondered how many of those activities she would actually do. She hoped to garden, read, write, and sew. But mostly, she wanted to travel. That was the main reason she didn’t want a pet.

In mid-July, she was going with a tour group on a Western Mediterranean cruise. The tour leader had meetings where she gave the group valuable information about what to pack, what to expect on the trip, and where to take great photos. She gave information about each port, the best sites to visit, and places to shop. Alice thought this would be the trip of a lifetime!

Those were her thoughts as she scooted into her comfortable bed that night. She faintly heard her ceiling fan as it stirred gentle coolness through the room. She laid on her right side to thank God and pray before she went to sleep.

The next morning when the alarm rang, she reached for the clock to turn it off, but she could not get her right arm and hand to go where she willed them to go. That arm and hand felt numb. She tried to lift her head from the pillow but she was dizzy. Both her head and body felt heavy.

The alarm kept ringing.

She pushed against the mattress with her left arm and left leg to scoot upward and to the edge of the bed. She got as close to her night stand as she could. Crossing her body with her left arm, she rolled her body enough to slam-dunk her fist onto the clock. That stopped the noise, but the clock might never be the same.

She rested from the exertion, but the dizziness, numbness, and heaviness did not subside. She wanted to sit up, get up, and stand. But she was concerned that she might fall to the floor.

She needed to get help. She needed her cell phone. But where was it?

With her left hand, she grabbed her right arm and hand, pulling them forward and out from under her body. She gradually swung her legs off the bed by hooking her left leg under the right leg. She maneuvered them closer to the floor. Pushing with her left arm, she began to lift her upper body. Her head dangled oddly, and she was too dizzy to stand.

She did not think she had had a heart attack. However, she thought the numbness and lack of control on her right side might indicate she had suffered a stroke. She groaned at the realization.

She turned her shoulders enough to see morning light filtering around her window shade. She needed her cell phone. Where was that phone? Had she put it on her nightstand? She finally saw that it was plugged in to the charger. Right where she had left it, of course. She leaned so close to the nightstand that she feared she would lose her balance.

She reached with her left hand. Almost there. She needed that phone! Almost. There! She pulled it from the charging cord. Since she could not use her dominant right hand, she balanced the phone on her left leg and pushed on the two buttons that brought the “SOS Emergency Call” button to the screen. She brushed one finger across the screen and brought the phone up to her left ear.

She heard, “Nine-one-one. What is your emergency?”

Thank God! Alice had trouble forming words. “Ah need ellb!” She tried to say she needed help, but what came out was garbled, monotonic, and strange. “Ah dink ah ad ah tohka!”

“You need help and think you had a stroke. Is that correct?”

“Yeb.”

“Are you in your home?”

“Yeb.”

“Are you calling from a cell phone?”

“Yeb.”

“I am putting a trace on your phone. Please stay on the line.”

“Oh bay.” She had never worked so hard to say anything. She felt perspiration. Or was it tears? She really didn’t know.

The dispatcher was back. ”Are you Alice Herbert?”

“Yeb.”

“Help is on the way to you, Ms. Herbert. Are your doors locked?”

“Yeb.”

“Do you give us permission to break in the door?”

Oh, dear. Alice’s fear level escalated. “Yeb.”

“Please stay on the line while I relay this information.”

“Oh bay.”

The lady came back. “Help is on the way. I will stay online with you until they get there.”

“Dak ooh.” She appreciated all the dispatcher was doing to help.

Alice was awfully tired, so she allowed herself to slump back on the bed, but she did not have enough strength to raise her legs. She concentrated on keeping the phone to her ear and staying awake.

She prayed for God’s help and immediately sensed His peace. Serenity surrounded her like a cushion.

“Ms. Herbert.”

“Wah?” She must have dozed off. She heard a man talking to her but could not make out everything. He talked too fast. “Wah?”

“Ms. Herbert, we are here to help you,” a second man said.

“Oh bay.” She could understand this man better. He spoke clearly and distinctly.

The first paramedic threw back all the covers of the bed. Both men straightened her legs and body. They noticed Alice’s right eye lid and the right side of her mouth drooped. The second man said, “Ms. Herbert, can you give me a big smile?”

She tried to smile. But how could she smile when she was so worried?

“That’s right, just like that. You’re doing great. Stick out your tongue as far as you can, like you’re licking an ice cream cone.”

She tried that, too. She liked him. He had warm brown eyes and a comforting smile. She thanked God for these nice men.

He asked her to lift each arm, then each leg. He put two of his fingers in each of Alice’s hands and asked her to squeeze his fingers. He asked questions. The answers were in her head, but she could not respond coherently. She was trying to be brave, but tears fell anyway.

Alice heard a woman’s voice. She should know her. Her neighbor? But what was her neighbor’s name? Why couldn’t she remember her own neighbor’s name?

“Oohz eeah?” She tried to see if the woman in a blue robe was her neighbor.

“Alice, it’s Judy, from next door. I’m getting your medicines and papers. You’re going to be okay.” She turned away.

“Oohbee?”

Judy stopped and faced Alice. “Yes dear?”

Alice slowly said, “Mah mehbz ah en kebshen ah babrum.” She wondered if Judy could understand gibberish.

Judy looked at the first medic.

He translated, “Meds are in kitchen and bathroom.”  

Judy smiled and nodded before she turned to get out of the way.

The brown-eyed man put Alice’s arms across her chest wrapping her left hand around her right wrist. “Ms. Herbert, I know you’re scared, but hold on. We are lifting you from your bed to put you on a gurney.”

Together, the paramedics grabbed the sheet under Alice and lifted her from the bed to the gurney. They strapped her on and took her toward the ambulance. Alice thought this was not the sort of trip she had in mind when she said she wanted to travel.

Judy trailed along waving papers, and said, “This says Alice is allergic to penicillin and hydrocodone." Judy was still talking, “Alice, I’ll phone the school and get in touch with your niece, Candice. Joe and I will take care of everything here. I’ll join you at the hospital as soon as I can. When you get settled in a room, I’ll be there.”

“Dak ooh, Oohbee.” Alice wasn’t sure she understood all Judy had said, but she trusted her dependable neighbor. Judy and Joe were good friends.

Alice heard a mockingbird singing and imagined its song was “Cushioned with love. Cushioned with love. Cushioned with love.”

One paramedic drove the ambulance with the siren blaring. Alice saw the other medic had a bag of her medicines and papers. He took Alice’s vitals and hooked her up with an IV for fluids. He kept reassuring her. She felt depleted. Soon, she realized she felt a little less stressed and thought the paramedic must be giving her a mild sedative through the IV.

Alice knew this unexpected impairment was a life changer. How would she deal with it? What would she do? Or more specifically, what would she be able to do?