Chapter 2 - The Journey
Wednesday, October 11th. We were up by 4:30. Sam and Kay arrived by 6. Charles tried to help with hooking up the trailer, but could hardly stand upright. He lay down on the mattress we had put in the back of the Suburban and we were on the road by 7:15am. A long lay day ahead. We took the route through Blythe and Riverside because the doctor did not think he could take the altitude of the mountains on the southern route. I had packed snacks and sandwiches so we only stopped for gas and to stretch a little. Charles rested most of the trip.
Here was a man who was always strong, always able to do anything he set his mind to and he was reduced to lying down on a mattress in the back of his own vehicle while his friend drove him to a hospital in a foreign country. It got worse.
We arrived in San Ysidro sometime around 3:30pm, checked into the motor home park and unhooked the trailer. I made sure Charles was comfortable and Sam and I headed back the 30 miles north to the airport for his return flight to Phoenix. After I dropped Sam off, I was back on the dreaded freeway south so I could take Charles over the border. The hospital was expecting us.
I had to buy car insurance before crossing the border. That done, I went back to the trailer, Charles lay down again in the back of the Suburban and we were off. I had directions once I crossed the border, but I was petrified of driving in Mexico. The crossing was slow, but the guards motioned me through once they knew my destination and they saw Charles lying down in the back.
We were in Mexico! I followed my directions as best I could between trying to drive in this mad rush - no rules seemed to apply. Cars just cut in and out. The street signs were back from the corner and hard to read and I missed the first turnoff. That was the first mistake.
In the next hour I stopped at a bank for directions, got lost again. This time I wound up outside the city up in the hills in a very poor area where no one spoke English. I pulled in to a motel and rolled down the window, showed them my brochure; I must have looked insane. They could not help me; they weren’t sure where the hospital was. I don’t believe I have ever been so frightened in my life. Me…the one with the sense of direction, the one who’s always in control. I was in a foreign country, lost and my husband was gasping for air. I was fighting panic because Charles was becoming upset that I was so frightened. His breathing became more difficult as moments passed; I could hear every agonizing breath he drew.
I frantically turned around and went back down the hill, stopped at a restaurant and got more directions; I kept going through the same intersection, but the street never seemed to get to where my directions said it would. It was getting dark; if I couldn’t find it in the light, how could I find it in the dark? I was a hair’s breadth from complete hysteria.
Finally, an hour after I had crossed the border, I found the right street. One more stop to ask a woman in a van, another wave of the brochure. She said I was only one street away and followed me to make sure I found it; the people seemed so kind.
The hospital was set back from the street and surrounded by lush greenery; I never would have seen it. I parked the car in the driveway and literally ran into the hospital. I must have looked like a madwoman. I told them who I was and said "please, my husband can’t breathe, he’s in the car." They rushed out with a wheelchair and whisked him down the hall while I moved the Suburban to an overnight parking spot. As I ran back in the hospital, I saw them turn into a room at the far end of the immaculate corridor. Charles told me later that he believed as they were wheeling him down that corridor that he was breathing his last breaths.
When I entered the spotless room, two nurses and an aide were helping him into bed and trying to get him settled. They gave him oxygen immediately and shortly a doctor came in to speak with us.
Charles was totally agitated; he was afraid of my having to find my way back across the border alone at night (it was now completely dark). Charles raised up in bed and said "Doc, if my wife can’t stay here tonight, I’m not staying". The doctor tried to soothe him and Charles repeated his statement, becoming more agitated. The doctor said, "of course she can stay here, it’s no problem…please rest now".
Shortly afterward, they brought some medication and Charles settled down for the night. I had nothing with me for an overnight stay, so I slept in the shirt Charles had worn and I stayed in the same room in the next bed. Needless to say, my sleep was light, I was up during the night every time Charles coughed. Overall, Charles’ rest that night was good and the next morning it was as if a miracle had occurred. Charles could breathe much more easily and he could stand and breathe!
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