The Danger of Complacency

Our phone rang around 3:00 AM. I reached over to pick up the phone, saying to Tim, "I wonder what's going on?" It was the people who monitor Merrym's emergency calls. They told us that she had slid off the toilet and couldn't get up. They asked if we could go help her. We hurried and left (This is not an unusual thing for us, Merrym has fallen many times during the night). When we got there, I ran in to see if she was decent. I covered her up and had Tim come in. Between the three of us and the railing in the bathroom, we got Merrym up. I helped her clean herself up, got her settled in her chair, asked if she needed anything or needed me to stay and she said she just wanted to go back to sleep. She seemed pretty cheery.

I called Merrym later that morning, and she said she was doing ok. As I said before, this had happened many times and everything seemed normal for Merrym.

When Peggy called later in the day and asked if I had heard from Merrym, I told her what had happened and said she is probably sleeping or gone somewhere. I still wasn't worried.

Thank goodness for the closeness that Peggy and Merrym share. Peggy sensed something was wrong. When Peggy called me telling me Mer was on her way to the hospital, I was in shock. I jumped in my car and got there before the ambulance, meeting Cortney there.

I have also been in the emergency room with Merrym many times, and she really didn't seem that bad to me. She was slurring her speech, but she did that many times when she took certain medicines.

Courtney and I met with a doctor, who told us that Merrym was physically dependent on her drugs. We said we knew that. He said the drugs seemed to be affecting her kidneys and they would have to detox her. This was the third time I had heard this about Merrym: the first time she spent time in the psych ward, because they thought she had overdosed on purpose; the second time she ended up in a nursing home, because they said she was overdosing herself without realizing it; now this time I went home thinking everything was going to be ok, but wondered what they were going to want to do with Merrym.

When they called me the next day, saying they had rushed Merrym to ICU and that her kidneys were shutting down, I was again shocked. Karen and I headed to the hospital to get some answers.....

You women who are so complacent, rise up and listen to me; you daughters who feel secure, hear what I have to say!
Isaiah 32:9

Love,
Mother Hen Glory