Today started out like any other day. Wake up before the alarm goes off. (Isn’t that frustrating!?) Shower and dress, pack lunches, walk the dog, drive to work, park somewhere I hopefully don’t get a ticket for, avoid getting hit by traffic, enter work through 4 alarm coded doors, sign in, turn on my pc, warm up my coffee, and heat my breakfast, usually an egg sandwich.  Work until first break. All normal.

First break, my work wife, Kem, asks me to walk over to the diner with her and out the door we go. That’s when things took a turn.

I could see what looked like legs, sticking out into the parking lot, across the street at the strip mall.

The clientele at this strip mall are often pan handlers. They ask for a quarter from anyone who passes by until they have enough change to buy drugs, or, go into the little liquor store for a half pint of their poison. People ask for change so much that I avoid the mall as much as possible. There are nice stores there, so like today, we were on the way over.

A man, probably in his mid to late twenty’s, was lying on the sidewalk, his head against the brick column. His shirt was pulled up, way up, and his jacket was nearly off of him. He was blue and getting bluer. Kem asked if anyone called 911 and there was a lady on the phone already. No one was doing anything for this guy.

I asked if he was breathing and the lady said yes. I was doubtful. So was Kem. She checked his pulse and said it was weak. We were told he fell twice in the parking lot and they carried him to the sidewalk. I presume, “propping him against the column”.  He had blood on his knee and both hands. So we straightened him out and I did a chest rub. He didn’t respond.

He didn’t seem to be getting any bluer, but wasn’t responding, even though his eyes had opened. They weren’t blinking. Then he started to convulse. I came around to the same side Kem was on and said to watch for needles when we roll him on his side. He was breathing again and looked less blue. That was a relief. I knew we just needed to keep him as comfortable as possible until the ambulance arrived.

I tried to pull his clothes over his bare skin while he was on his side. He had surgical scars all over his lower back. I don’t know this guy’s name, though they found a credit card beside him that said Henry Something, so the EMT starting calling him Henry. Henry smashed his phone during his falling down moments.  Kem had tried to see if he had any ICE contacts listed. It wouldn’t turn on. We left after the fire truck arrived to finish her errand.

The diner employee said she thought he had just been there and used the restroom. I told her to be careful emptying the trash. She nodded, not having thought of that.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say pain medication caused this man to go to this length, to take a drug he’s become addicted to, in a public place. Had he lost consciousness in the restroom, he might be dead. Actually, I don’t know that he lived.

And directly across the street, he can apply for assistance to break his addiction. I pray he soon gets help.

I felt sick after getting back to work. I never saw someone overdose before. I hope I never see it again.

God Bless all,

~P.

On a good note: 7 years ago today I started my blog. 🙂