The Sugar diaries… or sweetness interrupted

As so many people have experienced this week, this month, this year these incredible situations that continues to test our resilency, yesterday, was my reckoning. 

After a particularly stressful period at work and concerns revolving around the current gas crisis in Haiti and the physical risks my other team members are taking to ensure that we have “enough” fuel to keep medical services functioning. With the canopy of fear… no weight of responsibility we as a team share knowing that our patients entrusted their lives in our hands and we may fail them if we can not find a way to overcome the obsticals that keep appearing as if in a game of chess, daring us to plan. 

Yesterday, I felt me, Marc, starting to slip away, becoming someone I did not recognize or like in my attempt to stress the critical nature of what we are facing to others in order to “encourage” them to make concessions and sacrifices. When that still small voice reminded me that we are all in this together, stop, reflect, don’t complain, try to understand, take a deep breath and pray. 

Pray for the country, but more so  pray for that I remain constant, not allowing circumstances to change me but strengthen me. Enjoy my family and draw strength from them and remember to take time to step back, meditate and heal.  

So in my my quiet place while enjoying a rare hot shower and thinking about the day, reflecting on how I could have acted or reacted better, determined to act differently, I decided to break out the lavender sugar scrub, a small birthday treasure given to my by one of my sisters. There was such a peace that decended on me  and a determination to allow that peace to transend the next day. 

Then… this morning after morning prayers and listening to the most calming music as I stepped into the shower I was greeted by a host of black ants gathering on my wall. After getting over my horror I proceed to clean the wall and follow the trail to identify the source of what attracted them,  and yes,  it lead me directly to the Lavender Sugar Scrub… sweetness interrupted!

Lesson learned… NO sugar scubs

It happened again

So, it happened again!  After a year and a half of not flying the first flight I get on a flight there is a medical emergency. As we are boarding the plane I am just about to get to my seat when I hear behind me “sir are you ok ?” “Maybe he is hypoglycemic” I turn my head and two seats behind me is a man in obvious distress. From that point on I forgot about putting my bag in the overhead bin, flung my purse on the chair across from me and pushed passed the people in line to get to this gentleman. 

As I reached this elderly gentlemen’s side, I grabbed his wrist to get a pulse and saw that he had fine tremors, while taking his pulse I searched with my other hand to get his ID. As I called his name he made eye contact with me, as if pleading for help, at that point my heart dropped into my stomach. I scanned his face and saw his pallor and discoloration in his tongue and literally yelled out for oxygen, within seconds he started having a seizure. His pulse that was initially rapid became thready, to difficult to find within minutes, we (3 other persons joined me at this time) quickly got him on the floor of the airplane and started resuscitation. 

I will not go into the details of the resuscitation but we worked on him for a while knowing that this was someone family and they would be waiting for him at the airport. 

This happened several weeks ago and to this day I can not forget how his eyes locked on mine for a brief second. Unfortunately he did not survive but It is my hope that even for a that second he knew that he was not alone.