One of the best dispatchers we ever had was a bubbly self-assured woman called Teena. She was five foot nothing with a sharp tongue and a sharper wit. She held her own on the radio when the guys would get testy with her. She could calm the public, light fires under lazy patrolmen and cut through the crap with the brass. Teena only had one flaw, she was extremely superstitious.
Teena went about her duties for several years as a bachelorette, often pursued by the officers who made it their business to flirt with all the attractive girls on the department. But Dena would not fall for that. She found real love with a chef from a local bistro. They lived together for several years and you would often see them zipping around town in their open-air jeep. Her long blonde hair flying in the wind. They were very happy and didn’t think marriage would improve their relationship.
That is until Teena discovered she was expecting. The couple was elated and tied the knot to honor the baby. Teena was a glowing mommy-to-be. The horny throngs on the department were crestfallen when their fantasy settled into her role as future mommy. Teena relished in modifying her uniform to its maternity style and other than a swollen ankle after a long shift pregnancy agreed with her.
As the pregnancy progressed ultra-sound revealed she had a condition called placenta-previa. The placenta had attached at the cervix. This can cause severe bleeding through the end of the pregnancy and cause hemorrhage during a normal delivery. For this reason her doctor decided that the baby should be delivered Caesarian. The doctor decided the best day for the baby to be delivered was Friday. When Teena saw that the Friday fell on the 13th of the month her superstitious nature took over and she steadfastly refused. The doctor, reluctant to deliver the baby even a day early decided it would be ok to postpone the delivery to the following Monday.
The doctor had planned for many weeks a few days get-away with his wife. So he arranged for his partner to cover his emergency duties for the weekend and left town. The doctor who was to cover for him was well known and well respected so no one thought there would be a problem. Wrong. Late on Saturday night Teena felt the beginnings of labor.
Within a few minutes her cramps went from hints to all out agony. She told her husband she didn’t feel well and hobbled into the bathroom to relieve her bladder. He fell back to an uneasy sleep and that was the last time they spoke. His half asleep, half awake status jerked awake as he realized she had not come back to bed. He got up and went to check on her but couldn’t get the bathroom door open as she was on the floor in front of it. He had to shove hard to make enough room to see that she was unconscious on the floor in a pool of blood. He called 911.
The girls on the other end of the phone were her coworkers and knew full well what was unfolding and that it was not good. The ambulance arrived in less than 10 minutes and the EMT’s had to remove the door to get to her. She was swept off the hospital. All the miracles that they can produce did nothing to help Teena. She had hemorrhaged too much. Her brain was irreparably damaged by lack of oxygen. Only her body was kept alive.
They did tests over the next day and ascertained the baby was brain dead also. The only good that would come from this tragedy was that there were several infants on organ donor lists at a nearby children’s hospital. They ended up delivering the baby C-section but only to harvest the organs. Numerous other infants are alive today due to the generosity of Teena’s family, but they lost her and the baby.
Why? Superstition Friday the 13th was unlucky.
Well, she was right. Friday the 13th got her on Saturday the 14th.
1 comment:
That was a very sad story . My eyes filled up with tears.
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