Wait, You've Got the Wrong Blass!

"Call the ambulance! Call the ambulance!"

My eyes flutter open. I feel slightly nauseated. But I am alone.

I hear my mother yelling outside my bedroom door.

"Eric, what's wrong?!"

My parents yell back and forth about what they think is happening and about what they think happened that led to my brother lying on the floor of our upstairs bathroom.

"I think he just passed out," my father is saying.

I'm not sure whether the mention of a possible seizure happened before or after my mother's request for an ambulance, but I do know it was a theory.

Sequestered in my room, waiting for my parents to figure things out before emerging, I tried to figure out myself what could have happened while eavesdropping.

I'm the diabetic, remember? Aren't I supposed to be the one having a seizure or passed out on a bathroom floor?

"Medical." I hear my father on the phone with 911. He gives them my brother's stats. My mother takes the phone and explains what happened. Minutes later I hear the firetruck's sirens coming down our street.

"What's his name?" an EMT asks.

"Eric."

"How old is he?"

"17."

My father explains what they think happened. "He was feeling sick for the past couple of days, complaining of a stomach ache and extra fatigue. He was feeling pretty sick last night. He came into the bathroom this morning and we heard a crash. I think he just passed out."

Tiptoe-ing to the window, I peer out and see the ambulance and the firetruck at the end of our driveway. I can see the head's of some of the paramedics, bodies and actions blocked by the shingles of our roof.

Then they roll out my brother, strapped to a stretcher.

As soon as they leave, I come out and walk down the stairs. My mother is staring out the window at the ambulance.

"Your brother passed out," my dad says.

"Yes, I know," I reply. "You woke me up about twenty minutes ago. I have to say I didn't expect to wake up to 'Get an ambulance!' this morning."

"We weren't expecting to have to get one."

We joked mildly about the Twilight Zone-ish feel of having my brother taken away in an ambulance after fainting while I'm standing in the kitchen, and though my blood sugar was pretty high from my girl's night out with friends, I certainly wasn't in any imminent danger of anything.

My parents just left for the hospital about twenty minutes ago. My dad says he'll call if anything happens, but the general theory is that my brother was either dehydrated, had low blood sugar or both from being sick and just fainted in the bathroom.

Hopefully he'll be home soon.