Journal

Anthony’s Ambulance Trip over the Golden Gate Bridge

Kentfield sign in the hallway

Where to start? Tonight is Friday, about 8:00 pm and as we stand around Anthony’s bedside, Elle, Kim and I are talking about how our sense of time is so skewed. It has been 21 days since we received that dreadful call from the San Mateo policeman who was first on the scene where Anthony and Elle’s neighbor found him.

Rewind back to Wednesday, February 20: Kim and I are walking our Recovery Walk to the Stanford Hospital GI Neurosurgical Unit. As we enter Anthony’s room, we hear the music of a volunteer strumming his guitar at the foot of the bed. This must have been soothing to Anthony because is certainly took a little edge off of our anxiousness. After a few moments, we introduce ourselves to Jay his nurse.

We had packed our rental car the day before thinking we that were going to Kentfield Rehabilitation and Specialty Hospital which didn’t happen because Anthony was running a fever  Kentfield Rehabilitation and Specialty Hospital sign outside most of the day Tuesday. So of course we wanted to know if Anthony would be leaving the GI unit today and how he did last night. Jay said his fever was normal and that May, our case worker, would know. I immediate left the room while Kim stood by Anthony’s bed. I had met May the day before, I was impressive with her knowledge of her patients, insurance and she answered my many questions regarding Anthony.

When I went to the nurse’s station and asked for May, they said she would be in a meeting until 10:30 or so. Since we had pretty much moved out of our H.O.M.E Apartment refuge the night before when we thought Anthony was going to be moved on Tuesday, were ready to go at a moment’s notice. However, Anthony stayed in GI Neurosurgical that day because his fever had not abated. But today, Wednesday, all signs pointed to him leaving. Once we knew what was happening, Kim and I planned to rush to Kentfield Rehab before the ambulance got there as needed to secure a new roof over our heads. Right after May got out of her meeting we met. She verified Anthony was in fact going to leave Stanford around 1:00 pm so Kim and I walked back to our H.O.M.E apartment to officially check out. When we met with the manager of H.O.M.E, I told her what a great place this was for family’s and loved ones of patients at Stanford Hospital. I told her I wanted to write the foundation who owned the building. She gave me the names and addresses so that Kim and I can write a letter expressing our heartfelt thanks; being able to stay so close to our son while he was struggling to stay alive was a great blessing.

The Golden Gate BridgeAfter putting the Kentfield Rehabilitation & Specialty Hospital address into the GPS on my cell phone, we headed out to Kentfield. The previous week we had visited Kentfield but I still wanted to use our GPS for the 90 minute drive from Palo Alto which included a trip across the Golden Gate Bridge. I told Kim the view was magnificent and that it was too bad we weren’t in the right state of mind to enjoy it. We called Stanford Hospital to see how Anthony was doing and asked if he had left yet. Jay said he was actually on a gurney as we were speaking on his way to the ambulance. We asked Jay if he would please give him something for the ride. Jay said he would. Anthony was going to take a trip across the Golden Gate Bridge and we wished he could see the views we were seeing.

3 thoughts on “Anthony’s Ambulance Trip over the Golden Gate Bridge”

  1. I cannot fathom what you are going through but I hope that it helps to know there are so many people lifting up prayers to you. If God brought you to this, he will surely get you through it.
    God bless.

  2. Hey Family – we have been thinking of you all along we understand this is going ot be a long haul. You have been blessed by many angels on the journey so far. We check for updates everyday and continue to pray for all of you. Please let Anthony know that the entire Full Sail gang is praying. We print out the journal entries so that everyone can read them. God Bless you all!

    Jean & Jimi Everett

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