Thursday, September 20, 2007

so scary

Last night my mother in law spent the day with us, I made iftar and we ate together then by 8 the four of us were sleeping...at 10 she got up and went to my sister in laws house and then I woke up and pigged out on food since I hardly ate at iftar...Then my mother in law came back , we (mostly I..She was falling asleep sitting on the sofa) watched a movie and then she finally gave up and went to bed. I could not sleep until 3am...note to self, never take a nap at 8pm!

At 6t:15 am the kids and I woke up like we do everyday...Ziad went to school, Bilal and I watched cartoons. While I was getting Bilal ready for school my mother in law called me from her room. I ran to see what is wrong, since she sounded horrible!

Ah it was so scary! She could not breath at all...she looked like she is dying right in front of my eyes! I called my sister in law and she was no help! She was so worried about her mom she started crying and then she went to get the neighbours and her kids. Everyone came to my apartment, thankfully I tidied up the night before so it was not messy...phew...always keep your place tidy, you never know who will show up unexpectedly even at 7am! I called the ambulance, took Bilal downstairs to his bus and waited for the ambulance to come...I was so worried about my mother in law.

The ambulance came about 10-15min later. I have to say there is a huge, huge difference between calling an ambulance in Canada and in Amman! I would not have had to give 911 the directions to the place in Canada. The staff would have come in knowing exactly what the situation is so they would not waste time deciding what stretcher to bring up. They guys were very flimsy... it took a long while to get her into the ambulance. They definitely need more training! And elevators in Amman are way too small, they had to sit her on a chair in order to take her down...somebody did not think about emergencies on the top floors when they designed the building...unfortunately that somebody is my husband’s uncle.

She is doing ok now, she had water in her lungs so she was not able to take enough oxygen I guess. It was sooo scary though watching someone who is unable to breath. She was very sweaty and cold at the same time. Her hands were turning blue. And you feel so helpless! I am just thankful that she spent the night her and not alone at her apartment! I do not even want to imagine what would have happened if she was all alone!
My mother in law is 74years old. But we are not ready for her to go yet. She is one of the reasons I wanted to come live in Amman. I wanted the kids to get to know their tetta before it is too late.
Please keep my mother in law in your prayers if you pray. She is a very nice and sweet person, and is a great mother in law and tetta.

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow Sam, that is serious scary. Thank God you were able to keep your head and get help. May God give her healing and fortify her body with strength again.

(hey, everyone came for iftar finally!)

Asoom said...

Inshallah I will make duaa that your mother in law gets stronger!

I can relate to your experience, I know how scarty that is. When I was in high school I spent thenight at a friends house her parents were out of town and she had a panic attack, basically she couldn't breathe and started banging on her chest and turning colors and I just freaked out and called 911 completely hysterical and told them my friend was having a heart attack, so I know how scary that must have been!

Sel3 said...

thanks god that you were there to help her, inshalla allah ba3teha else7a o 6olet el 3omor. take care of her

Anonymous said...

Hopefully she will be ok and spend many more years with you all.

If you don't know first aid and CPR maybe this is a good time to learn. You never know when you will need them...and esp. when the EMS take that long to respond.

7aki Fadi said...

Inshallah she will get soon, 7aram teta :(.

Hamza said...

:(
hope she feels better.

Me said...

I hope she recovers soon and be back home in no time!
i am sure she has a bunch of doctors looking after her. May God cure her and give her strength and many years to come of living healthy and happy.
My best wishes and many prayers going her way.

Anonymous said...

She's lucky she stayed at your house and you acted quickly.. this must have been scary to you and your little son..
I hope she's doing better now..

Anonymous said...

Salametha insha2 alah.

Anonymous said...

It's a good thing you were there to help her. I hope she gets better soon and is around for many years to come :)

Jundi said...

t2oom bil salame nshala :)

Unknown said...

7amdillah she was staying at yr place!
Inshallah she'll get better soon, and inshallah this will never happen again!
I miss my tetas :(

Anonymous said...

yeeee haram, salamitha, and what a horrible scare you had there..but did you find out how come she has water in her lungs? may she have a good recovery, and may your kids enjoy her presence in their lives for a long way to come.

Anonymous said...

yeeee haram, salamitha, and what a horrible scare you had there..but did you find out how come she has water in her lungs? may she have a good recovery, and may your kids enjoy her presence in their lives for a long way to come.

Anonymous said...

yeeee haram, salamitha, and what a horrible scare you had there..but did you find out how come she has water in her lungs? may she have a good recovery, and may your kids enjoy her presence in their lives for a long way to come.

Anonymous said...

I hope she's better already

Anonymous said...

Sam, another difference between calling an Ambulance in Canada and Jordan.

I once hurt my back so badly I couldn't walk. This was in Toronto . I called 911, the ambulance was there in 5 minutes, and they took me to the hospital where they gave me a shot and a prescription for painkillers, then told me I can go home, so on entering the subway, I got dizzy because of the shot they gave me, people wouldn't beleive it, and they hit the subway alarm, and called another amblance who also insisted on taking me back to the hospital. Then I got a $180 bill for 2 ambulance rides !

I never understand how as Canadians we have free healthcare but not free ambulances :)

eshda3wa said...

man that must have been scary
i hope you never have to go thru that ever again
i hope ur mother in law is feeling better
allah ykhaleeha likom ya rab

Mais said...

alf salameh 3aleeha...i hope she's getting better now

what u said about her is so sweet...it feels good to know that some actually enjoy a healthy and good relation with their in-laws :)

tamneena 3anha

Sam said...

thank you all for your prayers...i really appreciate it:) she is doing well..bas it was sooo scary for us all..i hope no one ever goes through this!