Nee Naw Experience

[dotinthesky]

I was sitting in my kitchen this morning, writing in my paper journal, when the intercom rang. I picked it up and this guy said "can you let me in?" I replied that I couldn't let anyone in unless I knew them, to which he then said that he was a carer for the man in apartment ##, and that the man was having a seizure at that very moment in our hallway!

So I let the carer in and stepped out. I asked if he needed help, if I should call someone. I could hear someone gurgling; he said no, he was fine. I looked down the staircase and there was a black man in his forties lying on the stone floor, his eyes bulging out and staring at nothing. His carer had a hand on his cheek and was kneeling beside him.

I came back into the apartment and told Kevin what was happening. A few minutes later, I heard what sounded like crying. This morbid thought crossed my mind that the guy had died and his carer was upset! I went outside my apartment again and the man wasn't in the same spot anymore; there was a sound of thrashing body, gurgling and moaning. I climbed down to see if I could help with anything; the man was having another seizure, this time further down (closer to his apartment door?) His carer was speaking to someone on his cellphone.

Five minutes later, as I was coming out of the building, an ambulance arrived. I held the door open for one of the medics (a very calm woman) to carry her bags inside. The carer came running up towards them and I had a chance to look at him. I wondered if he realized I was the guy who'd let him in earlier.

I hope my neighbour is ok...

Comments

[steer.livejournal.com]

Eeeek! Then if the carer knew it was a seizure before he opened the door I guess it is something that had happened to that man before?

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

I guess so. I think the carer must have gone out but couldn't get back in because the man began to have a seizure, or he arrived for work and saw the guy outside his apartment, on the floor, and had to call my apartment (or other ones too) to get someone to let him in.

It was actually the first time I saw the man who had the seizure, so he must spend a lot of his time inside his apartment.

[ex-nihilo.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry. Dumb American question here. Carer? Is that like a caregiver?

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

I think so. I only used that word because that's how he described himself on the intercom.

[ex-nihilo.livejournal.com]

Those wacky Brits. What will they think of next? ;)

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Who knows? I've been here for almost four years now and I still can't figure them out. :)

[greenteablack.livejournal.com]

OH my goodness, that's frightening. I've only seen someone have a seizure once and that was in grade 7 and I had no idea what to do to help.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

My youngest brother suffers epileptic fits, but nothing like what happened to this man. Because my brother doesn't walk, it will either happen on his bed or on his wheelchair; but imagine how dangerous it was for this man, to have a fit and fall on the stone floor? He could have cracked his skull. :o/

[dawnkitten.livejournal.com]

It must be scary to be thinking - damn I could have a seizure right now and smack my head on the floor ...pah - life is scary enough without the electrical impulses in your brain mis-firing ....

[dilvalicious.livejournal.com]

crazy!

[desayuno-ingles.livejournal.com]

yikes, no fun! nice of you to let the caretaker in, I wonder if I would have gone to check on the person first. I feel so cynical, sometimes.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Would you have been scared that it was a scam, or robbers?

[desayuno-ingles.livejournal.com]

yes, definitely. women are repeatedly told not to let anyone into the building who just rings in. all sorts of shows on like Discovery and the like where a man snuck into the gated community and raped women. fun.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

It's a good precaution, no matter how safe you might think is your neighbourhood.

[desayuno-ingles.livejournal.com]

*nods* have you heard anything about him? I suppose you'll update us when you do...

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Nothing... I'll ask something if I see the carer; I'd be too shy to ask the man himself, though I would be relieved to see him walking around.

[desayuno-ingles.livejournal.com]

do they call them carers in England? we say caretaker. recently, while reading a New Yorker article about a nearly dead Alaskan language, Eyak, how I love linguistic type stuff and wonder how you get into it as a hobby. Apparently, in Eyak, you can add suffixes and prefixes to a single verb to alter the word to have meanings about specific places and times. I also love dialects and regional uses of words and how they're different from other areas. how it became what it is, was it altered in meaning due to sound or was it altered in spelling due to an accent? so cool. pidgins are really interesting.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

carer = caretaker (or nurse)

To be honest, I don't use the word carer as well, but I used it in this post because that's how he called himself.

[desayuno-ingles.livejournal.com]

oh, interesting. wonder why.

[4q.livejournal.com]

wow, that's some craziness. I saw someone get taken out of a car using the jaws of life, because their car, got hit by a bus right outside my old apartment.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

It's always distressing when you witness something like that.