Patron's ghost

One of the difficulties of this job is balancing too much information with too little information. This manifests in many ways: people who blurt out their life story, with intimate facts versus people who can’t articulate their question. Patrons who want to discuss every detail of their dining room chandelier search versus those who sit silently.

We had a regular patron. He would come in daily, wearing the same thing: blue shop clothes, work boots and a cap. He had dark, unruly hair and a big black beard. He would sit quietly in the back corner by the big windows and read.

Until the seizures began. What do you do when a quiet person sitting in a chair reading a book begins to convulse? One of us ran over to him, making sure he didn’t hit his head on the chair. One of us called security. One of us called 911.

Some of our security officers are fire fighters. They were certainly calmer than anyone else in the situation. Except the patron. He came silently out of his seizure and seemed surprised by all of us hovering over him. He refused transport from the ambulance, saying he had no money and that he would be fine.

We all left him and he stayed in the chair reading. The next day he was fine.

He had seizures two other days that week, and once a week for several weeks following. He had no money for his epilepsy medicine, he would not go to a shelter or center for help. He was fine, and we shouldn’t worry.

We were closing at 6 one Friday night. A buddy and I were on desk. It was five minutes till, patrons were leaving, we were shutting down machines. Seizure Man got out of his chair. He had been there most of the day, sitting quietly. He walked across the floor. When he was in front of the desk, he began to convulse. He reached out both his hands to catch himself.

We ran out from behind the desk and grabbed his hands as he sank to the floor. It lasted maybe  15 seconds, a short one. When it subsided, the man looked up at us, holding his hands. We looked at each other, and pulled him to standing again. He nodded to us, looked at the clock, and staggered toward the door to make it out in time for closing.

I have never seen him again.

I don’t know about you, but that haunts me. It is my job to assist people. Strictly speaking, I served this patron according to his assessment of his needs. I respected his wishes, his privacy, and his right to manage his own health.

But what happened to him? Where is he? Is he still living? I think it is human to want to know the end of the story – and ghostly never to get it.

Comments

[Jay]

My ex girlfriend has epilepsy. She hates doctors, does not take seizure medication because of the side effects, and gets very annoyed when people call an ambulence when she has a seizure. Fortunately, her seizures are spaced pretty well apart, and certainly do not happen on a daily basis.

The interesting thing is that her seizures, combined with a person's decision to call an ambulance for her, saved her life.

They took her in, and while they were running diagnostic tests on her, they found a blood clot in her brain. They operated within an hour and she is doing fine now. They said if she had gone a couple more hours, she would have died. They also said it was completely unrelated to her seizures.

[Vampire Librarian]

Oh man, that's a heartbreaking story, FGL. I don't know what I would've done in the situation. I hope things turn out all right with the patron.

[lbk]

We have a regular library patron who has had two recent seizures here at the library. The first time he seized he later regretted our decision to call an ambulance because of the expense. He has asked us not to call an ambulance in the future. We have agreed. So far so good - no one else has been hurt although the last time he got a black eye in his fall. Luckily he still comes in and seems to being doing well since stopping smoking pot and drinking. Hope your "Seizure Man" resurfaces.

[Katya]

I hope he comes in again soon as well. I understand why he hates to have the ambulance called though -- that annoys me no end. They can't do anything for me -- all I need is a place to go to sleep afterwards. Seizures are very tiring. The only time going to the hospital was useful was when I was pregnant and had seizure after seizure. When that happens, the only way to stop it is with drugs by IV. But normally I don't want to go the hospital -- there's no point.

[Barbara]

Ahhh. That is the kind of situation that makes you toss and turn at night, isn't it?

We have a new staffer who is very enthusiastic about calling the rescue unit. I have tried to let her know that if that the patron makes the decision (if s/he is coherent, of course). It appears to be a difficult lesson for some.

[Air Ambulance Doc]

I hope everything is good now. That was a hell of a situation.