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Yesterday night wasn't a good night, and I feel really bad for my friend Taryn ...
A lot of things happened, and Taryn has sworn off of birthdays for a very long time.
See ... it started with Matty and Tasha. They've been dating for about a year, and for some reason their whole relationship just sorta fell apart tonight. I guess it was because Tasha wouldn't let him touch her anymore, wouldn't let him kiss her, or really let him be near her, and he was really starting to feel it, so he called her out on it, and they argued about it for a while. Now, before they had gotten to Taryn's, Tasha and Matty had been at it before, and our friend Drew started to to feel sick.
Now ... he's prone to seizures when he gets stressed out, for no other reason then he's stressed. And Matty is prone to severe anxiety attacks where he curls up in a ball and starts shaking and having a hard time breathing. So Greg, Taryn, and I were making sure he was alright, and when he was all crumpled over I made sure that Taryn and Greg got him straightened up so that he could get the oxygen in and out of his lungs, as he wouldn't be as able to crunched over like he was. I also made them swap out his vex for water.
Now, Matty started to get his attacks really bad, and he started to gasp for air and he crumpled over again so Drew jumped up (the two of them help each other deal with their problems, seeing as they're similar) and started going, "Matty, Matty ... you gotta breathe man, you'll be alright, okay? I'm here, you'll be fine; just breathe."
Eventually Matty calmed down and Drew asked, "Can you stand up? Wanna go for a smoke?"
They got him up, and they went outside ...
... and that's ... when things got worse.
Drew came back inside, and Taryn and I were in her room, and I was making sure she was alright, because she was really upset, and I was trying to explain to her that these things happening weren't her fault, and that they would have happened regardless of whether or not it was her birthday, and she said, "I know."
Then we heard a loud thud, and Taryn got up, a little pissed thinking someone knocked something over, but when she stood up, I watched her eyes go wide, and watched her make a break for the door, so I jumped up after her ...
... and Drew was on the floor seizuring ...
Greg walked in just when we came out, and he freaked and called for Matty, and Matty ran inside and kneeled down near him and got him up on his side, telling him to breathe, and kept talking to him, and Greg was right there with him.
Taryn ran back into her room bawling ... yet somehow ... I was calm. Shaking a little, and concerned ... but calm.
The phone rang and Taryn grabbed it. Earlier I had called Mom to come pick me up because I wanted to sleep in my own bed ... and just when I went down after Taryn to get the phone from her, and I had it in my hand, Matty yelled for someone to call 911 because Drew stopped breathing.
So I told mom I had to go, and Rick ran upstairs (the guy living with Taryn and her family ... the same age as the rents and a family friend, also experienced with these sorts of things) to help Drew and Matty, and I gave the phone to Rick to call 911 which he did, and Taryn had already gone back into her room so I went in, and she was gasping for air, and when I gripped her arms and asked her what was wrong, she gasped more saying she was having an asthma attack, and was sobbing for Greg, so I asked her where her puffer was, and it was on the bed, but she was too busy freaking to grab it, so I handed it to her and demanded she take it, and that Greg was busy and that I would get him in a second, but she kept crying for him, and I knew I couldn't do her any good, so I went out to the hall and called down to Greg, and told him that Taryn needed him, and he said he was busy, but when I told him she was having an asthma attack, he immediately got up and went to her.
Then I heard Taryn's little sister crying from her mom's room ...
So I went in to see her sobbing, and I immediately held her and told her it'd be okay, and I asked her if she was scared and she said yeah, and that she thought Drew was going to die because she could hear us telling him to breathe, and I told her that the ambulance was on the way and that the paramedics were going to take care of him, and she had nothing to worry about, and that he'd be fine come tomorrow.
She continued crying, telling me how after Mike died, and how he died, that she didn't want to see any more ambulances. I told her that they weren't always a bad thing, and to just keep calm. When she asked where Taryn was, I told her she would be in in a bit, once she calmed down, then she asked for her mom, and I told her Natasha and Tommy were on their way back home. I then asked her if she wanted me to stay with her, and she nodded, then said she wanted somebody else in there with her. When I saw Taryn walk out of her room, I told Marissa I'd be back, and asked Taryn to go and see her to help her try to calm down because she was upset ...
Bad move on my part. Taryn gets angry when scared, as I realized when she started yelling at her sister. I stopped her by saying she had to realize that Marissa was young, and that she was scared, and that even though she had some idea as to what was going on, for the most part she was just clueless, concerned, and horrified. Taryn realized yelling was the wrong thing to do and mumbled that she knew.
We told Marissa to stay in her room and went to check on Drew, just as the paramedics arrived.
In that time period he had stopped breathing twice, and when he came to he was seriously delirious, and we had to tell him he was at Taryn's and that we were all taking care of him, and that he would be alright.
The paramedics took care of him, put him on the stretcher and checked his vitals, obviously inquiring if he had taken any drugs or whatever, if he was just prone to it ... and when we told him he was prone and on nothing, they nodded.
What was interesting, though, was that his blood sugar was extremely low ... apparently he's not diabetic ... but I wonder ...
I went and checked up on Marissa again, and she was still bawling. I held her again, covering her ears as there was still a lot of commotion coming from the kitchen. I asked if she had an iPod to listen to, and she said yeah, but that she didn't wanna listen, so I told her to just try and zone everything out and just watch TV, kissed her head, and then left again.
Tommy called and I picked up, and we talked. He said I was exactly who he wanted to talk to and said that I needed to keep everybody calm until they got there, and told me to give instructions to the others on what to do. I guess you could say ... I was the only one with my head on straight, and I kinda took on the leadership role, making sure everyone was alright and safe. Emma had left as soon as Drew dropped ... so I didn't have to worry about her.
I passed the phone over to Rick, and I helped Matty and the paramedics keep Drew calm, and to tell him where he was, and that everything was okay, and that he just needed to breathe. He almost started to seize again, but one of the medics told him calmly to relax and put his shoulders back against the pillow, and he stopped and took a deep breathe.
Matty told him tomorrow would be a better day, and that Donna (Drew's Guardian) and him would be there to pick him up in the morning.
Dad was outside waiting for me when they cleared Drew out. I told Rick to say bye to Taryn for me, and to say sorry and thanks to Natasha and Tommy for having me over.
Life's a b***h, huh? Even still, I refuse to cry. To me, I see crying as a weakness, and when I do so, I always feel pathetic and useless. Especially when I do so in front of other people.
When I got home, though ... and I was in my room ... I cracked for exactly sixty seconds. I bawled my eyes out like you wouldn't believe, but then I just stopped, uncurled myself from my ball, wiped my eyes, sucked it up, and moved on ...
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