Wake-Up Call
After sleeping for what seemed like two minutes, I heard Camille yelling my name. I could tell it was something urgent. She was bleeding! We needed to get to the hospital ASAP! Camille has never liked my driving, but I knew the cruiser was the fastest way of getting to the hospital. I wasn’t sure if she wanted to ride in a police cruiser with the lights and siren and me behind the wheel. I guess it was kind of a stupid question when she screamed “YES!” at me.
My cruiser at the time was a 1990-something Chevy Caprice equipped with the LT1 Corvette engine. Our department ordered them with a special computer chip to keep the maximum speed down to the low 120s mph. Don’t ask how I know, but let’s just say we had fun working midnights in them. I guess the statute of limitations has expired by now, so let’s hope it’s safe to tell the rest of the story …
The hospital was 45 minutes away on a good day, with no traffic. It was now almost 1700 and at the peak of rush hour. There’s an old saying, “It ain’t no fun being Sheriff if you don’t get to shoot your gun every now and then.” This was my Sheriff moment. I got Camille in the cruiser and teared out of our driveway, headed for the hospital.
For the first time ever, she never complained about my driving. It was a wild ride for sure, and I won’t bore you with the details, but we made the trip in just under a half hour. This included a stint on the dreaded Capital beltway, with stand-still traffic. Let’s just say I made good use of the shoulder during my emergency run. We got to the hospital safe and sound, and no accidents were caused by me.
Camille was rushed in for an emergency C-section. The placenta had torn from her uterus, but thankfully the delivery went without a hitch. Camille spent two days in the ICU with a magnesium sulfate IV. It was a scary time, and as they say, ignorance is bliss sometimes, as we didn’t fully understand how serious her condition was. Go figure?!
Read the full article here