Taking One For The Team

August 2018, sometime between the fourteenth and the twenty-eighth I took a trip to the hospital. I don’t remember exactly what day. I remember I started to feel sick as we took a knee at the end of practice. As I was on a knee I felt dizzy, nauseous, and overall just not well. I figured it was fine, and that I would just take deep breaths. I was exhausted. We had just pushed “Beyonce” our five man sled for the majority of our morning session on a very humid summer morning.

To my surprise, my nauseousness and dizziness did not wear off as I was expecting. I faintly remember making my way to the locker room. I was dizzy, my head was pounding, I was in pretty rough shape. I somehow made my way to my vehicle parked in the teachers parking lot on the front of the school. Somehow, by the grace of God I came to the conclusion that I would be unable to drive home in the current condition I was in. Fortunately my mother had the day off, and was enjoying her morning with her friend Angie. She told me not to drive, and that she would come drive me home. It sounded like a great idea to me, as at that point my head was spinning. I decided to roll my windows down and recline in my passenger seat as I anxiously awaited the arrival of my mother and her friend Angie to bring me home.

I tucked my phone in my passenger seat door compartment, and shortly after I started to feel even worse. I decided to go back into the locker room in search of ice. Coach Wright said I didn’t look well and sat me down. At this point I was having a very difficult time even keeping my eyes open. I remember being handed orange juice in an attempt to raise my blood sugar levels. The next thing I remember was making my way into the locker room as I was soon to vomit. Coach Doucette, Coach Palmer, and Officer Dalbec all came into the locker room to asses the situation. The next thing I know 911 was called, and I was being taken from the school in an ambulance.

While it may have not been funny at the time, I can look back and laugh at it. Yes, I may have been sick, and it was one hell of a miserable day. I had spurts of which I would be unconscious. I “woke up” to vomit quite regularly. Every time the paramedics moved me in fact. From the time I was carried off in the stretcher until late in the afternoon. I took multiple IV bags, and it took a lot of medicine to finally get me to stop getting sick. I’m guessing the paramedic in the ambulance was quite concerned with the state I was in as he gave me a size fourteen gauge. To put that in perspective for you, my mother is a vet technician. They use size fourteen gauges for horses. The paramedic might have been fearing for my life, as the kid at Umaine had recently collapsed and died on the football field. I took one for the team though. Football had no practice that evening, just a film session. My trip to the hospital kept them out of the mid August afternoon heat! Since that day I’ve heard the occasional “remember when you almost died Isaac?” It’s funny now. It certainly wasn’t at the time. It definitely made my last double sessions a memorable one! Not only for me, but also for my coaches, and teammates.

Photo on Foter.com