24 Hours

Sometimes life is uncomfortable...

 

This is what happened to me in a 24 hour period!

I helped a friend look for her adult son. They were visiting and it was his first time to Ottawa.  He went downtown to do some shopping.  He said he would call her when he was done.  She waited for his call all evening.  No call.  She knew, she knew --- that he must have given into his addiction.  He had been sober for 15 days. On his facebook that morning he wrote… “Chillin in Ottawa!  15 days sober, doing great. Going shopping!”

I offered to take her downtown to the men’s shelters to look for him.  We drove down the streets. Her eyes scanned the faces, carefully, looking, searching.  Searching for a glimpse of him.  She was worried, quietly, deep in thought.

As we approached an area with street people hanging about, she said, this would be the place where he would be. She pointed in the direction of street people beside a grocery store.  I slowed and asked her, is he there?  She looked again, and yelled, there he is!

Her son was on the ground beside the curb. He was unconscious. 

People walked by not even looking at him. There were 3 street people sitting on curb beside him.
They stood up as we approached.  I immediately went to his side; I checked for a pulse, it was strong.  I looked at him carefully, studying his breathing, checking his face.  

She started talking to the street people, one man and two young girls.  He was Cree from James Bay, Quebec. He was maybe in his early thirties.  The shortest girl, maybe in her twenties said she was from Iqaluit, Nunavut. She reminded me of an another Inuit artist whose body was found in the river earlier that week just a couple of blocks away.  And the other girl, also in her twenties, was from Peru. 

One of the girls said, we are watching over him.  He is ok.  But clearly, he was not ok.  My friend asked questions, how long had he been there?  What was he drinking? Were they with him long?  The girls kept looking down at him on the ground.  He is ok she kept saying.  He was not unconscious for too long, maybe an hour, he said.  She said, he fell and hit his head. The man said, he had been robbed of his phone, cash and Id.

What I realize is that these street people who just met him the day before were concerned about him and they watched over him the best they could.  They kept looking at him, checking to make sure he was ok. They reassured the mom that nothing bad would happen to him. Not being aware that something bad had already happened to him because this, what was happening, was normal to them. For anyone else, an unconscious man lying on the street for over an hour would not be perceived as normal.  

As the mother was asking the young people questions, her son said, mom! I am ok. All I could think was on some level when he heard her voice, he felt comforted by the sound of her voice.  And maybe thought, my mom is here and I am going to be ok.

 

The mother tried to get her son up off the ground to walk to the car but he was unresponsive.  She said to the street people.  Maybe, I should just let him sleep whatever is in his system off.  I will come back in an hour.  The three said, don’t worry about him.  We will watch him.

We returned over an hour later, but he was no longer there and neither were the street people.  My friend decided to go into the store to get something to drink.  She bumped into the man we met earlier.  He said, we waited for you to come back.  But the ambulance took your son to the Shepherds of Good Hope triage; they will take care of him there.

 

He gave her directions and we went directly there.  When she got there, she was told he was sleeping. They assured her they were monitoring him.  She left her number in the event he woke up and needed a ride.  Again, she waited for a call from him that didn’t come.

The next morning I said I would go with her to pick him up.  I could see the worry on her face, I know she was thinking, what if he was not there.  I could see her relief when she was told he was still there sleeping.   He was unstable and somewhat incoherent but able to walk to the car on his own accord.  By this time, he had not had any alcohol in his system for over 24 hours.  

We had breakfast, but he didn't come in, instead choosing to stay in the car. She decided they should just head back home, I watched as she drove away--- the fact that he was still so out of it concerned me.

I realized two things  

• An addictive mind will always find their drug of choice
• Street people looked after each other, even if it is a stranger from a different city