Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: Gunthr on April 25, 2007, 08:38:39 AM
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yesterday i was walking across a piazza surrounded by government buildings and i walked past a woman who was sitting on a bench. She was mid-thirtys, very average looking, casually dressed, neat hair, hands folded neatly in her lap, no purse. she made eye contact as i walked by, and i noticed that her eyes were welling up with tears although her facial expression was impassive.
i stopped, went back, sat down beside her and said, hi, can i help you?
she said, "am i in trouble?"
"not that i know of." i said. what is your name?
she said, "i don't know." i said, "how are you feeling? are you sick?"
she said, "i don't know."
i said, "what are you doing here?"
she said, " i don't know. my car is parked over there. i was driving and driving and driving and every single road i went down came to an end. i didn't know what to do. then i saw a car with emergency lights on it and i followed it. it came here, so this is where i stopped. i don't know where this is. im lost."
she had several bracelets on her left wrist. one of them was a medical advisory type bracelet. I asked her "what is that for?" she said, "i don't know."
I said "let me see it." she held out her arm and i saw that the bracelet opened. inside was a piece of paper folded up small like an accordian. I unfolded it and saw that it had writing on both sides. One side said:
"MY NAME IS ***** ********. I HAVE LOST MY MEMORY. PLEASE HELP ME. THERE ARE IMPORTANT PHONE NUMBERS TO CALL ON THE OTHER SIDE. PLEASE CALL MY HUSBAND FIRST AT THIS NUMBER ***-***-****.
eventually the husband arrived to pick up his wife. As he walked towards us, i asked her if that was her husband. she said, "i don't know. will i have to go with him?" i said, "we'll see."
the husband walked up to us, shook hands with me and introduced himself to her as though they were strangers:
"Hello *******. My name is *****. I'm your husband. You are not in any kind of trouble. No one is mad at you. Everything is going to be fine. This is just something that happens to you occassionally because of a medical condition. We've been married for 12 years. Here is a photo of you and me with our three children. The gentleman had multiple forms of identification with him, and he was able to calm her very well. after viewing alll of it, she got comfortable with the idea that the man was her husband. He showed me a letter from a physician stating that this women had been diagnosed with "Dissociative retrograde fugue".
the women's husband said that this happens several times a year. he said that he would take his wife home, and then at some point she would become very very tired and sleepy, and then sleep for a long time. when she wakes up, she will have no memory of what happened during the missing time. he said that this all started when she was a child due to severe abuse, and it recurrs in times of stress. in this case, her dad suffered a stroke the day before.
I feel so sorry for people like this. it left me reminded again- and feeling thankful for - a lot of things that i sometimes take for granted in life... i thought some would find this interesting.
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Nice of you to help Gunthr. So many others would have walked past and not given their time.
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Memorable indeed. <
> gunthr
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Gunthr ,even if I know you only through this forum this is the kind of reaction I can expect from you.
Good job.
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Sir,
I agree. You are a good person to have stopped to help. Its nice to know there are still folks out there like you, willing to help a stranger.
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That's pretty cool Gun. I don't think I even know what a medical advisory bracelet looks like. :confused:
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thank you guys... it was just that i like to be thankful and always remember that life is very much harder for some people... it helps my persepective on life. anyway, any one of you would have helped her. the tricky part was recognizing that she needed help...
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very commendable gunther
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Gunther, Outstanding way to care and behave towards a fellow human. There's hope for us as a species yet when that kind of thing happens between strangers.
Indy,
Look at this web sit. They show several kinds of Medic Alert bracelets.
http://www.americanmedical-id.com/marketplace/detailscategory.php?catid=1048027492&fromsearchengine=google-medic_alert_bracelet&source=0D1002&gclid=CNHBq_yQ3osCFR1hgQodRxSsbA
If anyone has a condition such as diabetes, insect allergies, food allergies or any other kind of condition that can render you incapable of helping in your own treatment you would be advised to get one of these things with proper info from your Doctor.
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Gunthr, what you did is just wonderful. Thanks on behalf of the human race.
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Gunthr, the world does not have enough Gunth's ;)
thumbs up for you :aok
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I'm surprised you didn't take her home and teach her how to play AH2... that way you'd always have someone to clear your 6...
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Originally posted by VWE
I'm surprised you didn't take her home and teach her how to play AH2... that way you'd always have someone to clear your 6...
unless she forgot. :)
j/k... good job gunthr :aok
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Gunthr you Sir are the MAN!!!! <<
>>
:aok
Mac
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Wow, what a strange incident! Very much like the movie "Memento".
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if she were super-model material would the story have ended differently? :)
nice going
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Originally posted by Maverick
Indy,
Look at this web sit. They show several kinds of Medic Alert bracelets.
http://www.americanmedical-id.com/marketplace/detailscategory.php?catid=1048027492&fromsearchengine=google-medic_alert_bracelet&source=0D1002&gclid=CNHBq_yQ3osCFR1hgQodRxSsbA
If anyone has a condition such as diabetes, insect allergies, food allergies or any other kind of condition that can render you incapable of helping in your own treatment you would be advised to get one of these things with proper info from your Doctor.
Thanks Mav. Turns out I actually have seen one before, but it was on my 90 y/o+ great grand mother, a decade ago. These newer ones (and the watches) look pretty hard to miss now that I know what I'm looking for in an emergency.
And for some reason this story reminds me of the Adam Sandler movie... 50 first dates or something like that... where at the end, the girl wakes up every morning and watches a DVD of her life since she loses her memory overnight. Freaky stuff. Sounds like the woman Gun helped has a really good guy for a husband.
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thanks again, im a bit uncomfortable with the attention since it really was not such a big deal... i was just at the right place at the right time to help. any ofyou who saw the lost look on her face would have asked questions too. i only wanted to share it because it really impacted me (now i can go back to being the same old crank on this BB :) )
Yes, Indy, her husband seemed like a really good guy, definately the right kind of guy for her. he was very kind and gentle and patient with her.
Eagler, i know you're pulling my chain about "what if the woman looked like a supermodel?" but a couple of my associates that i have told about this have asked me right off the bat, "Was she good looking?" I just tell them, "what the hell do you want to know that for, you pervert?" ;)
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Gunthr.... <
>
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<
> that is really kind and decent of you. amazing story and glad to hear it had a happy ending.
it sure would choke me up a bit.
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Originally posted by Gunthr
i thought some would find this interesting.
You were right.
Hits pretty close to home for me.