This happened over the past holidays, and it's more somewhat interesting than informative....
After reading the ear piercing thread, I decided that it was time for me, and planned that I would get my ears pierced over my two week vacation. I would have some time for healing, and might be able to get them replaced with invisible studs before returning to work. (BTW, they have these now... they look like thin flesh colored nylon fishing hooks, but no barb, just a small, flat square, about the size of a matchhead.)
So, I went into the local piercing and tattoo parlor. My daughter was referred there by her friends who get piercings. She went there and was very impressed with the cleanliness. Anyone who does piercings in Michigan must be certified. They use autoclaves, etc. When I asked her where she went, she asked why. I told her that I wanted my ears pierced. When she asked why I would do that, I told her that I thought I was old enough, now... She said, "Cool," and went back to her knitting.
So I went to this place, laid my money down. The piercing guy was a biker, so we hit it off pretty good right away (I ride, too.) We were standing outside, having a smoke while the autoclave did it's thing, and he told me that his wife of 17 years was hit by a car, crossing the street in front of his shop, just one month ago. She was hit twice as he watched, and killed instantly. The driver that caused it was coming out of the bar parking lot across the street, and fled the scene... I was shocked... We talked for a bit about this, and I related my heartfelt sympathies. I couldn't even get my arms around this revelation...
After a bit, we went inside and I got into this dental chair. He is messing about, trying to get the positions for the holes just right...calling in his associate to double check his marks. The tools arrive, they're spread out. He finallizes his marks, and goes around the chair one more time to check. As he is walking around the chair, he yells out "Whoa..." staggers, falls to the floor, and has a grande mal seisure!
There were two other guys in the shop, and I yelled for them to come over immediately...I told them that he was having an epileptic seisure... we moved the guy away from the wall and made sure he was not swallowing his tongue. I called 911, and an ambulance was there, in minutes, if not seconds. One of the guys said that he has had this before, but it's been a year or more... The rest was pretty fuzzy... I got a readmit, for some time in the future, and have yet to get the piercing done because I cannot get the time to pull this off again with my job. I went in the next day to find out if he was ok, but the place was closed. Not their regular business hours. I feel so badly for this guy. Just about the time you think your life is difficult, you hear a story like this.
Best laid plans... From my perspective, it took no small courage to go there, work out the timing so it would minimize things for my job, etc... So, do you think it's a divine message??? Talk about overkill (smiles.)
Originally Posted by MarciManseau
