Tonight was unexpected. Tonight was scary. Tonight was the night my husband saved my life.
It all began as my husband was changing the alternator in our Audi. That blessed Audi that has continued to break down on us over and over again. This was the final step to getting it running and ready to be sold! I cannot wait! We’ve had a few people interested in buying it. So excited to sell it! And so he was putting the new alternator in and had our male dog Dwight outside with him. I stayed inside, was cooking a piece of mahi mahi in the oven, and finishing some spaghetti noodles on the stove.
My mother-in-law called and so I began talking to her for awhile. During the conversation, I noticed a tickle in my throat that led me to cough. After about the fourth cough, I figured I just needed a drink and to eat something to get it out of my throat. During this time, I had walked over to the window because I heard the Audi running. I kept my mother-in-law informed as I sat in the window and nervously watched my husband take the jumper cables off the Audi, and the Audi continued to run and the battery light turned off! My husband even looked up at the window to yell at me and tell me the Audi was running which we were all excited for. Of course, during the whole time, my mother-in-law begins to ask me if I’m ok or if I’m fighting my “winter cough”. I told her this definitely wasn’t my winter cough, but I wasn’t sure if it was what I was cooking or what was causing this irritation in my throat. She let me go to get a drink and so I began to sip away.
Meanwhile, my husband has closed up both vehicles and I hear him coughing down the hallway. Upon entering the apartment and quickly shutting the door, he rounds the corner, Dwight coughing and sneezing, and my husband looking like he was deadly ill: coughing horrendously, saliva pouring out of his mouth, tears flowing down his face, and unable to respond to me right away about whether he was ok. I got scared.
After he gathered himself together, he told me specifically, “We need to get the dogs and get out of here NOW!” Of course, I’m sitting here like, “Oh I’ll just stuff a towel under the door, where else would we go anyways? I’ll just open our two windows and air out the place…”
I can honestly say that I’ve never been more thankful for his stubbornness. He told me to immediately shut the windows as it was drawing the air from the hallway in, and that he wasn’t sure what the gas in the air was but that if it was something like natural gas, the building could explode and we needed out right away. I gave in and we put the dogs in their cages, I put our skinny pig in his little cage, grabbed my purse, and opened the door to the hallway. What happened next was entirely awful.
When the air from the hallway hit me, it was like hitting death in the face. That little tickle in my throat became an instant burning. The coughing became constant. The tears rolled freely. Our noses were running incessantly. My husband went behind me, telling me to just head for the front door, to just get to the front door. It was honestly the most awful thing of my life. So awful in fact, that the only things I can remember from going down the hallway, down the stairs, and out the door was just focussing on trying not to breath, trying to go fast without falling or dropping my babies, and the sounds of coughing from my husband, my dogs and myself.
Hitting the outside air was the greatest breath of fresh air I’ve ever had. As soon as we got outside and had a chance to take a breath and gather ourselves from the mess we had turned into, some fellow tenants were coming out on their decks asking about the coughing and if we thought it was better to leave. We advised our neighbours to get out.
My husband went and got the car, we loaded up and drove a few streets away. I called our rental company’s number to report the emergency to which he very concernedly called a landlord and the fire department right away. I also called the fire department to be sure.
The response time was within a minute! It was incredible timing! We had around 10 fire trucks and an ambulance surrounding our building, blocking entrances to the street, and lined up along the road. I took one quick picture before we walked up to see what they had found out.
In this picture, you can clearly see 3 fire trucks, but ahead of this line up was another 2 fire trucks and an ambulance. The rest were on the front of the building, the other entrance of the road, and the back. We were clearly being taken care of and I’m so very thankful for these people.
After we parked on the side of the road (just behind where this picture was taken), we walked up to see what was going on. The firemen were everywhere, many with oxygen tanks on and ready to use in order to enter the building.
For the next little while, little was said about what happened. The tenants were gathered outside with their children and pets (cats and dogs) waiting for news. Many of them just ended up leaving, but some stayed and waited. We spent our time walking back and forth from the car to check on our animals to the apartment to find any updates. Growing up with a fire chief in the house, I knew to avoid when they were obviously busy, but to answer questions quickly and efficiently with plenty of detail when they ask. They came and talked to me once about what had happened, but nothing really came of the whole thing.
Eventually, they brought out their air vacuum fans and put them at both entrance doors to draw the air out. There was no confirmation as to what it was, but they cleared the building and allowed us back in.
It may seem like nothing now, but can you imagine what could have happened? What if it was a natural gas leak and the building did combust? What if it was a poisonous gas and I was too unclear in my thoughts to leave and had done irreversible damage to myself and my pets?
I’m so thankful for my husband who was able to know what we needed to do, and was willing to drag me out if I didn’t comply (he told me this after). His demonstration of protection and care for me was definitely shown tonight. I love this man and have never been more in love with him then now. His care for me surpasses all expectations.
Tonight, he saved my life.
Calm in Christ and Fitness 