Sometimes life has a way of slapping you in the face. As REALTORS®, we've all been guilty of neglecting our own families to serve the needs of others. In this business, clients don't care if you have a life of your own. When you're working with THEM...your time is THEIR time. THEIR family is what matters....not yours.
Thursday, I was showing property to a new client. We had 7 homes to look at. Between homes #5-6, I received a call from my ex-husband who was watching my son. "Logan has a nosebleed and I can't get it to stop. There's so much blood." My response? "It's a nosebleed...just keep pinching his nose and it will stop." I was actually irritated that he was interrupting my work.
While in home #6, my ex-husband called me back. "Lina, this isn't a normal nosebleed....Logan is filling up the kitchen sink. It's not dripping blood....it's like a faucet has been turned on and it's coming out of his nose and mouth." While the client looked at the home, I called Logan's doctor, who said to call an ambulance and they would be able to look at him right away. REALLY?!? For a nosebleed?
When the ambulance arrived, I was in Home #7. Yes....that's right....I kept showing property. The ambulance personnel said, "Ma'am, this is bad. We're not going to able to get this stopped. We're going to have to transport him to the hospital. Which hospital would you like to send him to?"
Okay....NOW you have my attention! I left the client and headed straight for the ER. On the way there, I called the office to let them know what was going on. As I got closer to the hospital, the reality of what was happening started sinking in, and before long....I was a crying mess! I made it to the hospital before the ambulance arrived. They told me to sit in the waiting area. After two minutes....I couldn't sit still.
I headed out the door to the place where the ambulance would arrive. I know it's a restricted area, but could care less. I was mentally DARING them to stop me from walking over there.
The ambulance pulled up, and the back doors opened. There was my son strapped to a gurney with blood all over his face, no shirt on, and he wasn't smiling....his head was drooping over to one side as if he wanted to go to sleep. The ambulance personnel hopped out of the back and came over to me and said, "He's coughed up about 7 blood clots the size of quarters." WHAT! HELLO!!! What does that mean?!?!? Now.....I'm a certifiable HYSTERICAL MOM!
They wheeled him into a room. They did their poking and prodding, and hustling around, and finally the doctor came in and explained to me and my ex-husband that my son was going to be okay. A main artery had ruptured way up inside the back of his nose where it opens up into one big chamber. It's like when you slash your wrist and cut through the main artery, it gushes and pumps out at a furious speed. Logan had lost a lot of blood (he bled like that for almost an hour), but they were able to stop the bleeding and just needed to keep him there for awhile to make sure it didn't start bleeding again. They couldn't tell me what caused it, but everything was going to be okay.
I was able to take Logan home that night. He bled again through the night in his sleep, and in the morning the gushing occurred again (this time only for 30 minutes). We were able to get in to an ENT right away who cauterized the artery. He said this should not happen again. Whew!
I took the rest of the day off with my son. My phone calls were backed up....clients were getting angry....and I finally decided, THAT'S IT. I started telling them, "I'm sorry, I can't help you today, I'm spending the day with my family." In 10 years....I've never done that. Amazingly, everyone understood! Everyone offered to reschedule for next week. I've managed to clear my entire weekend, and not lose a single client!
Why didn't I do that sooner?
When you're a REALTOR®, and you love this business as much as I do, it has a way of taking over your life. While I don't ever want to go through that again, I do appreciate that it happened....if only to make me stop and realize.....you CAN take time off and spend it with your family....and the world will not come to an end.
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