A New World

We get called for a lift assist. We find a man lying face down on the carpet on top of a pile of papers. He is naked except for a dirty purlple bathrobe. His wife is sitting in an armchair.We ask him if he is hurt, but he starts jabbering about how long he has been down. I am not quite following him. He says something about how as a boy he used to milk the cows. When we try to get him up, he keeps saying "holdon holdon holdon." I get tired of him stalling, and since he doesn't appear hurt, we get him right up to his feet. He looks at me with a gleam in his eyes. "I know you, you're that guy. That's right. I could have sold you my car, but then where would you be?" He has a shake to his head and outstretched hand that reminds me of Kramer from "seinfeld." "Yes," he says. "Its all written down. It's all been recorded."

While my partner starts asking him questions, I turn to his wife. "Is he always like this?"

"Since Wednesday," she says, "It's been getting worse."

The man is completely insane. "Don't tell them a thing!" he shouts at the little terrier that runs by his legs. "They have their ways. Run, Rosco, run!"

The wife is elderly and can barely stand up. I look in the refrigerator. There are a couple of cartons of jello. That's it. She says she hasn't eaten for two days.

I ask if they have any relatives who check on them or does a visiting nurse come in. The woman says the closest relative is in Pennsylvania. No nurse has ever been to their house.

The man looks at me and declares, "It's a new world!"

We end up taking both him and his wife down to the ER. We leave a bowl of water and one of food for the dog.

***

A chest pain, sciatica, and vominting to round out the day.