I adored teaching my classes at Slimmons on Saturday mornings. There were so many people in class that some students had to work out in the lobby.
I didn’t care for that very much. So…I decided to teach two back to back classes. That means I was working out for about two hours and thirty minutes. One Saturday, after I finished teaching, I got all dressed up and went to the valley to my accountant’s son’s Bar Mitzvah.
This was back in 2004. I first went to the temple for the Bar Mitzvah, and after… I attended the party. The room had a dance floor…delicious food…and lots of kids. They all asked me to come to the dance floor and work them out.
As I was moving my arms and legs something horrible happened. My knees buckled…I became wobbly and fell to the floor. I could hear the children scream. They immediately called an ambulance.
Come to find out I had a seizure. I heard later that I had foam coming out of my mouth and I just lied there in shock. I woke up later in the ambulance and the EMT was giving me oxygen.
I asked him, “What happened?” He said, “I don’t know but we are taking you to the hospital.” I fell asleep again and woke up in the hospital. A Dr. from the Philippines… A very nice man…was standing over me putting some sort of liquid in my veins. It was an IV. I was so scared I held his hand.
He said to me, “Don’t worry. I am going to take good care of you.” I noticed that my coat and shirt were removed and he was checking my heart. I rested in the hospital for a few hours. The Dr. said to me…”This is the most beautiful tie that I have ever seen.” I took the tie and placed in his hand. I said, “When you wear this, think of me because you saved my life.”
Do you know what was wrong with me? I was completely dehydrated! The moral of this story is… drink your water. Not soda…but water. I try to drink at least 8 glasses a day. I don’t know who invented the Britta …but I am glad he or she did.
Love,
Richard
