Well, That Was Embarrassing…

I’ve written enough about some of my embarrassing moments that it’s almost become a regular feature. Here are a few of the previous posts:

• Lobster Man Strikes Again
• Another One of Life’s Embarrassing Moments
• Embarrassing Stories – A Wonderful Way to Get to Know One Another?
• Add One More to Life’s Embarrassing Moments

The second one on the list recaps when I walked face first into the glass door entrance into my classroom, much to the delight I’m sure of the 30 students sitting there. The event, or at least the sound of the event, followed by me trying to walk nonchalantly into the room was captured on video:

I put this here because the latest edition of my most embarrassing moments happened today, in the same exact classroom.

I woke up this morning in a-fib, a heart condition I have, and which I’ve written about before. I thought I would be OK going in to teach, and I got through my first class. But then about halfway through my second class, I started to feel very light-headed, and I ended the class early. I stayed in the classroom, sitting at the podium you see above and resting my head on its surface.

The next thing I knew a student was in the classroom and asked if I was OK. I looked around and realized I was laying on the floor. I had no memory of how I got there, but I must have fainted at some point. I found out later that I must have also hit my head on something because I’ve got a nice bruise on my forehead.

Someone called 911 and the EMTs came by, stabilized me a bit, and then took me by ambulance to the local hospital. As luck would have it, this was happening right in the middle of the change of classes, but as they rolled me down the hallway I kept my head down, not wanting to see anyone I knew.

I had a relatively quick recovery at the hospital, and after a few hours of testing and observation, I was discharged around dinner time.

This is the second time this has happened. The first time was about a year ago at a popular diner and I had to be taken out of there by a couple of EMTs and driven by ambulance to the hospital.

It’s ironic that for someone who does not like to be the center of attention that both of these events happened in such public places.

We avoided that particular diner for over a year; I obviously can’t do the same at Villanova.

At some point (Friday morning to be exact), I’ll have to return to the scene of the incident. As I walk through the hallways, I’m sure I’ll be imagining that everyone will be pointing at me and telling their friends, “there’s that guy who fainted”.

I know the reality is that very few people are even aware of what happened, and for those who do know, I’m sure by Friday it will be a distant memory for them.

Knowing all that, however, still won’t stop me from becoming Lobster Man.

P.S. I am grateful to all of the people who helped me get through this; the students, staff, and faculty at Villanova, the EMTs, the health care staff at Bryn Mawr Hospital, and most of all my wife and son. It’s nice knowing that there are people who care about you.

P.S.S. And maybe I should ask for a different classroom to teach in; that one may be cursed…