Her Mistake

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It seems that Shelley didn't choose her options very carefully.

Shelley, Lana and some other co-workers decided to go out bar hopping.

Shelley said, "Lana, I don't go out too often because it seems everytime I do, something bad happens."

"Then don't drink too much", Lana said matter-of-factly.

"That's easy for you to say", she barked back at me as she was going through her closet trying to decide what to wear.

I thought how true that is. Shelley said, "Maybe I shouldn't go", turning to Lana with a hopeful look.

"Oh, Shelley, don't be so boring, we'll just go out for a little while", Lana told her, hoping that would work. It was high time we all went out together again.

Shelley looked like she was contemplating the after effects of going out and said, "okay, but just for a few hours. I have to be in the office no later than 7:00 a.m. unlike some other people that work for a living." As she peered at me with a snide look.

In her own defense, Lana said, "Shelley, sheesh, I work too, I just don't have to be in the office until nine tomorrow. Brownie points for turning my report in early" as Lana flipped her hair and flew her a smirk as we both busted out laughing and she went into the bathroom to get dressed.

We were on our way to meet Sam and Leo who we worked with at the insurance company. We were meeting them at Sportsman's Bar on 5th Street when we decided to stop at the party store to pick up our cigarettes that we figured we would need for the night. Shelley bought two packs, I said in surprise, "Shelley, you shouldn't be smoking at all let alone two packs, you should be taking it easy until that cold is completely gone".  Shelley recently missed a week of work because she had the flu so bad and she has asthma. The flu seemed to be hanging out in her lungs. She still had the congested cough that comes with a chest cold.

As the night went on, the pair had a real good time going to different bars with the guys and trying different drinks and shots. Shelley finished one pack of cigarettes and was working on the second pack quite swiftly when they all decided to call a cab and head home for the night. Shelley and I shared the same cab since we lived a few door down from each other.

Shelley had an asthma attack as soon as she got home and pulled out her inhaler from the drawer in her bedroom. She was slightly alarmed as she listened to her lungs rattle, but was too tired and tipsy to do anything more about it. She had another attack a couple hours later, but knew she only had another hour of sleep left and wanted to grab every second. When she got up to get ready for work, Shelley had another attack, she thought boy, what an idiot, why did I buy cigarettes. Shelley had a real hard time getting her attack under control this time.

When Shelley was ready to leave for work, she was so tired and wished she could just fall back into bed. She took a couple aspirin before she went to bed last night so she didn't wake up with a headache. She yelled at herself all the way to work for going out last night.

Shelley walked into the office and put her purse down and hung up her coat, she wasn't feeling well at all. I walked over to her and handed her a cup of coffee and said, "Wow, you look rough". Shelley flashed me a harsh look and said she would rather eat liver than stay and work today, but she knew she had to get that report done. "Lana," she said, "cover for me, I need to lay my head down for a few minutes". Lana asked her if she would be alright, and Shelley told her she would be fine, although she wasn't sure herself. She thought she might go to the doctor after work.

Leo came over to Shelley's cubicle to see how she was doing. It seemed everyone in the office knew she wasn't feeling well and was worried about her.
"Hey, girl, come on, let's get out of here for a bit, come to lunch with us. A little fresh air will do you some good." He said with a flippant attitude hoping she would say yes.

"No, thanks Leo, I think I'll just go down and get some broth from the vending machine today, thanks though", she said as she looked up at him with a tired look and a slight smile.

A little after noon, Shelley noticed everyone was gone to lunch. Her problem of breathing was taking a toll on her lungs. It was getting worse, she wished she had some better medicine to help her feel better.

When Shelley's coughing jag started she was able to make it to the toilet, she threw up everything that was in her stomach, which wasn't much. Her head was pounding with a headache. She washed her face with cold water and stared at herself in the mirror. She wondered why she came into work that day. Her stubborn personality makes her decide to do some not-so-smart things sometimes. She was starting to have another asthma attack. Shelley started to panic because she left her inhaler on her desk. She was having short painful spasms and wished she had stuck her inhaler in her pocket. When she made it back to her desk, she took two quick puffs of the inhaler, no response. Her panic elevated, she took another puff, she could taste the medicine and took a sip of water to wash the medicine down to see if that would help. She told herself to calm down and tried to breath slow and easy. Thirty seconds passed with no change. The chest cold was at its worse and her breathing wasn't going to get any better. She felt like there was no air to inhale. She tried to call out for help, a slight squeak came out of her voice box as she held her head in her hands. The small insurance office was empty, no one was coming to help her. She thought there has to be someone here somewhere. She couldn't die here. Shelley broke out into a cold sweat as she pumped more medicine from the inhaler. She started seeing stars and her vision blurred; the world was closing in on her. Her thoughts went to her goals in life, she wasn't ready to die.

Lana and everyone came back from lunch. As they passed by Shelley's desk, they saw that her head was down and decided to leave her alone and let her rest. After about 15 minutes Lana decided to check on Shelley, with all the noise in the office, Shelley should be awake by now. Lana noticed Shelley looked too relaxed and her eyes were protruding and she had a blue tinge to her skin. As fear rose up in her, she touched Shelley. She was dead.

Moral of the story: Shelley learned the hard way about smoking with asthma.