Erin's Mack Truck - Chapter 5

Travels with Bacteria

Erin’s unexpected medical journey started with a bacterial infection, one with a lineage of epidemics and evolution, queens and the Muppets. In modern times, group A streptococcus, its medical acronym is GAS, usually turns up as strep throat. When I really hated high school, I fantasized that a good case of strep would give me reason to miss days, possibly weeks of class. I had no idea.

Erin's Mack Truck - Chapter 4

Megamarathon in the Medical Unit

While medical technology kept Erin alive, information technology kept the rest of us connected. Using a secure blog the hospital provided, Rob's sister posted the first update soon after Erin's emergency surgery, days after she gave birth. Rob posted daily updates while Erin was in the ICU. When Erin's lungs and heart looked ready to work on their own, he put that on the blog. When she woke up and was transferred to a medical unit, Rob posted that. Sometimes the blogs were personal but in the early days, many read like the pages of a medical textbook.

Erin's Mack Truck - Chapter 3

Marathon Day

One week after Erin was rushed to MGH for emergency surgery, and one day after she woke up, Boston shut down for Marathon Monday and an onslaught of runners from all over the world took over the city. In 2001, Erin and I had been part of that onslaught. When rowing season ended the previous fall, Erin wanted a running partner and I wanted to get to know her better. At first I volunteered to train with her, which turned into us running the whole thing together. We spent hours that winter, usually in the early mornings, winding our ways through the streets of Somerville, Cambridge, Arlington and Medford.

Erin's Mack Truck - Chapter 2

Erin Wakes Up

I played my cards right and was there when Erin woke up, feeling a little sneaky for going to the hospital on the day Rob told me the doctors were backing off the drugs. She’d been sedated all week, as long as she needed oxygen, and the requisite tube down her throat, for her lungs and heart to recover. Now her medical team thought Erin had enough strength to handle the shock of waking up. When I arrived, her face was simply her face again. No tube and no tape running across it. I stared for a minute or more. The sight of her made me want to cry and made me want to dance.

Erin's Mack Truck - Chapter 1

I sat in Erin’s driveway and wondered what to do. I went there to make dinner in celebration of Erin and Rob’s new baby. Inside were supposed to be Erin, Rob, their new baby boy and redheaded five-year-old who, if tradition held, would put on a princess outfit and sing songs from Annie. But no one answered the door. Erin’s car was gone. Where would the whole family go four days after Erin gave birth?

A black pickup pulled into the driveway with Rob’s twin sister and older brother in it. We all got out.  Adrienne looked pale and shaken.

“I don’t know how much you know,” she said.