Lost in space...topographical disortentation somedays is a real kick in the ass

A bit after 3:30 pm today I got a call from the SO on her new cell phone

I picked up on the 3rd ring, me: hello, heLLO, HELLO!!! ARE YOU THERE!

Long pause maybe 15 seconds then a distant crackling voice in distress "D--r g-d ple--- sa-- me".

Holy Shit!!! HELLO??? HELLO??? TERRIBLE CONNECTION I CAN'T UNDERSTAND YOU!! WHAT'S WRONG?

Silence. SILENCE...

YOUR PHONE ISN'T WORKING!!! IT SOUNDS LIKE YOU HAVE AN EMERGENCY!!! CALL ME BACK, CALL ME BACK!!!!

No call back, 5 minutes later no call back.

I call back...phone rings over to voice mail. CALL ME BACK I COULDN'T UNDERSTAND YOU!!!

No call back.

4 more iterations of this...then similar calls to her office phone

NO ANSWERS!

It becomes 3:45 oclock She should be home by now, she said she was leaving the college at 3 today, it's a 25 minute drive.

Something is really wrong! I call the local police..."I got a call from my partner that was broken up but she seemed to be in distress pleading "Dear God Save Me!"

Information exchange for the record screen...then not really much we can do...

Well, can you tell me has there been a report of a wreck of a 2001 Silver-gray Corolla license plate....

No reports... Ok thanks...

Call remaining police departments between her work and home no accidents reported.

Call Prof with office next to hers...no she left, her door is locked.

CAN YOU PLEASE UNLOCK THE DOOR AND MAKE SURE SHE IS NOT INSIDE? Well that requires an explantion...strange desperate phone call, SO has history of mini-strokes...CAN YOU CHECK? checked, no SO.

It's now nearing an hour since she called...I get in the car and race to her office, check all the parking lots...no car...drive several ways out of Waukesha to see if her car broke down...no sign of her...

drive back home... it's now 2 hours since she called in desperation... I start calling hospital emergency rooms...all hospitals on her route...nope no sign of her. My GOD!

More calls to her cell phone...no answers.

Nothing to do but sit and speculate...you know, now is a time when mental illness can be really hard.

I call her boss, just to make sure there were no late afternoon surprise meetings...nope...

Something is REALLY WRONG...bad thoughts of all the possible things that can go wrong.

6:30...her car pulls in the drive, 3 hours after her call. Three and one half hours after what should have been an 11 mile trip.

When she left work, an accident had rerouted traffic. She got lost. She drove 90 miles generally south before getting turned around back toward Milw.

She has topographical disorientation. She can't make a mental map of where she is. She memorizes her trips by landmarks moving point to point among places where she turns the car.

She got pushed away from her landmarks ended up on a county road completely lost and had wandered road to road through SE Wisconsin getting more and more lost and more and more anxious and embarrassed.

She was convinced her cellphone was broken, so she never called again. It isn't broken, she had it turned off in airplane mode...she just panicked and under stress couldn't control it.

This afternoon's adrenaline took off a lot of the little mileage left on my heart. BP 185 over 140 a half hour after she got home...I don't want to think about where it was when I thought the worst.