An eerie story:
There was a family I knew of because one of their sons went to the same high school as me. After high school the sons moved out and mom and dad had the apartment to themselves.
One evening mom answers the phone and makes a funny face as she listens. Dad sees it and takes takes the phone hearing gibberish. He says "What's the matter buddy, too much to drink" and then recognizes his son's voice. He either had a stroke or aneurysm. 911 was called and the son survived.
This was before telemarketing and my mind asks a bunch of what ifs. If they didn't answer the phone or jumped to the wrong conclusion and hung up etc.
Your dad did the right thing by calling 911 but it is understandable why someone would call mom or dad instead.
One of the reasons I hate telemarketers is that they trigger a hang up response to any unusual call.
It’s interesting about what you’re saying with telemarketers, last night my father was able to communicate the phone number of one of his good friends (a really great sign), and after getting through to him after two attempts he mentioned that he assumed i was a telemarketer at first as the number wasn’t recognized and he has a very close knit group of friends. He was so grateful I called back again later in the evening as he was getting worried about my dad.
Also, I can understand the whole call mom and dad before 911 mentality in a panic. 18 years ago when I was 16, I discovered my grandfather (my dad’s dad) in his bed foaming at his mouth and unresponsive due to a massive stroke. My father and grandma had gone up to the cottage a day earlier and he was to follow suit the next day. My initial reaction was to call my sister who then told me to call 911.
I’ve always felt stupid for not doing that initially, but shock and panic can manifest itself in odd ways. Doctors assured me that there was nothing I could have done, the stroke was so massive he had only a few minutes to be treated before becoming brain dead like he was. Apparently he was in the bed like that for hours... I had arrived at the house and had been walking around for 10 or so minutes thinking he was sleeping as I could hear snoring from the bedroom. So thankful this wasn’t the case with my father this time.