Day 2: March 20

Heading home from Sacramento around noon, the ER in Vallejo is on the way. We know our son is safe and getting medical care and we discuss if his current state is something we want to witness or if it's better to respect our adult son's medical privacy and just keep going. We go to the ER. We run into our son's mother and other dad in the waiting room and they give us a quick update--our son is awake but not alert. He needs to be eating and drinking soon or there may be additional steps taken. We are all waiting for a bed to open up in the County emotional stabilization unit, since he has been 5150ed and that is the necessary next step. When we go in to visit, there is a security guard outside his room and I am relieved to see he is not in restraints. He seems very small in the bed, twisted up in several blankets. When his father sits down, our son asks "Is everybody crazy?" by way of greeting. His eyes are open only slightly and seem to roll with the movements of his head from side to side. His father offers him food from the hospital tray nearby. Our son only asks "Is this a trick?". Wherever our son is, it doesn't feel like we are in the same space at all. He is mostly unresponsive to sound or touch. Some more attempts at connection, blanket tucking, reassurance, there is not much we can do but wait this out. We go home.