Unexpected Mother's Day | Teen Ink

Unexpected Mother's Day

December 11, 2014
By mdeters BRONZE, Junction City, Kansas
mdeters BRONZE, Junction City, Kansas
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

Mother’s day is fast approaching; my sister and I are shopping for a gift that will hopefully please our mom. We walk through the aisles scanning the shelves for the perfect present. My phone rings just as we reach the display of vibrant colored cards, “Molly? Hey, don't freak out but I'm in the emergency room. They are just giving me some saline right now. I just wanted to call and let you know what was going on.”
“Wait. What? Why are you in the ER?” I try not to panic as my sister bombards me with questions I don’t know the answer to.
“I was mowing, and…”
“Mom! You were just in a car accident, like, two days ago! Why were you mowing?”
“The yard needed mowed, and Daryl is at drill. Anyway, my hands went numb and Gina, you know Gina, she’s the nurse that lives next door. Well, she convinced me to at least get checked out. We are waiting for the x-rays.” I whisper to my sister to hurry up and get a card so we can go to the hospital that my mom is now in. She tosses the one in her hand into the cart and we start for the check out. It is apparent that my mom hears our hushed conversation, “Girls, calm down. We don’t know what the x-rays show yet, so I’ll call you back when we know more. You don’t need to come up here unless it’s something serious.”
I comply and insist to my sister that we shouldn’t panic, that Gina, the head of the neighboring house to my mom, will take cares of what needs to be done.
Not twenty minutes later my mom calls back as we are on our way home; I hear my mom tell my sister to put the phone on speaker so that we both can hear her.
“What’d the x-rays say?” I ask impatiently as I drive.
“I need you both to stay calm, okay?” she tells us to sullenly.
She awaits our agreeance, and she continues to explain to us that the doctor has reviewed the x-rays, “He said that I have a crushed disc in my spine, the nurses put me in a C-collar to keep my spine in place. He said that he scheduled the operating room for seven in the morning. If you girls want to come up…”
She didn’t have time to finish before we interrupted her, both my sister and I told her that all we needed to do was pack and we would be on our way.

The four hour drive to the Kansas City Medical Center was exceedingly long. Throughout the drive my sister and I converse about the accident that happened earlier that week. As my mom was on her way home from work, she was at a red light when a man hit the back bumper of her car going at least fifteen miles an hour. It was something that my sister and I had always been lectured about by teachers and parents, not to text and drive. It is hard to believe that an incident that was always stressed to teens was now caused by an adult.
It is after midnight when we arrive at the hospital and are greeted by my step dad, Daryl, and his daughter, Bethany. They lead us to a top floor of the hospital containing the ICU. Daryl explains that the doctors put her in ICU because of a threat of paralysis. My step dad convinces us to try to get some sleep before the surgery tomorrow.
We are thankful that the waiting room contains several couches. The too-loud, beige, fake leather of the couches are the only sound that fills the room. It smells the same as the ICU, stiff and antiseptic. The only light in the entire room comes from the TV in the corner, that is only on because we know we need the distraction. It takes several minutes to get as comfortable as possible on the sunken couches, under the stiff sheets that the ICU provides us.
The six hours of sleep that we manage to get feels like twenty minutes. Daryl shakes my shoulder gently and whispers as to not awake the other girls, “It’s about six right now, the doctor is going to come in at about six thirty to explain the surgery. I assumed you would want to be there.”
Still groggy from an insufficient amount of sleep, “Yeah, okay. Sounds good.”
I gather the still stiff sheet that blanketed me through the night, incase we have to sleep in here again and within moments we are all gathered in the ICU room, awaiting the doctor. I can feel the tension, no one has any idea of what will happen in the operating room.
The doctor explains the procedure of removing the pieces of the disc and replacing it with a disc from an organ donor and securing it with a small metal plate and four screws. The doctor expects a two to three hour surgery. He warns us of the threat of brain damage, considering the car accident had affected the upper portion of her spine. Nothing else that the doctor says makes it through to me. I am terrified, but I know that any sort of hesitation will affect the others in the room. I don’t notice the doctor leave the room, but my mom and Daryl converse about how confident he seems.
We follow my mom as far as we can to the operating room. The nurse guides us to the waiting room that contains chairs of many different patterns. Stains that cover the fabric are prominent on some and less on others. Three other families are scattered amongst the waiting room. The family to our right has a demeanor that is patient and calm while one reads the newspaper and others entertain themselves with prepared materials that should last them for the length of their loved one's non-life-threatening surgery. The couple across the room bite their nails and hastily read magazines, they must be scared of the possible outcome. Another family of three, a mom, a dad, and a younger brother, I assume, sit in the corner huddled together. Their tear filled prayers of a miracle for their oldest daughter are heard, but hushed. I hope they will leave relieved and not devastated.
          We take our seats and we know that there are several hours ahead of us in this tension and emotion filled room. My eyes settle on the television that is highlighting the local events of the past week and updating viewers of the car accident that left two teens dead and one in critical condition early this morning.
         Daryl sleeps in the stain-covered chair to my left and my sister occupies the next couple of hours watching YouTube videos on "Do It Yourself" Mother's Day gifts.
         We are four hours in from the time they took my mom into the operating room and we are all anxious and frustrated from the lack of promised updates from the nurses. By now, several other families have rotated through this waiting room. The patient ones were happy to know their loved one is in recovery and doing well, the couple across the room cry silently together as they get news they did not want, but they know it could have been worse, and the mother in the corner collapses in emotion. She thanks the nurse for saving her daughter, and the family embraces in relief.
          At five hours in, two hours later than expected, the doctor personally comes to speak with us. No one else in the waiting room had the doctor come to them personally. We brace for bad news.
          "Hello, I am Dr. Hess, I was the doctor performing a spinal fusion for your loved one, Brenda Deters. I would just like you to know that the surgery went better than expected,” he smiles. “She is in recovery right now, but a nurse will come to get you when she has been moved to a room." Noticeably, we all relax, knowing that she a full recovery is in her future. We thank the doctor and willingly settle back into the waiting room as we await the nurse that will lead us to my mom.


The author's comments:

Over a year ago, my mom was involved in an accident that was caused by a man who was texting and driving. Today, my mom is doing well but continues to have medical issues involving the damage that this accident caused her. I now encourage friends, family, and those around me to never text while driving.


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