Narrative Draft

Michael Somers

Narrative Draft

                This last spring our family had a frightening experience which nearly lost us my mother. The month leading up to this my mother had kidney stones, which while painful is not exceptionally serious to one’s health. Within two weeks from recovering from that my mother went in to the hospital with a serious case of bronchitis. The doctors gave her some medication and sent her home. What we later learned was that she had an Oxygen percentage of about 70%. According to other doctors I’ve spoken to it is the policy of that hospital to admit anyone under 80% because anything under 70% is considered life threatening.

                The next day, I had come home from high school and found the house empty and eerily quiet, not paying much attention to it I got dressed for work. As I was driving to work I got a phone call from my sister. She told me my mother was in the hospital there in Sparta and she was going to be sent by ambulance to Gunderson Lutheran in La Crosse. I remember hanging up and taking a sharp left turn towards the Sparta Clinic which was just a few blocks away. When I got there within minutes I entered the Emergency entrance and saw my sister in the lobby. She led me to the hallway to the Ambulance and I saw my mom hooked up to an oxygen tank as she was being put on a gurney. 

                My mother assured me that she would be alright and that they’re just transporting her to a better equipped hospital, though in reality I learned that the doctors were not sure she would survive the ride there. I tried calling my friend so he could take my shift for me but I was not able to get a hold of him. I called in to work telling them I was not coming but they asked me to come in because they didn’t have someone to take the shift for me. My mother at the time worked at the same place I did and said I should go in.  Being upset I went into work without thinking about it, which I regret doing. If I encounter another situation where I have to work and a family member is in that condition I’ll call into work and tell them it’s not my problem if they have a replacement or not.

                So I spent about three hours at work, I was nervous, frustrated and upset.  Two hours into it I had learned that the General Manager of the restaurant I worked at was visiting my mom because she was in La Crosse. That made me furious that she was there when I should have been, and within a few minutes I decided to leave and go see my mother. The thought that she might die while I’m nowhere near was what upset me the most. Just before I was about to walk out I got another call from the GM and she told me that my brother was coming to pick me up and take me to the ICU to see my mom.

                When we got to Gunderson Lutheran in La Crosse, the first thing I did was enter the ICU waiting room where my whole family was, because only two people could visit my mom at the time. My four siblings and their families were there along with many of my aunts and uncles. It was very calming to have them there so I could talk to them and learn about my mother’s condition. The first chance to visit her was about twenty minutes after I got there. I went down the hall to her room and found my dad speaking to her while she was lying in a hospital bed. She looked weak and she was hooked up to oxygen and many other machines, but she was awake and completely coherent.

                It was a relief to speak to her and see she was alright at the moment, although her condition was still very high risk. We didn’t have a specifically special conversation, I remember asking about what the doctors said and telling her I loved her. It was simply seeing her, making sure she was all right and letting her know I cared that mattered to me at that point. I had to leave because the nurses were going to medicate her and run a few tests. I returned to the waiting room and spent most of the night with my family. There were many discussions, some about random things, others about my mothers condition and one was about how we were worried that the doctors said that the test results for my mother wouldn’t be ran till tomorrow morning and we’d get them later that night. One nurse told us my mother had Adult Respiratory distress. When we looked it up on the internet it said most who got that died a few days later. When we talked to a doctor he apologized and said the nurse must have mixed up what disorder she thought it was. He explained that that was merely what she thought it was and they wouldn’t know till the test results came in.  At about 11pm I went back home with my brother.

                Two days later my mother came home, we had learned that she had a case of severe sleep apnea and the reason her lungs got so weak was that she wasn’t breathing in her sleep. Since then she has had to sleep with an oxygen machine next to her bed. She got rid of that oxygen machine after her lungs healed and switched to a pressurized mask she has to wear in her sleep that forces her to breathe. She has to wear that indefinitely, but she is currently hoping to find an alternative that isn’t so uncomfortable.