1000 Memories

Chapter 14

Time passes by as we continue to sit in the waiting room. It is very hard to ignore the looks of hope and panic on the faces of the other people in the room, as they also wait to hear news on their loved ones. These looks make me more nervous which really isn’t helping so I get up and decide to walk around.

“Do you guys want coffee?” I ask Jo and Emily who are curled up on the chairs. It is a bit cold by now and I really wish we had carried our sweaters.

“Sure, black sugarless please,” Emily says.

“Put sugar in mine,” Jo also says as I walk out of the room. There are fewer people in the hallways but the doctors are rushing up and down trying to attend to every patient that is brought in.

“Hi, where’s the...”

“Ma’am you need to wait at the waiting area.” A nurse cuts me short before I finish my sentence and quickly walks into an adjacent room where they are working on a patient.

I guess I’ll just find the cafeteria myself then.

After wandering in the hallways for about ten minutes, I find the cafeteria. There are less than five people here so I know I won’t stand in a line. I order our coffee and head back to hand them to Jo and Emily. We should definitely be very hungry by now but I doubt any of us is thinking about that. We had our sandwiches almost nine hours ago

“Here you go. There is food in the cafeteria if any of you is hungry,” I say to both of them but they just say they will wait until the doctors are back with some news.

As if on cue, one of the doctors who helped wheel Cindy into the trauma room walks towards us and introduces himself as the lead doctor in her case. He asks if any of us is her family but I say that her family lives in Delaware and won’t be here until later.

“Is Cindy alright?” Emily asks.

“ So, Cindy suffered a seizure and it looks like it is the first time she has had one. Because it was unexpected and in the water, she got pulled down by the current and swallowed a lot of water. She is stable as of the moment but we have put her in a medically induced coma to allow her body to heal from the trauma as we monitor her brain.”

“How long will she be in a coma?”

“Around two or three days. “He says and then turns to leave.

“Thank God she’s alive and okay,” Emily says and I pick up the phone in order to update Cindy’s family.

Jo follows the doctor to ask if we can see her and he says yes so we go into her room .

Cindy is lying on the hospital bed in the middle of the room. There is a  tube attached to her mouth, I guess it’s helping her breathe. IV fluids have been attached to her arm and hang up next to her as they keep her hydrated. I have seen some people having seizures before but never did they have to be put in a coma after that. Maybe it’s because this is her first one or maybe because she actually drowned and a lot of water filled her lungs. We are just lucky she is alive.

I sit on her bedside and hold her arm calling her name and there’s no response whatsoever. I don’t even know if she can hear us. How in the world did we get here?  One minute we are having the time of our lives and then next thing we know is that one of us is in a coma and can barely hear us. I just cannot wrap my head around all of this.

We sit with Cindy and try talking to her until late in the night. Jo an Emily decide to go back home in order to take a shower and eat before coming back.

I stay the night and fall asleep on a chair opposite Cindy. The nurse had already told me that I should go home but I wasn’t just going to leave Cindy alone. She needs someone to be here with her even though she cannot hear us.

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“Good morning!” Cindy’s nurse wakes me up as she opens the room’s curtains and starts to check on Cindy’s vitals.

I look at my phone screen to see that it is almost 8 o’clock in the morning. I must have been really tired because I didn’t even hear her coming in. There are three missed calls from Cindy’s mom and I can just imagine how worried she must be. She made me promise to update her on how Cindy is doing every hour but I just fell asleep.

“How is she doing?” I ask the nurse, so I can update Cindy’s mom. She says that Cindy is doing well so far. She made it through the night safe and sound.

Jo walks into the room all dressed up for work and this immediately reminds me that to day is Monday and I forgot to call my boss and say that I won’t be coming in today. So I immediately call before anymore time passes by and they start to consider firing me.

I take the clothes that Jo has brought me and change since I was still in a t-shirt and jeans from yesterday.

She has also brought me a home cooked breakfast and I munch on it so fast because of how hungry I am. Jo immediately leaves for work and promises to be back later in the evening. The day goes by really slowly as I sit by Cindy and the doctors and nurse come to check on her every once in a while.

It is around 3pm in the afternoon when Cindy’s mom arrives at the hospital and is shown up to her room. She breaks down into tears as soon as she sees her daughter lying helplessly on the bed. I go over and hold her as she walks towards Cindy not believing this. I guess the reality of this situation really dawns on you once you see her yourself.

“Thank you for staying with her Maggie. You should go home, take a shower and rest. “she says hugging me and so I get my bag and head home.