I was a freshman in high school. I can remember like it was yesterday, however, it's been almost six years and my mom is still alive.
When I was a freshman, my mom had to undergo major surgery in order to save her life, not once, but twice. Her first surgery was unsuccessful. The first time, my mom brohnical spasmed on the table, causing her surgeon to get her off the table and vented. This, was terrifying. I went to go visit my mother in the ICU at 14-15 years old. My mom had woken up and was okay, only to go under again, a few weeks later, before Thanksgiving of that year.
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The night before I had woken up out of a sound sleep, to get sick and crawl my way back into bed. I believe in superstition, that night I woke up at 3 AM. Now, I believe in superstition, and I knew that something terrible was going to happen the day of my mom's surgery. Low and behold, it did.
I was told that my mom had successfully received her surgery and only to go and find out that my mom, wasn't acting like my mom, post-op. She was awake from the anesthesia, but, her O2 levels had significantly dropped. I was 14 years old and I knew that my mother's O2 levels dropping, was a bad thing. I noticed it before any other person did. I was 14.
Within a 24 hour period, my mom was taken into ICU and put on a vent and was put in a medical induced coma. She missed thanksgiving that year, I was too busy trying to figure out if I was going to have to plan my mother's funeral or not. My mom had to have a pick line too. She was on so many different things that was keeping her alive. I was 14 and I had to hold it together.
The experience I had with my mom is something I will never forget. I will never forget each text message I had being told when my mom got out of surgery. I will never forget being called to the office and my aunt having to pick me up because something happened to my mom. I will never forget the agony I went through. I will never forget the pain. I will never forget not knowing if I would have my mom home for Christmas that year.
My mom survived. My mom is alive and happy. She's lost so much weight, has had so many different surgeries because of the gastric bypass. She tells me all the time if she had to, she'd do it again. My mom was home a week before Christmas that year. I remember walking out of ICU room when the doctor told me they didn't know if she'd be home. I remember crying. I didn't know how I was going to explain that to my brother why mommy wasn't home for Christmas.
They tried everything to make sure she was home that year. That was one of the worst years of my life. But, the surgery saved my mom. Without it, she'd be gone. The things I went through with my mom has caused me now, to always be on edge with every surgery that she's had, since the gastric bypass. The fear is always going to be there. I'm now twenty years old and sometimes, I still dream about it. The pain, the emotion, walking up the ramp from my high school, getting into my aunts car and speeding to the hospital because something happened. I'll never forget it.
