Complications

The dimmed lights in the hallway connecting the waiting room to the rest of the hospital signaled throughout the building that visiting hours were over. This dimming was meant to create a quiet and peaceful feeling for the patients and loved ones staying overnight. To trick the mind into allowing sleep to come easier. For Victoria, the darkened hallway felt like a bad omen. Unable to sit any longer and with no appetite, she began to pace. She was one of five people sitting in the hard plastic chairs waiting for someone to come through the door and tell her what was going on. She was tired, unable to even think about sleep, and still livid she wasn’t allowed to go back with Addie. Her exhaustion was taking her back and forth between wanting to collapse on the floor in a ball and sob and wanting to go kicking and screaming back to where she knew her daughter was. Having been rushed back immediately by a nurse and an Emergency Room doctor, Victoria was instructed to wait there, fill out the paperwork, and that they would keep her updated. Victoria would never forget the memory of her yelling “I love you” after her crying, terrified child as she was taken back and disappeared behind the double doors. 

At 1:00 a.m., Victoria had been woken up by her daughter crying. Rushing into Addie’s room, she found the six year old lying curled up in a ball on the bed. She was sweaty and rolling back and forth like she was trying to gently rock the pain away. 

“What's wrong?!” immediately running to her daughter and wrapping her in her arms, Victoria was suddenly wide awake.

“I got sick. I threw up and my tummy hurts mommy! Please make it better!” Addie sounded almost breathless from the pain. Her daughter looked pale, feverish and was clutching her right side. Pulling back the blanket, she could see Addie’s stomach looked swollen. Panicking and not knowing what else to do, Victoria ran back into her room and called 911. After giving her address and explaining the situation to the dispatcher, she was almost ready to hang up when Addie suddenly sighed and grabbed her arm. “It stopped hurting mommy, I don’t feel that pain anymore.” Relieved, Victoria was opening her mouth to apologize to the dispatcher and explain that emergency medical services no longer seemed needed, the dispatcher suddenly said, “ An ambulance is on the way ma’am, it should be there shortly. I believe she still needs to be seen by the emergency room this evening.”

“She said the pain stopped though, I can just make an appointment with her pediatrician to be seen later today when the office opens. It looks like it may be a bad stomach virus.”

“Ma’am, I believe her appendix may have ruptured and that she needs to be seen this evening, as soon as possible. The ambulance has an estimated arrival time of ten minutes.”

“Okay, thank you.” The dispatcher then told her that she had all the information she needed, the ambulance was on route and that she was free to hang up. Looking at her now sleeping daughter, she was happy to see her finally getting some rest and not be in pain.

After 30 minutes, the ambulance had still not arrived and Victoria was getting more and more frustrated. The dispatcher had said she thought Addie needed to be seen as soon as possible and that the ambulance had been in route but she was still left waiting! She went in to check on Addie and found her shivering under the blanket. Putting the back of her hand on her forehead, she could tell she was still burning up. Grabbing her fatigued daughter up in her blanket she grabbed her purse and as quickly as she could got out the door and laid Addie down in the backseat of the car. The drive to the hospital was a blur. How may stop signs did she run? Had that light really been green? Victoria had no idea and speed limits were beyond her comprehension by that point. It was going on 3:00 am when they finally pulled into the emergency room parking lot and Addie started to moan and softly cry from the backseat. She hated doctors offices because she was always afraid she was going to have to get poked with a needle. Carrying her daughter in, she ran to the triage desk and explained Addie’s symptoms and that the 911 dispatcher said something about a ruptured appendix. She asked the nurse at the desk if that could be true. If so she was relieved, kids got appendicitis all the time and were fine. The nurse said “That is true, but it can cause a dangerous infection if it actually ruptures before it is removed. She will need surgery right away if it has.” A chill of fear went down Victoria’s spine. Immediate surgery, a surgery to ensure they got all of the infection cleared up. She was trying to listen to the nurse but by the time it had processed the nurse was already calling a doctor to take her back to be examined. She was not allowed into the x-ray room and when she was called back, she saw her daughter already in a hospital gown and hooked up to an IV. “The appendix has ruptured, we need to take her to surgery.” Addis’s eyes immediately filled with tears and as she held her daughter's hand as they wheeled her into the hallway, she didn’t think she could stand to let go. “Ma’am, if you wouldn’t mind going back out into the waiting room. There’s some paperwork to fill out, forms to sign. We will update you as often as we can.” Victoria kissed Addie on the forehead and told her she loved her and that she would see her soon. Addie started to cry and as Victoria was ushered out of the double doors back into the waiting room, she yelled “I love you” over and over again until the doors had closed and she could no longer hear her daughter cry being wheeled down the hallway towards the operating room.

Not realizing she was replaying the evening yet again, Victoria suddenly found herself standing in front of the vending machine. Putting some change in and getting a bag of chips that she knew would remain uneaten, she returned to one of the seats and watched as one by one the remaining people in the waiting room got called back. After another hour which to her felt like a decade, a doctor came out of the double doors and called her name. Rushing to him, she was still almost halfway across the room when she asked “how is she?” 

“There were a few complications” the doctor started, but that was the last Victoria heard before her world went dark.