Page 33 of Deprivation

Six and a Half Years Earlier

Kat

I rush toward the ER entrance as fast as my legs will carry me. I can’t believe Nate and I made it here without getting pulled over. He drove like a bat out of hell. As I walk through the sliding glass doors, I hear Rachel call out my name.

“Kat,” she sobs as tears stream down her beautiful face. I hug her as tight as possible, without crushing my still growing niece or nephew, and try to console her. It will not help her pregnancy to have her blood pressure go up due to stress.

“Oh, thank God you’re here, Katarina!” I hear Mom cry out.

“What happened?”

“Mom called tonight and said she wasn’t feeling well. She thought it was something she ate. She tried taking something and resting but couldn’t get comfortable and knew waiting until tomorrow wasn’t an option. By the time we got to the house, she was pale and in so much pain. I called 9-1-1 right away.” Tears collect in her eyes as she recounts Gran’s appearance. “They started IVs on her in the ambulance but couldn’t give her anything for pain because her blood pressure was too low. It was agony seeing her like that.” She sniffles and takes a fortifying breath. “They said the CT scan showed something had ruptured inside her stomach, and so they took her to the OR.”

I stand bewildered, still holding Rachel, trying to wrap my head around everything my mom has said. Thank God I only had one drink tonight. I look over my shoulder and notice Nate is sitting in a chair by the doors, his head bent down as if in prayer.

“How long ago did they take her to the operating room?”

“About thirty minutes ago,” Mom answers.

“Why did you wait so long to call me?” I’m trying to contain my turbulent emotions.

“Kat, honey, it’s all been a lot to process. Plus, we had to look out for your grandfather, too. Your father took him home to get some rest. It’s my fault Rachel didn’t call before now. I know how close you and Gran are. I didn’t want to worry you if you were working… until we knew more. Rachel and Steven are only here because they were at the house when we got the call.”

I ponder my limited medical knowledge and consider the sources for Gran’s ‘abdominal rupture.’ I pray it’s not an abdominal aneurysm, as I can’t imagine she’ll survive that. Perhaps she has an ulcer which perforated or an abdominal abscess. Did she even still have her appendix?

“Were they supposed to update us here?” I ask knowing there’s a separate OR waiting room.

“Oh, Kat, see what you can find out, honey,” Mom practically begs.

I approach the receptionist desk and ask where we should await updates. The kind receptionist encourages us to proceed to the OR waiting area, as this will give us more privacy and the surgeon will find us more easily there. I inform Rachel and Mom and ask if one of them can give me a ride home when it’s time so I can let Nate get on his way. Hugging him with a teary goodbye, I turn back to show Rachel and Mom the way to our next destination.

* * *

Four hours later, there’s still no word on Gran.This can’t be good,I surmise, sitting in the dark quiet corner of the OR waiting room with mom. We’d sent Rachel home with Steven, promising to update her in the morning.

Suddenly a tall, fit male dressed in green surgical scrubs and hat approaches. He pulls a chair, sitting directly in front of us as he begins.

“Hi. I’m Broadie Weston,” he introduces himself, shaking my hand. “I apologize for the long wait, but as I explained earlier, I wasn’t entirely sure what we’d find when we got in there, based on the CT scan. Quite honestly, she’s lucky to be alive.”

A gasp escapes my lips before I can contain my shock. Unable to think of anything intelligent to say, I sit in silence waiting for him to continue.

“It appears she has a large tumor that’s wrapped itself around her colon. I’m shocked she hasn’t had any symptoms prior to now. The mass had eaten through a portion of the colon which is where the rupture occurred. I removed as much of the tumor and associated colon as I could and it’s being sent to pathology for biopsy, but I’m highly suspicious it’s malignant. She’ll need additional testing to see how involved this is, but for now she’s holding her own.”

“When can I see her?” I blurt out, before my mother has a chance to utter a word.

“She’s going to be in recovery for a while. We need to make sure she comes off of sedation and is stable, and then we’ll move her to the intensive care unit. You should head home and get some rest. It’ll likely be morning before she’s moved.”

“Thank you, Dr. Weston. We appreciate all you’ve done for her,” my mother adds tearfully.

“Yes, thank you.” I squeak out the words before the enormity of what he’s told us sinks in. I try to control my stream of tears to be strong for my mom as the surgeon walks away, but there’s no stopping them now.

“Kat, I’ll take you home. Please, try to get some rest. We’re going to have some tough days ahead,” she says grimly.

* * *

There’s no point in trying to sleep. All I can do is cry. I throw a few things in a bag in case I need to change while at the hospital and make a to-do list. Once school is open, I’ll reach out to my professors and let them know I’ll be missing some classes but will try to stay up to date on my assignments as best I can. Work and volunteering will have to be placed on hold for a while. Luckily, I’ve been frugal with my money.She just has to be okay, she just has to.

Returning to the hospital, I check in at the front desk and find Granny is now in the ICU. At the nurses’ station they kindly inform me she’s stable and resting so I head toward her room. Tip-toeing over to her bed, I gently lay my hand on hers.I will not cry. I will not cry.“Boy, someone knows how to get attention around here. Have you been taking lessons from Rachel?” I force a laugh.

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