I ran up the steps to her door. After several ignored doorbells and knocks, I figured, you know, she hasn’t been feeling well, Mom’s been over here bugging her for the past couple days, I bet she’s just taking a nap and doesn’t want to be bothered. I had learned over countless holidays, when all the daughters would visit, and inevitably attempt to clean the house to their standards, that if you cross my grandmother with an unannounced vacuuming session, be prepared for the cold shoulder. I went about my day without giving the matter much more
Three weeks later she got a job working in the emergency room at Abbeville General Hospital. Lori’s first day working in the hospital was very different than working as a home health nurse. She says, “It was much more fast pace and chaotic than I was used to. I wasn’t sure if I liked it, but my aunt made me promise her that I would try it for at least a month before I decided if I wanted to quit or not.” After her first month there she had a completely different attitude toward her job. She eventually learned to like how there was no down time when she was working, but by the end of every day she wanted nothing more than to just sit down and relax.
No one wanted to face the fact the she had to go through this. As my sister and I told my grandma, “good luck” and reassured her everything would be okay, we all new how dangerous this surgery was. My grandmother was operated on in Roswell Park Cancer Institute, the doctor said she would be fine, but as time went on we found out that she wasn’t going to be fine. The day of the surgery, I came home from school to hear that something had happened during surgery. The doctor told my family that my grandmother had become septic which forced a second surgery and a move to the intensive care unit (ICU) for three weeks, where she had to be put on life support.
On April 17th, 2004, my eldest sister went into labor around 5:30 A.M. I honestly wasn't in the mood to go to the hospital so early in the morning, but my mother told me I should. My mom told me that it was a time when my sister really needed us. All I thought about was that she wouldn't even know whether I was there or not. My family and I took her to the hospital, and then everyone waited in the adjacent room.
She woke up with a severe pain in her side and began to have difficulty walking. Any kind of ailment was unusual for her as she had always been a healthy person. This particular Friday morning took her and everyone around her by surprise. Her daughter immediately took her to the hospital where they immediately began to run tests. Several hours later the grimed faced doctors said, Mrs. Flores you have cancer all over your body and it would be best to call all your family together.
In the past few days my mother had only been home for an hour a day to take a shower and have a snack. I would see her hands tremble, the bags beneath her eyes grow increasingly dark, and the color in her face disappear like her appetite. She looked so fragile and stressed, and I had no idea why she was so upset. I honestly believed that my dad just needed to spend some time in the hospital. I hadn’t seen him since he was admitted into the hospital, but I knew that he was strong enough to battle any sickness.
She lost a lot of weight. I remember going with her for her treatments. I would have done anything for my grandmother, I even offered to shave my hair off so that she will know that she is not alone and that we could have made it through this. She went through stuff that I would not wish on my worst enemy. One morning four months after she was diagnosed we had to go to our local hospital in forest because she was vomiting blood.
Three months after moving in, two months after leaving her job, and two weeks after my due date, my mother went to her doctors appointment. The doctor sent my mother home, once again to wait for her baby to finally make it’s appearance into the world, late as can be. My parents decided to venture out to eat. My mother being hungry, and in pain, didn’t feel like cooking. She said she ate more than usual.
Narrative Essay My life hasn’t been the hardest, most of all not the easiest. We need to realize, when we get sick that something serious could be wrong with us. My mother and father broke up when I was two years old; shortly after I moved in with my grandmother who fostered me. My mom still took me to all the special events like the first day of school, School concerts, including the first most of all the last time I was arrested. My grandmother, of course went to all the events, how could anyone think otherwise when it was her that raised me.
Trudging through those familiar doors, Harper sighed in anguish, knowing this to be her final encounter with them. This was the last time she’d be met with the welcoming warmth and the odd perfume of age that the young woman had grown so accustomed to. Ignoring the pitiful glances being tossed at her by caregivers, Harper swallowed hard and proceeded to pour a cup of hot coffee, black, from the pot that always sat on the front desk. This is why Harper liked Cypress Waters Nursing Home-- it tried too hard, just like her. Who really has fresh flowers at home all the time, and matching everything?