Well, this one is the easiest one to think of for sure. I've mentioned it before but never gone into detail. In fact, to tell you everything that happened would take up an entire book...so I'll give the shortest description possible.
On October 18, 2008, my life changed drastically. My mom was scheduled to get her thyroid out because there were some weird things going on with it and they wanted to do it as a precautionary measurement.
So at 5:00 in the morning, my mom, dad, and I were at the hospital up in Murray for surgery prep. The doctor came in and told us what was going to happen and that we shouldn't worry, because he's done thousands of these kind of surgeries.
Well, mom went in, and dad and I waited...and waited.
Finally, they called us in and told us that everything had gone great and we could go see her.
We went into her recovery room and there she lay, all hooked up to a billion wires. She wasn't really conscious yet, but we were able to talk to her a little...well...we talked and her breathing sounded like Darth Vadar. It scared me and I didn't think it was normal, but everyone kept saying it was just a result of the surgery.
Dad was hungry, so he told mom that we were gonna go get some lunch and then be right back. I had a bad feeling. I didn't want to go, and offered to stay with mom. Dad, knowing how much of a worry-wart I was/am, told me everything was going to be okay.
So we left, and I couldn't shake the feeling that we should get back to mom, so I ate at record speed and finally we headed back.
We rode up the elevator and I remember turning the corner to mom's room. My heart stopped. I could barely see my mom through an army of doctors and nurses. Okay, it was only about 8 or 9 surrounding my mom, but still. Her eyes were bugged out and she looked scared. I've never seen my mom look that scared.
I rushed in there and just kind of stared at her. I kind of had tunnel vision and she was all I could focus on in the room. I remember my dad had asked the Dr. what happened, but I tuned out before the response.
I just stared at her and started to cry. Even though that amazing woman couldn't breathe and she was scared to death, she lifted her finger at me, started shaking it, and managed to breathe out, "Don't you dare cry."
Man, that woman is a tough cookie! I ran to her and held her hand and we both just sat there and cried for a few seconds.
Mom was having a REALLY hard time breathing, so they were taking her down to Respiratory ICU to intubate her, because her throat had closed off (allergic reaction to something they used in the surgery). The doctor kept saying that he doesn't know how this happened...I think he's a word I'm not going to say and won't man up to the fact that HE MADE A MISTAKE (yes, I still have a lot of anger towards this certain doctor)
They rushed her down to RICU and dad and I started calling everyone to tell them what happened. Trint, who was the closest sibling, rushed right over, and when they finished intubating mom, helped my dad give her a blessing.
Karli, Nate, Garrett, and Emily would be getting there soon. I also called my Principal and told her what had happened and I don't know when I'd be at school next. She put me on a principal-excused-absence and I also had to talk to my cheer coach (we had the Richfield Cheer Competition in two weeks.) They both said take care of my mom.
Over the next few days while my mom was intubated, those were the longest days of my life. My mom was miserable, I could tell. She couldn't breathe on her own, she had a tube down her throat causing chapped lips, gag reflexes, and sleepless nights. Also, she couldn't talk, so she and I would communicate through the little bit of sign-language we both knew. I would wear shirts with words on it so if she couldn't remember how to sign a letter, she would point.
Dad and I were trying to figure out what happened, so before all the siblings got there after work, we looked up some things on the internet and confronted the doctor. He got very defensive and said that article was false and that basically dad and I were stupid to believe an article over him.
Over those couple of days, they also tried to switch out the intubation tube for a trache, but my mom stopped breathing each time. AKA: My mom went into respiratory arrest, very similar to cardiac arrest, where she flat-lined and through modern technology, prayers, and the loving hand of our Heavenly Father, she was brought back.
I've never prayed so hard in my life. I know this sounds horrible, but I remember making promises in my prayers that I would clean up my act to keep my mom alive. I needed her for graduation, college, marriage, babies, etc. I NEEDED MY MOM.
Then about 5-6 days into it all, they thought she was ready to truly have a trache. So, they took her into surgery again. All of my siblings went to Cheesecake Factory...but dad and I stayed this time. See, there was now an unspoken bond between dad and I. We had each other. I wasn't married and dad's bride was the one on the table. We both loved her and needed the support of one another, without knowing that the other had someone else to lean on. Like I've mentioned before, mine and my dad's relationship grew ten-fold within ten days.
Anyway, they finally brought her back into her RICU room after the trache surgery. The difference in my mom was miraculous. She was SMILING!! As soon as she saw my dad and I, she smiled and gave us the thumbs up. It was like I'd awaken from a deep, and miserable sleep. She was gonna be okay.
Later that day, Garrett took all of the siblings and spouses into the waiting room to give my mom and dad a few minutes to themselves. He sat us down and said, "Alright, mom's doing better, but it's not gonna do her any better if we're all just sitting around staring at her. Trint and Becca, you guys are about to have a baby any day now and have a toddler to take care of. Nate and Karli, you guys are newly-weds and both of you have new jobs that you need to be there for. Shaylee, you still have school. Emily and I have been at our jobs for awhile and we're okay to take time off. We can stay and update everyone if needs be."
Trint, Becca, Karli, and Nate just nodded because they knew he was right, but then Trint piped up and said, "I agree with you, but Shaylee needs to stay here. If not for mom, for dad."
Karli agreed and Garrett turned to look at me to ask my opinion. He saw the look I was giving him and asked, "Shay, are you mad at me?"
I gave a deep sigh and said, "No, but over my dead body will you get me to leave mom. You can drag me outta here kicking and screaming. I'll come back."
So it was decided that I would stay and everyone that needed to would go home.
But then my dad asked what we'd talked about and I told him what had gone on and my dad agreed with Garrett that I needed to go home for the end of the quarter grades. I got very upset with him and started crying, nearly yelling at him that MY mom was in there and there was no way I was leaving her.
My dad was very calm and said, "Shaylee, that's my eternal companion, my best friend, and my wife in there. I love you kids with all my heart, but my love for her is beyond comprehension. I need her. You kids have your lives...but me? What am I without your mom?"
That struck me dumbfounded and I realized the love my parents had for each other. I calmed down and promised to go home for two days to take care of grades.
When I came back they were ready to release mom. They taught us how to clean her trache and take care of her.
Over the next couple of months, life was still hard. Mom couldn't work, and dad, for the first time in his life, was applying for unemployment so he could take care of mom because she couldn't be left alone, and I had to go to school. I had to keep my mom calm if she started to choke, clean her trache for her, and keep her from talking as much as possible. Finally, when dad did return to work, mom still couldn't be left alone, so even though my days went like so: Wake up at 6 for cheer, school, practice, cheer at game, homework, dinner, bed, and wake up at 2:00 AM to make sure she was still breathing, I called sisters from our ward to come spend an hour with my mom. I had a schedule for them and left a "to-do" list for them, informing them that she coughs a lot and to not panic, she'll let you know if something was going wrong, she couldn't eat many things that couldn't go down easily, so soups were best, etc., etc.
I grew up in those months. I became closer with my parents, and realized how true the saying of Families Are Forever truly is. I learned who were my friends and who weren't, and who I could trust. Even to this day, we're dealing with complications from that surgery...but if it hadn't happened, I couldn't have handled half of the things that've happened to me since.
Families truly are forever, and Heavenly Father will get you through anything.
On October 18, 2008, my life changed drastically. My mom was scheduled to get her thyroid out because there were some weird things going on with it and they wanted to do it as a precautionary measurement.
So at 5:00 in the morning, my mom, dad, and I were at the hospital up in Murray for surgery prep. The doctor came in and told us what was going to happen and that we shouldn't worry, because he's done thousands of these kind of surgeries.
Well, mom went in, and dad and I waited...and waited.
Finally, they called us in and told us that everything had gone great and we could go see her.
We went into her recovery room and there she lay, all hooked up to a billion wires. She wasn't really conscious yet, but we were able to talk to her a little...well...we talked and her breathing sounded like Darth Vadar. It scared me and I didn't think it was normal, but everyone kept saying it was just a result of the surgery.
Dad was hungry, so he told mom that we were gonna go get some lunch and then be right back. I had a bad feeling. I didn't want to go, and offered to stay with mom. Dad, knowing how much of a worry-wart I was/am, told me everything was going to be okay.
So we left, and I couldn't shake the feeling that we should get back to mom, so I ate at record speed and finally we headed back.
We rode up the elevator and I remember turning the corner to mom's room. My heart stopped. I could barely see my mom through an army of doctors and nurses. Okay, it was only about 8 or 9 surrounding my mom, but still. Her eyes were bugged out and she looked scared. I've never seen my mom look that scared.
I rushed in there and just kind of stared at her. I kind of had tunnel vision and she was all I could focus on in the room. I remember my dad had asked the Dr. what happened, but I tuned out before the response.
I just stared at her and started to cry. Even though that amazing woman couldn't breathe and she was scared to death, she lifted her finger at me, started shaking it, and managed to breathe out, "Don't you dare cry."
Man, that woman is a tough cookie! I ran to her and held her hand and we both just sat there and cried for a few seconds.
Mom was having a REALLY hard time breathing, so they were taking her down to Respiratory ICU to intubate her, because her throat had closed off (allergic reaction to something they used in the surgery). The doctor kept saying that he doesn't know how this happened...I think he's a word I'm not going to say and won't man up to the fact that HE MADE A MISTAKE (yes, I still have a lot of anger towards this certain doctor)
They rushed her down to RICU and dad and I started calling everyone to tell them what happened. Trint, who was the closest sibling, rushed right over, and when they finished intubating mom, helped my dad give her a blessing.
Karli, Nate, Garrett, and Emily would be getting there soon. I also called my Principal and told her what had happened and I don't know when I'd be at school next. She put me on a principal-excused-absence and I also had to talk to my cheer coach (we had the Richfield Cheer Competition in two weeks.) They both said take care of my mom.
Over the next few days while my mom was intubated, those were the longest days of my life. My mom was miserable, I could tell. She couldn't breathe on her own, she had a tube down her throat causing chapped lips, gag reflexes, and sleepless nights. Also, she couldn't talk, so she and I would communicate through the little bit of sign-language we both knew. I would wear shirts with words on it so if she couldn't remember how to sign a letter, she would point.
Dad and I were trying to figure out what happened, so before all the siblings got there after work, we looked up some things on the internet and confronted the doctor. He got very defensive and said that article was false and that basically dad and I were stupid to believe an article over him.
Over those couple of days, they also tried to switch out the intubation tube for a trache, but my mom stopped breathing each time. AKA: My mom went into respiratory arrest, very similar to cardiac arrest, where she flat-lined and through modern technology, prayers, and the loving hand of our Heavenly Father, she was brought back.
I've never prayed so hard in my life. I know this sounds horrible, but I remember making promises in my prayers that I would clean up my act to keep my mom alive. I needed her for graduation, college, marriage, babies, etc. I NEEDED MY MOM.
Then about 5-6 days into it all, they thought she was ready to truly have a trache. So, they took her into surgery again. All of my siblings went to Cheesecake Factory...but dad and I stayed this time. See, there was now an unspoken bond between dad and I. We had each other. I wasn't married and dad's bride was the one on the table. We both loved her and needed the support of one another, without knowing that the other had someone else to lean on. Like I've mentioned before, mine and my dad's relationship grew ten-fold within ten days.
Anyway, they finally brought her back into her RICU room after the trache surgery. The difference in my mom was miraculous. She was SMILING!! As soon as she saw my dad and I, she smiled and gave us the thumbs up. It was like I'd awaken from a deep, and miserable sleep. She was gonna be okay.
Later that day, Garrett took all of the siblings and spouses into the waiting room to give my mom and dad a few minutes to themselves. He sat us down and said, "Alright, mom's doing better, but it's not gonna do her any better if we're all just sitting around staring at her. Trint and Becca, you guys are about to have a baby any day now and have a toddler to take care of. Nate and Karli, you guys are newly-weds and both of you have new jobs that you need to be there for. Shaylee, you still have school. Emily and I have been at our jobs for awhile and we're okay to take time off. We can stay and update everyone if needs be."
Trint, Becca, Karli, and Nate just nodded because they knew he was right, but then Trint piped up and said, "I agree with you, but Shaylee needs to stay here. If not for mom, for dad."
Karli agreed and Garrett turned to look at me to ask my opinion. He saw the look I was giving him and asked, "Shay, are you mad at me?"
I gave a deep sigh and said, "No, but over my dead body will you get me to leave mom. You can drag me outta here kicking and screaming. I'll come back."
So it was decided that I would stay and everyone that needed to would go home.
But then my dad asked what we'd talked about and I told him what had gone on and my dad agreed with Garrett that I needed to go home for the end of the quarter grades. I got very upset with him and started crying, nearly yelling at him that MY mom was in there and there was no way I was leaving her.
My dad was very calm and said, "Shaylee, that's my eternal companion, my best friend, and my wife in there. I love you kids with all my heart, but my love for her is beyond comprehension. I need her. You kids have your lives...but me? What am I without your mom?"
That struck me dumbfounded and I realized the love my parents had for each other. I calmed down and promised to go home for two days to take care of grades.
When I came back they were ready to release mom. They taught us how to clean her trache and take care of her.
Over the next couple of months, life was still hard. Mom couldn't work, and dad, for the first time in his life, was applying for unemployment so he could take care of mom because she couldn't be left alone, and I had to go to school. I had to keep my mom calm if she started to choke, clean her trache for her, and keep her from talking as much as possible. Finally, when dad did return to work, mom still couldn't be left alone, so even though my days went like so: Wake up at 6 for cheer, school, practice, cheer at game, homework, dinner, bed, and wake up at 2:00 AM to make sure she was still breathing, I called sisters from our ward to come spend an hour with my mom. I had a schedule for them and left a "to-do" list for them, informing them that she coughs a lot and to not panic, she'll let you know if something was going wrong, she couldn't eat many things that couldn't go down easily, so soups were best, etc., etc.
I grew up in those months. I became closer with my parents, and realized how true the saying of Families Are Forever truly is. I learned who were my friends and who weren't, and who I could trust. Even to this day, we're dealing with complications from that surgery...but if it hadn't happened, I couldn't have handled half of the things that've happened to me since.
Families truly are forever, and Heavenly Father will get you through anything.
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