Personal Narrative: Dead Or Alive

his aorta before coming to lodge in his upper body. Furthermore, a final autopsy report has not

was willing to provide his name. The male quickly stated that he had a DOC

After he was settled, the cath lab staff and I returned to the nursing station where they gave me a full report on Mr. H. They reported that he had a critical lesion in his left main coronary artery and a cardiothoracic surgeon was being consulted

When he broke the news to his family they didn't even know what to say, it was a time for devastation for them. A couple of days later things started to get worse, so a week went by and he went to see a doctor.

While waiting, I yearned for answers; I wanted to know structure of the hospital, the reason for the constant beeping sound, the number of surgeries scheduled, patients that were being treated nearby, and the quickest way to them. Being sly, I would sneak off and try to get a glimpse of an actual chart. After his surgery, my grandfather was quickly escorted to ICU; “ICU, ICU, what could this mean?”

What happened? What led up to this incident? My grandpa’s shoulder and neck area were really bothering him. He had some excruciating pains, so he went in to his doctor’s office and his doctor suggested had planned a surgery in order to fix the problem, but first, he had to go in for some testing just to be positive that everything was what it had seem to be. It wasn't. Gramps ended up having something seriously wrong with his heart. After his testing, they had to come up with a "Plan B.” New surgery date, new doctors, new surgery altogether.

Then a rescue team went looking for him so they could help him but he wouldn’t respond to the team’s radio calls. The rescue team found his plane but Root seemed to be unconscious in the cockpit of his plane. The rescue team were right above him but they came a minute too late. They were a minute too late because Root’s plane

This Friday was a very eventful and exciting day at the Cardiac Catheterization Lab. When I first arrived at the office I asked my mentor, Maria, if there were any procedures that I could watch. After two phone calls, there was one surgery that had just begun that I could sit in and watch. When I went to the control room, I had looked through the glass and I had noticed that there were at least six or seven people in the surgery room. After about five minutes watching the surgery and the screen that projected the heart, the tech guy that I met a few weeks ago comes into the control room, says hi, and tells me that this is a good case for me to watch because it is a different surgery than the ones I have previously seen. In this case, the patient

I remember this case as today, because he was so young, but my grandfather felt betrayed and that he was losing his time and medication with this patient. My grandfather stood up, was hearing his heart with a stethoscope, and one indication for him to hear

To anyone else, March 30, 2016 seemed like any other day. I woke up at an ungodly hour, spent incredibly way too much time on a bumpy, smelly school bus, and sat at a desk for hours. However, for me, this day was different. At 3:15, I was going to see a doctor, a doctor that might finally figure out why I had been feeling sick for months. My mom pulled me out of fourth block early, and we started on out journey to The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. The ride seemed to take hours, and the traffic seemed endless. Eventually we made our way through the maze of a parking garage and hallways. After navigating our way to my appointment, my mom and I sat in the stiff chairs of the colorful and child-like waiting room until we were placed in an exam room. Eventually, there was a knock at the door and cardiologist Dr. Borris entered the room.

I woke up at 5am on the morning of January 02. It was too early for me to be up, but I had no choice. This day would be one of the most important days of my life. My husband drove us to the hospital, and during the ride we did not say much to each other. We were both thinking about the events of the day that lay ahead. We got to the hospital, got checked in, and I changed into my hospital gown. The nurse in charge of me was extremely nice. She went through the normal routine of asking all sorts of questions, and got me hooked up to the IV. Now it was time for me to wait on my doctor, Dr. Davis.

“Hi my name is Lee and this is my friend Will my father sent us he said you’re the man who found the cure” I explained to the

Tears poured down my face like I was in a rain forest, hugged my mom tightly as if she was a cuddly stuffed animal and I prayed, prayed like I’ve never prayed before. Not really knowing what was going on or what was going to happen. My sister arrived home, followed by my dad shortly after. While we waited to hear back from the hospital, we sat on the couch in the living room bawling our eyes out probably. Don’t worry, I will tell you about what is going on.

We all got into the car and immediately my sister was bombarded with questions. “Is he ok?”, “What happened?”, “Who is with him?” She answered each one to the best of her knowledge. She told us that his heart had stopped and started back up again, and that Mama (my Mom) and Papa (my Dad) were at the hospital with him. The car ride there was a very scary ride, because we were all so frightened by what had happened.

The doctor made a personal connection with me that day. He listened intently, showed empathy for my condition. It was comforting the way he indicated that he would commit himself to helping me while portraying confidence in himself that he