What Happened? How Did Your Dialysis Go?

My mother had picked me up after school. On our way home, we passed by the school where both my uncle Beto worked. There was an ambulance there and we thought maybe a teacher had an accident. Shortly after we get a phone call from my aunt Ana, it turned out that my uncle suffered a heart attack while working. No one saw him while he collapsed, until moments later a teacher saw him laying on the floor, shaking, trying to breathe. My mom and I rushed to the school to see how my uncle was responding to the paramedics. My aunt was already there, we had to take her to the hospital because EMS wouldn’t let her drive while she was still in shock. It was hard to see how the paramedics were trying to help him

That day when I returned home from school, my mom’s boyfriend called me asking to speak to my grandmother. Typically, Gus would call my grandmother himself if he wanted to speak with her, which was rare. I found out about my mom going to the hospital from my grandmother after that phone call. The doctor told my family that a stroke afflicted her in the middle of the day. My mom confused the date with her birthday, had trouble getting words out and remembering our family member’s names. The nurse had to take her for walks periodically and exercise her legs and arms because they were weak. Seeing my mother in this condition made me appreciate my mother and everything she does for me tremendously. However, I was terrified for my mother’s health.

They (my family and doctors), for the first night, weren’t sure if I would make it or not. I was touch and go, because my oxygen level couldn’t be stabilized. I would be on oxygen and my level would be normal, but as soon as they took me off, my level would fall again. However, they had to stabilize me before they could do any kind of surgery. During this time, I think my dad as well as everyone involved got a taste of what it means that any moment, any day could be anyone’s final moment. My dad stayed every night with me. The first night, my heart quit beating twice. The first time, my dad said, “She’s a fighter, she can get through this.”. Then it happened again and my dad fell on his knees saying, “God, please don’t take her now!”. I ended up practically living in SICU for 3½ weeks, just trying to become stable enough, so I could make it somewhere else. Both my mom and dad had to become durable power of attorneys, so they could decide what my treatments would

A few months into the school year I got some news from my parents that referred to my grandmother. She had an accident in her home that put her in critical condition. At this point my father rose to the occasion and began to watch after my grandmother, his mom. Taking care of my grandmother was not an easy task. She was constantly being moved in-between nursing homes and hospitals. She continuously had unstable vitamin levels and her body and was just in very poor physical condition. My father held on though, he was always by her side making sure she was okay. While my grandmother won’t ever fully recover, she is doing much better. It’s because of my father that she’s still alive today. I lost more of my innocence through all this but at the same time I learned that when things get bad, family takes care of one

During the month of October, I was told over the phone that my Godfather, the only father figure I have, was diagnosed with cancer two years ago. Based of my mother’s reaction to my gasp and sudden questions that she refused to answer, I could tell that she wasn’t planning on telling me in the first place. This information that my mother slipped up and said shook my whole world. Not only the fact that my “father” has a disease that kills daily but the fact that everyone knew but me. I was devastated, I instantly hung up the phone and called my “father”. He proclaimed that my mother volunteered to tell me when he was first diagnosed and he thought I knew all this time. My “father” is the reason I looked into Dr. Sebi, not only has he found a cure but one that actually works

At some point during the night Jenn was transferred from the emergency department and admitted to Butterworth’s cardiac intensive care unit in the Fred & Lena Meijer Heart Center. My dad refused to leave my sister’s side, staying with her night and day throughout her hospital stay. He fought with the doctors and nurses when they tried to tell him to go home and get some rest, stating that he felt he needed to be there. Overnight guests were strictly forbidden in the ICU, so they wouldn’t allow him a bed or a reclining chair. My dad slept on the cold hard floor next to Jenn’s bed, waking up for every person that came in the room. Having a conversation with the doctors or nurses every hour checking for status updates reporting any changes in Jenn’s condition that he had

After my sister went, it was my dads turn. I realized he had a worried look on his face, which probably was contagious because my sister asked me if I was alright. I then replied with a “No”, I told her about how dad had a back brace on and that's why he refused to take his long sleeved shirt off. As I was telling her this I saw my mom rushing to find her car keys. I then saw Nick, pulling my dad to the shore. I felt a scream cough up my throat. I ran to him and realized his arm looked broken. He was conscious so I knew that he would be fine but I realized that his back may be damaged. Before I could check my mom ran over and told us that we may have to drive him to the closest hospital. I hadn't realized that this may be as serious as she made it sound. So I ran to the car and grabbed a towel to help dry him of. I soon saw my mom and Nick carrying him to the

For almost a month, he resided in the ICU, in a coma, with pneumonia, and minimal heart function. At the time, I just started high school and my mom -with a 17-month-old child- restarted school to obtain her bachelors. Although it was a stressful time, every step of the way, family and friends were very supportive as well as the hospital staff. The doctors and the nurses reassured my family that they were always working their best to keep my dad alive. During that time, I unfeignedly valued the necessity for health care professionals and a functioning health care system.

To this date, it was the worst phone call of my life. I was informed my father and stepmother were in a motorcycle accident in Florida where they retired for the winter. My stepmother was expected to have a painful, long recovery, as she suffered from multiple fractures to her face, a dislocated jaw, and pelvis that was broken in 3 places, plus many small cuts and bruises. My father, however, had not awakened after the accident and we should get to the hospital in Florida as soon as possible. My brother, his wife, and I booked flights and we were on our way they next day. It was not how I expected to spend Easter. The next four days were a blur. We met with doctors and nurses and didn’t feel like we had any answers to the real condition of our father. We knew of his injuries but not what they meant to his future. He had bruising between the hemispheres of his brain, on the outside of the brain, bruising on his brainstem, and multiple open fractures on the left side of his body. I couldn’t get any of his doctors to tell me their opinion on his prognosis. They would only say, “we need another 48 hours”. The only thing I could think was, “if you knew my dad, he would hate this. You life flighted him, now he’s hook to machinery to breath, and all he would have wanted was to have the ambulance run him over and put him out of his misery”. We knew my father’s wishes and they didn’t look anything like

Everyone has experienced a difficult time in their lives either by making a difficult desition or by experiencing something. My most difficult experience was when my father was having brain procedure done to fix an arteriovenous malformation or is also known by AVM (malformation of arteries and veins). It all started in the summer of 2016 my dad suffer a stroke. He dad was home alone, and knew that something was not right, he was able to dial the first contact on his phone, it so happen to be my sister and, was able to tell her that something was wrong, as she rush over across town to check on my dad she found him on the couch not being able to move his left extremities. She rushed him to the nearest hospital, after running many tests they found he had a hemorrhagic

When I got upstairs, my dad was not home so I went up to the garage to wait for him. When he pulled up, his face was pale, he was sweating as if he was a dog, and was complaining about chest pain. I ran downstairs as fast as I could and told uncle Terri (former

I told her what happened. She got there as soon as the ambulance got there. Somebody could’ve been dead by the time the ambulance got there. They came in and checked her. The paramedics and the emts told her she can’t be doing all that energetic exercise. They took her out the house on the stretcher into the ambulance van. My father told us to straighten up before we left to go with my auntie. When we got done she told us to go get some clothes. We did as we was told. When i got done, looked out the window and seen that the ambulance was still outside. I went outside to be nosey. They told my father he couldn't get in to check on my mother, so he was standing on the porch watching from a far distance. I was curious to what they was doing to

I remember the moment my uncle came to pick me up in class. My family wanted me to visit my father. I knew he was in the hospital for an allergic reaction. Many days had passed since I saw him last. Seeing him in the intensive care unit was terrifying. Large blisters covered his body from head to toe. Several had broken down to purple-black sores that looked like his body had burned. Skin swelled up and was oozing all over. Doctors had connected him with machines with tubes all over on his body. I felt he wasn’t coming back home. However, as the days elapsed, he improved, doctors removed the tubes and in fifteen days he returned to baseline. The fact he survived from such a severe reaction astonished me. This incident had a

As I walked into the room, I met George for the fist time. I noted that he seemed very tired and barely acknowledged my presence when I spoke to him. As I smiled at him and related that everyone will take great care of him, he simply nodded his head and refused to make eye contact with me. After we placed George onto our stretcher, loaded him into the ambulance, and made our way to the dialysis clinic, I had the opportunity to learn more about him. He confided in me that this was the first time that he had been outside in a couple of weeks and he felt estranged from his family because his children lived in another state. As a result, he said he did not interact with other people very often and mostly stayed in his room and watched television. As we spoke about local sports and in particular the Boston Celtics, I established a connection with him and had a wonderful experience talking with him. While waiting with him for his dialysis appointment, we continued to converse and I remember to this day that his face was lit up with a giant and beaming smile. He was ecstatic and had completely shifted his initial isolated and depressed attitude. I was truly astonished at how such a minor action, such as taking the time to listen to what he had to say, resulted in such an immense positive change in his emotional state. As I sat in the back of the ambulance with George after his

I came in to the room to take his vital signs. He stated to me that he had complaints on some parts of his body recently. Before planning to communicate this vital information to the physician, I stopped and reflect. When I looked at him, he looked unhappy and uncomfortable. I asked him if there’s anything that he needs before I’ll get the physician. He told me “No” but started to open up to me about his personal issues. Right there, I realized how important it is to value other people’s values and to accept and respect an individual’s own uniqueness.