When Eric called at 4:30 a.m. Tuesday morning with the news that Rhonda had been admitted into the hospital in Marquette, Michigan, I naturally just kept pacing the floors. There was no sense in even trying to sleep. He told me that the hospital staff was unable to find what was wrong with her. They had called in a surgeon, Dr. B.
Dr. B. inserted a large needle filled with Lanacane into Rhonda's left hip, and then drew out some fluid from around her hip. It was there that he found the white blood cells.......an infection. The shot of Lanacane did alleviate the pain enough for Rhonda to fall asleep for approximately five minutes at a time only. Dr. B. spoke with Eric during this time and told him that he had a bad feeling......a suspicion of what could be wrong with Rhonda, but he said it is rare and did doubt it because of Rhonda's good health and young age. He did not mention what his suspicion was.
The next phone call from Eric came just after 8:30 a.m. my time. It was just after 9:30 a.m. their time. He was on his way back to the hospital, because they were taking Rhonda into surgery some time after noon. Dr. B. also told Eric that he called for a doctor from the Infectious Diseases Control Center. He would be there a little later.
Surgery! Surgery? Infectious Diseases Control Center? Oh my gawd! What is going on with my little girl? It seemed nobody had any answers for me. Eric said that Rhonda wanted to talk to me before she went for this surgery. He said when he got to the hospital, he would dial the cell phone number for her to be able to do just that. After hanging up with him, it was time to call my son and try to explain......ummmm......explain what? I did not know what to explain. I just knew that I was very scared and very upset. So much so.....that my son could not understand a word I said.....add that to my hysterical crying.....well, I guess I can understand now. He kept saying that I needed to settle down and slow down.....that he could not understand me......just stop for a few minutes. I did shut up for those few minutes, and then I told him that Rhonda was going to call me soon, and I needed to be calm. He totally agreed with that and then asked me if I wanted him to come pick me up and we would head down right at that time. I, in a calmer voice, told him no. Her surgery would be over by then, so perhaps it was just best to sit tight and wait......and wait some more. And then that 'voice of reasoning' of his told me to call the hospital in Marquette to try to get some more information. I told him that I would, and that I wanted to do so before Rhonda called me.
It took quite some time before they finally got me connected with Rhonda's nurse down there. It so happened that her name was also Rhonda. I started firing questions at her......the first one, of course, asking her what Dr. B. had to say to my daughter earlier when he was in to see her. She told me she didn't know what he said! Can you believe it? She said that there was not a nurse present in Rhonda's room when the Doctor went in to talk with her! Now......according to Eric, there was at least one nurse in the room by Rhonda's side every single minute throughout the night, and yet....when the Doctor went in to talk with her about his suspicion of what was wrong with her, not one nurse was present? I was just a little more than upset with this news. Eric had told me that Rhonda was so 'out of it'.....so 'drugged up'.....that he wasn't sure if she even knew where the heck she was! I continued firing questions at her, and she was actually very sweet and oh.......so patient with me. She did manage to answer the rest of the questions I had. I told her that I lived about 7 hours away from there and asked her if she thought I should be heading to Michigan. She told me that she could not advise me on the travel, but that she could assure me that the surgery Rhonda was scheduled to have was not life threatening in any way. I asked her if she was positive....and she said that she was. Whew! I then asked her what time Rhonda was scheduled for that surgery, and she said that she was not sure about the time. What she did say is that Dr. B. had some 'clean' surgeries scheduled to do before he did her 'dirty' one. I said, "What did you say?" She then said, "I know it sounds bad, but that is what we refer to them as. The surgeons will do the 'clean' surgeries first. They know what they are. They will do the 'dirty' surgeries last, because they have no idea what they are or what they are dealing with." I understood. Before letting her go, I mentioned that her name was Rhonda like my daughter's. She chuckled and said that yes it was....and even spelled the same way. I asked her to please watch over my little girl for me, and she promised me that she would do just that.
To be continued..............
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| Part Two - 1: The Hospital |
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