What If We Had It All

Chapter 14 One Phone Call Changes It All

One phone call turned this beautiful night upside down. "Cat, I'm so sorry dear, mom.....mom's in the hospital," My dad mumbled. The phone fell out of my hand, my heart was in my stomach, I froze, I just couldn't move, my mom never looked like the type to get ill. She was always active and healthy. She even went vegan at a point in time to remain healthy so I just couldn't understand why. As I clinged to the floor, Owen was right there. He held my hand and took me into his van. He called my dad and got the address of the hospital and drove me there. She was at Alexander Hamilton Memorial Hospital. As we drove into the parking lot, I raced to the receptionist area to find out where she was. It was like a marathon race but the race wasn't for a medal, it was for time. A little more time with my mom. With Owen not too far behind, I found her. Hooked up to machines and monitors, she was on oxygen and had all these needles stuck into her hand for dripes or something that I couldn't remember. I couldn't believe what I  was seeing, when it seemed that everything was actually perfect, life just has a way of taking it all away somehow. I felt sick to my stomach. I couldn't believe that was my mom I was seeing, then the doctor came in and it only got worse from there. Turns out she collapsed after dropping me off at Owen's and was there for a couple of hours until my dad came home and found her unconscious in the kitchen. He called the ambulance and rushed her to the hospital. The doctor diagnosed her with Renal Failure and apparently she's been seeing signs for a while but I had been too preoccupied with my own life to notice. I felt awful seeing her there hearing what has happened. I fell to the floor and started sobbing. It felt like the tears wouldn't stop flowing. I felt somewhat responsible for what had happened because I never took a moment to see what had been going on with my mom's life. Owen was right behind me and comforted me all the way, he was down on the floor with his arms around me as I cried. There were still some more tests to be done so she'd be in there for the next two days. She'd come home on Friday, the day of Owen's football game and from there she would start treatment to help her kidney. Dad said that he'd stay the night with her and encouraged me to go home and get some rest for school but how does someone go to bed at night knowing that your mom's in the hospital. But I decided to go so Owen drove me home. On the car ride to my home, I was silent. I didn't know what to say, there was nothing to say. We had reached my home and as I stood silently in the van, Owen looked at me and said "She's gonna be okay." Before kissing me on the forehead. "I really hope so," I said as I held on to his arm crying I couldn't take it anymore, it felt like my world was broken into pieces, I guess we really can't have it all. Owen offered to stay the night with me but that wouldn't be fair or right, so it took me about five minutes to collect my thoughts and emotions before exiting the van. I went to bed that night and got zero sleep. I waited hoping just by some miracle my dad would have called and said it had all gone away but that's never possible.