Page 74 - North Star Magazine 2022

camp near Lake Champlain. I never saw anything off about him. He joked about not eating mom’s dinner. Sometimes her cooking gets some of us sick, mostly him. His humor relaxed my nerves before going to work.
Before surgery, the doctor asks us if we noticed anything unusual.
“He had diarrhea last night,” I told him. Stomach troubles were common for dad and common for the family. I also suffer from digestive issues, such as Acid Reflux and undiagnosed IBS.
There was another thing that I forgot to tell the doctor. It was vital. I only realized it when writing this: he was coughing a lot, especially in the mornings. Heart attacks can throw warning signs weeks before they hit. They can easily be chucked up as a cold or the flu.
We try to keep hope in our minds, believing he will be alright.
“Code 99, ICU! Code 99, ICU!” A lady announces from a speaker. The sounds of doctors rushing into the surgery room with supplies. We see nurses running into the ICU to help.
No! That better not be him! No! No! Not now! Please!
My brother and sister break down and fill the ICU Waiting Room with the wails of despair. I silently pray to the Gods that he’ll pull through again. My father won’t give up without a fight. We all hug together. My mother is veiling her tears.
“C’mon, it’s not him!” My dad’s sister, Aunt Wendy, tells us, trying to keep our spirits up. My brother and sister pay no mind to her. I think, Is there someone else that is dying, instead of him.
Dead wrong...
A very kind nurse comes into the waiting room. She has dark hair and blue eyes. She appears very young.
“Hi, are you Robert’s family?” She asks.
We nod.
“He’s not totally gone,” she consoles, “We got him back. We will continue the surgery. We got one artery unblocked with the balloon. We just need to get the others.”
We settle down a bit, but still on edge.