It has been several hours since our conversation with the doctor. Ismenia and I stroll back in to the unit and ask to speak with the doctor once again. “Good news,” he begins “your grandmother’s heart is very strong and healthy. We don’t see any problems with her heart. However,” My heart sinks when he utters that word. “We did find an abnormality in her blood. We believe that it is sepsis, which would have been cause by her pneumonia. We are treating her with a variety of antibiotics, however it may be hours or days before we know if there’s any change.” Sepsis, a blood infection; I can’t believe it, things just keeps getting worse.
I hold a family meeting in the waiting room. I need to debrief the family with the latest information.
“… She has an infection in her body.” I say. “I don’t like to think about this yet but we need to prepare ourselves for the worst. If we need to make a decision we need to make it as a family. I, personally, do not like seeing her like this. I believe she is suffering.”
“Me too, I believe she is suffering,” one by one the family members chime in.
“Well, I say remove her from life support. Again this is a head of family decision; Mom, Ismenia, D and I. We must all agree unanimously if we are to take her off life support.”
“I agree. I say yes.” my mom says.
Ismenia sits there contemplating what to say. She drowns her face into her hands, lifts her head up and says “I agree. I say yes.”
“Okay, now we need to bring D and have her see grandma and have her cast her vote. But who is gonna bring her?”
D lives near downtown Los Angeles, we are in Rialto/ Colton. A round trip voyage would be two to three hours long. We call friends who were in L.A. and ask them for the favor. Finally a close friend of the family, someone who adores grandma does us the favor and brings D and two close family friends to the hospital.
When she sees grandma, D is speechless. She is visibly upset with what she sees. We sit her down and I brief her on everything that has happened that day. I conclude by telling her that she is the remaining vote. “I know that it is a hard decision to make, so I am not going to rush you. But please keep in mind that we all believe she is suffering.” I say.
D is fully aware of the situation. She and her friend E are nurses. E still continues working as a nurse in Los Angeles. It is she who provides us with hope.
“C,” she says. “Your grandma is going to be okay. I believe that you are getting ahead of yourself. Have faith in God. As long as she is still getting oxygen to her brain, and there is no brain damage, she can recover.” And with that statement she brings hope to all of us. Grandma can make it as long as there is no brain damage. We stay late in the waiting room comforting each other. “Well, it’s late. Let go home and rest. Tomorrow is going to be a long day, I say.” With that said we walk back in one by one telling grandma good night and that we will be seeing her tomorrow. We all go our separate ways. D and her friends stay with my mom in Hesperia. I drive back to L.A., digesting everything that has occurred today. “Tomorrow is another day” I say to myself.

Part 9 tomorrow.

May tomorrow fill your heart with kindness