Long Waits and "PIF"

Three years ago around this time of the year my Mom had back surgery. It was at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics (UIHC), where many patients and their family/friends come from all around.

My 2 sisters, aunt and myself were in the waiting room while my Mom was in surgery for an estimated four (4) hours. We settled in with our books, knitting, magazines or what have you, to keep us occupied for the next few hours. Across the way sat a middle aged couple, still looking worried and not talking, or doing anything to pass the time. My oldest sister is the Christian Ed Director of a very large Catholic church in Cedar Rapids, IA. She is very good at reading people and striking up conversation. She noticed they appeared tired and not drinking, eating or doing anything. She asked where they were from and the story starts.

The reason why they were there. They have 2 sons, the oldest married with a 4 year old son, the youngest was 14, this is the one in surgery. The 2 sons, daughter in law and grandson were hit by a drunk driver months before. Her oldest son and wife up front, their son and grandson in the back seat. The oldest son was driving and perished in the car accident. The grandson and daughter in law survived; although the 14 year old had massive injuries. His legs were broken badly and when he was taken from the car, they were behind him in a way unnatural to the body. The Mom said even though he was in such pain, he kept the 4 year old calm and not let him notice his Dad was unresponsive. They were in the car for over an hour until they got the jaws of life to cut them out. She said, her oldest son took the impact and saved her youngest sons’ life because of it.

They were taken to Joliet, IL Hospital a short trip from where the accident happened. There, they couldn’t do anything for the 14 year old and sent him to a major hospital in Chicago, Il. After hours of surgery and a 2 week stay, they were able to take him home to Des Moines where they were from. There they went to their doctor and he said, someone had put his legs back together incorrectly and one leg was significantly shorter than the other. He would have to go to a specialty place; UIHC in Iowa City. That brought them there that day. The Mom mentioned, they didn’t have much money, she worked as a cleaning person for the rest stops in the Des Moines area, her husband had a small automobile repair shop. The employees the Mom worked with, knew she didn’t have any time off left to take for the surgery their son was going through today. Each of the employees, took one shift a day of hers and then gave her the money on her payroll check for as long as they were to be in Iowa City.

We were almost in tears, but the Mom and Dad were so positive about things going to be better it was amazing. My sisters and I asked if they had or wanted anything to eat/drink. They said no, we’ll be fine. We got up and sprinted toward the only thing open at 2:30pm was the kiosk with coffee, teas, 3 muffins, 5 cookies and 2 candy bars. We bought it all. Took it back and shared it with them as we all got to know each other. Then the drs came to get the Mom and Dad and said their son had been transferred to the Pediatrics ICU area. We got their name, his name and said, we would be here every day, if they could think of anything they might need, to call us and we’ll be happy to do it.

As we waited outside our Mom’s hospital room 9 hours later [it took longer than expected] we all sat on a large window sill waiting. I noticed since we were there for so long, we had 2 cars to get out of the parking garage and now the fee was going to be for a full day of parking. Since we didn’t have much cash left between the 4 of us, we started counting all of what each of us had. A lady sat down on the window sill just a few seats away and noticed what we were doing. I said, “Dang, we’re short $6 dollars, now what?” The lady got up walked over to us and gave us exactly $6. She said, “Please take this, I was in your shoes about a month ago and someone did the same for me, now I can do the same for you.” We thanked her so much and counted what we had, when I looked up, she was gone.

The next day my oldest sister and I went to visit my Mom, but not without a bag of goodies for the 14 year old. We bought, coloring books, colors, word finds, licorice, anything we could think of since we knew he was going to be there for almost 2 weeks. We found his room and as we got there a Priest was standing in the door way. I was a bit reluctant to go in, not knowing much about the family and why the Priest was in the room. It was fine, my sister said, “Whatever happens, it will be okay, go in.” It was okay and we met the 14 year old, his Mom and Dad were in there as well. The Mom asked if we would want to see a picture of her oldest son, it was her only picture she has. We said sure, her son, was in his casket. Trying not to reveal my shock, I didn’t say anything. My sister was very good at what she said. She told us that they didn’t have a way to keep the pictures up to date without a camera and didn’t have any of him. She would keep this picture close to her heart always.

The Mom told us the surgery went very well, although, he would have to have another one 6 months later, but this time it can be done in Des Moines. They haven’t told their son this yet, since, he wasn’t too thrilled to have this one. She said, “We’ll let him rest knowing this one went well.” The boy was so appreciative of us bringing him something to do and yet amazed we did that, not knowing him at all. He thanked us and said how kind we were to do that. We said it was our pleasure.

My sister got the Mom’s cell phone number and gave her ours, but still to this day, we tried calling it and it was disconnected. It would be nice to know how they are doing. And to let them know our Mom is doing great as well.

Lora J. Raymon