A Call in the Night
Shattering the inky silence of the night, disrupting the mysteries of my dreams, the phone rang out. Wiping the grogginess from my eyes, I silenced the high chirping of my phone.
“Hello,” I slurred into the phone.
“Mrs. Erickson?” asked the crisp voice at the other end of the line. It became obvious to my muddled mind that this was one of those earth-shattering phone calls, one from which there was no turning back.
“Yessir…”
“Ma’am, do you have a daughter named Holly?”
Was he going to get to the point or was this 20 Questions?
“Yes, sir…”
“Do you know where she is?”
More questions.
“She’s at work. She gets off at 1 o’clock.” I looked at the clock, only a little over an hour until Holly would come in tapping at her door to let her know she was home. “I’m sorry, sir, may I ask why you called?”
“Ma’am, your daughter was in an accident this evening. Her car was T-boned by an intoxicated driver.”
“That’s simply not possible,” I replied, fully awake. “She’s still at work.”
“I’m sorry, but we found her license. She was taken to MetroHealth. Would you like a ride there?”
“No, I will drive myself…” I answered as I pressed the button to end the call.
Dialing the number of the restaurant where Holly works as a hostess, I remained certain there was some sort of mistake. Surely they would set everything straight.
Once Tony at the restaurant assured me that Holly had left a half-hour earlier, I pulled my clothes on and grabbed my keys on the way out to the car. On the way to the hospital, I beat myself up. Why had I stopped waiting up for Holly? Granted, she was 20 and in college, but a good mom would still wait up, right? Good moms don’t stop worrying…
I arrived at the hospital, breathless with worry.
“My daughter, Holly Erickson, was brought in after an accident,” I said, shuffling from foot to foot.
The lady didn’t seem in any hurry to give me any information.
“Here she is. I can tell you she’s in room 4 in the ICU.”
“ICU? Is she okay?”
“Your daughter is an adult. I can’t give you any other information.”
I hurried to the elevator, even more anxious than I had been. Of course, the elevator had been set to turtle speed. I would never get there at this rate. I found the stairs and took them two at a time. Taking a moment to catch my breath, I located Holly’s room and rushed over.
“Holly, how are you?” I asked before realizing she was on a ventilator. I pulled the chair over, sat down, and took Holly’s hand. Tears pooled in my eyes then on my face as I stroked her hair. The quiet woosh of the door startled me, and I looked up to see the doctor walking into the room.
“Are you Holly’s doctor?”
“Yes, are you her mother? May I ask your name?”
“I am her mother. My name is Brenda Erickson.”
As the doctor flipped through the file, I held my breath.
“Holly has you listed as her emergency contact. Will you answer some questions for me?”
I nodded and sat back down. He asked some basic questions such as which medications she was taking, whether she smoked or drank, and if she had any allergies. When he had finished with his questions, he started telling me about Holly.
“Holly lost consciousness on the way to the ER, and we weren’t able to get information from her. We got her on the ventilator in the ER and ruled out any interior bleeding. She does have broken ribs.”
“What I most want to know is will she be okay? It looks pretty scary right now…”
“She will be fine. She will begin to wake up as she begins to heal. We have her on electrolytes since she obviously can’t eat. If she doesn’t wake soon, we may have to consider a feeding tube.”
I must have looked like a carp with my wide eyes and my mouth agape.
“If you have no further questions, I need to see to Holly.”
I watched as he examined Holly and tried to process everything he said. All I could process was the fact that he said she would be okay.
On his way out, he assured me that it was fine to go to work. I didn’t want to, but being single, I knew it was impossible for me to take that much time off. I sat with Holly, dozing until it was time for my supervisor to be at work. I stepped outside the ICU to give her a call.
“I’m so sorry to hear that, Brenda. Take today off. Holly needs you. We will need you tomorrow, though. The taxes won’t submit themselves! As you know, people tend to be frightened by filing taxes.”
“I’ll be there.”
“Great! We’re sending our good thoughts and prayers to Holly.”
I hung up the phone and put my head in my hands.
I was a mix of emotions. I was stressed because of what may or may not happen. I was upset because I would have to leave Holly’s side, I was overwhelmingly blessed because my baby had been saved from mortal harm.
The next call I needed to make was to the college so they could let her professors know. I would make that call later. I just couldn’t deal with that right then.
I just put a note on my phone so I wouldn’t forget.
I sat for the remainder of the day stroking Holly’s hair and talking to her. When evening returned I slept in the chair while holding her hand.i left in time to get a quick shower and get dressed for work. I called the hospital to check on Holly whenever I had a break, then I returned to the hospital to do it all over again.
On the third day, I was told Holly was beginning to wake up. I got to the hospital to see her stirring through the doorway. The doctor had priority in the room and so I waited outside the room.
The ventilator was already removed, and the feeding tube was next. My girl was coming back!
It would still take some time, but I knew my prayers were being answered.