Remember Savannah

#26 Unexpected Hospital Trip

The airplane ride home was a quiet one. Something in me felt uneasy with Steve holding my hand. I wanted nothing more to tell Steve about my meeting with Sabrina, but I couldn't. Steve slept most of the way home, while I stayed awake. Besides meeting with Sabrina, I could sense something else was wrong which put me at unease. Looking out the window, my eyes saw many white clouds and for most of the way home, I looked at them while the sky began to grow dark. Finally, the airplane made it back home and we found ourselves at the airport quickly finding our luggage. Wondering where my mom was, I picked up my phone only to see a text message. Immediately I froze.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"We need to get to the hospital."

An Uber picked us up and got us to the hospital within the hour. Going through that hospital, everything felt like a blur. That ended once I found myself in my dad's room where my mother was.

"Mom, what happened?"

"He might have had a stroke a couple hours ago. I found him laying on the kitchen floor and called an ambulance and we're not sure what's wrong yet."

What a way to come home on a Saturday Night. Up until midnight, we all sat in the waiting room until a doctor came to see us.

"It looks like what we thought was a Benign Tumor, was in fact not that at all." The doctor gave a great sigh. "We're looking at a Malignant Tumor. I'm afraid this is fatal, and we can't do much about this. He has a max of three weeks left."

My mom fell to the floor crying while the doctor kneeled trying to comfort her. I wish I could've been on that floor to comfort her, but I felt a lot like she did. That entire Sunday was spent in the hospital. The three of us rotated in and out of my dad's room. It was nothing exciting. That Monday I went to work, but immediately after work, I went to the hospital. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday were also the same, but on Friday I couldn't do it. The hospital was the last place I wanted to be. Thankfully Avery texted me saying she would be having dinner at her parent's house and invited me knowing the struggles of my week. I invited Steve, but he showed no interest in coming. It was fine though. Avery greeted me at the door with a hug.

"Dude, I'm so sorry about your dad." With much power, I held in my tears.

Moments later, I met Mrs. Peterson for the first time with a hug. She gave her condolences. Twenty minutes later, Dr. Peterson was home and dinner was ready. Taco Salad was the dinner. We said grace and began eating.

"Well Margo, I see you finally made connections with my daughter," he smiled, and I nodded. "Anyways, I'm truly sorry to hear about your father. It broke my heart to hear the news on Sunday Afternoon. Your father was truly a wonderful man."

"Thank you, Dr. Peterson." My first bite was taken.

"If you need anything, Margo, you can always come to me."

We tried to lighten the mood for the rest of the evening discussing a variety of subjects. Once dinner and dessert ended, Avery wanted to come outside with me. We sat on the steps of the porch.

"How are you holding up?" she asked.

My eyes lost it. "Life sucks right now. I can't take it being at the hospital anymore and work is just as bad when you can't even get work done." Never in my life had I cried so much. I felt like Sabrina.

Avery put her arm around me. "Margo, I wish I knew what to say." She was silent for about a minute with her arm still around me. "Your dating Steve now, how's that going?"

In all honesty, maybe it wasn't a good idea to date him." My eyes were still losing water.

"Why?"

"I guess the trip to Phoenix felt like a honeymoon. Neither of us were ourselves. At least I felt like I was a different person. Now that we're back to reality, I realize that the reality is that me and Steve are dealing with the loss of Savannah and now my father. Meanwhile, Steve is set on moving to Phoenix. Is he expecting me to move there with him?"

Avery couldn't think of anything to say, and for whatever reason I was glad. I just needed someone to talk to. For the next twenty minutes, I found myself in her lap and just like Sabrina, Avery probably felt like a mother now.

"I'll come with you to the hospital tomorrow," she announced.

And she was true to her word. That Saturday Morning, I got in her car and we drove off to the hospital. My mom and Steve were sleeping in the waiting room. When we got to my dad's room, Dr. Peterson was already there casually dressed. It was probably best not to interrupt, so we stood outside the room.

"Do you have any regrets?" my dad asked Dr. Peterson.

His hand touched my dad's forehead. "George, our past makes us who we are. There is little I regret."

"I know, but I wish I could go back in time and stop myself from ever smoking. I wouldn't be in this mess if I hadn't smoked.'

"That may be true, but the reality is that you did smoke. And, you may be on your deathbed, but you lived a good life. You had a wonderful wife and two lovely daughters who were raised well. George, let me just say that as parents we make mistakes and we teach our children about mistakes. I have had my fair share of mistakes just as you did."

My dad took a deep breath. "I just wish I could actually be there for Margo. She's going through a lot. And I keep thinking about all the things I'm going to miss. I'll never be able to walk her down the aisle or be a grandfather to her children."

"But you were there for many of her milestones in life. Remember all those times you were there and be happy that you were."

Avery held my hand the entire time we listened in on the conversation we probably were not supposed to hear. They conversed for about another hour. During that time, we decided to go get breakfast. We both had Blueberry Yogurt and I couldn't stop myself from scratching my ear. Not only did I have yogurt, but I had two big bowls full of Blueberries. Neither of us said a word for most of our breakfast until the end.

"Feeling better?" asked Avery.

"A little I guess."

At that moment, Dr. Peterson found us in the cafeteria with his bowl of oatmeal and sat with us.

"How are we this morning?"

"I'm OK."

"Ok is good, but I will say, your father is a fighter, Margo. I have never seen a sick person as strong as him."

There wasn't anything I could say and he understood. All I wanted to do was sit there and not have to think about anything. While Dr. Peterson ate his oatmeal, Avery got up to refill my bowl with more Blueberries and got a bowl for herself. Dr. Peterson also helped himself to a few from Avery's Bowl.

Well that was a sad chapter. Hopefully not too sad. Is there a chance Margo's Dad is going to make it alive? Did Phoenix seem like a Honeymoon? What are your hopes for Margo in the upcoming chapters?

Comment and vote!