Cars that lead to Soul

It was supposed to be a ordinary trip to my family's ophthalmologist in Enid. The only two changes were my father was driving instead of my mother, even though, he didn't have an appointment and this wasn't our original appointment date. We had to reschedule our last appointment due to unexpected car troubles. Car troubles that randomly started happening halfway through our trip, and miraculously stop when we decided to head back home. The unexplained car troubles even the mechanics, who spent hours troubleshooting, couldn't figure out what was wrong with the car. The troubles that would be a blessing in disguise.

I was disappointed that we had to reschedule and so excited that we got appointment so close to the original date. I was ready to get new glasses and get my Optomap done. I was also thrilled about going to Oklahoma City after our appointment to pick up my cousins from the airport for my oldest sister's high school graduation. I read a book and drew in my sketchbook during this 2 hour drive to the appointment. Activities that I loved to do as a 12 year old and even now as an adult.

We got to our appointment on time and with no issues. I looked at the glasses as my parents checked me and my younger sister into our appointments. Like always us children went first and of course, we looked at our normal Optomap imaging before my mother went into her appointment. Before I go on, let me explain what the Optomap is and does. Optomap is an option at certain ophthalmologists have to look at your retina instead of using dilation eye drops. Unlike the dilation eye drops with the Optomap, there are no side effects and it shows more of your retina. This machine picked up a curved optic nerve in my mother's eyes, one that wasn't there the year earlier.

The ophthalmologist supposed that my mother go the hospital because if the pressure that had caused the curved nerve didn't decrease, my mother could go blind. Immediately, we drive to another hospital and they took my mother to the back to run test. It was about 1 o'clock in the afternoon by the time we got to that hospital and no one had eaten since 7 o'clock in the morning. My parents decided that my father would take us to lunch while my mother got her tests done and she would eat something later. We went to Buffalo Wild Wings before we could go inside, my father got sidetracked because he saw one of his coworkers. He invited his coworker to lunch with us and we ate a decent meal for about 45 minutes.

We went back to the hospital where we left my mother and she wasn't there. Her phone had to have died because she wasn't answering the calls from my father. Eventually the hospital figured, she walked across the streets to St. Mary's Hospital for a MRI. Once we got there, we met my mother at the front desk in a wheelchair and St. Mary's Hospital wanted us to go to a neurosurgeon. So we got back into the car and headed over to the neurosurgeon. Once at the neurosurgeon, a couple of nurses, I think, took my parents to a room and took us children to a waiting room.

My sister and I watch TV while talking about what could be happening. I know something was wrong but my sister thought I was being paranoid. The very kind front desk staff offered us snacks and drinks while we continued to waiting to be reunited with our parents. A couple minutes later, one of the nurse, who took our parents, took us to a room with a lot screens and our parents. I recognized the images on the screen as a brain, and that it didn't look normal to me. In between the medical books I was reading and medical TV shows I was watching at the time, I could intrepret certain things. The doctor explain to my sister and I that my mother had a brain tumor that had bend her center line and shove her brain to one side. He explained to us the symptoms to watch out for and what to do if anything happened. I cried as he talked to us because I was scared of losing my mother.

Even though, the surgeon wanted to operate immediately, my mother refused to have surgery until after my sister's graduation. He made my mother promise not to do anything and rest until she had surgery. They sent us on our way with medication to keep the swelling down and kept my mother's IV catheter in as precaution. My mother pretended everything was fine and told us to do the same. We headed to Oklahoma City to get my cousins and groceries for the celebration that was supposed to happen later the next week. Then drove 2 hours back home.

We didn't make it home until 10 o'clock at night and then we unloaded the car. My mother called older sisters down after everyone was settled and explained the situation. There was a bunch of crying and fear of the uncertain events ahead for the next couple of days. The days after were a blur, I remember cutting my mother's hair at my sister's graduation party then leave my home with my grandparents and younger siblings. I spent the summer in camps to make me forget what was going on with my mother, I guess. This didn't help at all because all I wanted was to be supporting my mother instead at camps.

When come home, my mother wasn't the same, which I was expecting but I wasn't expecting the responsibility that come with the change. My mother was forgetful, and was having episodes (blacking out/seizures) at random point during the day. I had to feed, bathe, and parent my younger siblings for the first year of recovery. I also started working my first job and manage the household for the first two years of recovery. I didn't get to experience the joys of being teenagers and grow up to fast. However, I made it through it, now 8 years later I'm taking care of myself.

Also fun facts, the car still works to this day.