Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Scared to Death at 2 AM


She was born in one of the poorest areas of Mexico.
She came to this country and cleans houses for a living.  She's no longer young.
I saw her yesterday. She was back at work, cheerfully cleaning a neighbor's house.

Two Friday nights ago, her friends took her to the emergency room because she was having severe abdominal pain and repeatedly vomiting. They were friends, not relatives, so they couldn't go with her to the examination/treatment cubicle. She was alone. The doctor treated her for flu. She was put on an IV and given something for the pain around 9 PM. She kept vomiting. The pain got worse. By 2 AM, the diagnosis changed to acute appendicitis. In fact, her appendix had ruptured. As she was being prepared for emergency surgery,  a hospital official asked, "If you die, what do you want us to do with your body?"

6 comments:

  1. Forsythia:

    Is that a fictional piece you have written, or is it an actual news account? If it is a fictional piece, it is VERY strong and quite good! If it is an actual news account, it is very disturbing.

    I wanted to thank you so much for your recent comments on my blog as well. I enjoyed both enormously, and I am sincerely thankful. Because of some folks who were being unkind towards each other in my comments section, I have gone to "moderated" comments. However, I sincerely hope that you will continue to offer comments.

    Again, I thank you!

    PipeTobacco
    http://frumpyprofessor.blogspot.com

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  2. OMG did not see that coming.

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  3. Another very powerful piece!

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  4. Gee whiz, that really sucked! That poor lady. Do let us know if she is ok.

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