Momma and I

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It was two years ago yesterday

I was going to make enchiladas and I decided to call my mom to see if she wanted to go see her uncle and her papa on Memorial day. I got no answer on the phone. I kept calling several times; about 10 times to be exact. So I called my brother and said, "Mom's not answering her phone". He said that she probably didn't want to talk to which I replied, "no, she would answer the phone and say, 'I don't want to talk', then hang up." That's just the way she was. So he called her and then called me back. He said that she didn't answer. I said bye because I knew something was very wrong. I turned everything off that I was making and told my son that I will let him know what's going on. He's a teenager and can make his own sandwich for dinner.

Looking for momma

I grabbed my purse, hopped in my car and drove to her apartment complex. I got to her door and knocked but there was no answer. I put my ear to the crack of the door and I heard her say, "I fell ... help ... help me ... help me". I'm calling, "momma!" I then ran around to her window and I can hear her still yelling that she has fallen. I went back to her door and banged on the door again. I can't get in. As I was going back to the window, my brother came around the corner. I said, " Brother, she's fallen". He talked to her from the front and her bedroom window. She said, "I can't get up! I can't get up". I was thinking I haven't talked to her since Friday and it's Saturday evening; she's laid there a day and a half. I started getting the apartment complex people on the phone but no answer. My brother finally got someone and they sent a very nice Hispanic lady who didn't know any English. She said to go find a key. My brother found the key to the room and we ran back to her apartment.

Finding momma

We got the door unlocked and found her lying on the floor in her room; her head between the bed and the end table. She was just lying there. My brother got on the phone to call 911. I reached down saying to momma, "I thought you were trying to put on your pantyhose and fell off the bed." I'm was trying to get the pantyhose off that I thought was a pantyhose was not pantyhose. My brother said she broke her arm as it was purple eggplant color. He asked momma what happened and she said she was changing the light bulb and I fell off the bed. Her bed was as high as your hip is and she fell into the granite table with her arm, it broke and knocked her out. She didn't remember the bulb that covered the light, flew up in the air, and fell down on her legs. They were all cut up because she was trying to get up after she came out of unconsciousness.

She just laid there

She laid there a day and a half with no water, no food. She was in the dark, no lights, no TV, and she was yelling for help. It's a good thing I called. The paramedics came in the ambulance. As I was walking towards the ambulance, my brother came out and said that if they hadn't come, she would have been dead. They were trying to get her blood pressure up because it was so low; she would have been dead within a couple of hours.

To the hospital

We got her to the hospital and all checked out. The doctor came in and said, "Do you want the good news or the bad news?" My mom said she wanted the good news. The doctor continued, "Isabel (that's my momma's name), the good news is you only broke your arm. The bad news is there is no bad news. You could have broken the hip and hit your head. You're a lucky lady." So that night they moved her upstairs and I stayed the night with her. My brother went on home as he had two hospitals to tend to.

My hero

The next morning I went home to get my son ready for school then go back to the hospital. When I arrived at the hospital, the doctor congratulated me on finding my mother. He said, "Congratulations. You saved your mom's life." Now, I don't consider myself a hero. I consider my mom a hero because she weathered that storm for a day and a half! She's a tough lady for doing that. And, Jesus ... he's the one who sent me to her.

A few problems while in the hospital

The medication started messing with my mom. One day I showed up in the afternoon after picking up my son. She asked where I had been. She said, "This man came in here with a machete and tore up my curtains and then left; he tried to kill me." I told her that her curtains wear fine now and she just said, "Well, I don't know." My brother arrived and she told him the same story. Then we all just laughed. Another time she said, "Daughter I've been looking all over for you because Queen Elizabeth's coming to visit." So I did as I was told. I also tried to order her some food one time and she said she wanted to go home. She told me, "You better take me home right now or you can't come back up here." I told her that if she would eat some food I would take her home. Although I knew she couldn't go home, she told me okay and she ate. A nurse came and I told her that momma wanted to go home. I asked if I could take her home now but the nurse told me no. My mom said, "Okay, I guess I can't go home, daughter." (I used a little reverse psychology on her.)

The Pic line had an infection so I sat with her for a little while. The next morning I took my son to school and went to see my mom, but she was not awake. I tried to wake her up and it was like she was in a coma. I patted her on the chest to stimulate her and pried open her eyes and closed them. I did that several times. I sat down at the foot of her bed and I cried, praying to Jesus to please, don't let this be the time that I lose my mama. I prayed and I prayed. A lady came in with the machine to do an ultrasound of her heart and I cried even more heavily. I said, "Oh, is this the last time I'm going to see my mom's heartbeat? Lord, please don't." I asked the lady if there was anything with my mom's heart and she said that she couldn't tell me anything. She finished and left so I went back to my mama trying to stimulate her. I went to her ear and told her that I loved her. I had to go pick up my son and make him some food and told my momma that I would see her in the morning. When morning came and I got there, she was a livewire. I was like WOW!!, what a change. Thank you, Lord. I asked the nurses what did they give her to wake her up and they said nothing. I just thanked the Lord.

Rehab time

It was time for rehab and her shoulder was still not fixed. She was there for two weeks, still not walking. They transferred her to a nursing facility; her shoulder still broken. She was there for I think 3 weeks. One person who never gave up on her finally got her walking ability back. Her shoulder was still broken with very little use of this arm. She lived in pain every day and did not take pain pills. She's a tough lady. When she got out of skilled nursing we took her to the orthopedic doctor and he said that he could still do the surgery. He said that it was up to her. He said that he would have to re-break her shoulder and do it or she was going to live with the broken shoulder; she would just die a slow death. So she chose to live with a broken shoulder.

Momma came home

When she came home, my son and I stayed with her a month to make sure she could stay by herself. It's a good thing I did because one morning I woke up hearing banging. She had fallen in her bathroom. She fell on a rug so I had to pick her up. All that day I looked around the house for all the unsafe things that could hurt her.

Two years later my mom still has that broken shoulder. I see her health failing. She is very frail so please pray for my mom. She lives in pain every day. Thank you.

Momma is a true hero in my story.