Page 3 of When the Leaves Fall

DREW

“ D ad? Dad!” I call out into the house. “Dad, help!”

My dad comes rushing into the kitchen. “What’s going…

holy shit. Sandra!” He comes rushing to her side and falls to his knees.

“Baby, wake up.” Dad attempts to start CPR the moment his knees hit the ground, but Mom is clenching her jaw so tight, and she’s choking on her tongue.

It’s almost impossible to get any air into her lungs.

“Grab me a spoon, Drew,” Dad demands.

“A..a spoon?” I question.

“For her mouth. To hold it open. A wooden spoon.”

I rush over to the other side of the kitchen, grab a wooden ladle, and hand it to my dad, who works quickly to get it slid in between mom’s teeth. Now, when she clenches, the spoon stops her mouth from shutting completely.

My phone lies on the ground next to us, on speakerphone, ringing for what truly feels like forever .

“911, what’s your emergency?” a voice asks from the other end of the line.

“ M om, hiii…” I whisper as loudly as I can. “It’s me, Drew.” She blinks at me in confusion. “Mom, you’re in the hospital. Your heart stopped. But I’m here. And Dad is down the road at a hotel.”

I should probably call him.

“Can you hear me, Mom?”

My mom blinks at me a few more times before slightly nodding. At least, I think it was a nod.

“I think that’s a yes,” Luca confirms.

I feel the weight lift off my shoulders. Weight, I didn’t even realize I was carrying. She’s alive. She’s awake.

But it’s still just the beginning.

“Mom, go ahead and rest if you’re still tired. I’ll be here when you’re ready.” She blinks at me again, right as the charge nurse comes through the door.

“Sandra, it’s great to see you awake. I’m the charge nurse for tonight, Mel. Luca, here is going to take great care of you, and I will be in touch with your doctors to give them an update.”

Mel and Luca chatted for a few moments before Mel looked over the charts and then took her own vitals of my mom to record .

“Great, Sandra. Get some more rest, and we’ll keep monitoring you as you continue to wake.”

Mel whispers something to Luca once more before heading out the door to the desk. I watch through the glass doors as she sits down and immediately picks up the phone to notify the doctors of the recent change.

Luca walks back into the room and instantly makes his way to my mom’s side. He’s checking everything again, making sure her lines are all secure and her stats are within preferred ranges.

Why is he checking again so soon? “Is everything okay?” I ask, hoping my nerves aren’t extremely obvious.

Luca’s eyes meet mine, and a calm instantly washes over me.

“She’s doing great,” he answers. “I promise.”

I watch as he gently leans in and whispers to her. “Sandra. I’m Luca. I’ll be here all night with Drew. You’re both in good hands.” His eyes lift to meet mine again briefly before he looks back at Mom. “It’s okay to go back to sleep. We’ll be here when you’re ready.”

I swear I can see relief in her eyes as she listens to Luca reassure her, which releases some of the tension I’ve been holding in my neck and back. In this moment, I realize how truly grateful I am that Luca was assigned to be in this room tonight. He’s so good with her.

Mom slowly looks toward me, her head barely moving. I squeeze her hand, instantly noticing she doesn’t squeeze mine back. Instead, her hand rests limp in mine. I place my other hand on her forehead and wipe her bangs out of her eyes. “It’ll all be okay.”

She blinks once more before closing her eyes and falling back asleep.

If I only look at her face, ignoring all of the wires and machines around her, she actually looks peaceful right now.

For a brief minute, I’m able to imagine she’s only sleeping normally rather than fighting for her life and being attached to a half dozen lines.

I carefully lift her hand to my lips and place a soft kiss on her fingers before setting it back at her side.

“She’s lucky to have you here.” I lift my gaze to see Luca staring at me, his blue eyes meeting mine.

“I was literally just thinking the same thing about you,” I reply, softly. A slow smirk spreads across his face. His mouth opens like he’s about to say something when the room door slides open.

“Good evening,” a cheery voice says. “I’m Doctor Erickson.” She walks over to me and extends her recently sanitized hand. “I’m the cardiologist on call tonight.”

Taking her hand, I reply, “Nice to meet you. I’m Drew. Her daughter.”

“I hear she’s starting to come out of sedation.” It was more of a statement than a question. “Want to give me the run-down, Luca?”

Taking this opportunity, I step right outside the room door to call and update my dad.

I can tell he hasn’t slept a wink by the groggy sound of his voice.

The moment he hears my words, he starts to cry, and a tear or two of my own escape before I take a few deep breaths to calm myself. I don’t have time for that right now.

“The doctor and nurse are chatting now, and then I’ll chat with the doctor to see if there are any updates. I’ll keep you posted. Please try to get some sleep.”

Someone clears their throat from behind me, and I turn to see Mel standing there. “Dr. Erickson would love to chat with you a bit.” I follow her into my mom’s room, and she gestures for me to take a seat on the couch.

As I sit, Doctor Erickson pulls a chair over and sits near the couch, facing me. “It’s been a rough few days for you, hasn’t it?” she says, again more as a statement. “I wanted to let you know we did get the test results…”

My chest tightens as I wait for the worst news possible. What I didn’t expect was more “no news”.

“We honestly still don’t know what caused her heart to stop,” Doctor Erickson continues. “Every test we’ve done has come back negative or without showing anything concerning. Which, I know, is both great news and extremely frustrating.”

I nod in both understanding and complete agreement.

“The good news, though, is that she’s getting stronger.

She hasn’t had any more cardiac arrests in over twenty-four hours.

She’s rather stable. We’ll know more once she fully comes out of sedation.

Right now, all we can do is monitor her and wait. ”

So many thoughts and emotions fill my body, and I struggle to respond. “I don’t understand,” I finally manage to say. “How can someone’s heart be perfectly healthy but stop all of a sudden? Out of nowhere?”

Doctor Erickson’s eyes soften. “I’m sorry we aren’t able to offer you anything more concrete right now. It could have been caused by something as simple as a viral infection or even stress. But we won’t know more until she’s awake.”

I nod again, which seems to be all I can do right now.

For someone who usually always has something to say, I’m struggling to find any words.

Everything is so blended together and mixed up that I can’t keep my thoughts straight.

None of this makes sense, and I’m truly struggling to wrap my head around it all.

“It’s going to take her quite some time to fully wake up. She’ll likely open her eyes a few times throughout the night before fully coming out of sedation. I would try to get some rest.”

I nod.