I would repeatedly tell him I hated him because of how bad he used to make me feel. But isn’t that a normal thing for a little sister to say? My oldest brother Wayde was a jerk. He was constantly teasing me and making me cry. I despised every bit of him, and just wanted him to go away and never come back. Little did I know that the summer before my 4th grade year would change the way I felt forever.
Every summer my dad, Cady and I would grow a huge tomato garden. That summer we had about 300 plants to take care of and needed a little extra help. I remember my dad saying that Wayde would be out to help. Time kept passing and he never showed up. We finally took a break to see what was going on. When we got inside the house something did not feel right at all. Something was definitely different.
Repeatedly my dad told my brother to get up, but he didn’t budge. I watched him pull the blankets off of Wayde but he would instantly put them back on. Finally my dad got him off the bed and tried to talk to him. There were no fluent words that left Wayde’s mouth; just mumbling it was like he forgot how to talk. My dad had Cady get my mom on the phone. Almost immediately she came home from work and they took him to the clinic.
I received a phone call telling me to pack clothes for my mom. Wayde was then taken to Price on the ambulance. My mom decided that she would ride with him, while I rode with my dad in our suburban. Everything just seemed a blur. I was afraid of what would happen next. I sat in the waiting room at Castle View for about 2 hours. That is a really long time for a little kid to sit still. Finally my dad came and got me to take me to my brother. I didn’t even want to go, I was so afraid.
His body lay on the bed like he was lifeless. My mom had tears constantly running down her face. She too was just as scared as I was. But sooner than we thought the doctors told us he needed to be life flighted to Primary Childrens. We went on with that and made our way to Salt Lake City very late at night. Primary Children’s was huge to me, I didn’t like being there. We showed up in Wayde’s room and waited for them to bring him in. It took too long so my dad decided he would take me to a hotel so we could get some sleep. While my mom stayed behind.
I woke up that morning about 6 am to the sound of my dad crying. Never once had I ever heard him cry before then. He informed me that Wayde had 2 grand mal seizures and that he was now in ICU. My heart broke to see my parents cry. I was too little to really understand what was happening. Everything was just a blur. Most of the time my days consisted of spending time in ICU with my brother. He was unresponsive for the longest time. At night when he was finally able to come to it my dad asked him the same question over and over. “Wayde, who am i?” he would say. It took about 5 times for Wayde to register what he was saying. He finally wiped the blank confused stare off his face and said “Dad”.
It gave my dad hope that everything would be okay. The nights my mom spent in the hospital with him seemed endless. No doctor could find what was wrong. It was all just a mystery. My sister and I were stuck at home during the summer with Grandma Bonnie. Everyone else was at my Aunts house in Springville, to be closer to the hospital so it was easier for them to be there for Wayde when he needed it.
We didn’t think that he was going to make it. He just didn’t seem like he was getting any better. The total of his seizures ended at 63. I couldn’t believe it, that number really scared me. I remember my Grandpa Lee saying a prayer for him to help us all feel a little better. But turns out he started getting better from that day on. No one at the hospital knew how he was or why. All they know is that there was definitely someone watching over us.
Towards the end of the summer our experience at the hospital came to an end. Wayde finally was able to come home and stay home. Our family was all back together and we were told not to worry. His sickness never did return and doctors never found out what it was or why it happened. They had ideas of what it could have been but never a legitimate answer. It all just seemed crazy to me that not one person knew.
Without knowing what was headed my way and the feelings I had that summer really hit me how fragile life actually is and that you have the ability to lose someone at any time. We really need to make today better than yesterday. We don’t know when we could lose someone so close to us. It’s all just a matter of time. I don’t know what my life would be like now if I would have lost my brother. I’m thankful every day that he is still here and that he’s perfectly fine. My feelings towards him have shifted a lot from then till now. I mean yes he’s still a jerk 90% of the time, but I love him. Everything happens for a reason, I’m just glad that I have nothing to worry about anymore.
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