Asking for What You Need

“Where’s my dad?” I said to the nurse in the Cardiac ICU. “He should be out by now.”

I’d gotten to the hospital as quickly as possible after work, but his room was empty. When I’d spoken with the doctor the night before, they said this endoscopy was the next step to figuring out what was wrong. Hopefully, there wouldn’t be any bleeding.

“He’s not back yet, and you can’t wait here in the ICU.”

I made my way out to the waiting room, my head spinning. Why wasn’t he done? What had they found? What if he was dead?

I looked around and found a cubby I could sit in. I settled onto the floor, back against the wall, getting angrier and angrier as I worried. Why weren’t my siblings with me? Where was my brother? My sister? They’d said they were coming. I texted them. No response. An hour passed. Then two. I asked the nurse again and she confirmed, still no news.

“I really need you to be here,” I texted my sister. “I can’t do this alone. What if something went wrong?”

“I’ll come after work,” she wrote back. “I can be there by 7:00.”

I exhaled. Okay. She would be there with me.

The nurse appeared. “Your father’s in the room. You can come back now.”

I sighed. I’d been so worried. “He’s out,” I texted my siblings. Next time, I’d ask them for help sooner.