Chapter 2
The ambulance pulled up to the entrance and the paramedics started taking out all their equipment and the stretcher. Once inside, they started asking questions like "Where are they?" The trainer answered by saying, "in here." Just then, the paramedics rushed into the room. What's your name?" they asked me. "Mary Camden," I answered still crying from the pain. "Okay Mary," said one of the paramedics, "we are going to put you on a stretcher and then load you into the ambulance." "1,2,3," the paramedics said as they lifted me onto the stretcher. I winced in pain and started to cry as they moved me. "Are you okay?" asked one of the paramedics. "Yes," I replied weakly through the tears.
After they had lifted me onto the stretcher, one of the paramedics went to talk to my parents. "We need one of you to go in the ambulance with Mary and one of you to follow us to the hospital." "Which one of you wants to go in the ambulance and which one of you wants to follow?" asked the paramedic. "I will go in the ambulance," said Mrs. Camden, "and I'll follow," replied Rev. Camden. "Okay then, lets go," said the paramedic. "Wait," said Mrs. Camden. "I need to go tell the others that an ambulance is taking Mary to the hospital and that we need to go with her, I will be right back." Having said that she rushed out to go find the children.
When she got to the gym, she saw that the game had already ended. She spotted the children and ran up to get them. "Mom, what's going on, is Mary okay?" Matt asked worriedly. "We are taking your sister to the hospital," replied Mrs. Camden "What's wrong?" asked Matt with fear in his eyes. "She hurt her knee really badly and we need to go to the hospital right away." "An ambulance is taking her. I am going in the ambulance with her and your father is going to follow us in the car." "Go find him and go with him." Having said that, Mrs. Camden went back to the room where the paramedics were waiting for her. When my mom arrived they rolled me out to the ambulance and lifted the stretcher into the ambulance. My mom followed right behind me.
"Come on you three, we need to go find Dad," Matt said to Lucy, Simon and Ruthie. They each followed him out of the gym. They walked outside and found Rev. Camden waiting for them near the entrance to the gym. "Hurry guys!" Rev. Camden yelled once he saw the children. With that, the children got into the car and they drove to the Glen Oak Community Hospital.
Meanwhile, inside the ambulance, I was lying on the stretcher unable to move. Paramedics were all around me. All I could think was, "Please make the pain stop." Just then, one of the paramedics came over to me and said to "hang in there" and that we were almost there. Moments later, we pulled up to the emergency room doors. They opened the doors to the ambulance and lifted the stretcher out of the ambulance while my mom followed.
As we entered the emergency room, there were people everywhere. Immediately doctors came over and surrounded the stretcher that I was lying on. They started talking to me. "What is your name?" the doctor asked. "Mary Camden," I answered. "Okay Mary, we are going to take you into a examination room and see what is wrong." They then wheeled me into a room. Once in the room, they transferred me to another bed. As they moved me I winced in pain. Once I was on the bed they asked me what was wrong. I said that my knee hurt really badly and that I was unable to move it. One of the doctors told me that he was going to get my chart and then see what they could do and to stay there until he got back. "Okay," I responded.
Moments later, the doctor came back with my chart in his hands. He observed it for a few moments. "So, Mary had surgery on her knee three months ago. Is that right?" asked the doctor. "That's right," my parents both said in unison. "And she complains that her knee is hurting her?" "Yes, she hurt it playing basketball," my parents said. "Okay Mary, we are now going to examine your knee and determine what needs to be done," the doctor said. "Okay," I responded.
Meanwhile, in the waiting room to the hospital my bothers and sisters were waiting in fear as the doctors examined me. "Is Mary going to be okay?" Lucy asked Matt. "I don't know but I hope so," said Matt. Lucy then started to cry and Matt took her in his arms and tried to comfort her. "It's going to be okay, Mary is going to be fine," Matt said trying to calm his sister.
After the doctor had examined my knee, he took my parents aside. "What's going on, what's wrong?" asked Mrs. Camden in a worried voice. "Mary tore ligaments in her knee and she also bruised her knee cap badly, we need to do surgery to repair the damage done to her knee." "Okay," replied both my parents. My parents then came back into the room. As they walked in, I saw fear in their eyes. "What's going on?" I asked. "We need to take you to surgery," said the doctor. With that, they wheeled me off to the operating room. The doctor told my parents to go wait in the waiting room and that they would come get them when I was out of surgery.
As Rev. and Mrs. Camden walked into the waiting room, their children greeted them. "How's Mary?" they all asked. "She is on her way up to surgery right now," responded Rev. Camden. "Is she going to be okay?" they all asked. "Yeah, she is going to be fine, she just had to have surgery done to repair the damage done to her knee," replied Rev. Camden. They each took a seat and waited anxiously for Mary to get out of surgery.
