Holiday Troubles - Why I Spent Christmas Eve in the ER

At the age of 27, I have had many Christmas days past but none like Christmas 2008. Wednesday afternoon should have seen us driving from Orlando to Naples to spend time with other family members. They came to celebrate Thanksgiving, so its only fair that we go to them this time. Instead we are all sitting home on Christmas day, more depressed than ever.

On December 24, 2008, I stepped outside of our home and saw an EMT passing by. It slowed down and I thought, oh no I wonder which one of my neighbors has an emergency. As it turned out, the 911 call was made from my house. My mother collapsed and other members called an ambulance. We went to Florida Hospital and almost 15 hours waiting to hear what the problem was. My mother complained of vomiting and stomach pains and they spent hours on tests. We eventually tried to salvage our Christmas holidays by going home and watching the kids open their presents.

The mood was still grim however, because although my mother is now home, we still do not know what is wrong with her. The doctor said they ran tests but don't see anything. They pretty much shrugged and released her from the hospital. We are now afraid that she will collapse, or go to sleep and never wake up because she's obviously sick and no one can understand why. We all went to sleep with a troubled mind on Christmas Eve.

When we woke up on Christmas morning, the kids opened the rest of their gifts and we recieved an early morning phone call. My father lives in the West Indies, while we live in the US. My aunt called to alert us to the fact that he went out on his boat two days ago and no one has seen him since. Police believed that he may have fallen overboard and drowned. I'm now afraid to answer the phone for the rest of the Christmas day because I wonder what will happen next during these "happy" holidays.