2nd Shift Wife and 3rd Shift Nurse – The Real Story of How Their Friendship Saved My Life

October 7, 2007

I remember the hot summer night well even though it happened over forty-two years ago. My mom said I was talking out of my head due to a high fever. Mom called Aunt Kathleen, a private duty nurse who worked third shift and lived across the road from us. Their dialogue was not recorded, however, I clearly remember Mom describe the events of that night.

“What could be wrong,” Mom asked Aunt Kathleen. She curtly said, “Take her to the hospital, now!” Aunt Kathleen knew a surgeon who would be able to help me, Dr. Deaton. She would call the doctor and give a list of my symptoms to him so he would be prepared to administer the proper medical procedure in this emergency situation. “Go now! He will meet you at the hospital,” her voice echoed in my mom’s ears.

Dad worked second shift and arrived at the hospital after work, about 11:30 p.m. He saw the surgeon carrying me in his arms to my hospital room after the appendectomy. Dr. Deaton told mom and dad, “Her appendix was red hot; ready to rupture. If you hadn’t gotten her to the hospital when you did, well…”

A neighbor, Aunt Kathleen, and my mom had been friends for several years. Although she was not really my aunt, she asked mom for the privilege of my sisters and I calling her our aunt since she had never had children.

Aunt Kathleen’s normal work schedule was third shift as a private duty nurse. Mom called her just an hour or two before she would have left for work that summer night.

Mom watched me swim in the pool that day in July. I had been swimming all day with friends. We had eaten, however, my right side quickly became uncomfortable with other severe warning signs developing rapidly.

The year was 1965. I was ten years of age. Since Mom knew Aunt Kathleen as a friend and as a nurse, she called her for help. I am thankful they were good friends and I am certain one of the reasons I survived the severity of an appendicitis attack that night is because a nurse, as well as a friend, possessed vital medical information my mom needed to know at just the right time.

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