ENGL-117
At Odds with Bacterial Meningitis
Chamberlain University College of Nursing
ENGL-117: English Composition Professor
Worst Nightmare
In November of 2018, while I was at work I received an unsettling phone call from my
older brother. All he said was “Hey Meg, ask to leave work because dad is in the hospital, come
to Community First Hospital we are all here”. As he said those words my heart sank, I
immediately hung up the phone with sheer panic and distress. I explained to my manager what
was happening and I left work to go to the hospital. On my way to the hospital I called my
significant other to explain what was happening, I began crying my eyes out with a pit in my
stomach worrying about what was happening. When I arrived my father was in the emergency
room, I remember being escorted into one of the little rooms where my father was lying on a bed.
All I could see was his eyes shut and him in fight or flight mode, while the nurses surrounded
him getting him prepped to be admitted.
The Nurses were trying to get an IV started but my father was so unaware of his
surroundings that he began to fight the nurses. I remember talking to my dad and telling him that
we were all right by his side and that he is going to be okay and that he needed to calm down and
let the nurses do their jobs. I vividly remember the sparkling red, illustrious blue, and dark purple
of the uniforms on the three nurses who were prepping my father for admission so they could run
tests on him. They told us they needed to perform a spinal tap to see if there was any fluid to
detect what could possibly be happening to him. They began berating my mom with questions of
how my father was feeling earlier in the day. I remember the bright fluorescent white lights in the
emergency room as we waited for results of the spinal tap that was performed on my father. After
determining it was Bacterial Meningitis, the doctor suggested that we put my father in an
At Odds with Bacterial Meningitis
Chamberlain University College of Nursing
ENGL-117: English Composition Professor
Worst Nightmare
In November of 2018, while I was at work I received an unsettling phone call from my
older brother. All he said was “Hey Meg, ask to leave work because dad is in the hospital, come
to Community First Hospital we are all here”. As he said those words my heart sank, I
immediately hung up the phone with sheer panic and distress. I explained to my manager what
was happening and I left work to go to the hospital. On my way to the hospital I called my
significant other to explain what was happening, I began crying my eyes out with a pit in my
stomach worrying about what was happening. When I arrived my father was in the emergency
room, I remember being escorted into one of the little rooms where my father was lying on a bed.
All I could see was his eyes shut and him in fight or flight mode, while the nurses surrounded
him getting him prepped to be admitted.
The Nurses were trying to get an IV started but my father was so unaware of his
surroundings that he began to fight the nurses. I remember talking to my dad and telling him that
we were all right by his side and that he is going to be okay and that he needed to calm down and
let the nurses do their jobs. I vividly remember the sparkling red, illustrious blue, and dark purple
of the uniforms on the three nurses who were prepping my father for admission so they could run
tests on him. They told us they needed to perform a spinal tap to see if there was any fluid to
detect what could possibly be happening to him. They began berating my mom with questions of
how my father was feeling earlier in the day. I remember the bright fluorescent white lights in the
emergency room as we waited for results of the spinal tap that was performed on my father. After
determining it was Bacterial Meningitis, the doctor suggested that we put my father in an
