… as she left off… Monique was taken into surgery around 6pm. I frankly do not know the exact time because when I arrived at the hospital and got to the floor — I had only maybe 15 minutes before she was placed on the stretcher to head to surgery.
As she stated, in the room on Tower 8, was her Dad who was actually standing outside as I was walking down the hallway to enter her room. Inside the room were the RN and her friend, Aisha. Monique and I locked eyes as I entered and we both had a very apprehensive look. The RN was talking about how fast everything would move and she let us each have a few brief minutes. Her older sister, Dineen had called me and she prayed with Monique. Once the phone call was over, Monique and I hugged, and her Dad told her she was going to sleep and that he would be right there with her. Monique looked at me and then she ran her hands down my face, as she always does when she feels helpless and needs my “Mommy” support. We followed the stretcher and took a pic— and off she went!!
I felt soo overwhelmingly lost. I knew my lil woman was in good hands — hell I had prayed ever since the call came in, getting dressed, and on the drive up. But still, at that very moment, my world changed — nothing seemed ok. At that point, we went to the waiting room on the 3rd floor—Aisha, Dad, myself. Once we got to the waiting room, Aida — Aisha’s twin had arrived and was quite upset— “I missed her. I mean this all happened so fast, had I known, I’d been here sooner.” She said all of that in one breath and with tears in her eyes. After that, Dineen arrived looking just as worried as myself. I was pacing and talking, pacing and talking —- I was also taking texts and phone calls. My brother Juny was texting me for the address and was en route to the hospital as well. Roughly, a half hour passed, and in walks “KJ.” I kinda fumbled the introduction, but I managed to introduce everyone.
I gathered Dineen and Aida and said we are going to say the Lord’s Prayer, so we went to a private area and I started the prayers, but I could not remember it. Aida then tried to say the prayer and she fumbled— saying, “What is going on.” Dineen tried and she also fumbled “ what the hell — I say this prayer every day.” Not sure how we completed the prayer but we did!
Monique’s sister -Michelle called from New Jersey and wanted updates, her dad left to change clothes. Unbeknownst to me, a staff member came and brought blankets and pillows. Security made several trips to the waiting area, supposedly there is a cut off time for staying in the waiting room, but we were not leaving! Around 10pm, just around the time her Dad returned, Dineen gave everyone a hug and said she would keep in contact via text. I told her to let me know when she got home. Aida was talking about Monique and how she bonded with her and saying how Monique’s spirit/essence is just so inviting and lovable. She shared how one time Monique was in the hospital and craved donuts and asked Aida to bring her some (probably going against her diet at the time), which she did. “KJ” got comfortable and went off to sleep. I told Aida she could leave, but she did not want to leave. She felt she might miss something, and sure enough, in that next second — the RN came out around 1:30am from the surgery— asked if we were Monique’s family and said her new liver was transplanted and she was doing fine. He said he was with her from the beginning (once she arrived in the surgery room) and she had him laughing. He told us “she’s a real pleasure—nice funny lady.” I told him that’s what everyone says! After that Aida felt it was safe for her to leave.
Once, Aida left around 2am, the tech came out to get something but asked “are ya”ll here for Crenshaw?” We said, “yes and he told us, “she’s doing real good, they’re almost finished”. The same tech came out again, about 15 minutes or so later and told us “she’s doing good and they are suturing her now, it shouldn’t be long.” Finally, someone else came out and said, “she is finished and the next person(s) coming out would be bringing her out.” Her Dad and I were already standing by the elevators, so we decided to stay there so we would not miss her. About 15 minutes went by (approximately 3:06am), we heard the stretcher and people talking, and then we saw her. I had asked her Dad to snap the picture (as I know she would want one) and I walked over to her and looked at my lil woman laying their sedated, bloated and on a ventilator. I just wanted to hug and kiss her, but I also felt so immensely proud and in awe of her journey. I guess it just hit me! I stayed composed and the staff said “give us a few minutes to get her to ICU and get her situated— then you can come up.”
Her Dad and I walked around the corner to where “KJ” was sleeping and he was waking up. I told him that we had just seen Monique (we call her Nique), and she is heading to ICU. We let him know that we needed to wait a few minutes for them to get her situated. He said ok. At around 3:40am we all headed to the ICU.
Once we were let into the nursing unit, we entered her room 4040. The ICU RN was still getting her together and Nique was starting to wake up slowly. She would move and peer out one eye— trying to wake up. She was in restraints, and tubes were flowing from everywhere. She finally opened her eyes and looked dazed. She recognized us, but she was still sedated. Around 4:58 am, she opened her eyes and looked at me and I said, “Hey”. She was tearing and frustrated, she was moving her arms but knew she did not have a full range of motion. She would look at us and then fall back to sleep. She opened her eyes again, but she was frustrated. She was trying to tell us something but couldn’t because she was still on the ventilator. She motioned to write. The RN said, “the patients usually want to write or say some thing but you can’t understand them— too sedated.” But, we gave her the pen and paper anyway, and she wrote – “I’m thirsty. Drink. Damn it.” She was dry and she wanted the tube out. The RN explained the tube could not be taken out until she could breathe on her own. Nique kept getting frustrated and was by this time “mean mugging” all of us. The RN said, “ I don’t think I want to mess with Nique on the outside.” I thought to myself — good observation/judgment on her part. “KJ” left between 5:30 and 6am. Around 6:30am or so, the doctors came in to check on her and they said they felt comfortable with her being removed from the ventilator machine. Between 7 and 7:30am the tube was removed. It was non-stop after that, doctor after doctor, X-ray, Accu-checks, Respiratory tech, etc.
It seemed like every hour something was being removed from her. She was still struggling but she was a lil better because she was off the vent!