Kiersten Banas

Professor Ferrara

Intro to Rhetoric and Composition

15 March 2024

Justice Narrative Essay

It had been many hours at the hospital, so I was hoping the surgery would be over soon.

As my mom and I saw in the Goldstone private room at Danbury Hospital, she finally got a

phone call from my Papa’s lead surgeon. She left the room to pick up the call, with both of us

assuming that the simple heart surgery had been successful. Through the window provided by

the room, I could see her facial expression change. She looked at me and I was mouthing to her

asking what the call was about, but all I got was a head shake and a hand motion to wait. I sat for

the next few moments pondering about what it could be, that everything was fine earlier this

morning. Papa was being his old stubborn self telling me which roads to take and which not too,

as he wanted me to drive him earlier in the day. Finally, my mom got off of the phone and came

back to the room. I asked her what was going on and what the phone call was about.

“They couldn’t do the surgery.” she replied with a shaky voice.

“Why?” I asked. She motioned me to leave the room and brought me outside.

We ended up by the large water fountain outside the hospital. I could feel the hot sun

covering my face on that warm July day. “They couldn’t do the surgery.” my mom began to say.

“What? What do you mean?” I questioned. “He said that it was just going to be a stint or

two in his heart.”

“Apparently that was his personal diagnosis.” she said with a chuckle. “He has about four

or five blockages in his heart, it wouldn’t have been possible to put the stints in. The doctor said
he needs a quadruple bypass, immediately. It’s not something you mess around with at his age.

He is already 81 and is a diabetic with heart disease. There’s a chance it may not go well.” The

tears began to escape my mother’s eyes. “I don’t know what I would do without him. He’s my

rock. With Nana and Uncle Warren gone, he is all I have. Without him, I am going to be all

alone.” My mom cried, missing her mom and brother more than ever at this very moment.

“But you have me.” I told her.

“I have to be there for you. I go to Papa for advice and for help.” she said.

I just gave my mom a hug. Thoughts swirled through my head about what this could

possibly mean for the future. Even though Papa is my grandfather, he is practically like a father

to me. I began to think of so many memories I have of him, from the banquets of mine he has

attended, to the piano recitals, and even just thinking about a specific picture of me and him after

my christening, Papa holding me in his arms with the biggest smile I have ever seen on his face.

Before I had another second to think, my mom got another phone call. She was just being told

when we could go pick him up from the surgery area. The nurse that was with him at the time,

kind enough as she was, gave him the phone to say something to my mom. After finding out that

he needed a quadruple bypass and valve replacement, the one thing he asked my mom to do was

to get a cheeseburger for him from the hospital cafeteria.

My mom told me that he wanted the burger after she hung up the phone.

“And you told him yes?” I asked.

“Well what am I supposed to say? Tell him no? He’s 81 and the least I could do is make

him happy. And at least he didn’t want fries so that means less sodium for him then. Which one

should I get him, what did you get the other day?” my mom asked, knowing that I got one of the
hospital burgers just two days prior when I drove her there to go to the emergency room for her

infectious pneumonia.

“The angus burger.” I told her. So just as he wanted, my mom and I went to the hospital

cafeteria and got him the hamburger he wanted. As we sat down waiting for the order, my mom

kept getting calls from Papa, calling from his cell phone that still to this day he barely knows

how to use. True to his character, he kept telling her the instructions of where to pick him up as if

she didn’t know already. Sometimes, he thinks that nobody in the world understands things as

well as he does.

Soon after, my mom and I parted ways, for me to go grab my car and for her to go to

Papa. I drove all the way down several flights of the garage, as it was a busy day so I had to park

on the roof. This had been the first time I was alone all day, and to be honest, it felt a little

daunting. I have a very small family, no siblings, a single mom, and a grandfather whom I am

very close with. So the thought of one of those family member’s health being at risk was pretty

nerve wrecking. But all of those thoughts came to an end when I pulled up to the surgery center,

and saw Papa getting his hamburger. My mom tried to discreetly give him the burger without the

nurse who was wheeling him out seeing.

“No, it’s ok, she knows.” Papa told my mom. As it had turned out, that nurse was the

only person who knew about the burger.

Her thoughts being the same as my mom’s, she just chuckled a little and said, “It’s our

little secret.” I just watched the three of them, with the nurse telling my mom everything that

they found and what the next steps were that had to be taken. I could see it in my mom’s face that

she was trying to hide all of the fear she felt for Papa.
 While Papa was getting into my car, he was getting instructions on what to do and who to

call before he had to go through the big surgery, still a thought none of us really wanted to think

about. Well, except for him it seemed. Papa was open to talking about it and anything he learned

during the day.

“So they’re going to have to do the surgery right away I guess?” my mom asked.

“No of course not!” he replied. “They’ll probably get me in by the end of the summer or

the fall.”

“But that’s a long time and it could get worse in these few months.” my mom said.

“It would actually get that much worse.” Papa said as he started picking through some of

the things on his burger. About five minutes later, the burger was gone. Even though he learnt his

heart issues were worse than he thought he still, true to his character, could not help scarfing

down some kind of food. He was the only one who seemed to be normal, talking nonstop about

the people he spoke to during the day and about other random nonsense as always. If he could be

brave, why couldn’t I? That is what scared me about losing him so much, that he is one of the

smartest and bravest men that I know and probably will ever know. So as we drove on, of course

me having to follow the directions he wanted, not the way I knew how to go, the hospital became

more of a distant memory, and we began to creep up on a worrisome, unknown future.

In this time of uncertainty, it was our duty as family to be there for him. All throughout

my life, Papa had been the father figure that I truly never got to have. He had been at any

important event in my life and supported me through any decision I made. And as far as for my

mom, he had been a major support system for her also through many difficult times. He left his

home on Long Island that he had been in for over 40 years because my mom wanted to move to

Connecticut to raise me. He stepped up and played a larger role in both of our lives after my
grandmother passed away about 10 years ago. He even stuck by our sides throughout the entire

course of my mom’s divorce. Papa had been there for the thick and thin, through the best and

worst moment of our lives, always being there to help and support my mom and I and had

always put his family and loved ones before himself. So this time, when he needed that help the

most, it was our turn to be there for him, and provide that kind of justice.