My mother, Patricia Thornfield, sat in the corner chair, scrolling through her phone, occasionally sighing loud enough to let everyone know she was \u201cinconvenienced.\u201d My father, Richard Thornfield, paced by the window, checking his watch every thirty seconds like he had somewhere more important to be. My sister, Delphine, had claimed the comfortable reclining chair and was live-tweeting her \u201cdramatic hospital vigil\u201d to her 12,000 followers.<\/p>\n
I\u2019d been rushed to Mercy General Hospital in Willowbrook Heights at 2:00 a.m. with what the paramedics suspected was a severe allergic reaction. But as the hours crawled by, it became clear this wasn\u2019t just hives or difficulty breathing. My throat was closing, my airways were swelling, and my heart was working overtime to pump blood through a system that was essentially shutting down.<\/p>\n
Dr. Amelia Cross, the attending physician, had explained it to my family in terms so simple a fifth grader could understand. \u201cCeleste is having a severe anaphylactic reaction to something. We\u2019ve administered epinephrine, but her body isn\u2019t responding the way we\u2019d hoped. We need to keep her under observation and potentially move to more intensive interventions.\u201d<\/p>\n
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