MARKING ONE YEAR

On July 11th, 2019, my mother broke her ankle at Seal Beach when a wave and an undertow simultanesouly pulled her body in different directions, thus snapping her fibula clean through. The break required surgery, which, unbeknownst to anyone, led to the development of a clot that ran from her ankle to her thigh. On August 1st, 2019, my mother informed my dad (who was shopping at Costco at the time) that she was having difficulty breathing. Having had a double pulminary embolism before AND being a retired nurse, she knew. They both knew. Without even leaving the store, my dad called 911 and had an ambulance sent to their house. She was brought to the hospital, where it was determined that she had a saddle embolism and was at the beginning stages of heart failure. Having arrived at the hospital when she did, she had a 50% chance of survival. If my dad had hesitated in calling 911, she would have likely died; saddle embolisms are generally diagnosed post-portum during an autopsy. Intravenous catheters were inserted into my mom's body, which administered paralytics and anticoagulants. She was semiconscious, but unable to move for 24 hours while doctors tried to break apart the clot that was blocking blood in my mom's lungs from reaching the right side of her heart. At any given point during the EKOS procedure, her heart was at risk of just giving out and stopping. Even with the best of care, there was no guarantee. It was the longest 24 hours in my life. But she pulled through and once she was able to communicate again, she sent a text that she was finally ready to talk about getting a tattoo (her first!) to cover the "ugly ass" scar that her surgery had left her with and which had - ultimately - almost led to her death. So we waited from clearnace from her doctor to be sure the ankle was fully recovered and could be tattooed with no issue. And, despite the fact that she will be on blood thinners for the rest of her life, she was able to get that tattoo yesterday. August 1st, 2020. Exactly one year to the day when she almost died. Her design? A seal in a wave - as a nod to the wave at Seal Beach that set so many things into motion and nearly took her life. And mine? A floral map of the world done up with some of my favorite flowers. I'm so grateful for Ryan Hazzard at Next Level Tattoo for making these designs come to life; his skill with a pen is phenomenal.