I made to move around the woman to get through the doors, but she worked her way in front of me to stop me again.

That was my breaking point. I could feel the scream working its way up my throat. I don’t know how the words sounded coming out of my mouth, but they made the woman look like I just slapped her across the face.

“I’M DEAF!”

She took a step back, putting a good foot of distance between us. I stood there for a few moments trying to get my breathing under control again. I was sure I did not sound calm when I said, “That’s my little brother. I need to be with him!”

I was probably shrieking at this point, no doubt a spectacle to the people I could see behind the check-in station watching us. “Where’s your VRI? Hospitals are supposed to have one!”

Video Remote Interpreting was a system hospitals and doctors used because it was cheaper than hiring a live interpreter. It required a video camera and a monitor, and most of the time it was on a cart wheeled around from room to room as needed. Turn the system on, an interpreter would show up on the screen and communication between the doctor and the patient was supposed to take place that way.

I don’t know how long I remained in the ER waiting room while a nurse went to go track down the VRI. Once you experienced being thrown into fast forward, having time go ticking back down to a crawl was not an easy thing to adjust to.

It was a stroke of pure luck I remembered to grab my phone before racing out of the house with Connor, and I used it to text Mom the second I could. It was just after two in the morning, but Mom never had her phone more than an arm’s length away when she went out of town. She was worried enough about going to Aspen; she would answer.

At hospital w/ Connor. Don’t know what’s wrong. They are tracking down VRI now.

I slumped down in one of the uncomfortable chairs filling the waiting room and dropped my head back, squeezing my eyes shut.

Why was this happening? Why was this happening?

Mom’s response came a minute later.

I’m on my way.

Mom had a three-hour drive ahead of her, and three hours sounded like an eternity. I got up and did some pacing. I sat back down. I got up for a drink of water from a fountain by the bathrooms. I sat back down again.

How long did it take to track down a VRI? They couldn’t possibly be that busy this time of night.