Quinnlin Ray Patrick-Chapter III

Quinnlin Ray Patrick was born on April 20th, 1994 via c-section. Where Shenny was our promise, Quinnlin was our gift.When Shenny was about 6 months old we decided to move once more back to Las Vegas, Nevada for better job opportunities as Las Vegas was experiencing a boom. How can I explain the complexities that is Quinnlin? He is wrapped in the night with his mysterious ways, dark hair and brooding eyes full of emotions. The pregnancy itself went well and a week after my Dad's birthday to the day we had Quinnlin. He was my biggest baby at 8 lbs. 7ozs. and 22 inches long with a full smile that lit up his face from the very start.
When Quinn, his nickname since birth, was almost two weeks old I had a very bad headache, one so bad that it hurt just to move my head. My parents convinced me to call the doctor that delivered Quinn and eventually I caved in and called his office. He advised me to go to the hospital and get checked out just to be safe, but I felt like it was a waste of time to sit in an ER for several hours with a new born and a toddler so I took some pain medication, went home and went to sleep. Bill found me on the front room floor that morning. I had my nebulizer cannula clenched between my teeth with my left arm rigid behind my back. I was non-responsive, not breathing and my lips were blue. I am relying on Bill's memories along with other members of my family as I have little to no memories of this. Since we didn't have a phone at that time Bill rushed over the neighbors, called 911, and asked them to call my parents and explain what was going on. Bill ran back to our house and began administering CPR. He was able to get me breathing again.
My parents arrived before the ambulance. I was completely unresponsive to them and they could not get my arm out from underneath me. When the paramedics arrived they were extremely rude and told my parents and Bill that I was fine, that I had OD-ed on some sort of illegal substance. They also claimed that they had been to our house many times before for the same thing. Bill had only begun to work at the MGM so we lived in a rather tough neighborhood. My dad had to threaten them to take me to the hospital. I remember none of this.
At the hospital the paramedics told the ER staff that I was a suspected drug user so by the time they got around to doing any tests and discovered that I had suffered a major stroke, it was too late to give me any medicine that would help reverse the effects. I slowly became aware but did not recognize anyone for several hours and then I knew my Bill. It was several more hours before I knew my mom and dad. I didn't remember much more. I said to people that I had one child, that was a girl about six weeks old. I had forgotten all about Bryce and more heartbreaking to me, Quinnlin. I spent some time in the hospital trying to regain body functions. To this day I have issues with my left side and as a result became epileptic. I was told I should consider suing the hospital and the ambulance drivers but in the end Bill and I decided not to. We prefer working for what we have and anyway, it wouldn't do much good as the problems would still be there. The doctors surmised that I had been technically brain dead for anywhere between eight to ten minutes and for all intent and purposes, should not be alive. I have trouble with cognitive thinking, I no longer can understand to read a clock that is not digital and I have to see certain things before I can comprehend them.
For the first few months after my stroke, I would have as many as 40-60 seizures a month, breaking numerous fingers, toes, and glasses. Luckily, I never hurt any of my children, although I did find myself in some pretty interesting places with them without any memory of how we got there. I lost my drivers license and was on many terrible medicines that to me had more side effects than benefits. I finally stopped taking them as I needed to be there for our children. Bill had to explain to me about Bryce's death, which was something I had begun to dream of. It was almost like it had just happened and I had to go through all the grieving once more. I don't remember much of Quinnlin's first year of life like I would and sometimes I think he feels a bit cheated from my stories of the other kids. I do remember what a sweet soft baby he was though and I do remember how happy we were by the blessings of health that we received from him. He was extremely healthy and happy. I called him my Puppy as he was a big happy puppy whose warm embraced was felt by all he came into contact with. My siblings would call him the gentle giant or usually Oogie Boogie Ray.
He continues to grow, now taller than both his father and I and I cannot help but wonder if he will ever stop. He is also very muscular and strong. He's more serious than I would like at times but I'm very proud of his determination and the protectiveness he has over his family. Still occasionally he shows his silly side by doing crazy things fearlessly, such as walking down main street with a dread lock wig singing at the top of his lungs, and has probably climbed the roof of every house we have ever lived in. We continue to be surprised at the things he does and accomplish and hope we always will.