She stared at the beige wall in front of her, oblivious to the ringing phones, constant chatter and clanging sodas in the vending machine.
Friday was the third day of waiting and her body and mind were worn.
She has an ill husband at home and her son, Memphis Fire recruit James A. Coleman, 41, has been in a coma down the hall from her in Methodist North Hospital's intensive care unit since Tuesday night.
He collapsed during an eight-hour "survival training" session firefighters call "Hell Night." He's been in critical condition since then.
She usually sees him only during visiting hours, which are for 30 minutes, four times a day.
But she and other family members saw him for a few minutes during non-visiting hours when his eyes fluttered a little.
Doctors haven't told them what's wrong with him.
Fire officials haven't told them what happened.
"I don't know anything about the training," said Barbara Coleman, 63. "All I know is my son's in a coma."
Memphis Fire Director Richard Arwood has said Coleman collapsed during training and had a health problem that didn't show up on a medical test.
Barbara Coleman spent all but Thursday night in the room of couches and tables, vending machines, brewing coffee machines, a television playing CNN and plants that needed to be watered.
At times, she tried to rest on a plastic-covered couch, just small enough that her feet would hang over if she lay down.
Sometimes she goes home, about 20 minutes away, to check on her husband and shower.
But there is always someone there waiting for her son to wake up. Family members visit in shifts.
"My main concern is him getting well," she said. "Only mothers know how it is."
Karen Coleman, his 23-year-old sister, calls relatives on her cell phone to give updates about his condition, mostly that it hasn't changed.
She waits with her mom and other relatives. Sometimes they sit on the couches, other times in the waiting room's kitchen.
"My brother was a good man," Karen Coleman said. "He was a good family man. And I don't believe he deserved what happened to him."
He has a 3-year-old daughter, Jamesha Coleman, and an 11-year-old son, James A. Coleman Jr.
He'd do anything, including work two jobs at times, to provide for his family, Karen Coleman said.
In the past few years he's worked as a Shelby County deputy jailer, at FedEx and Technicolor. He applied to the Memphis Fire Academy in 1999.
"He had a passion for becoming a fireman," his sister said.
Family members said they don't understand how this happened, how someone so strong could be on his back in intensive care.
"He never had any health problems," Barbara Coleman said. "I don't know anything that happened.
"All we can do is pray."
