Chapter 11
“Watkins…let
me see here.” The clerk looked at the monitor through her bifocals, scrunching
her eyes to focus. “Ah, here she is. Ciara Watkins.
She’s in room 346. Are you friend or family?”
“We’re
friends.”
“Then
you get a blue badge. Here you go. Fill out your names here and on this form.
It’s just for security purposes.”
Nick
and Kevin took the badges from the woman and quickly scribbled their names in
the appropriate spaces. Looking up nervously at the older man, Nick took a deep
breath, smacked his name badge on his chest and let out a huge whoosh of air.
“Okay…let’s do this.”
“You’ll
be okay, Nick. She’ll be okay.”
The
short elevator ride was silent, unless you could count the audible pounding of
Nick’s heart as noise. He was fidgety, antsy and just generally feeling
skittish. The nursing home was one thing, but hospitals? Ick. He hated them.
And when it was to see someone close to your age, well…it was just bad all
over.
The
Backstreet Boys had been touring schools and malls all over
He
stopped Kevin in the hall before they got to her door. “Hang on…I don’t feel so
good.”
“Nick,
it’s okay. I know this is a scary place, but she’s gonna be okay. Her mom would
have warned you if it was bad.”
Nick
leaned up against the wall and ran a hand through his hair, not completely
convinced of the words of his friend. Yes, friend. In these short months, Nick
had become accustomed to Kevin’s demands and Kevin had lightened up. A little.
Nick’s youth would constantly grate on the older man’s nerves, just as the
older man’s impatience with it would grate on Nick’s. But, somehow, it worked.
That’s why he’d asked Kevin to bring him to the hospital. He was used to the
scene and could help Nick deal with his fear, even if it meant being stern with
him about it.
“Okay…maybe
she’ll be sleeping anyway.”
Kevin
chuckled, “Yeah, could be. Come on, kid…she wants to see you.”
Nick
hesitantly pushed the door open, lightly knocking as he peeked in. “Ci? You awake?”
“Nicky!!
Get your skinny butt in here!”
Nick
turned back to Kevin, shock written all over his face. Kevin had to chuckle
again. “I told you she was okay…now get in there.” He gently pushed Nick into
the room and kept a fair distance behind him, not wanting to intrude on the
friends.
“Hey…you
look…
“Well,
thank you, dear. You look normal too. Come here…I brushed my teeth today…it’s
safe.” Nick finally felt comfortable enough to allow a smile to spread across
his face, and seeing that, made Ciara feel better than
she had in days.
“So,
if you look so good, then why are you here?”
“Well,
Nick, my stuff is hidden. Remember that lovely incident at Sea World?”
“Uh,
yeah…”
“By
the way, Kevin…” she looked up at the handsome man, trying to hide her total
embarrassment at the way she had treated him, “I owe you an apology. I was a
total bitch.”
“None
needed. I’m just glad you’re feeling better now. You know what? I’m gonna go
take a walk or something, let you two talk. Nick, I’ll be back in half hour or
so, okay?”
“Yeah,
okay…thanks, Kev.”
They
watched Kevin leave and Nick finally leaned down and took Ciara
in his skinny arms. “I was so worried about you! Why didn’t you call me?”
“Nick,
you’re working…and please don’t take offense, but you’re 13 years old. You don’t
need my crap.”
“Okay,
okay. But, well…never mind. So, why are you here if you seem to be okay?”
She
scooted over on her bed and flipped the sheets back. “Here, sit down with me.
Um, how do I explain?” Direct usually worked. “Okay, I started to spill ketones.”
Nick
hiked up on the tall bed, turning to face her completely. She even had street
clothes on. This was weird. “Ketones? Sounds like you
dropped a piano or something.”
“Key…tones…yeah,
I guess so.” She laughed at his wide eyed wonder. Too bad it was over something
so damned irritating and frankly, life threatening. “No, ketones
are waste products that come from broken down fats. Our bodies can’t take high
amounts of these and it gets rid of them through…well…through your pee.”
“Oh…ick.”
“It’s
not like passing a stone or anything. You can’t SEE ketones,
but you can test for it by testing your urine on a strip.”
“Oh,
like those strips we used to use in science class to find acid and stuff?”
“Exactly.
So, I had high amounts of them in my pee and that’s called ‘spilling ketones’. If that continues you can go into a coma because
the ketones will build up in your blood stream and
mess everything up.”
“A
coma? God, Ci…so, are you still…spilling…I mean…”
“No,
they got my blood sugar under control for now anyway. They’re just keeping me
here to try to figure out why it’s so out of control to begin with.”
“Your
mom said you had a fever too…is that part of these ketones?”
“No,
I had the stupid flu. But I was puking and stuff and that’s also a symptom of ketoacidosis, so that’s what made them rush me in here.”
“Keto-??”
He
was trying so hard, and dammit, this was confusing.
She smiled reassuringly at him, holding his hands as she talked. “Ketoacidosis. Kinda like poisoning with ketones.”
“Oh.
Wow. So, how come you had too many ketones anyway?
Your blood sugar caused it?”
“Yep.
My insulin was too low, so instead of using glucose to burn fuel, or sugar in a
way, it broke down fats and used that.”
“OH!
I get it, the broken down fats made too many ketones
and so…”
“You’ve
got it. The fun came in when I also would dip in my blood sugar. I’d go from
say 350 to 24 in no time flat. It was totally backward.”
“What’s
normal? Like, what should mine be?”
“Do
you want to find out?”
“Yeah,
sure…how do you do that?”
“Let
me check to get permission. I have to prick your finger…is that okay?”
Nick’s
eyes bulged but he conceded. “Okay, yeah…if you do it, I can do it.”
Ciara called in a nurse, one she knew
already from orientation at school, and asked for permission to use the
hospital’s monitor to check Nick’s sugar…to show him. It was typically against
protocol, but Sandi agreed, with the assurance that if caught they’d keep her
out of it. “Do NOT get me in trouble, Ci.”
“I
won’t…I won’t.” Ciara hopped off the bed and picked
up a machine that looked like a tape duplicator Nick had seen before in
studios.
“Okay,
this thing is huge compared to what I use at home. They won’t let me test it
myself…unless Sandi’s on. Pisses me off.”
“Why
not?”
“I
have no idea. It’s not like I’ve been doing this for close to ten years or
anything.” She opened a drawer in the front of the machine and pulled out a
small white piece of plastic. It just looked like a piece to one of his models
or something. “Okay, give me your hand, palm up.”
Nick
reached out his hand and she took hold of it looking up to his eyes one more
time to make sure he was ready for it. “Which finger do you want me to poke?”
“Um,
I don’t care, just tell me first.”
“Okay,
I’ll do your middle finger here. This has a little razor on the end. It’ll feel
like a shot and then a pain might dart up your arm. Then it’ll be over, okay?”
Nick
grimaced and sucked in his breath, holding it in. Closing his eyes, he chirped
out a reply. “Ready.”
“One…two…THREE!”
She quickly poked him and he sucked in the last bit of breath he could get,
slowly opening his eyes when he realized it wasn’t all that bad.
“Oh…that’s
it?”
“Yep,
that’s it. Okay, now squeeze your finger to make the blood pool up there. You
need a good drop.”
As
Nick worked on his finger, he had to ask, “You do this everyday?”
“Yeah,
a few times actually. Especially now that I’ve been so out of whack.”
“Yuck.
Don’t your fingers get sore?”
“They’ve
built up calluses and sometimes I use my earlobe or even a toe.” Looking at his
progress, she gingerly took his hand in hers again. “Okay, that’s good, now
real carefully, put the drop on the center of this dot on the strip here.”
He
did as asked and she stuck the strip in the machine. “Now we wait a few seconds
and we’ll see what your blood sugar level is.”
“And
mine is normal?” He looked down at his finger, seeing it still bleeding. “Uh, Ci…”
“Eh,
just suck on it. It’ll quit. And, let’s hope it’s normal. I don’t think I could
deal with you as a roomie.” She winked at her young
friend and leaned forward to read the number on the machine.
“90.
Perfect. Dead on center.”
“So,
what’s high and what’s low?”
“
“And
yours?”
“All
over the place. Last check today I was at 132, which is decent for me.”
Nick
picked up the machine and returned it to the window sill. “You use one of these
everyday?”
“Well,
I use a monitor, but mine’s more the size of a Game Boy. I keep it in my purse
usually.”
Nick
nodded in understanding, still sucking on his now sore finger. “So, how much
longer will you be here?”
“Hopefully
until tomorrow. There is no sense in me being here anymore. I don’t know why
they’ve kept me this long.”
“We
leave tomorrow.”
“For?”
“All
over the place.” He smiled at his mimicked words and sat back down on the bed.
“We’re traveling everywhere trying to get our faces out there; our names
known.”
“You
excited?”
“Yeah,
I really am. We’re getting better and better with every show and Kevin doesn’t
scare me so much anymore.”
“I
don’t, huh? Well, I’d better do something to change that then!”
Kevin
walked in with none other than Lindsey on his arm. “Hey, girl…I hear you’re breakin’ out tomorrow.”
******~~~~~~******~~~~~~
“So,
what the heck is goin’ on between you and Kevin?”
Lindsey
smiled coyly. “What do you THINK is goin’ on?”
“Well,
I obviously have no clear idea, smart ass. I know that since the hospital you
talk about him all the time and every time they’re home you’re with him at least
once, and you’re acting goofy. Otherwise, I’m clueless.”
“You’re
always clueless…he’s great. We have fun. Thank you for introducing us.”
“No
problem. How serious is this?”
Lindsey
said nothing. She innocently popped a French fry in her mouth and pretended to
eye ball a very interesting stuffed animal on a nearby kiosk. “You ready to go?
I wanna hit Limited yet.”
“You’re
going to ignore me…nice.”
“What
exactly do you want to know, Ci…just because your
love life is dead, doesn’t mean I have to fill the gap for you with mine.”
“Love
life? So this IS serious…have you slept with him????”
“Is
that a problem?” Lindsey got up from the table at the food court and pulled her
friend along with her, grabbing the tray along the way. “Come on, Miss Nosey.”
“No,
it’s not a PROBLEM, but…I mean, they’re never home, and if things go right,
they never will be.”
“Yeah,
I know that, but I’m in school and don’t have time for a 24/7 relationship
anyway. For now it works.”
“God…you’re
nuts.”
“At
least I’m willing to open up to someone. More than I can say for you.”
Ciara stopped walking, “What the hell is
THAT supposed to mean?”
“You
have to ask? Come on…people are gonna walk into us here…keep moving.”
“Yes,
I have to ask. My God, Pat and I split only months ago. I’m not ready to open
up yet.”
“And
the way you’re acting, you never will.”
“We
tried, Linds. We did. But, he just couldn’t walk away from that girl. She was
carrying his kid…even though it was one time, one night. He couldn’t leave her.
I had to let him go, but…he was my life.”
“At
18, no guy should be your life, Ci. It’s like he took
your heart right along with him.”
“He
did.”
“So,
now…now you offer it to no one?”
“I
don’t know, Linds. I have my health and school to worry about now. I can’t see
very well half the time. They’re thinking surgery. There’s other stuff I’m not
ready to talk about yet and all I wanna do is be a nurse. I can’t mess with men
right now. I can’t give myself away.”
“Don’t
you see you have so much to offer someone, Ci?”
“Don’t
you see that I don’t?”
***
