Chapter
28
Brian's eyes
slowly opened again as he heard the door open and footsteps approach his
bed. He tried to turn his head towards the source of the sound, but found
it nearly impossible because he was so weak. A few seconds later, a
smiling face came into his line of vision.
"Hello,
Brian. I'm Dr. Adele and I will be taking care of you during your stay at
this hospital. Right now I'm going to take out your breathing tube and
see if you can breath on your own, and if you can then we will leave it out and
if not we will put it back in," said Dr. Adele as he got a hold of the
tube and gently pulled it out of Brian's throat.
The first few
seconds, Brian gasped for air, then his lungs started to cooperate and he began
to breath on his own as a coughing fit took over his weak body. Dr. Adele
gently turned Brian over on his side and rubbed his back reassuringly as the
body shaking coughs took their course. He then watched the heart monitors
and seen Brian's blood pressure and heart rate had gone up and the heart beat
became irregular. He talked to Brian to get him to calm down and not
cause so much strain on his heart and after a few moments, the levels slowly
began to drop.
Thankful that
the levels were going down, Dr. Adele patted Brian on the shoulder as Brian
watched his every move with innocent blue eyes. Dr. Adele smiled and
asked Brian if he wanted to see his family and friends. Brian nodded as
fast as he could in his weak state, and Dr. Adele told him to please wait a few
moments. He then stepped out of the room and went to the ICU waiting
room. Looking around the room, he quickly found the large group of
Brian's family and friends and started walking towards them.
Brian's mother
was the first to notice him and ran over towards him. When she reached
him she looked up at him with tear-filled blue eyes and she asked, "How is
my baby, doctor?"
Dr.
Adele placed a hand on her shoulder and gently lead her to a seat He sat
down across from Brian's aunt and parents squeezing himself in between Tim and
Kevin. He cleared his throat and looked around to find 9 anxious pairs of eyes
staring at him. He smiled and said, "He is conscious, and we took
the breathing tubes out. At first he couldn't breath on his own, but his
lungs finally kicked in, and he started breathing by himself. And he
started coughing badly from the pneumonia in his body, and his heart beat
became irregular, and the blood pressure and heart rate also increased. His
heart beat is still irregular but it is better than it was before. Any
questions so far?"
"Is there
any brain damage?" asked Harold as he took his wife's hand in his, fearing
the worse.
Dr. Adele
sighed and looked at them, "We haven't done testing to be absolutely sure
but there is a chance there might be slight brain damage from such a long time
without oxygen going to his brain. He seems to be alert, but I'm not
saying he doesn't have brain damage, we will have to do more tests first thing
in the morning, but in the meantime if you all would like, I will take you to
his room so you can stay with him awhile. I have talked to the nurses
earlier and told them to let you stay past visiting hours."
Harold rose to
his feet along with his wife and shook the doctor's hand. "Thank you so
much Dr. Adele. This really means a lot to us."
Dr. Adele
smiled at Mr. Littrell and said, "You're very welcome Mr. Littrell.
Now if you all will please follow me to his room." The rest of the
group silently rose to their feet and followed the doctor down the ICU halls to
the ICU room which would become all too familiar to them in the future.