Chapter
24
Four hours later, exhausted, Dr. Fergeson removed her surgical
gown and gloves. The surgery was over,
and it had gone successfully. Now came
the waiting part. Waiting to see if
Nick’s body would accept Nate’s liver or not.
As Nick was taken into recovery, Dr. Fergeson walked slowly to the
surgical waiting room to talk to Nick’s family and friends again.
“How did it go?” one of the young men asked as soon as she walked
into the room. Dr. Fergeson didn’t
remember his name, but he was obviously Nick’s best friend and always seemed to
be there at the hospital with him.
“As far as I know, it was a success,” she said. “But Nick’s not out of the woods yet. We have to make sure that his body doesn’t
reject the liver. He’s in recovery right
now, and after a couple hours, we’ll move him back to ICU, in an isolated room,
designed to keep germs and bacteria out.
You see, because of the immune suppressant drugs Nick’s on now to keep
his body from rejecting the liver, he’s much more susceptible to germs. A simple infection could cause disaster, so
we have to keep him away from germs.”
They all nodded.
“Thank you so much, Dr. Fergeson,” Jane said gratefully.
“When can we see Nick?” one of the other men asked, the one with
spiky, dyed hair, who always seemed to be wearing sunglasses, the one who had
been with Nick the very first time he had been brought into the ER.
“Unfortunately, you and your other friends won’t be able to see
Nick for some time. As long as he’s in
isolation, only family members can visit him,” Dr. Fergeson said.
“Oh. Okay,” the man said.
“I’m sorry, but it’s hospital policy,” Dr. Fergeson said.
“I understand,” the man replied.
AJ was feeling a little nicer towards Dr. Fergeson. She hadn’t been the nicest earlier, when Nick
had first been diagnosed, but now she had just saved Nick’s life. And that made her a goddess, in AJ’s book.
***
By the next day, Saturday, Nick’s condition had improved
greatly. He was pale, but the yellowness
to his skin had vanished overnight. He
still was very gaunt and fragile looking, but everyone knew that he would gain
weight and strength back as he recovered.
Jane had camped out in the waiting room the night before, while
Bob had driven the other kids back to Nick’s house to sleep. Jane had awaken in the morning, after only
sleeping a few hours, and had immediately gone to Nick’s room, hoping that he
would wake up.
She had slept restlessly in one of the chairs the night before,
and she had wanted to go check on Nick.
But each time she asked a nurse if she could see him, she was told that
he wasn’t allowed to have visitors yet.
Finally, she had fallen asleep and slept until morning.
Now, she was hoping she could finally see her son. She had seen no sign of Dr. Fergeson yet that
morning, and she wanted to talk to her, to ask how Nick was doing. After waiting around awhile to see if the
doctor would show up, Jane wandered down to the nurses’ station.
“Excuse me,” she said to one of the nurses. “Is Dr. Fergeson here yet today?”
“Oh, no, she’s not, ma’am,” the nurse replied. “I doubt she’ll be in at all today.” The nurse hesitated then added sadly, “There
was a death in her family last night.”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Jane said.
“It’s just that my son’s a patient of hers, and I was wanting to talk to
her.”
“Oh. Well, I’m sorry she’s
not here. Is there anything I could help
you with?” the nurse asked.
“Well, do you think I could see my son? He had surgery late last night, and I haven’t
been able to get in to see him yet,” Jane explained.
“I’ll check. What’s his
name?” the nurse asked.
“Nickolas Carter,” Jane replied.
The nurse typed Nick’s name onto one of the computers at the
station. “It says here that he’s in
isolation, but that he can have visitors, as long as they’re just family
members.”
Jane nodded. “Does it say
what his room number is?” she asked.
“Yes. Room 412. I’ll show you to it, if you want,” the nurse
offered.
“Oh, that would be great.
Thanks,” Jane said.
“No problem,” the nurse said, coming around from behind the
desk. She led Jane down the hall to the
door of Room 412, which had a sign that read “Isolation” on it. The nurse opened the door and peeked in. “Okay, you can go on in,” she said.
“Thank you,” Jane said again, and stepped into the room.
She walked slowly in, gazing around. The room was all white and sterile, with a
bed in the center, and many different machines and equipment surrounding
it. In the bed, Nick lay, flat on his back,
tubes coming out of his body from various areas, attached to the machinery that
stood around him.
Jane noticed a chair pushed up against one wall, and she dragged
it over to Nick’s bed so she could sit down beside him. When she did so, and got a better look at
him, she left relieved, for he did look better than when she had seen him the
night before. Still very sickly looking,
but better. Jane just hoped he would
continue to recover without any complications.
***
