Chapter
10
Howie's heart
sunk. "What is it?" he asked softly, almost afraid to hear the
answer.
"Well,
he's alive, but he's in a coma. He suffered a massive head trauma in the
accident. Right now, he can't breathe on his own. We have him on a respirator,
as well as a number of other machines."
"Is he
going to be all right?" Kevin asked.
"It's too
soon to tell," Dr. Mitchell said. "We have to run some more tests on
him to see the amount of damage done. Right now, we aren't even sure if he will
wake up from the coma. Even if he does wake up, I can't promise you he will
ever be "all right". He could have brain damage." Kevin felt
tears well up in his eyes, but he blinked them back, not wanting Dr. Mitchell
to see him cry.
"And what
about Brian?" Howie asked.
"Brian
has just been taken to the OR, so the doctors can remove the pole and see how
much damage was done. I'll update you on his and Miss Carter's condition when
they get out of surgery."
"Okay,"
Howie said. "Thank you, Dr. Mitchell." Dr. Mitchell walked away, and
Howie and Kevin sat back down. Howie looked at Kevin and saw that he was losing
his composure. He said nothing, but put his arm around him, offering silent
comfort to his friend.
***
Two hours
later, another doctor approached them.
"Hello,
my name is Dr. Mark Baker," he said, smiling at them. "Are you two
Howie Dorough and Kevin Richardson?" Howie and Kevin nodded and introduced
themselves. "I just finished operating on Angel," Dr. Baker said.
"How is
she?" Kevin asked.
"Well,
the glass cut into her abdomen quite deeply. It hit her liver, but not too bad.
We managed to repair that. But it damaged her stomach and small intestines
pretty badly. We tried out best to patch up the wounds, but it might be a long
time before it heals enough for her to eat solid food again. There was also
some internal bleeding, which we stopped."
"Is she
going to be okay?" Howie asked.
"Yes,
she's going to live, if that's what you mean. She'll probably have to have more
surgeries in the future on her stomach and intestines though, depending on how
well they heal."
"Okay,"
Howie said, relieved that Angel was going to be okay eventually. "Thank
you."
"You're
welcome," Dr. Baker said, smiling at them as he walked away.
***