Chapter
11
Howie and
Kevin waited two more hours for news on Brian. Finally another doctor came in.
"My name
is Dr. Patricia Jackson," she said. "You two are with Brian Littrell,
right?"
"Yes,"
Kevin said. "I'm Kevin Richardson, and this is Howie Dorough."
"Nice to
meet you," Dr. Jackson said. "I am Brian's surgeon."
"How did
the operation go?" Howie asked.
"It went
well. We were able to remove the pole and close the wound," she said. The
two guys breathed sighs of relief. "Brian is one lucky guy," Dr.
Jackson continued. "The post went all the way through him, but it missed
his heart and his spinal cord. It would have been a lot worse than it is. But
it still is very serious. The post went straight through his right lung. We
tried to repair it, but it is severely injured. I have Brian on a respirator
right now to help him breathe. That is the most serious problem. His other
injuries are minor. He just had some broken ribs, which will heal with time,
and some cuts and abrasions from going through the window. We had to remove a
lot of glass from his skin."
"So he's
gonna be okay?" Kevin asked.
"Yes,
given time, I think he will recover. I can't promise you that he will get back
to performing anytime soon though. His lung is going to need a lot of time to
heal," Dr. Jackson explained.
"You know
who we are?" Howie asked, surprised when she had mentioned performing.
"Sure,"
she said with a smile. "My little girl loves you guys." Howie and
Kevin just grinned at each other.
"Thank
you very much, Dr. Jackson," Kevin said. "I'm sure we could schedule
a time to meet with your daughter when this is all over."
Dr. Jackson looked
surprised. "Well, thank you, boys. I know you must be very busy."
"Well,
not anymore," Kevin said, looking downcast.
"Well,
thank you anyway. I hope everything turns out okay for all of you," Dr.
Jackson said. Then she left the waiting room.
***
