Chapter
27
By Rachel
The
group silently made their way back to the waiting room with heavy hearts as
they silently prayed that Brian would be all right.
Brian's
brother and his father led Brian's sobbing mother to the waiting room and to a
chair to sit down in.
As
soon as Brian's brother, Harold, sat down, Nick's little brother Aaron crawled
in his lap. Harold offered him a small
grin and returned the hug that Aaron had just given him.
Within
minutes, the peaceful breathing of the small boy indicated that he was asleep
and it was about that time that Dr. Collins entered the room. Harold watched sleepily as the doctor
approached Howie and seconds later was making his way towards where he and his
family sat.
"Mrs. Richardson?" the doctor
questioned when he stopped in front of his aunt Ann. Ann nodded and by that time everyone's once
wavering attention was now set on the doctor.
"Your son was just moved to a private room a few minutes ago and is
allowed visitors now. The scans show
that he has a severe concussion but he should be fine," Dr. Collins said as he looked at the charts in
front of him. "I'm allowing four
people at a time to visit him since it is a private regular patient room,"
he finished and looked around at the occupants of the waiting room.
Ann
nodded and got up from her seat and Harold watched as both his mother and
father stood also. He smiled at BJ as
she came up to him and took Aaron in her arms so Harold could get up and see
his cousin. He solemnly followed the
doctor and his family down the hall to the elevator and let out a sigh as the
waiting room disappeared from his sight.
***
Jane
and Bob Carter sat silently by their son's bedside for what seemed like hours
but in reality were only minutes. The
only sounds in the room were the sounds of all the monitors and machines that
were keeping their son alive and the rattling sound that was heard every time
Nick breathed.
All
of a sudden a soft knock was heard at the door and a young nurse stepped in.
"Hi, I'm Becky. Dr. Collins sent me
in to check Nickolas' temperature and
vitals," the young nurse said as she put a digital thermometer into Nick's
ear. Seconds later she pulled the
thermometer out and frowned when she wrote down the numbers that registered on
the thermometer.
"Is
there anything wrong?" asked Nick's mother in a fearful voice.
"His
temperature has gone up slightly, and by looking at the monitor I can tell his
heart rate is slowing down, and I hear his breathing is becoming more
labored. I'm going to have Dr. Collins
paged so he can check Nickolas out thoroughly, but the bad thing is you will
have to leave the room," Becky said sympathetically. Both Nick's parents nodded and leaned over,
giving their son a kiss on his hot forehead and followed the nurse out of the
room.
***
Harold
quickly and quietly followed his family and the doctor down the hospital halls
after stepping off of the elevator.
On the way up to the floor where his cousin's
room was at, the elevator stopped on the floor where the OR was and Harold was
tempted to run out of the elevator and run to the OR to see his brother, but he
knew it would do no good to try it so he didn't.
While
he was thinking, the doctor and his family suddenly stopped and Harold ran
right into his dad and sheepishly grinned. "Sorry Dad," he said as
his dad gave him a tired smile and rolled his eyes jokingly at his oldest son.
The doctor slowly opened the door and everyone
entered the mid-sized private room. In
the bed Kevin was asleep, or so it appeared, and Dr. Collins approached the bed
gently shaking him awake. Several
moments later when Kevin opened his eyes, he was engulfed in a hug by his
mother and he graciously returned the hug when he pulled away he saw the
tearstains on the faces of his mother and aunt.
"What's
wrong? Why have you all been crying?" asked Kevin with panic in his
voice. Everyone looked around the room
and didn't say a word. Finally Dr.
Collins spoke.
"Well we had some trouble in the ICU
unit," he started.
"Oh
my god, is it Nicky or Brian?"
Kevin asked, his green eyes wide with concern and terror.
Dr. Collins nodded and took in a deep breath,
"Yes, it was Brian. Brian's blood
pressure dropped significantly and we discovered his abdomen was full of blood,
and just as we were going to wheel him off to surgery again, he flat lined, and
we finally got him back after several tries.
He is in the OR now being operated on," finished Dr. Collins. Kevin looked around the room with tear filled
eyes and his eyes finally rested on the doctor.
"How
could you?" he hissed. "You
said he would be alright after the surgery. What the hell happened?" Kevin
then yelled.
Dr. Collins jumped back suddenly from the
shock of the outburst and was about to answer when a loud voice came over the
intercom system, "Dr. Collins you are needed in the ICU unit, Dr. Collins
you are needed in the ICU unit. Thank
you."
Dr.
Collins ran towards the door as he looked over his shoulder and said, "I'm
sorry about this folks but I'm needed in ICU as you just heard. Kevin, we will continue this conversation
later. Hopefully by that time Brian will
be out of surgery. Have me paged if you
need anything," he said as he quietly closed the door.
"Mom?"
Kevin said in a choked voice. "I
hope you all don't think I'm rude, but can I please have a few moments
alone?" Ann nodded and gave her
youngest
son's
hand a squeeze as she got up and walked towards the door with her brother and
his family.
"See
you later Kevin," Harold quietly said to his older cousin. Kevin nodded and gave a small grin as they
all walked out the door. As soon as the
door clicked shut, the watergates opened, and Kevin begin to sob. Just when he thought things may actually be
working good, everything turned to worse, and he didn't know how much more he
could take.
***
