Читать книгу The Cabin at the End of Herrick Road - Derek Wachter - Страница 8

Chapter 3

The Day Their Lives Changed Forever

The sliding glass doors opened as she drew near them, and Christina found herself running as best as she could in the boots she was wearing through the front doors of the hospital and up to the emergency room front desk. She looked around the emergency room lobby area to see if she could find her husband maybe waiting patiently in the seating area to be called to come back to an available room, but she didn’t see Matt anywhere.

“Hello, yes, I’m Christina Carter,” said Christina to the front desk receptionist. “My husband is Matt Carter. He was brought here from an auto accident just a short time ago.”

“Hold on one moment, ma’am. Let me check,” said the desk clerk, as she rummaged through some paperwork at the desk. The receptionist flipped through a sheet of papers on a clipboard at the desk, moving one sheet of paper after another until she came to Matt’s paperwork.

“Okay, I do see that name, and do you have photo identification, ma’am?” said the clerk.

Christina set her purse down on the counter and began to rummage through it. Finding her wallet she took out her driver’s license to show the receptionist. The receptionist took the identification, turned around, and scanned a copy, and then turned back around, handing the identification back to Christina.

“Matt is in emergency room number 9, through those doors right there. I’ll just have you sign in on this sign-in sheet and you should be good to go. I’ll also open the door for you from here. Once you go through those doors, room 9 is down the hallway to your immediate right, straight in front of you,” said the receptionist.

“Thank you. Is he doing all right?” asked Christina.

“Ma’am, I don’t know, they don’t share with us any information on how a patient is doing. I’m sorry. I wish I knew more for you.”

Christina left the front desk and ran toward the emergency room doors. The doors opened when she got close enough, and she ran through the double set of doors into a scene of absolute medical chaos—medical staff moving about from room to room, nurses and doctors chatting and charting notes in the hallway, children and loved ones waiting outside the room doors. Their children screamed and cried while adults talked and yelled around one another. The sounds of medical machines emanating from each emergency room that was covered by a fabric curtain filled the hallways with beeps, dial tones, and a variety of all sorts of noises. Christina worked her way around large groups of people, random medical machines, and hospital staff throughout the cluttered emergency room hallway until she got to room 9. Christina stopped in front of the curtain and braced herself to what she was about to see, as she pulled back the curtain and walked in.

There in a hospital bed she saw her husband, Matt. He was hooked up to a breathing machine that helped pump oxygen into his lungs. Bruises garnished his face, as well as his left arm—the only parts of his body visible from atop the bed sheet. Matt also wore a neck brace that immobilized him from freely moving his neck. Matt was asleep, and Christina had seen enough medical shows on TV to know that the beeping sound the machine next to his bed was making indicated that Matt was still alive and still presenting with a heartbeat. Christina walked up to Matt’s side and talked into his ear.

“Matt, baby. Matt, can you hear me? It’s your wife, Christina. Matt?” said Christina as she fought back tears.

“He can’t hear you right now, ma’am,” said a commanding voice behind her.

Christina turned around to see a tall, balding man with a white beard in a white lab coat standing behind her now. She looked down toward his badge on the breast pocket of his lab coat: Dr. Jeff Kilbowski, MD.

“What do you mean?” asked Christina.

“For his own good, Matt has been sedated at this time. Are you Christina, his wife?” asked Dr. Kilbowski.

“Yes, sir, I am,” replied Christina.

“Are you his POA?”

“POA?”

“Power of attorney. Can you make health care decisions for him?”

“Oh, yes. Yes, I can, sir.”

“Most spouses are, but I just wanted to be sure. Please sit down with me.”

Christina found a chair along the wall at the foot of Matt’s bed she sat in, and Dr. Kilbowski sat in the other next to her. Dr. Kilbowksi started explaining the situation to her.

“Christina, Matt has some internal bleeding that we need to stop as quickly as possible before his condition becomes critical, but believe me, I feel that he got down here in good amount of time where I feel that we can certainly do that, but the longer we wait the worse it gets. It’s difficult to say the extent of the damage from the accident until we get in and actually see what is going on inside of his body and what damages he sustained. Another doctor, Dr. Ho, is also going to join to assist in the surgery to stop the internal bleeding. Right now, Dr. Ho is preparing for his surgery, and after we finish talking I’m going to do the same and we’re going to do what we can as medical professionals to save your husband’s life. At this time do you have any questions, Christina?”

Christina was worried at the sound of having surgery and doctors indicating that they were going to do their best to save her husband’s life. Christina had a hard time coming up with any questions to ask the doctor at this time. All she could think about was her husband and making sure he had the medical help that he needed.

“No, sir, I can’t think of anything right now. I just need some time to think. Please do what you can to save his life though.”

“Very good, please come with me. The nurse will need to ask you some questions, fill out some paperwork, and this will give us the chance to bring him back into surgery.”

Christina followed the doctor out of the room to the emergency room’s nurse station.

“Amber? Amber!” said the doctor as he approached the nurse’s fishbowl area—a large, rounded area with desks and medical staff where nurses typed their notes and gathered their information from family members. Christina looked and saw a nurse dressed in blue scrubs who ran out from a group of nurses charting notes—a younger woman who looked as if she was fresh out of college and dropped into the position the day after she had graduated.

“Yes, Dr. Kilbowski?” said Amber.

“Amber, this is Christina Carter. She is the wife to Matt in emergency room 9. We’re preparing to take Matt back into emergency surgery to stop internal bleeding from his accident. Can you sit with Christina for a bit to have her fill out admission paperwork as well as insurance forms and any other paperwork that the hospital will need to have on file please, while Dr. Ho and I go into surgery? We received verbal permission to begin operating, so we feel that it’s in Matt’s best interest that we start sooner rather than later.”

“Of course, Doctor,” said Amber. “Right this way, Mrs. Carter.”

“Christina, everything is going to be all right. Please do not worry too much. I’m sure you are, but Dr. Ho and I will do our best and give him the best care that we can,” said Dr. Kilbowski.

“All right, thank you for all you’re doing, Doctor. How long do you think you will be in surgery for?”

“It’s too hard to tell, Christina, until we go in and see what is going on internally. You may however wait in the waiting room on the third floor. I believe room 309 is being prepped for him to stay in, but I will know more for sure after surgery. I will look for you on the third floor.”

The doctor smiled, patted Christina on the shoulder, turned, and walked away, while Christina turned to follow Amber to a side counseling room. Before going into the counseling room, Amber reached into a metal filing cabinet in the fishbowl area and grabbed a folder filled with paperwork.

“Right this way, Mrs. Carter,” said Amber, as she led Christina to a room which looked like at one point it used to be a janitor’s closet for the emergency room—very small, very cramped, and with a small round table in the middle surrounded by four chairs. Amber and Christina sat adjacent to one another in the room. Christina sat down at the table and nervously fiddled with her fingernails, clicking them on the tabletop, while Amber went back to grab a working pen. Amber came back and shut the glass door behind her. Amber sat down in a chair and opened the folder.

“Okay, Mrs. Carter,” said Amber.

“You can call me Christina, it’s okay,” said Christina.

“Okay, Christina. So welcome to the Capital Medical Center. I wish we could have met under different circumstances, but your husband is going to get the most skilled medical service in the Olympia area. Now, usually prior to receiving these services, we have this paperwork filled out, but under the circumstances that your husband Matt needs an immediate surgery, Doctor opted to get the surgery done first. So I am going to go over hospital admission paperwork with you—insurance forms, release of information forms, release of responsibility forms, as well as forms that will tell us more about your family and Matt’s family as well,” said Amber.

“Okay, that is fine. Go on,” said Christina.

Amber went over all the forms in the admissions packet to the Capital Medical Center. Christina signed all the forms out for the hospital to proceed in administering cares for Matt, including the emergency surgery. Once all the forms were filled out and Amber was finished explaining the forms to Christina, Amber organized the signed forms back into the folder and stood up from the table.

“Okay, Christina. We are finished here. Do you have any questions for me?” asked Amber.

“No, no, I don’t. I’ll just wait until the doctor comes back and updates me on what is going on,” replied Christina.

“All right then, would you like to follow me now? I can take you to the waiting area,” asked Amber.

“Sure, where are we going?” asked Christina.

“To a waiting room. You can make phone calls to family there if you’d like to.”

“Okay. Dr. Kilbowski said that Matt would probably be taken up to the third floor?”

“It looks that way, Christina. We haven’t got a room finalized yet, but it looks like they are going to shoot for room 309.”

“Okay, thank you, Amber.”

“Do you want to wait in the surgery waiting room or up on the third floor?”

“I can wait in surgery.”

“Okay, follow me then.”

Amber walked Christina to a large-sized waiting area with a child’s play section, TV’s throughout the room, and large leather chairs for people to sit and wait for the update on their loved one’s outcome to their surgery. Amber directed Christina to have a seat wherever she would like. Christina thanked Amber for her time, and Amber left, walking back through the double set of doors they had just come through and back toward the chaos of the emergency room wing of the hospital. Christina clutched her purse to her side and found a chair in the corner of the waiting area to sit in. In that moment though, Christina felt completely isolated and alone, tears began to well up in her eyes as she sat down in a comfortable tan leather seat. Her thoughts were completely consumed on the outcome of her husband Matt’s surgery. The man she fell in love with in college and shared so few of experiences with thus far, was now on an operating table with his life in the hands of a doctor—with Matt’s life in the hands of a doctor. Then Christina had the thought about the possibility of Matt maybe not making it out of surgery. What if he died? Where would she go? What would she do? Christina fumbled through her purse to find a Kleenex. She found a tissue that she dabbed her eyes and dried her face with. She then looked through her purse and found her cellphone. She unlocked it and made a phone call. The phone rang twice when it was answered.

“Hello?” said the voice on the other end.

“Hi, Mom,” said Christina.

“Chris, hi. How are you? What’s going on?” asked her mom.

“Well, I’m not doing too good. Matt is in the hospital.”

“What?”

“Matt. He was in an accident and he’s in the hospital right now.”

“Oh, dear.”

“Yeah, he was in a car accident this afternoon and they had to do an emergency surgery to stop some internal bleeding they said, but I don’t have any more information other than that.”

“Well, I will certainly pray for him. I’ll tell your dad too. How are you doing, baby? Are you okay?”

Christina started to tear up again on the phone but took a deep breath and gathered herself and said, “I’ll be okay, Mom. Thanks for your prayers. Can you let others in the family know for me please? I just need some time to myself to think.”

“Sure. I will make a call to your aunt and uncle in Gig Harbor and your sister in Selah.”

“Thank you. I love you, Mom.”

“I love you too, sweetheart. Call me if you need me. Anytime…day or night, okay?”

“Okay, Mom. Thank you. Goodbye.”

Christina ended the phone call and made another call to her boss, Mr. Klemme. Mr. Klemme was more than understanding and wished her the best and hopes that her husband, Matt, would be all right. After speaking with Mr. Klemme about being gone the rest of the day and into tomorrow from work, she placed her phone back into her purse. She didn’t know who else there was to call now other than friends, and even then, what would she tell them and what could they do for her? Hearing her mom, a devout Lutheran woman, say that she was going to pray for Matt was good enough, she guessed. Christina wiped away another trail of tears that ran down the right side of her face as she leaned back in the black leather chair. Clutching her purse to her chest, Christina closed her eyes and, among the children playing in the play area, nurses and families talking out loud, and TV’s playing in the background, she fell asleep.

*****

Christina felt a hand on her shoulder, shaking her gently. She slowly opened her eyes and looked around her. She was still in the hospital waiting room. Looking at the windows outside, it was now dark. There were less people in the waiting room now, the children all gone from the play area. The sounds of the TV were the only noise in the room. She rubbed her eyes with the backs of her hands and looked in front of her to see Dr. Kilbowski standing in front of her, his arm outstretched and his hand on her shoulder, shaking her awake. Disoriented for a moment, Christina looked up at the clock on the wall that now read 8:50 p.m. It was already night. She had slept in this leather chair for nearly six full hours.

“Christina, I need to talk to you,” said the doctor, sitting in the chair next to her.

“All right,” replied Christina. Fear griped Christina in the moment. Choking the life out of her, Christina simply expected the worst—that Matt had died in surgery.

“Christina, there’s no easy way of telling you this. The surgery was somewhat of a success. We did stop a great deal of internal bleeding, and Matt will survive after recovering. Thank god your husband is B positive. It’s easy for us to get B blood here on this side of the state. However, there is some bad news I have to share with you though.”

Christina listened intently to the doctor.

“While we were in surgery, we observed that a portion of the nerve fibers in the lower spinal column, in the L3 and L2 vertebrae, are damaged beyond medical repair. The nerves were severed from the accident as well.”

“What does that mean?” asked Christina.

“Christina, it means that your husband is going to experience lower extremities paralysis for the rest of his life.”

“What?”

“Your husband is not going to be able to walk again for the rest of his life.”

The news hit Christina like a ton of bricks. Emotions set in, hitting her all at one moment. Christina began to tear up.

“No, that’s not possible! That’s not possible!” said Christina. Burying her face into her hands, she began to sob uncontrollably. Dr. Kilbowski, with nothing more to say, wrapped his arm around Christina’s shoulders and gave her a hug. Christina continued to sob into her hands.

“Christina, when you are ready, Matt is in room 309 on the third floor. He’s sleeping and still under the effects of the anesthesia. But you are certainly welcome to go to his room and visit him now.”

After that, Dr. Kilbowski stood up and walked away, back through the doors leading through to the emergency room and back into the hospital. Christina was devastated from the news. What was she to do now? Christina gathered herself and stood up from her chair. Wiping tears from her face and her eyes, she stooped over and picked up her purse from the chair. She checked to see if her phone was in her purse. Finding her phone, she slung her purse over her shoulder and began to walk but felt faint. She sat back down in the chair and took some deep breaths. Never before had she felt so helpless and isolated. After gathering her wits about her, she stood up and walked out of the waiting room area, toward the elevator that led up to the hospital rooms. Christina pushed the arrow-up button to get the elevator to come down and pick her up. The elevator came to life and came down to the first floor. The doors opened, and a man in a wheelchair exited the elevator with a nurse pushing him from behind. Christina stopped in her tracks and watched the man for a moment, wheel out of the elevator and down the first-floor hallway toward the cafeteria area of the hospital. Christina watched the man and nurse for a moment until they disappeared around the corner of the hallway and out of sight. Christina then walked into the elevator. Pushing the third floor button, the doors squeaked closed and lifted Christina up two levels to the third floor.