Meadow Chapter 16
My head was no longer pounding like a drum. Opening my eyes, I scanned the room, expecting to see my bedroom. Instead, I was in an all-white, unfamiliar room. As I tried to sit up, my gaze landed on an IV pole with bags and a monitor. I knew those meant I was in a hospital, but why? How did I get here? What happened?
“Whoa, take it easy. Don’t move too much. You’ve been through hell. We’ve been worried to death about you,” a gruff male voice said. I recognized it. Looking over in the opposite direction, I found Loki sitting next to my bed. Why was he here?
“Meadow, I know you’re confused. There’s a lot to tell, but I need to let your sisters and Iceman know you’re finally awake. The doctors will want to see you, too. Hold on.”
He pulled out his phone and started tapping away. I lay there, letting him do it, racking my brain to recall the last thing I remembered. When Loki was done, he smiled at me.
“They’re coming. I made them get something to eat in the cafeteria. They’ll be here any minute. Let me ring the nurse.”
This time, he pushed the call button on the rail of my bed. When a voice answered and asked what he needed, he told her I was awake. He’d just hung up with the nurse when my door swung open, and my sisters ran in with Iceman on their heels. They cried my name and rushed to the bed. They hugged and kissed my cheeks like they hadn’t seen me in weeks. When they were done, Iceman replaced them. He stared intently at me when he leaned over and sealed his mouth to mine. I felt gross and would’ve preferred to brush my teeth, but he didn’t seem to care. He made it a thorough one before he lifted away.
“What am I doing here? What happened?” I asked, sounding hoarse.
“Babe, don’t get yourself wound up. Take it easy. You just woke up. Did you let the staff know?” He directed the question to Loki.
“I did, right before you walked in. I’ll step out and let you catch up and talk to the staff. Let me know if you need me. As for you, I can’t tell you how happy it makes me to see those gorgeous eyes of yours,” Loki said. He surprised me when he leaned over to place a kiss on my cheek before leaving the room.
“Will one of you tell me why I’m here?”
“Do you know where here is?” Iceman asked.
“Of course, I’m in the hospital, although why, I don’t know, at home in Hunters Creek.”
“You are in the hospital but in Knoxville,” he clarified.
“Knoxville? Why there?” I asked, feeling lost.
“Do you remember agreeing to come to the Knoxville office to train a travel PT?” Iceman asked.
“I didn’t. I told Joni I wasn’t coming out here. I couldn’t stay away from my family for that long. Remember, I told you that.”
“You did, but then on Sunday, which was almost three days ago, your director asked you to come and train the travel PT for a few days, and you said yes. You brought your sisters and the dogs with you,” he informed me.
“I did?” I asked as I strained to remember. My sisters were nodding their heads in agreement.
“Don’t strain. You’ve been very sick,” he pleaded.
As I stared up at him, I saw he appeared haggard, with dark circles under his eyes. My sisters were in better shape. “How long have I been here, and what’s wrong with me?”
“Let the doctors explain the what. They do it better than me. As for how long? It’s Wednesday at one in the afternoon. We brought you into the ER Monday evening around seven,” Iceman added.
Before I could ask more questions, the door opened again, and people in white coats came in. My sisters and Iceman were ushered into the hallway. As the doctors, or I hoped they were, began to poke, prod, and question me, I demanded to know what was wrong with me. One of them smiled.
“I’m Dr. Schramm, Meadow. I treated you in the ER. I know the Warriors, or at least the ones in Dublin Falls. I work in their hospital and here. Anyway, to answer your question, you’re sick with meningitis. It was a swift-acting one. Migraines didn’t cause your headaches these past several days. It was meningitis.”
“How did I get it? What kind?” As a PT, I was familiar with it and the outcome for many when they had it.
“You have a bacterial form of it caused by Salmonella. It’s an uncommon complication of Salmonella poisoning. Somewhere, somehow, you were exposed to soil, food, water, or a surface contaminated with it. You may know that it’s caused by bacteria living in the intestines of animals and in their feces. We’d like to know if it came from your home or somewhere you ate. Your boyfriend told us about your dinner last Friday. We’ve contacted that restaurant to have them tested. It wasn’t them. Had you eaten out that week prior or brought in food from outside the home?”
I thought back. Things before last Friday were clear to me, but everything, after Iceman had to leave, was fuzzy. “No, just that evening. All the other nights, we cooked at home. Have you tested my sisters to make sure they’re clear?” I asked anxiously.
“We have, and they’re clear, which makes me wonder how you got it. If home was the only place you ate other than that restaurant, how could you get it?” he mused.
“I take food to work but store it in the fridge so it doesn’t go bad. I wash my hands and never put my food down on the bare table. That’s the only other place I eat. I took my lunch all last week.”
“Hmm, we’ll have to get your employer’s contact information. We want to make them aware so they have their breakroom and such tested. We don’t want a Salmonella outbreak. Anyway, that’s for us to do. As for you, I have to say, you scared a lot of people. We have so many visitors checking on you. I understand your boyfriend has gotten your sisters to go back to the hotel every night to sleep while his friends watch over them. He, on the other hand, refused to leave, so we sort of bent the rules and let him stay in the room. He’s been apprehensive.”
“He has?”
“Yes. Don’t sound so surprised. He made sure nothing was overlooked. I told him that we were keeping you sedated just until the antibiotic could start to work because whenever you tried to wake up, you were in so much pain. How does your head feel?”
“It throbs some, but it’s not unbearable.”
From there, they asked more questions, had a nurse draw blood to be sent off, and examined me from head to toe. Finally, when I was about to yell enough, they said they were done and excused themselves. Dr. Schramm assured me I was on the road to recovery, although it might take weeks for me to feel fully recovered. I thanked him. As he went to shut the door, he said he’d send my family back in.
I lay there trying to recall the past four and a half days. Everything after Iceman left in the middle of the night to go to the compound was foggy. I caught glimpses but nothing clear. I didn’t remember the call from Director Higgins that Iceman mentioned, nor the drive out to work with anyone. I was still trying to remember when Sage, Aspen, and Iceman reentered the room.
I was relieved to hear that Dr. Schramm had talked to them about our conversation and that I didn’t have to repeat it. I felt exhausted even though I’d been awake less than an hour. As the conversation kept going around me, my eyelids grew heavy, and I zoned out on what they were saying.