22. Kate #2
Dr. Halpern listened with Mom’s wrist in her hand, her gaze searching her face. After a moment, she looked up and turned to Kate, not even reacting to the fact that she was there.
She didn’t say a word but there was something in her eyes—a glimmer, a look, a hint of her own disbelief. As if she’d never seen anything like it.
She turned back to Talia. “Hold the next propofol step. I want to assess.”
And then the doctor bent over the bed and got very close to Mom’s ear. “Jo Ellen. Can you open your eyes for me, sweetheart?”
Wait. What?
For one long second, nothing happened. Kate held her breath and stared at the ashen face as the tiniest bloom of color streaked Mom’s cheeks.
Kate was able to see the very moment her eyelids fluttered. Sleepy. Lost. Working hard to…open.
She opened her eyes!
Not fast, but slow, tired, and disoriented. She let them roam the ceiling, search the world, then land on the doctor’s face.
With each heartbeat, Kate took a step closer. Nothing and no one could stop her from witnessing this moment.
“Jo Ellen. I am Marcia Halpern. You’re in the ICU at Fort Walton Beach Medical Center. You had a fall. Can you squeeze my hand, dear?”
Kate felt her eyes widen, watching the two joined hands on the bed. And she saw it. She saw her mother squeeze the doctor’s hand.
Dr. Halpern gave the tiniest satisfied smile.
“Is she okay?” Kate whispered, unable to stop the question.
“Good,” the doctor said, but it was unclear if she was answering Kate or giving an assessment. “Can you do it again?”
She did, visibly stronger than the first time.
“Excellent. Do you know who is in this room with us, Jo Ellen?”
Her eyes moved, but not her head. Dr. Halpern nodded to Kate, using her free hand to beckon her closer.
It was a test, Kate knew. Would her mother recognize her? Would she give the blank stare of someone lost or…in a vegetative state? This was the ultimate test.
Holding her breath again, Kate came to the other side of the bed and stood stone still and looked at her mother.
Above the ventilator, tiny and scared, Mom’s eyes shifted, moving as if unfocused until her gaze landed on Kate.
“Do you know this woman?” Dr. Halpern asked. “Give me a squeeze if you recognize her.”
Kate didn’t take her eyes off Mom’s, but she heard the doctor give a satisfied sound. “Very good.”
And then Kate saw the glimmer, the smile in those brown eyes, the connection between mother and daughter. She knew what Mom was thinking. She could practically hear her say, “Katie.”
Her legs weakened and Kate grabbed the railing on the side of the bed to stay steady. “Hey, Mom. You’re back.”
Jo Ellen blinked as if to say, “Yes.”
“You can take her hand,” the doctor said. “Jo Ellen. I am going to ask you some questions and I want you to squeeze for yes. Can you do that?”
Squeeze.
“Are you in pain?”
A pause. Then, a small squeeze.
“A little? Okay. We will manage that. Are you having any trouble seeing?”
Nothing.
“Good. Are you able to breathe alongside the tube? Are you trying to breathe with it?”
Squeeze.
“Strongly?”
She squeezed and her chest rose with a breath.
Dr. Halpern turned to Marcus.
“Let’s take the tube out,” she said. “I think she’s ready and I can do a more thorough assessment. Kate, can you wait outside?”
Kate finally took her eyes off Mom to look at the doctor. “Is she okay?”
The other woman smiled. “We’ll know more in a minute, but in my opinion? She sailed past okay and somehow made it to good.”
“Oh.” The whimper escaped and Kate let go of her mother’s hand slowly. “I’ll be right outside, Mom.” She leaned closer, her whole body quivering from the experience. “I love you.”
When she opened the door into the hall, the light blinded her after the half-dark of the room. Her legs vibrated and she grabbed the door jamb for support.
The first person she saw was Eli, just outside the family lounge, his face pale, his eyes pinned on her as he rushed closer.
“She coded,” he said flatly. “I heard the announcement. Is she…” His voice trailed off, searching Kate’s face. “Please, tell me she’s all right.”
She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. She didn’t know how to put that experience into words. She almost didn’t want to. She had to hold it first, examine it, relive it, walk through every minute and remember that…her prayer had been answered.
“Kate, what happened?”
“A miracle,” she whispered, leaning into him. “I just witnessed a full-blown miracle.”
For what felt like a long time, Eli held Kate in the corridor and didn’t ask another question.
His hand rested on the back of her head, holding her with the utmost care, letting her catch her breath and the wild, wild thoughts that spiraled from her brain to her heart right down to her feet.
She dropped her forehead against the front of his shirt, decompressing as adrenaline surged and dropped through her whole body.
After a long moment, he drew back. “A good miracle, I hope.”
“Is there any other kind?”
He slid into a tentative smile as she wiped her face with her fingertips.
“She’s awake,” she said. “She knew me. They’re taking the tube out.” She felt her voice catch. “I think she’s herself, Eli. She came back. But, wow. What a ride.”
Eli closed his eyes for one second and squeezed her again. “Can you tell me what happened?”
“She started to…fail. Heart, lungs, a seizure. Every vital crashed. Everything. I thought she was…gone. I swear she was gone. And then…she pulled through. It was…unbelievable.”
Except Kate had seen it. She’d witnessed it. And she…believed it.
Dr. Halpern walked out of the room then, stopping cold when she saw them.
Eli straightened and Kate clung to his arm as they stood together.
“Never a dull moment,” the doctor said with a warm smile.
“How is she?” they asked in unison.