Chapter Fourteen
REX
The sound of machines seeped into my consciousness before I opened my eyes. Somewhere close by, I heard the low murmurs of people talking.
“As I’ve said, Captain Sorensen, we won’t know anything until Mr. Monroe wakes up and I can do a thorough neurological examination.”
“And that’s when you’ll be able to tell us if he’s paralyzed?” Candy’s voice.
“Again, we’ll gauge that once he’s awake, but you must understand, when I went in there, I found severe bruising around the spinal cord.
Several blood vessels which supply blood to the cord itself were compressed, and some were severed by the bullet.
I’ve repaired those but there’s still a great deal of swelling in the area.
In my expert opinion, I know the swelling will resolve given time, but there’s also the possibility that the nerve damage I found in the same area may inhibit future mobility.
“Neuroscience is not exact. If he has a loss of feeling or motor function upon initial examination, it could be caused by the things I mentioned. His spinal cord wasn’t transected, which is good news, and as far as I can tell, the bullet didn’t do irreparable nerve damage.
Bottom line is…patience is what’s required here.
If he has the deficits I’ve outlined, it doesn’t mean they’ll be permanent.
It only means we must give him time to fully heal. ”
There was a long pause as my addled mind tried to follow everything the man was saying.
He was obviously a doctor who’d performed surgery, which meant I was in a hospital.
He’d mentioned a bullet, which meant I’d been shot, probably in the back.
Candy had mentioned paralysis, which was a terrifying thought.
My memory was so fuzzy, try as I might, I couldn’t recall what’d happened.
I desperately tried to open my eyes but gave up when I realized that even lifting my lids was impossible. I just felt so damned tired.
“Thank you, Doctor. I’d like to stay here until he wakes up if you have no objection.”
“Yes, of course, Captain.”
The next sound was of something sliding.
Noise from outside the room got louder for a second before there was another slide and then blissful silence except for the intermittent beeps from hospital monitors.
Boots crossed the floor and I sensed someone standing close.
Rough calluses brushed over my forehead as there was a rustling of fabric and a whisper close to my ear.
“Rex, buddy, it’s Candy. All your brothers are here and we’re all pulling for you.
You just rest. We’re not leaving.” And then the touch was gone.
I heard the soft tread of boots as he walked away.
I had another attempt at opening my eyes, but the soft beeps had a lulling effect on me and I let exhaustion take the place of panic as I slowly drifted off.
The next time I woke, the room was quiet except for the low hum of machines and the infernal beeps.
I tried to open my eyes and only after great effort, was I able to.
I turned my head, looking around when someone’s face swam into focus.
The bearded, scarred face of my captain smiled down at me.
I opened my mouth to say something, but nothing came out but a croak.
“Let me get you some water, Rex.”
I closed my eyes and listened to the noise of clicks and beeps and finally water pouring.
I heard something tear and opened my eyes just in time to see Candy inserting a bendy straw into a pink cup.
He reached for the handrail and a moment later, the head of the bed rose a few inches.
Candy held the cup at chin level as he bent the end of the straw so I could reach it.
I sucked with a lot of effort but got a sip of water.
It felt amazing on my raw throat. As I swallowed, I squeezed my eyes shut again.
It burned going down even though it was cold.
I lifted my lids, noticing Candy had twisted away to set the cup on a raised table.
When the boss turned back to me, his mouth was set in a thin line.
His eyes were incredibly intense as he looked down at me.
“Hospital?” I croaked.
He nodded grimly. “Yeah, you’re at Cedars-Sinai.”
“What—” I swallowed as my voice gave out.
“You were shot in the back, Rex.” Candy laid his hand on my forearm, avoiding the IV as he squeezed gently. “The doctors operated.”
I felt my eyes widen. “What…I heard—” I swallowed again as I desperately tried to recall the murmured conversation I’d heard before.
“Let me get the doctor in here to explain what happened.” He started to turn away but I reached out and caught his arm. He took my hand with both of his. “Let me get the doc.” He waited for just a second to make sure I understood, before nodding and letting go.
I followed him with my eyes as he walked to the closed door and only then did I notice the wall was made of glass.
He slid the door open and leaned out, saying something.
I saw several nurses sitting behind a desk.
One of them spoke to Candy and he thanked her before coming back into the room.
He slid the door closed and came back over to the bed.
“The nurse is going to call Dr. Wilson. He’s your neurosurgeon, Rex.”
I managed to nod, swallowing hard and then looking over to my water cup on the table.
“You want more water?” Candy asked, picking up the cup as I nodded. He held the straw down again and I took a long sip. This time, the ice water felt better going down. I nodded when I was through and he put the cup back, before taking my hand again. “You’re in the ICU, Rex.”
“What time is it?” I croaked out.
He smiled genuinely as he glanced at a clock. “It’s Wednesday morning, just after nine.”
Wednesday. I tried to remember what had happened before waking up. I frowned as Candy spoke again. “You went through surgery—fourteen hours of it, actually. We almost lost you, brother.” His expression was grim again.
“What happened?” I was so confused.
“The cartel got to you in the parking lot of Dance Hall Boys, Monday night,” he said. “Someone shot you in the back and left you for dead.”
I couldn’t remember any of it, and the mention of the gay club made it even more confusing.
Why was I at a gay club on a Monday? Vague memories niggled at the edges of my mind, but I couldn’t pin them down.
I nodded and closed my eyes again. A few minutes later, I opened my eyes as I heard the door slide again.
A short, older man in a white lab coat was coming through the door.
He walked over to the bed, smiling at me.
“Well, hello there, Mr. Monroe. You’re finally with us. Good.” He glanced at Candy who stepped aside so the doctor could come closer. He checked the machines I was connected to before nodding and glancing back at me. “I guess you’d like to know what happened.”
I nodded. “Yes,” I managed to rasp.
“You were shot in the back.” He reached behind his back and touched a spot on the lower part.
“Right about here,” he said. “I’m going to tell you what I found during surgery and then I’m going to do a thorough neurological examination to determine just how much feeling you have in your lower extremities. ”
My eyes widened. “Paralyzed?”
He frowned a little, exchanging a glance with Candy before looking back. “We can’t be sure of that yet, but there’s a possibility.” He held up both hands as I sucked in a breath. “Please…I’m getting ahead of myself.”
I nodded.
“When you were brought into our emergency room, you were treated to stop blood loss. I met you in the ER. Do you remember?”
I shook my head.
“Well, memory loss after a trauma is normal. After getting you stabilized, I took you to the operating room and removed the bullet. It was very close to your spinal cord.” I felt my heart pounding in my chest and the beeping from the machine sped up, an alarm adding to the noise.
The doctor frowned as he punched buttons to shut off the alarm.
When he looked back, his expression was serious.
“I know this is upsetting. I’m going to be completely honest with you because that’s important. ” When I nodded, he went on.
“Your spinal cord is intact, though, you lost a lot of blood at the scene. Blood loss can impair normal motor function due to spinal shock and bruising. There was also some nerve damage which may cause some paralysis. That paralysis might be only temporary, or it may be permanent. There’s no way to know at this point.
I’m going to do an initial assessment, so I have a baseline.
We’ll take it from there. Okay?” When I nodded, he smiled and patted me on the forearm. “Good.”
He was using simple terms I’d heard over the years which I appreciated. But what he was saying was still scary.
“I know a lot of that was technical and I promise that’s the last I’ll talk about all of it unless you want further explanation. If not, I’m going to examine you now.”
I nodded. “Thanks, Doc.”
He smiled and moved to the foot of the bed as I watched. He lifted the blankets and sheets away and pulled out some sort of pen. I noticed my feet were bare. He looked up at me. “Okay, Mr. Monroe. Please move the toes on your right foot for me.”
I nodded and moved my toes. As I watched, I felt sick with dread when they didn’t even twitch. I did it again. Nothing happened. My heart began to pound as my gaze shot to him, and the crazy beeping made me want to hit something.
“Are you moving them?” he asked.
“Yeah. I’m tryin’ to.” I nodded vigorously and then tried to do the same thing with the left foot. Again, nothing happened. I shut my eyes.
“Please try again with the left foot,” the doctor said patiently.