Chapter 32 Wes
The room feels too clean. Everything is white and empty and cold. It’s silent, aside from the periodic beeping of the many machines. I hate hospitals.
I shiver, pulling the thin sheet up closer to my stomach. I asked a nurse for a blanket a while ago, I wonder if she forgot. I’m sure she’s helping a ton of other patients. As if on cue, she walks through the door with a smile on her face. “Here we go! All warmed up for ya.”
“Thank you,” I stammer out. My body feels pretty out of it from everything that’s happened the past six hours, and from whatever they have me on. I raise my hand to grab the blanket, but then feel the pain from tugging on my IV and all the other monitors I’m hooked up to.
“I got it, you just lay there, okay? You’ve been through a lot.”
Instant relief floods my body as the warm blanket is laid down on top of me. My muscles relax and I notice, from her hanging badge, that her name is Judy. Even with the hospital being in town, it pulls workers from all over the area, so there’s not very many familiar faces despite being so close to Raspberry Falls.
“Thank you,” I say, nodding at her as she leaves the room and Erick walks in.
“Hey again, how are you feeling?”
Erick had gone out to grab some food after I was fully settled in the room. “I’m doing okay, just want the doctor to come let me know what’s happening. I haven’t seen anyone since the scan. I’m out of the back and neck brace, so I assume that’s good news.” My fingers nervously fiddle with the newly placed blanket and I can’t help my anxious breaths.
“Any word from Rose?” I know she must be freaking out. I can only hope that he broke the news kindly to her. He called her when I was first taken to the hospital, before we knew anything more.
“Not yet, but they have a long drive from Duluth. I’m sure they’ll be here soon.”
Oh yeah, Duluth. My memories of the morning and what happened have been slowly coming back. He gives me a pat on the back and I can’t help the cough and wince of pain that erupts from my throat.
“Careful now, I did just fall a long way down onto my back .” I give him a sarcastic look to know that I’m not upset. I’m so glad Erick and the others were there with me. If I’d been alone, I’m not sure what I would have done.
“Sorry, man. It won’t happen again.” Erick raises his hands and shuffles backwards to the small couch next to my bed when we’re startled by a deep, gruff voice.
“Hello, Mr. Stevenson. How are we feeling?” I look the doctor up and down. I think I met him earlier, but everything from my arrival was such a blur, it’s possible he’s an entirely new doctor as well.
“I’m doing okay, just eager to know what you found, and how I’m doing.” Nodding he flips through some papers before bringing a chair to sit next to my bed. The coffee on his breath turns my stomach and I lean back.
“Of course, of course. Well, you broke your leg just above your ankle. It’s what we call a pilon fracture. You were lucky though, just had one break, so we’ll be able to set your leg and use a typical cast for you to heal. You have many contusions along your back from the fall, but your spine looks good. You’ll need to rest and take it easy for a long time though, while you recover.”
“What about my other scans? Erick said I was unconscious for a long time.” I look between Erick and the doctor again. My heart rate skyrockets and I hang my head as everyone in the room can hear the beeping on the monitor increase substantially.
“Yes, from what we learned from your friends at the scene, we estimate you were unconscious for around five minutes. That puts you in Category 1 for concussions. Your MRI looked clean, but we can’t typically see the results of a TBI on those. Unfortunately, this will be a waiting game to see how your symptoms present. Most people see improvement with time when it’s a Category 1. We’ll just need to monitor your symptoms to make sure you have no lingering effects.”
“What kind of symptoms are we talking about here?”
“You may have persistent headaches, nausea, difficulty thinking, processing information, weakness in your body, among other things. Generally though, we could expect you to make a good recovery. A lot of those symptoms are uncommon with Category 1’s, and they may appear right away, or not until later.”
I suck in a shaky breath and close my eyes. Man, he didn’t sugarcoat it, but I’m so thankful to hear my spine is in good shape that I don’t care. I can deal with any of these other symptoms that come up. “Okay, what happens next?”
“You’ll be here for a day or two so we can set your leg, you’ll meet with some people from our TBI rehab program, and have some additional testing to look at your cognitive abilities. Then you’ll meet with a lot of doctors to talk about going home and what you can expect for recovery.”
Erick asks him a few more questions while I sit silent and completely taken aback. How can this all be so unknown? I can’t even think straight, which could be the TBI that I might have, or I could just be in shock from everything. Both seem likely.
All I want to do is talk with Rose and see her beautiful face. I know Erick said they were a few hours away, but it’s been awhile. I can’t help but worry and wonder if she’s okay. Does she feel weird that we’re so new and something so big just happened?
I hope she gets here soon.