Chapter 34 Sydney - Hospital Stay
Chapter 34
Sydney - Hospital Stay
A few weeks after Wendy’s visit, my cell phone rang at some godawful hour in the middle of the night. I blindly reached over to the nightstand.
“Hello?” I rasped into my smartphone.
“Is this Sydney Campbell?” the voice chirped in my ear.
“Yes.” I struggled to wake up.
“This is Nurse Hanson. Your boyfriend, Austin Mitchell, is in the Los Angeles Community Hospital. He’s been in an accident. He has you listed as his emergency contact in his phone.”
That woke me up and I didn’t bother to correct her about the boyfriend comment. “Is he okay? What happened?” My mind raced in a million different directions.
“He’s sedated, but he will be fine.”
“I’ll be there soon. Thank you, Nurse Hanson.”
Samson stretched out on his side on top of the covers. “Austin stepped in it this time, buddy. You’re gonna be sleeping alone for a bit. Hog the bed all you want.” I quickly dressed and grabbed my keys and phone as I hurried out to my truck .
At the hospital, I stopped at the front desk in the Emergency department. They had already moved him to the fourth floor for observation.
It was both a relief and upsetting to see him in a hospital bed, sleeping. He had a cast on his left arm and a bandage around his head. There were oxygen tubes under his nose, and a heart monitor tracked his heart rate. I perched on the chair next to the bed, unsure of what to do.
I sat there waiting. Then a nurse came in to check his vitals.
“Do you know what happened to him? The nurse didn’t tell me anything about that when she called,” I asked.
“From what I understand, he got in an accident with two other vehicles. The other drivers are in worse shape than him. Your friend is lucky. He has a broken radius in his left forearm and a serious head laceration. He probably has a concussion and whiplash, but we won’t know that until he wakes up.” The nurse wrote notes in his chart and placed it back in its holder on the end of the bed. “The doctor will be in to assess him in the morning. They must reduce his pain meds before he will wake up.”
I felt numb. “Okay, thank you. I appreciate your help. Can I stay with him? I’m sure there aren’t visiting hours right now.”
“Of course, dear. I’ll see if I can find you a pillow. They did not make these hospital chairs for overnight guests.” She breezed out of the room, leaving me with Austin and my scattered thoughts.
My first instinct was to call Wendy, but there wasn’t anything she could do. Austin was stable, and I didn’t want her to worry in the middle of the night. I thought about calling Venus, but what could she do? I decided to wait until morning before making any important decisions. The nurse came back with a pillow, and I hunkered down in the chair and closed my eyes.
The doctor came in early, followed by a handful of med students. The sun barely peeked over the trees. He checked Austin’s chart, then listened to his heart. He wrote notes, then addressed me. “Your boyfriend is lucky. Things could have been a lot worse.”
“We’re just good friends,” I corrected him. “How long do you expect him to stay? I need to notify his workplace.”
“Not more than a few days, barring any complications. His blood alcohol was significantly over the legal limit. I’m not sure how he walked in a straight line, let alone got in his car to drive. I’m writing orders to reduce his pain medication and reassess him once he’s awake. The police wanted to arrest him on the spot, but with the severity of his injuries, he bought a little time. I suspect they’re going to follow up with a warrant shortly. I wanted to let you know.”
I digested this information. “Thank you, Doctor. I appreciate that.” He left with his entourage trailing behind him.
I texted Daisy and asked her if she could let Samson out on her rounds with her private dog walking clients today. Then I texted Venus and asked her to call me when she arrived at the office. Venus called me immediately.
“Hi Sydney! You’re never up this early. What’s going on?”
I filled her in on the details as I knew them. She listened without interruption.
“Geez, Sydney. I’m glad he doesn’t have any more serious injuries than he does. I’ll notify the legal team. He just beat a DUI charge a month ago. What a mess.”
“I won’t be in to work today. Someone should be here when he wakes up.”
Venus agreed. “Keep me posted if anything changes with his condition or if you talk to the police.” She hung up.
I sat there, my thoughts swirling, my emotions bumping from anger to sadness to everything in between. On the one hand, Austin didn’t have serious injuries. Alternately, he got in his car and drove when he shouldn’t have. And then hurt other people. I would have picked him up. Or paid for an Uber. There was zero excuse for his behavior.
“Austin, it’s Sydney. I’m sitting here next to you in the hospital while you sleep. I am angry with you. Why did you drive last night? Did you know you hurt other people with your reckless behavior? Why didn’t you call me? I would’ve come and picked you up or called an Uber for you.”
He didn’t stir. I hadn’t expected him to.
“I don’t understand why you do this,” I went on. “People that you trusted have hurt you, and that’s a horrible burden to carry. But it doesn’t mean that you can’t open yourself to other people. I know it’s scary, but life is too short not to take that chance.”
There was so much trouble ahead of him now. And there was no one to blame but himself.
“I’ve been told the police will charge you with DUI and possibly other crimes related to your accident. I spoke to Venus. She’s not sure you’ll dodge this bullet like the last one. I’m sad to see you in this situation, but I can’t help you now. I hope this is a wakeup call for you. I don’t want to see you lose your career over this.”
I must have dozed off, because the next thing I knew, an aide brought in a lunch tray. She set it on the table next to the bed and walked away. My stomach rumbled, and I needed a cold beverage. Austin wasn’t awake, but I wasn’t going to eat his food, so I got up to find the cafeteria.
Twenty minutes later, I came back with salad bar goodies, wedding soup, and a giant cup of freshly brewed iced tea. I turned on the TV for company and found a Golden Girls marathon on TV Land. The hours ticked by as I waited for Austin to wake up. He finally came around during dinner time.
“Sydney. Where the hell am I?”
“You’re in the hospital. You were in a car accident. Do you remember it?” I leaned towards him and grabbed his hand.
He thought for a moment. “No. I don’t think so.”
“You have a broken radius and a bunch of stitches in your forehead, but other than that, you’re fine.”
He closed his eyes. “I feel like a train ran over me.”
“There were two other cars involved. I don’t know the details, I’m sorry. The doctor said you were lucky.”
He remained quiet for a bit before saying, “Thanks for coming. It means a lot to me that you’re here.”
“That’s what friends do. You’re welcome.” We sat in silence, watching The Golden Girls .
After a few minutes, I decided he needed to hear the situation. “Austin, I don’t want to give you unwelcome news, but … I understand the police are going to charge you with a DUI since your blood alcohol registered over the legal limit.” I felt the anger swelling again. “Why didn’t you call me instead of trying to drive home impaired?”
“I thought I could handle it. I guess I thought wrong. Did you tell Venus about this?”
“I had to.”
He put his hand to his forehead and winced a little from the pain. “I screwed things up, didn’t I?”
He looked so vulnerable, like a little kid. I pushed away my anger. He didn’t need that right now. I shook my head. “Focus on getting better. That’s the most important thing. I need to go check on Samson. Is there anything you want from the house?”
“I’m missing my cell phone.”
“Okay. Call me from the phone next to your bed if you think of anything else.” I made it all the way to my truck before I burst into tears. All my fear and frustration came streaming down my face. I’d been holding in tears since I got that call last night. Finally letting them out gave me a little relief, but I knew this wasn’t finished.
Journal Entry
When is Austin going to grow up and take responsibility for himself? Being in a car accident with two other vehicles, plus being drunk, is a disaster. What will it take to get through to him? It’s like he didn’t care if he got caught, or that something bad happened to him.
I can’t understand that level of self-loathing. Even as a fat woman who is told to hate her body by everyone around her, I can’t understand. Sure, I have bad days, like when that asshole on the carousel called me an elephant, but I’m not going to let the haters get to me. There is nothing wrong with my body. There is a lot wrong with other people’s opinions about my body.
I try to keep in mind that Austin was traumatized as a kid. In that light, his actions make sense, even if they’re destructive. Someone he loved and trusted betrayed him terribly. I’ve never experienced anything close to that. I can’t fathom how that would affect the ways I interacted with others. I want to help him, but I don’t know how. He needs to see a new therapist, because alcohol isn’t the solution anymore, not that it ever was. I’d hoped that Wendy’s visit would snap him out of his funk, but it’s only gotten worse. I’m at a loss. I wish I had a magic wand.