Kevin
watched as the muscles in Aaron’s face tensed as the nurse walked into the
room. She pulled the curtain back and motioned for them to come in. Another
nurse stood on the other side of the bed, adjusting a button on a blue machine.
“This is
Kelly. She’ll be Nick’s nurse until tomorrow morning.”
“Hi,” The
girl said, her voice calm and pleasant.
“I’m going
to let you guys stay in here. Remember, only fifteen minutes with two of you.
My name is Carol, if you need me.”
The woman
left, leaving the room silent except for the machines.
“If it
will make you feel more comfortable, I can tell you about the machines and
tubes around him.” She offered, finishing with the machine.
“Please,”
Kevin said, his stomach turning from the sight of his friend.
“First,
can I get your names? I’m sorry, but I just like to get to know my patients
families so I can accommodate them more.”
Aaron
stood in silence, looking over his brother.
“I’m
Kevin. I’m a friend. This is his brother, Aaron.”
“Okay.
It’s nice to meet you both, under the circumstances, that is. Anyways, let’s
start with this.”
She
pointed to the SAT monitor. “We want this top number here, his heart rate, to
be between sixty and one-hundred. Most peoples are around seventy. With his
surgery, sixties are normal right now. These two numbers are his blood
pressure. Because of his spleen damage, they are low right now. Normally, we
want about 120 over 80. His is eighty-five over fifty. We’re monitoring this
closely, but as I said, with his condition it’s okay for now. The average
respiration rate is anywhere for twelve to twenty breaths per minute. Since
he’s on a machine, it will always stay above twelve. He is breathing very well
on his own, but we wanted to help him out a bit tonight so he could rest.” She
stepped back from the monitor and took off the gloves she had been wearing.
“This blue
machine here is what gives him pain medication. It’s automatic right now, but
as he starts to recover, he’ll be able to control the output himself.” She
stepped towards the bed and lowered the side rail.
“This tube
in his nose is a nasogastric tube. Since his stomach was injured, this is
keeping any food or gas out of his stomach so he won’t get nauseated or sick.
The tube from his mouth is a breathing machine called a ventilator. Like I
said, his breathing is okay, we’re just helping him out a bit.”
Kelly
folded the sheet down to his lower abdomen. Kevin sucked in his breath as he
heard Aaron gasp.
“Are you
okay? Or do you want some time?”
“No, no go
ahead.” Kevin said. “It’s just kind of hard.”
“And I
totally understand. Let me know if you want me to stop at any time.”
Aaron sat
down in the chair as Kevin placed his hand on his shoulder, hoping to comfort
in some way.
“These
patches on his chest are electrodes. They are monitoring his vital signs, which
is what is on the monitor. Right now, his incision looks terrible, I know. By
tomorrow night, after surgery, it will not be anywhere near the size it is now.
They placed a special covering over it to let the swelling go down so they can
finish the surgery tomorrow. This allows the incision to stay open. The tubes
coming out are drains. They are helping to drain any blood or fluids from the
area. He’ll have them in a few days after surgery until the wound heals more.”
She folded the sheet back up, covering most of the bandages. “He does have a
catheter in. Once he’s up and walking around, he’ll be able to have that out.
It will also help with his kidneys right now. I think that’s it. If you or
anyone with you has any questions at all, feel free to ask me. Nick should be
waking up fairly soon, though he will be very groggy. He won’t be able to talk,
but he will definitely be able to hear you.”
She
offered a grim smile as she replaced the side rail, then excused herself from
the room.
“Are you
okay?” Kevin asked, looking down at Aaron.
“Yes,” His
reply was quiet.
“I’m going
to go let Howie or AJ in to see him before time is up.” Kevin started to leave,
going back towards the door.
“Kev?” He
heard a voice ask.
“Yeah?” He
turned around to see Aaron facing him, tears streaming down his face.
“Please
don’t leave. I don’t want you to leave me alone.”
Kevin’s
heart dropped as he returned to Aaron’s side, pulling him into a hug.
“I know
I’m sixteen and supposed to be old enough to deal with this, but I can’t. No
one is here but you guys. And I don’t want to be alone with him. I’m so
scared.”
Tears
burned his own eyes as he held Aaron tight.
The nurse
from before suddenly entered. “Time’s up. One of you will have to leave now.”
She left as quickly as she came.
“Bitch,”
Aaron mumbled under his breath.
“Tell you
what, let’s both leave. We can go back to the waiting room and let someone else
in. When he wakes up, we can come back, okay?”
Aaron
nodded, wiping his face with his sleeve.
As they
left the room, Nick’s eyes began to flutter. His surroundings were blurry and
the light above hurt his eyes. It felt as though an elephant was lying on body
and refused to get up. As he tried to take a deep breath, he panicked, not able
to breathe at all. He bit down, realizing there was something in his mouth.
Above him, a monitor beeped, one in particular picking up speed. Unable to move
his head, his eyes wandered to the door on a figure coming in. As the figure
neared, he realized it was Howie.
“Hey
buddy.” Howie slipped his hand in Nick’s squeezing it for comfort.
With his
other hand, Nick tried to grasp the tube in his mouth.
“Hey,
leave that there. I know it’s a pain, but it’s helping you breath.”
Nick
stopped, his body settling down, but his eyes full of questions.
“The doctor
said you’re going to be okay. You have to have more surgery tomorrow, just to
fix what they couldn’t today, but you’re going to be fine. You’ll be back on
the road in no time.”
Howie sat down beside the bed, now at eye level.
“Aaron’s
here now. He got here while you were in surgery. You just missed him. Kev and
him left so I could come in, but I’ll get him for you in a few minutes. They
bent the rules for us to see you. One of us can be in here with you at all
times. We’ll stay here with you. AJ, Leighanne, and Kristin are all here too.”
Howie
watched as Nick’s eyes began closing more often.
“I’m going
to let you rest, but I’ll send someone back in to be with you.”
Nick
squeezed his hand as he stood. Howie offered him a smile before leaving. The
smile left quickly as he was out of the room, the sight in the room near
unbearable.
Darkness
enveloped him, but only for a few minutes, when he woke from noise at his
bedside. Opening his eyes, he saw AJ staring at him, his eyes red rimmed
underlined with dark circles.
“Hey kid,
Howie said you were awake. Don’t let me keep you up though. You need to rest.”
Nick
rolled his eyes at the attempt of AJ trying to sound like Kevin. The room was
silent except for the quiet beeps from the monitor, AJ hesitating on what he
wanted to say.
“Nick… I
uh... just wanted to let you know, that it’s okay that you kept it a secret. At
first, I was really pissed, but now, I understand why. Kevin and I both
understand. Howie, too. And I just wanted you to know that no matter what;
we’ll be here for you. We’re not going anywhere.”
AJ watched
as Nick’s eyes began to tear up.
“Hey man,
don’t start getting all emotional on me.” He teased, trying to lighten the
situation. “I’m going to get out of here so Kevin or Aaron can come back down.
I’ll see you later, kid.”
AJ stood,
walking towards the door. He turned his head to look back, his eyes meeting
with Nick’s. Turning back around, he walked the curtain, no longer visible.
Nick remained
awake, waiting for someone else to walk through. He didn’t want to fall back
asleep and miss them. The curtain suddenly shuffled from a breeze, and then was
pulled back as Kevin walked in.
“Hey,” He
whispered, sitting down beside the bed. “Aaron was going to come back in, but
he fell asleep in the waiting room. So now, you’re stuck with me.”
Nick
blinked, as if saying “okay”. His eyelids were once again becoming heavy as he
tried to hold off sleep.
“Go to
sleep, Nick. You need to rest. I’ll be here when you wake up.”
Blackness
surrounded Nick as he fell into a medicated sleep. He woke up often throughout
the long night from Kelly checking his dressings and I.V.’s. She’d apologize,
but he found it easy to fall back asleep.
Around
daybreak, sun began streaming through the curtains. He had woken a few minutes
earlier as Kelly came in once last time to check everything before she left.
“I’ll be
back tonight,” She said softly, so not disturb his visitor from their sleep.
“Annie will be your nurse now.”
Kelly
patted his arm as she left quietly. Outside the room, the hospital was
beginning to come alive, though all he could hear was the noise since his
window and door were both blocked from view. Turning his head, instead of
seeing Kevin beside the bed, he saw his brother. His hair was disheveled,
partly hidden by a hood from his sweatshirt. He breathed quietly in his sleep,
his face peaceful and body relaxed. Nick lay, watching him sleep. From the
corner of his eye, he saw the curtain move. Kevin’s tall figure passed through.
“Hey,” He
said quietly. “The doctor is going to come in soon.”
Nerves in
Nick’s stomach caused butterflies to flutter. He had always hated doctors and
hospitals. Now he had no choice but to be in the hospital. He didn’t even have
a choice in the surgery.
Aaron
stirred before slowly waking up. His eyes met with Nick’s and he sat up
straight. Nick moved his hand in between the bed rails to outside of the bed as
Aaron grasped it. Dr. Resnick walked briskly into the room, interrupting the
brothers.
“Nick, I’m
Dr. Resnick. I was your surgeon yesterday, and will be again today. We’re going
to take you down to surgery here in a few minutes, but I just wanted to talk to
you about what’s going to happen. Yesterday in surgery, we basically did damage
control, removing the pole and stopping the bleeding. Today, we’re going to fix
your stomach and get a better look at your spleen and kidney. Your kidney is in
pretty bad shape, and may have to be removed. Don’t be worried about it though.
People can live full lives without one kidney. Your spleen, on the other hand,
is also is bad shape. I’m afraid we’ll most likely have to remove it. Spleens
are part of your immune system, so we’ll have to be extra careful for the next
few weeks until your immune system builds back up enough to protect against
illness.” Dr. Resnick stepped closer to the bed as he folded the sheet down.
“I’m just
going to look at the incision.”
Nick
looked down, immediately getting woozy. He shut his eyes as he felt Aaron’s grip
tighten in his hand.
“It looks
good.” He replaced the sheet. “Nick, when you wake up from the surgery, we’re
going to have you in an isolation room. It will be for a couple days, at least.
This is just to protect you from any nosocomial, or hospital acquired,
infections. We have some vaccines we can also give you. In a few days, if all
goes well, we’ll have you in a normal room.” Dr. Resnick wrote something on a
notepad he held in his hand. “They’re going to take you downstairs shortly. The
surgery will probably last anywhere for two to six hours. If all goes well,
hopefully by this evening we’ll take out the breathing tube.”
The doctor
left, the only noise in the room was coming from the SAT monitor. Two orderlies
came in with a chart in their hands.
“Is this
Nickolas Carter?”
“Yes,”
Kevin replied for him.
“We’re
here to take him to the surgical ward.”
“Nick,
we’ll be here when you wake up.” Aaron said, obviously holding back tears.
“Everyone
will be here.” Kevin added. “We’ll see you in a few hours.”
They moved
away from the bed, allowing the orderlies to near it. They set to work quickly,
moving the I.V. bags over to a pole on the bed, and then setting up his
monitors to a new machine that sat between his legs at the end of the bed. They
took the brakes off both sides of the bed before moving him forward. He glanced
helplessly at both Kevin and Aaron as he was removed from the room.
From
beside him, Kevin could hear sniffles and heavy breathing. He put his arm
around Aaron’s shoulders and led him from the room.
“Mr.
Richardson,” A voice called from the nurse’s station. Annie jogged towards
them. “Sorry about that. I just wanted to let you know that you’re welcome to
stay up here and wait during the surgery. I can tell the surgical staff that you’ll
be here, and they’ll call with updates.”
“That’d be
great, thanks.” He replied. She nodded as she walked away, returning to the
station.
“Did you
call Emily?” Aaron asked as they returned to the waiting room.
“No. Brian
told me they broke up. I wasn’t sure if I should call her or not.”
“What
about Riley?”
“I forgot
all about her. Don’t tell her that, she’ll eat me alive.”
Aaron
chuckled as he sat down near the window in the waiting room. “When did everyone
leave?”
“Around three.
They said they’d be back this morning. They just needed some sleep.”
Kevin took
his cell phone from his back pocket. Searching through his address book, he
found Riley’s cell phone number.
“Is she
still in Europe?” Aaron asked.
“Yeah.
It’s about a six-hour difference right? It’s around noon then. Maybe she’ll
answer.”
Riley was
a friend of all five band members, but an especially good friend of Nick’s. He
had met her before the Backstreet Boys came along, when he was auditioning for
television shows. They had managed to keep in touch, and when the band became
bigger, she was hired on as their fashion manager. She had left after a few
years to go to school and open her own fashion company, but was still friends
with all of them. She had shared a house with Nick for awhile in Marathon, but
when Emily became a priority of Nick’s, she had moved out, and then left for
Europe not long after.
“I’m going
to try to call Riley. Have you tried your dad again?”
“No. I
guess I should.” Aaron used the phone on the table beside him to call his
father while Kevin went into the lounge. Three vending machines lined one wall,
as well as a sink and refrigerator. Counters ran along another wall containing
a microwave, bowls of fresh fruit, and plates of cookies. There were three
tables in the center of the room, each with chairs, and then a couch on one of
the walls with a phone above it. Sitting down on the edge of the couch, he took
the phone off the cradle and dialed the number that showed on his phone. It
rang five times before her voicemail picked up.
“Hey, this
is Riley Vergara. I can’t answer my phone at moment, but if you leave your name
and number, I’ll try to call you back as soon as possible.”
Kevin
waited for the automated voice, then the beep before speaking.
“Riley,
this is Kevin Richardson. Uh… I need to talk to you as soon as possible. It’s
kind of urgent. I’ll have my cell off most of the time, but if you can call and
let me know a good time to reach you, I can give you a call back later. Bye.”
Kevin
replaced the phone onto the cradle before returning to the waiting room where
Aaron was still on the phone. He hung up shortly after.
“He said
he’d try to get here as soon as he could. I guess Ginger and him went on a
weekend getaway without telling me… and then he was upset because I wasn’t
there when they got back yesterday.” Aaron rolled his eyes. “Get Riley?”
“No, her
voicemail picked up.”
“She’s
always busy.”
“Yeah. She
has too much energy and too little time for it all.”
Howie, AJ,
and Kristin suddenly joined the two.
“No
Brian?” Kevin asked as Kristin sat down beside him, taking his hand into hers.
“No. He
said he didn’t feel good.” Kristin said.
“He needs
a swift kick in the ass.” AJ said from across the room. “We’re all dealing with
the same thing. I understand some people take things differently, but Nick
isn’t dead. He’s still alive and he’s going to need him around.”
“Leigh was
going to try to talk to him this morning,” Kristin added.
Kevin only
shook his head. He lay back against the couch and closed his eyes. AJ sat down
beside Aaron and glanced up at the clock.
“It’s going
to be a very long day.” He mumbled, realizing it was only seven in the morning.