Snow Lodge
Chapter 32
Jonesy entered the room to find the tall dark one pacing, the other two watching him silently.
"Gentleman, I'm Doctor Jones." He introduced himself.
"The tall dark one stopped abruptly and spun around, before introducing himself and the other two.
"How are they?" Kevin asked.
"Brian will be fine. He's suffering from exhaustion and a mild case of hypothermia, which we have under control. However, he was also in shock, and we had to sedate him."
Kevin looked up at Jonesy in surprise. "Why?"
"He was really worried about AJ, and it was the only way to get him to rest." Jonesy replied. "However, now that you are all here, I will let the sedative wear off, he has been under for about 8 hours now, and I think he needs your support more than anything."
"Do you know what happened?" Nick asked quietly.
"I only know what Brian told me." Jonesy replied. "We have had a rather severe storm here for the past few days, and it appears your friends were up in a cabin in the mountains. A few days ago, AJ slipped and fell down a slope. Brian thinks he lay there for some time before he found him. He managed to get him part of the way back to the cabin before AJ regained consciousness. It seems that AJ had hit his head, and his vision was distorted, he was also in a lot of pain, but Brian managed to take care of him."
"Why didn't he get AJ to hospital sooner?" Kevin asked.
"He couldn't, we had some of the highest wind speeds and heaviest snow storms ever recorded. In the mountains almost 3 feet of snow fell in less than 24 hours. To try and drive down the mountain would have been suicide." Jonesy stopped for a minute to let the other's digest this fact before continuing.
"In fact, Brian is probably the only reason that AJ is still alive. He kept him warm and managed to prevent the worst of the hypothermia, and when AJ developed a fever, he had the sense to make some kind of ice packs to keep his body cool. He did everything possible to keep AJ alive."
It was a few moments before Howie looked up from the floor, which is where he had been looking since Jonesy had started talking about AJ. "How's Alex?" He asked, his voice barely audible.
Jonesy took a deep breath before answering.
"Right now he is listed as critical. AJ lost consciousness before Brian got him here. The distorted vision was a symptom of some swelling of his brain. You see, when you bang your head, the brain, which is surrounded by liquid, moves around inside the skull. If the blow is hard enough it causes the brain to hit the inside of the skull. This causes bruising and swelling." Jonesy explained, wanting them to understand as best they could.
"The swelling puts pressure on the brain. In AJ's case, it put pressure on the optic nerve, affecting his vision, but as the brain swelled more, along with the cumulative effects of his other injuries, it was enough to cause AJ to loose consciousness."
"Other injuries?" Kevin asked, already horrified at what he had heard.
"Unfortunately, this was not the only injury he sustained. He has hypothermia, although Brian as I said prevented most of it. But he has also developed pneumonia, from the prolonged exposure to the cold. The side effect of this is that he has developed a fever, which we are having trouble controlling."
Jonesy stopped to take another breath before he had to deliver the worst news. "Can we see him?" Nick asked before Jonesy could continue.
"Not right now. You see he also broke some ribs, and a splinter of bone has punctured his left lung, causing a slow collapse. We wanted to operate before, but his condition had to be stabilised before we could risk putting him under a general anaesthetic. The operation is pretty straightforward, and we don't foresee any problems, but no surgery is risk free, and taking into account AJ's condition, there are no guarantees."
"Oh God." Howie gasped, dropping his head into his hands as his tears began to fall. Nick immediately wrapped his arm around his friend, pulling him close. Kevin looked lost, as if unsure what to do. He turned and looked at Jonesy.
"What about Brian?" he asked finally.
Jonesy smiled kindly at him. "He is still unconscious, and probably won't wake up for at least an hour and a half, more likely two. But you can stay with him if you like. Feel free to stay either in there, or in here, this part of this floor is going to be sealed off to keep out the fans and press when they discover you are all here. So far, it seems that nobody knows yet, but I'm sure that won't last. The only nurse who will be attending Brian is Shelly here." Jonesy told them, motioning to her.
"She and I are the only ones with access to Brian's room at the moment. Easier to stop any unwanted visitors that way." Jonesy told them.
Kevin nodded, he was glad that the hospital was taking care of all of the security issues, because it was the last thing on his mind.
"Do you want me to take you to Brian now, or do you want to wait awhile?"
Kevin looked at Howie, who was still sobbing quietly, and then at the door. He was torn. He wanted to be there for Howie, but he needed to be with his cousin as well. Nick sensed Kevin's dilemma and looked up at him. Without words, Nick told Kevin that he would take care of Howie, and that Kevin should go take care of Brian. Kevin nodded at Nick before turning back to Jonesy.
"I want to see Brian now, if that's okay Doctor."
Jonesy nodded. "Sure. Just one thing though, you can call me Jonesy, everybody else does." Kevin smiled slightly and nodded, before following him out of the room, desperate to go and see his cousin.
