Snow Lodge
Chapter 36
"The operation was successful." He began. "The surgeon's had no trouble removing the bone fragment from his lung, and everything seemed to be going well."
"Seemed to be?" Kevin repeated, not liking Jonsey's choice of words.
Jonesy nodded before continuing. "He was sent to recovery, and we expected him to come out of the anaesthetic fairly quickly."
"But he didn't?" Nick guessed.
"No."
"Oh God." Brian whimpered, tears beginning to fall down his cheeks. "He's not... he's not..."
"No!" Jonesy reassured him, as Nick sat beside Brian on the bed, wrapping an arm around him and silently giving him support.
"He is still with us, but perhaps only just... Unfortunately, AJ hasn't returned to his previous level of consciousness."
"But he was unconscious before the surgery, how is this any different?" Howie managed to ask, even as he held back his own tears.
"We measure unconsciousness in different levels, according to the response to certain stimuli." Jonesy explained. "Before the surgery, AJ was at quite a high level of unconsciousness, not responding to sound or touch. But sometime during the surgery, or immediately following it, his consciousness level dropped again. He has now slipped into a coma, and as such we are unable to tell when he will wake up."
Brian felt the air flee from his lungs as he heard the word 'coma.' He knew that some people stayed in them for months, even years, some never waking. He took shuddering, gasping breaths as he began to cry harder, once again realising just how much he had hurt his love.
