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How long has it been? Those were the first thoughts that crossed my mind as the dark tunnel I had been falling down finally became horizontal. I could see the proverbial light at the end of this tunnel of mine. A sense of awareness came back to me slowly, but at that moment I heard the dreaded beeps and boops of hospital machines, doing their work to keep me alive. One eye slowly crept open, the room wasn't too bright so I forced the other open as well. It seemed to be early morning or just after sunset, as the sunlight wasn't bleeding through the curtains at the moment, but I could see the faint light of dusk or predawn outside. I was in a room similar to the one I had woken up in after my initial surgery. Once the thought of that hit, my mind went spiraling with questions.
Where was Emma? Where was Roxxy? Why weren't they here waiting for me to awake? What had happened to me to cause that pain? Those questions brought on others like, exactly how long was I out? Or was I okay? Then it really hit me when I finally noticed a breathing tube in my mouth. I started to panic, which caused my heart rate to climb. One of the machines connected to my body changed its gentle beeps and boops to a flashing red light with some sort of an alarm sounding. This in turn, caused several nurses to rush into the room with concern on their faces.
"Mr. Miller? Please calm down, everything is going to be okay. You are in a hospital, and you have been in a coma for over 2 months." This news shocked me, and I started to panic even more. A doctor and an orderly were soon in the room as well. The doctor immediately noticed the state of my panic and issued an order to one of the nurses present. She immediately grabbed a syringe which she inserted into the junction on my IV, injecting the drugs into the line. I started to calm down as the drugs took hold of me. But I was also running out of energy due to the fatigue of being out cold for over 60 days.
As my heart rate started to decline back to a normal rhythm, the doctors and nurses began the process of getting the tube out of my throat. The nurses were very nice and calming as they explained a few things. One of them repeated the news that I had been out for over two months and it was almost Christmas now. They also told me that my girlfriend had been to see me everyday. This confused me quite a bit, but I couldn't ask any questions yet.
One of the nurses who kept walking in and out of the room, heard the word "girlfriend" and commented, "Speak of the devil." I looked up to see Emma walking in, greeting all the nurses, but also somewhat confused on what was going on in my room. It wasn't until she saw me laying there, eyes wide open, that she reacted.
"Sean!" She tried to rush to my side but the orderly and a few of the nurses stopped her, so they could finish removing the tube. We locked eyes, and I could see all the pain that were behind them. I felt horrible, being the one who had caused her this pain. Emma was crying, and a nurse was comforting her, as the doctor signed off on letting the technician finally remove the respirator tube. Once it was out, my throat cried out in pain. I was told my throat would be sore and dry for a little bit, but that the pain would fade away in a few hours. They let Emma come and sit near me, as they did some last tests, to make sure I was okay to breathe on my own. Then the doctor sat down with me and Emma.
"Well Mr. Miller, looks like the worst of it all is finally behind you." He readjusted his glasses and went back to his notes. As he did, I turned my wrist over for Emma to grab my hand, which she did as quickly as she could. We smiled at each other, and knew we would talk after the doctor was done. "It appears that there were some minor complications with your kidney surgery a few months back. Apparently the surgeon did not get you closed up properly inside. The tubes that connected your kidney to the rest of your body were leaking some fluids, and you became septic. This caused you to not feel well and ultimately led to what caused your extended stay with us. When you passed out, you hit your head pretty badly, causing an edema and swelling to the brain. We induced your coma to let the swelling go down, and after it did, we just waited for you to awaken. You are one lucky man Mr. Miller." I looked over at Emma knowing that he was right, but not as much as he knew. Emma was fighting back more tears, probably reliving the events of that day. The doctor said I would need to stay for a week or so depending on how well my muscles were doing in getting me back on my feet, literally. He scheduled some more tests to make sure my brain was properly healed in addition to a regimen of physical therapy to begin soon after that. He shook my weak hand and was gone. Emma gingerly climbed into the bed next to me and wrapped her arms around me.
"Sean," she said softly as she leaned over me to hug me as hard as she could without causing my frail body any pain. I tried to talk but my throat wouldn't allow it. I held her as tight as I could in my weakened state. Emma eventually let me go and climbed up closer and gave me the nicest, softest kiss that I had ever received. We both smiled and she returned to her seat. "So, I bet you have so many questions, but let me text mom and dad first." I nodded, but also pointed to my throat, indicating my lack of ability to speak. Emma hopped up and went back out into the hall. In a flash she was back with a large plastic hospital mug, with ice water in it. She told me to take small sips, which I did but those small sips felt like jagged pieces of ice stabbing my throat. Emma also pulled out a dry erase board she had gotten...somewhere. I didn't ask. "Okay, now we can 'talk'." I tried to think of what should be my first question, until I finally wrote it upon the board.
"What happened that day that the doctor didn't say?"
"Well," Emma took a deep breath before answering. Seemingly getting herself ready to live it over again fully. "Roxxy screamed for me to call 911. I rushed out to the deck and saw you collapsed on the ground. I dialed 911 and the ambulance came. We let them in and they got you carted up. I rode with you, with Roxxy following behind. I was a wreck the whole ride, with the ambulance EMT trying to calm me down, saying you still had a strong pulse and stuff like that.
"When we arrived they took you again and Roxxy sat with me. We called mom and dad and they rushed home early from their thing. Roxxy and I talked a lot while we waited. It was like 5 hours before anyone had any word on your condition. They said you had hit your head and you had an extremely high fever due to your kidney surgery. They told us that you were actually touch and go and the worst was not over. I broke down so hard when they told me that."
The tears were falling from her face, and I tried to get her to stop for a moment, but she soldiered on. "I had just finally gotten the man of my dreams, and I was pretty sure that I had lost you forever. I felt so guilty for many hours thinking that the little fun we had had was the primary source of your predicament. Then Mom and Dad finally arrived, and he was like a man obsessed." I gulped at that statement, and Emma caught it. "No, not at 'us' but at the lack of answers and results with your condition."
I was left thinking that my dad didn't know about Emma and I to have that kind of response. But then Emma continued, "Want to know the weirdest thing that I learned later?" I nodded. "Dad knew about us before they arrived!" My eyes bugged out. "Yeah I know, but moving on. Well a surgeon finally came out and told us about the mishap with your original surgery and that it had been corrected. But then he told us about your swelling. They didn't know how long it would take to reduce it or if it would end up being fatal. I was left dealing with the possibility that you may remain in the coma permanently. I remember breaking down at that moment, almost hitting the floor. Mom and Roxxy caught me though.
