A blurry bright light stung my eyes. I moaned softly. A man (I assumed a doctor) stood over me, shining a pen-light thing in my eye. “Mom?” I asked.
“She’s conscious,” the man took the light from my eyes.
“What?”
“Do you know where you are?” he asked. There were a bunch of other doctors or nurses or something around me, too.
“No.”
“Do you know your name?”
“Tayler Mae Robinson.”
“Good. You’re in the emergency room.”
“Did I faint?”
“Yes. You’re friends called the ambulance.”
One of the nurses took the doctor aside to talk about stuff I had no clue about. It was way too bright in there. I still had that splitting headache. I closed my eyes.
“Are you all right?” one of the nurses asked, checking to see that I wasn’t passing out again.
When I turned to respond, I saw that there was an IV in my arm. Gross. “It’s too bright in here.”
“Would you like us to call your mother in?”
“Please.”
“Take her to exam three.”
They wheeled me out on the stretcher with that little IV pole following. I felt pathetic. The medicine they were giving me must have been taking affect because my pride was hurt more than my body... or at least that’s what I thought until I turned my head when my mother came into the room. I got really dizzy just from a simple movement...
“Tay?” my mother looked as if she had been crying.
“I’m okay.”
“What happened?”
“I don’t know.”
“Are you all right?”
“Not really. Have they figured out what’s wrong with me yet?”
She shook her head. “Zac and Heidi really want to see you,” she smoothed my hair out of my face. I nodded. Before she could go get them, a doctor came in and took me off to have tests. It was at least five o’clock in the morning before I got to see anyone.
I was laying in some room where I was to stay for at least twenty-for hours so that they could “observe” me. They had taken just about every ounce of blood possible without killing me, scanned me with countless machines, and stuck me with about seven needles. It was good times. Anyway, so like my mother somehow got the hospital people to let Zac and Heidi in to see me. They said that Ike and Tay were there, too, but only Heidi and Zac were allowed in because they’d like “saved me” or something.
“Are you all right?” Heidi asked as she entered.
“I guess.”
“What happened?” Zac asked. He looked like he was afraid of me.
“I wish someone would tell me.”
“You fainted,” Heidi informed me.
“They did tests to see why.”
“Had you been feeling bad before then?” Zac asked. I nodded. “At my grandfather’s house?” I nodded again. “Why didn’t you tell anyone?”
“I didn’t want you guys to worry or anything...”
“Well look what happened when you didn’t tell anyone!” Zac waved his hands.
“How long had you been feeling sick?” Heidi wondered.
I paused. “Since New York.”
Zac shook his head disappointedly at me.
“I didn’t think it was anything serious.”
“Well it turned out to be, didn’t it?” Zac seemed pretty pissed.
“I puked a bunch of times... I thought it was just a stomach virus or something...”
The doctor came into the room with a chart thingy in his hand. He ushered Heidi and Zac out of the room. I promised them I’d see them later. The doctor told me that I had low blood pressure. Since I hadn’t changed my diet or gone on medication or anything, I’d developed this thing called transverse myelitis. Since my circultion was poor, blood was having trouble going up and down my spine, and that’s why I kept getting tingles up and down my back. They said that I should be all right, but I should stay in there for at least twenty-four hours to make sure I could walk.
Of course my mother let me stay home from school. During visiting hours, everyone came up to see me. I could feel my legs now, and I wasn’t really dizzy any more. “Hi everyone,” I smiled as Tay, Ike, Zac, and Heidi entered the room.
“Did they find out what’s wrong yet?” Zac asked.
“Yea, I had low blood pressure... and now I have this transverse myelitis thing...”
“What is it?” Ike asked.
“There is like a blood deprivation or something... that’s why my legs were all numb.”
“Will you be all right?” Ike asked.
I nodded. Tay stood behind everyone, his hands in his pockets, looking at the floor. “I think they said that ths disease can be really serious, but I think I’ll be okay.”
“When will you be out of here?”
“I don’t really know. When are you guys leaving?”
“Tonight, like nine maybe?” Ike said.
My eyes shifted again to Taylor. Now he was looking past me, out the window. I think Ike noticed me looking at Tay and Tay not looking at me. Somehow (I think he was saying something about the gift shop or the cafeteria) he managed to get everyone to follow him out of the room. Taylor and I were alone.
“So...” I sighed. He shifted his gaze to me. “What’s the matter?”
“So when were you planning on telling me that you were sick?” he didn’t seem all that happy at the moment.
“I didn’t think it was that bad.”
“What would you consider ‘that bad’? Dizziness? Puking? Losing feeling in your legs? Or were you just going to wait until you were paralyzed? God, Robinson, why didn’t you just tell someone?”
“I didn’t want anyone to worry about me.”
“Why do you think you have to protect everyone?”
“I don’t-”
“You’re health is a lot more important than your mother’s meetings or Heidi’s classes or your homework. You are more important than any gig I have to go to or any plane I have to catch. When it’s that important, you shouldn’t have to worry about stupid crap like work or school or whatever. You didn’t protect anyone by letting it go that long.”
I knew he was right. Embarrassed, I looked down at my hands. I heard Tay sigh, “So you’re really going to be okay?”
I shrugged without looking up. “They have to chack and see if I walk all right.”
“Why wouldn’t you?”
“Myelitis affects the spine,” I said softly.
I looked up at Tay. He shook his head slowly saying, “I really wish you would have told me.”
“I know... I’m sorry.” As he sat down next to me, I wrapped my arms around him. He rested his head on my chest.
We sat that way for a few minutes until he spoke up, “Well what’s the worst thing that could happen to you?”
I looked away, “I could be paralyzed,” and I paused to take a deep breath, “But the doctor says it probably won’t be that serious.”
“Will you call me or something when you find out?” he asked. I nodded. “So when do you get out of here?” I shrugged. He lifted his head and kissed me tenderly. “Are you all right?” his voice was just above a whisper. I sighed in reply. “Are you sure?” I nodded firmly. Twirling his fingers through my hair, he kissed me again.
The telephone next to my bed rang. I smiled as Tay’s mouth didn’t move from mine. As the phone rang again, I had to push him off me. “Hold on,” I smiled to him. “Hello?”
“Tayler?”
“Yea?”
“It’s Dave. What the hell happened to you?”
“Don’t worry, I just like, fainted or whatever.”
“Are you gonna be okay, babe?” he sounded alarmed.
“I think so.”
“I’ll come down to visit you.”
“No, no, it’s okay. I’ll probably be home soon. How did you know I was here?”
“Heidi called me.”
“Oh,” I giggled as I wriggled away from Tay, who was attempting to see what was under the little paper gown I was wearing (which was basically nothing). “Stop,” I mouthed to him.
“How long will you be in there?”
I couldn’t answer right away because I was still trying to hold Tay off me. “I don’t really know.” Removing his hand from my bare back, I shook my head at Tay.
“Are you sure you don’t want me and the guys to come see you?” he asked again.
“I guess if you really want to, come on over. I don’t know when visiting hours end though.”
“All right,” he said, and the telephone hung up.
“Taylor!” I hit him.
“Who was it?” he smiled innocently.
“Dave,” I replied. Tay scrunched up his nose. I was about to start lecturing him about how Dave was a nice guy, but there was a knock at the door. It was my doctor.
“Hello,” he smiled.
“Hi,” I smiled. My stomach did flip flops. Doctors scare me.
The doctor glanced from Taylor to me, and then back to Taylor. Clearing his throat, Tay said, “I’ll go get everyone.” He exited the room, waving as he opened the door.
The doctor announced that the medicine had raised my blood pressure to normal. They wanted to check if there was any damage to my limbs. As soon as a physical therapist was free, they’d send me down. I sighed worriedly as the doctor left me alone in the room.
