Chapter Two
“I’m trying to find out where my boyfriend is,
could you help me?”
The nurse in the emergency room walked briskly
past Jess. “Try asking the girl up at the front desk, she can help you.”
“I am looking to find out where they took my
boyfriend and that nurse told me to ask you,” Jess was
hoping that someone would help her.
“Calm down, miss. Why was your boyfriend here?”
“He was in a car accident and the police officer
told me he was being taken to Tampa Bay Hospital.”
“Okay, what is his name?”
“It’s uh, Nick, Nick Carter.” Jess looked at the
receptionist anxiously, hoping that she could direct her quickly so she could be at his side.
“Carter.......oh, okay, he’s in Trauma Room 3, but
you can’t go in there, only immediate family, sorry.”
“But I am family, I’m his girlfriend. Please you
have to let me go in there,” Jessica pleaded. “I need to be there, I won’t get in the way, I promise, please! He would want me there.”
“I know his parents have been contacted, let me
check with the trauma nurse and see what she thinks, please just wait over there.”
The receptionist motioned over to a bright waiting
room. Jessica reluctantly walked over to a chair but did not sit in it. She was keeping her eye on the receptionist making sure she would be holding up her end of the deal to see if she could go in.
After about 10 minutes, the receptionist motioned
to Jessica.
“The trauma nurse said it would be okay for you to
go in, but you could only stay for 10 minutes, and you would have to leave before that time if they needed you to go.”
“Thank you.”
A nurse escorted Jessica down the corridor to the
trauma room. She swallowed hard before she entered the
room. She scanned the surroundings afraid to look at Nick. It was hard for her to keep her composure when she finally looked at him. There were so many tubes and machines surrounding him. His face was so swollen and scraped. There were tubes going into his mouth and the sound of a machine that kept reminding you of every breath he was taking, rather every breath that the machine was taking for him.
She looked at Nick wishing he would open his
eyes. Jess kept thinking that this was going to be another one of his stupid practical jokes that he liked to play. She wanted to touch his hand, the only one that didn’t have anything attached to it, but hesitated.
“It’s okay, you can touch his hand,” the dark
haired nurse told Jess.
As Jessica touched his hand, she was surprised
at how cold it felt. “Is....is, what, um how is he, will he be alright?” Jess asked the nurse.
“The doctor would be better able to answer that
question. He’s as comfortable as he can be right now. I know that doesn’t answer your question very well-----”
“How long until he wakes up?”
“We will have to wait and see, right now he is in
a coma--”
“Oh my god, oh my god---” Jessica kept
whispering.
“Why don’t I take you back out to the waiting
room, I think it would be best for Nick. His parents were contacted and should be coming soon,” the nurse told Jess as she was trying to get her to leave.
“Okay.” Jess slowly bent over to kiss Nick’s
face. She was afraid to touch him too hard. His face
looked so hurt.
Jessica walked with the trauma nurse back to the
lobby. The nurse told her that once Nick’s parents arrived, the doctor would be contacted and they would meet with him regarding Nick’s condition. All she could do was wait. If there were anything more that they would need, they would come and get her.
Jess sat down in a hard chair that was in a ocation where she could see the hallway and the front
entrance. She looked around the room that was filled with people, wondering if they too were awaiting news about a loved one. She glanced down at the end table. It was littered with an assortment of magazines. The one that caught her eye had a photo of The Backstreet Boys on the cover.
She picked it up as she started thinking about how
long it would take before the accident was on the news. Looking at Nick’s face in the article, she could feel the hot tears streaming down her face. Why did this have to happen? He is so good to people and so talented. She shook the thoughts from her head.
“Jess, oh god,” Jane Carter grabbed Jessica and
gave her an overwhelming hug. Her face was drawn and pale. Nick’s father even looked older to her at that moment. “How did this happen?”
Jessica sighed, “I dunno. Me and Nicky were
talking this afternoon and having a nice Saturday and I
asked him about meeting some of my friends from school. He got upset and stormed out the door. I knew he just needed to be alone for a while, you know how much he wants to be by himself for a little bit after he’s been gone. Anyway, he took off in the car, squealing his tires and the whole bit and the next thing I heard were sirens. I was curious and so I got in my car to see if I could tell what was wrong and
then I saw him...”
Jessica couldn’t finish. She was upset thinking
about seeing Nick being taken from his car. Jane just held her as they both cried.
“How is he, have you seen him?”
“A nurse took me to see him, oh it is, I don’t
know how he is, he was sleeping.” Jess did not have the heart to tell them that their son was in a coma. She coated the description of Nick and didn’t let on how badly he looked to her.
“Have you talked to his doctor yet?”
“No, they said that he would talk to you once you
arrived. I guess we should tell the receptionist that you are here and want to see Nick.”
They walked over to the receptionist desk and told
them who they were and that they wanted to see their son. The receptionist told them to wait in a conference room off to the right of the lobby and wait. She told them that the physician would be notified they were there.
All the three of them could do was sit in the tiny
room with the bright white walls with a few unread magazines sitting on the tables glaring at them. On one of the magazines was a picture of Nick. Jess couldn’t believe the irony of how often his face kept jumping out at her, that beautiful face.
It seemed to take forever before Dr. Gaynor
entered the room. He was a young doctor, about to be in his thirties. He sat in a chair that faced them. He shook Bob’s hand and nodded at Jess and Jane.
"I’m Dr. Gaynor, chief of staff of the trauma
unit. Nick is still down here in the trauma ward, we should be transferring him shortly to the intensive care unit. I am waiting for the results of a few more tests before we move him. Nick is hurt very badly, but so far his body seems to be fighting. He has several injuries. I guess there really isn’t an easy way to start this. Nick was in a very bad car accident. His seatbelt probably protected him from further injuries, however, the ones he received are
life-threatening.”
Jane gasped when Dr. Gaynor spoke those words.
Bob put his arm around her tighter as if to shield her from the bad news.
“Nick suffered a tremendous blow to the head, cat
scans show that his brain was bruised as a result of the hit. He is in a coma right now, that is basically his body’s way of protecting itself and trying to rewire his connections, so to speak. It’s too early to access whether there will be any permanent damage.”
“Oh, god, you mean brain damage?” Jessica beside herself. She couldn’t think past those words.
“Possibly, there is always that chance, but like I
said, it is too early to tell. He also suffered a whiplash type of an injury to his back and the MRI shows that there is significant swelling to the spinal cord. Hopefully with the IV steroids he will be getting this may help to reduce the swelling before there is damage. It is too early to say whether anything permanent has happened there. He is on a respirator to help him breathe. He fractured his ribs on the left side and one of the ribs punctured the lung and it collapsed. We had to do surgery to open the lung back up and had to insert a catheter to help keep it open and drain the fluids to prevent pneumonia. I will be monitoring Nick very closely. The next few days will be very critical. Until he comes out of the coma his condition will be critical. Do you have any questions?”
Jess and Nick’s parents sat there, just numb. They
were unable to get past the first part of the doctor’s
comments of brain damage and spinal injury. Finally Jess summoned up the courage to thank the doctor and asked if they could see Nick.
"Certianly. I do want to remind you that when a
person is in a coma, we feel that although they are not
physically responding to you, they can hear your voice and feel your touch. It is very important that you talk to him and touch him. I will have the nurse come in to take you to him.”
The trauma nurse allowed Nick’s parents and Jessica
to go in together. Jane wanted Jessica to be with them, it would be hard to face Nick and felt that since she had already seen him, that it would make it easier for them.
This time when Jess walked into the room, she was
aware of more of the equipment that was connected to Nick. The respirator was still making a hissing noise everytime it filled his lungs with oxygen, but she also heard the sound of a machine that was keeping track of his heart beats. It was earie listening to the pinging noise. She did notice that when Jane cried out his name it appeared that the beats increased. Maybe she was just reading into it more than what it appeared to be.
"Jess, I didn’t realize that he would look like
this. Oh, my baby,” Jane sobbed as she looked at Nick. She reached up and smoothed back his blonde hair that was still stained with blood.
“I’m just so afraid to touch him, he looks like he
would be hurting everywhere. I don’t want to make him feel worse.”
“Remember what Dr. Gaynor said about Nick possibly
hearing and feeling us. I noticed that the heart monitor went faster when we talk.” Jessica tried to reassure them that Nick was hearing them. She hoped that Nick was hearing them.