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Chapter Forty-Three

Chapter Forty-three

The ambulance ride seem to take forever to get there. Nick was the first one to leave the auditorium followed by Brian’s ambulance. Jess felt sick to her stomach as she looked over at Nick. He had all of the medical aparatus hooked up to him, the monitors, they were manually giving him oxygen, forcing air into his lungs.

A paramedic lifted one of Nick’s eyelids and shone a penlight into the eye. The stare of his eye was as if no one was inside, it was like Nick was already gone. Jess folded her arms tightly across her chest as if to protect her from anything that would be bad that would happen to Nick.

In the other ambulance, a female paramedic was keeping close watch over Brian’s vital signs. Jess could hear the radio communication from the ambulance that Brian was in.

“Tampa, I have a 25 year old male, involved in a crowd panic situation, he was crushed against a wall. BP is 90/50, pulse is thready and 56, respirations are shallow and 16. It appears that the patient had prior heart surgery. We have him on 100ml ox, Ringers Lactate 25ml and will stand by for further instructions, our ETA is 3 minutes, over.”

“10/4 Bravomary out.”

Jess could feel chills go up her spine listening to Brian’s vital signs. The voice that was communicating sounded panicked to her for some reason. She dismissed the thoughts thinking that she was just looking for something that wasn’t really happening.

Nick’s paramedic picked up a dispatch phone.

“Tampa Bay General this is Bravofour.”

“Go ahead Bravofour.”

“Tampa, I have a male approximately 19, appears to have lost consciousness and fell 8 feet and was stepped on during a crowd panic situation. BP is 148/92, pulse is is 85, respirations are labored and 45. We have him intubated and ox 100ml, Ringers 25ml and will stand by for futher instructions, our ETA is 1 minute, over.

“10/4 Bravomary out.”

Jess was looking for some sign from the paramedic as to Nick’s condition, but got nothing. He just kept working on Nick as the ambulance pulled into the bay and the sirens made an eerie echo.

The doors to the ambulance burst open and a hospital crew was there to help pull the stretcher out. Jess still couldn’t grasp the idea that this was happening now.

As Jess was behind the stretcher trying to follow Nick into the emergency room a nurse cut her off and took her by the arm.

“I need you to help me with the patient’s registration and history information. Do you know the other patient as well?” The nurse asked Jessica quietly.

“Yes.” Jess didn’t take her eyes off of Nick’s stretcher. Brian’s was pushed past her next. She looked at him and saw that he was still unconscious as well.

“Follow me, I need you to help me with this, then, please.” The nurse led Jessica to a room and softly closed the door.

Kevin and Howie arrived at the hospital only to be directed to a small private lounge off from the emergency department. AJ was brought in last and was taken to a room in the emergency department.

Howie paced back and forth in the small waiting room. “God, how I hate this waiting. I wish we could find out something, anything.”

“Calm down, Howie, this is not going to help matters any with you getting upset over this.” Kevin said quietly.

Both Nick and Brian were each in a Trauma Room being worked on by a team of doctors and nurses.

When Jess was finished with the registration for both Brian and Nick, she was taken to the room where Kevin and Howie were waiting. Jess hugged both of them and then started crying.

“Jess, they will be okay, think positively.” Kevin said as he held her tighter.

“What next, now Brian is laying there hurt too.” Jess sobbed.

“They will be getting the best possible care. We will be finding out about their conditions soon, I hope.” Kevin said in a calm voice.

A young doctor appeared in the doorway. “Are you family of Mr. Littrell’s?”

Kevin and Howie both stood up. Kevin answered the doctor stating they were family.

The doctor entered the room and closed the door behind him. As he was sitting down, he started to speak.

“Brian has some injuries that happened when he was crushed against the stage. He has a concussion, three fractured ribs and tests indicate that he has some internal bleeding which is from a ruptured spleen. He is being prepped for surgery right now.”

Jess gasped when she heard the word internal bleeding. She knew how serious the situation was.

“Can we see him, and how is Nick?” Jess asked.

“I am not on Nick’s case, so I’m sorry I can’t answer any questions regarding his condition. You can go in and see Brian, but only for a few minutes,” the doctor said as he stood up.

Kevin, Howie and Jess followed the doctor into Trauma room 4. As they walked past the other trauma room where Nick was, Jess strained to see if she could see anything at all. All she could see was hospital staff working around Nick and she could hear all of the equipment beeping and buzzing.

When they reached Brian’s room, Jess felt her knees lock. She was afraid to take another step. She didn’t want to see Brian laying on a hospital stretcher. Kevin took her by the arm and guided her into the room. Jess scanned the trauma room before her eyes fell upon Brian’s face. He was hooked up to a heart monitor, which kept a steady rythmn and he had oxygen tubing and an assortment of IV’s hung on a pole next to his bed. Brian looked like he was sleeping and other than the color of his face being so pale, Jess would have never guessed anything that serious was wrong with him.

Jess reached out to touch Brian’s free hand. She put her hand ontop of his and leaned near his face. “Brian, we are praying for you, please get better, we need you.” Jess’s voice broke as she spoke. Tears slipped off her cheeks and fell onto Brian’s. As Jess wiped the tear off of his cheek, she appologized to him. “I’m sorry, I didn’t have to shower you.”

Kevin and Howie didn’t speak to Brian at all. They just approached his bed and touched his shoulder. Jess looked up at Kevin. Kevin nodded slowly, he knew that Jess couldn’t take seeing Brian this way and wanted to leave the room. They walked back into the private room to wait and find out about Nick’s condition.

The minutes seemed to take forever.

“God, what is taking them so long with Nick, I am getting scared.” Jess sighed. She paced the floor in the tiny waiting room.

Just as Kevin was about to answer Jess, a young woman appeared in the doorway.

“I am Doctor Maddenly, are you family of Mr. Carter’s?” The woman waited for a reply before she continued.

“Yes, we are his family.” Jess said softly.

The doctor entered the room and closed the door behind her. “I am one of the trauma doctors assigned to his case. I know that he has been in and out of the hospital since June, is this correct?” Dr. Maddenly asked as she sat down.

“Yes, Nick was in a car accident in June.” Jess wasn’t sure where the doctor was going with this.

“And he has been under a doctor’s care since that time?” The doctor continued.

“Yes.” Jessica answered. She was starting to wonder where all of these questions were leading up to.

“What was Nick taking valium for?” The doctor asked.

“Valium? It was prescribed for him after he collapsed onstage in November, I guess it was for him to relax, why?” Jess was starting to feel nervous about that question.

“Well, Nick’s bloodwork showed elevated levels of valium. He evidentally took more than what his system could handle which would explain him blacking out before he fell. Now, we are working on pushing the drug out of his system. The amount of valium Nick took caused his heart to stop. He is in a coma from the overdose right now.”

Jess put her hand over her mouth when she heard the word coma come out of the doctor’s mouth. Her mind was racing thinking back to June when Nick was in a coma after the car accident.

“He will be okay, he will come out of this, right?” Jess panicked.

“It’s too early to tell, we have to wait.” The doctor replied.

Jess looked towards Kevin. She burst into sobs. “Kev, this can’t be really happening, no!”

Kevin put his arm around Jess to comfort her. “Can we see Nick?”

“Yes, talk to Nick, maybe this will help him come out of this. I am sorry there isn’t more I can tell you about him.” The doctor spoke as she stood up to leave the room. Howie, Kevin and Jess followed her out of the room.

Jess couldn’t believe that she was going through the same steps like she did last June. Nick was laying so still on the hospital bed, machines and IV’s surrounding his bed. Jess bent down and kissed Nick’s forehead. There wasn’t a response from him. The monitor kept it’s steady pace.

“Nick, why do you do this to me? I can’t keep going on like this.” Jess tearfully spoke.

She looked at his face for some type of acknowledgement. His forehead had a bandage covering the cut that he got when he fell. His left cheek looked bruised also. Nick just laid there, appearing to be asleep. Jess stroked his blond hair back. “Nick, just get better, please?”

Jess had to walk out of the room, she was so upset at looking at Nick she didn’t want to start to cry, she was afraid that she wouldn’t be able to stop.

Once out in the hallway, Jess looked across and noticed that she was standing outside of AJ’s room. AJ was laying back on the stretcher. Jess walked up to the door and softly knocked.

“AJ? It’s me, Jess, can I come in?” Jess asked quietly.

“Yeah.” AJ answered quietly, he had his good arm laying across his face.

“How are you doing?” Jess asked as she got closer to his bed.

“Crappy, this sucks, man.” AJ’s voice was quiet. Jess could tell he was in pain.

“How’s the arm?” Jess was afraid to ask.

“Broke in two places. They are consulting with a bone doc to see if they need to fix it. God, I hope to hell not. I hate knives.” AJ sighed.

“AJ, they will do what is best for you, just calm down.” Jess said as she touched his shoulder.

“How’s Brian and Nick?” AJ asked.

Jess wanted to avoid that question entirely. “Um, I don’t know yet.”

AJ turned his head and looked at Jess directly into her eyes. “You do too know, tell me, please!”

“Oh, AJ....” Jess’s voice trailed off. “Brian is in having surgery right now and Nick, Nick is in a coma.”

“Shit, how the hell did this happen? All this just from Nicky falling offstage? Why is Brian having surgery?” AJ was visibly growing upset.

“His doctor said he has a ruptured spleen and some internal bleeding.” Jess replied.

“Dammit. He is gonna be okay right?” AJ asked.

Jess noticed AJ’s heart rate rising on the montior they had him hooked up to. “Calm down AJ! They seemed to be optimistic.”

“Yeah, well what about Nick, how come he is in a coma?” AJ pressed for more answers.

“Well, they said his blood tests show that he had a significant amount of valium in his blood. Almost too much and that is what caused him to black out in the first place and fall off the stage.”

“That son of a bitch, I knew he was doing something he wasn’t supposed to, I just knew it. I caught him sneeking something the other day at rehearsal and then he was really relaxed after break. I should have confronted him then.” AJ was growing more adjitated.

“AJ, there was nothing that would have clued you into this type of thing happening. Don’t go beating yourself up over this now.” Jessica rubbed his shoulder as she spoke.

A doctor appeared in the doorway.

“Hi, Mr. McLean, I am Dr. Swans, the orthopaedic surgeon on call. I have looked over the films of your fracture on your humerous and the radius and I’m afraid we will have to do surgery to repair the break.” The doctor was looking over AJ’s chart as he spoke.

“Shit.” AJ didn’t say another word after that.

“Plates in his arm?” Jess asked the doctor.

“Yes, plates and screws, it is the only way to repair the arm and minimize the damage.”

“Shit.”

“AJ, it will be okay, quit saying that.” Jess tried to calm him down.

“I will admit you to the hospital tonight, and have you scheduled for surgery first thing in the morning. You will have to stay inpatient for twenty-four to forty-eight hour following surgery.” Dr. Swans told AJ.

AJ closed his eyes and sighed deeply letting the information the doctor just told him, sink in. He hated hospitals and was scared to death of knives. AJ hated to admit it, but even with all of the tattoos he had, he was a baby when it came to needles and pain.

“AJ, it will be okay, you are in good hands.” Jessica tried to help him relax.

“I know, it’s just that I’m really scared of having something like this done, I mean, surgery and shit like that scares the hell out of me.” AJ tried to put his panic on hold.

Jess simply touched his shoulder, trying to calm him down. Her eyes wandered off towards the room where Nick laid, unconscious.

Chapter 44