Chapter Ten

Nick woke up still coughing and trying to catch his breath. It hurt with each gulp of air that he took. The air seemed to sear his lungs.

A nurse burst into the room and saw the oxygen levels and immediately turned up the oxygen that Nick was getting and hit the code blue button behind his bed. Within minutes a team of medical personnel were in Nick’s room and surrounded his bed.

Jessica stood back from the bed and watched from a corner in the room. She watched in disbelief as the medical personnel were working frantically on Nick. From where Jess was standing she could still see Nick’s face. She could tell that he was no longer conscious and that his lips were a bluish-gray. She put her hand to her mouth, “Oh my god, he isn’t gone, he can’t be gone.” Jess thought to herself as she looked at Nick. He looked to her as if he was dead.

The next thing she saw them do made her start to cry. They pulled Nick’s head back and inserted a breathing tube into his throat.

“Oh, please not this again, she thought. He’s supposed to be getting better, not worse.”

Once the device was in place and the machine started pumping oxygen into Nick’s lungs, the color returned to his face and mouth. Most of the medical personnel remained in the room checking the apparatus and Nick. His nurse came over the Jess to talk with her.

“Honey, he’s stable now,” the nurse said as she put her arm around Jessica.

“What’s happening to him?” Jess was shocked.

“We had to put another tube down into his throat to help him breathe. Nick has developed pneumonia and was unable to breathe and that’s what caused his attack. We needed to get oxygen to him quickly and tubing him was the only way to go other than going cutting his throat and putting a tube in there,” the nurse knew how important it was to avoid the throat and said something to the medical personnel when they were working on Nick.

“How long will this have to stay in?” Jess knew that Nick would freak when he awoke to find tubes in his mouth.

“Hopefully not too long, they will wait to see how Nick does when he wakes up and check his lungs. We are going to put a stronger antibiotic in his IV to try to push the pneumonia out. I’ll be back in a few minutes.” Nick’s nurse excused herself as she walked out the door.

Jessica walked over to the bed and stroked Nick’s hair away from his forehead. She hated the hissing sound of the respirator. It almost was as if Nick was back to where he started and wouldn’t get better.