Little house life of Fear: Caroline in the hospital (chapter three):
Charles is waiting in the waiting room to hear about how Caroline is doing. It feels like to him its been several hours since he has been sitting around doing nothing. He got so bored and worried that he started to watch people come and go all over the hospital. Charles thought about going to find the administration office to see about the bill that is forth coming, but if he did it now he might miss the chance of hearing about Caroline so he decided to forget it for now. Then he noticed at this particular, time all he did was stare at the clock in the back of the waiting room. It just kept ticking like it didn't have a care in the world.
There wasn't much for Charles to do but sit and wait and think, Thinking was something he did not waste a lot of time on unless he had too. Now with Caroline hopefully being taken care he was helpless, and was praying that they wouldn't have to stay at the hospital for very long.
Finally what seemed like forever the nurse did come out she looked tired and worn out. Charles turned slowly to show his attention to her. She said calmly "Mr. Ingalls?" Charles stands up to slowly get his legs to walk towards the nurse, he didn't know if he should be excited or sad to see the nurse out of the surgery.
Charles got his bravery up and says "How is she doing now?" The nurse calmly says "She's resting, pretty weak from everything; her fever still comes and goes". "The doctor says now all we can do is sit and wait, and that can be anywhere from a week to ten days or more before we see how she responds". "The surgery had gone well, and she is doing about normal for her condition". Charles nods and says "Can I go see her now?" Nurse says "Yes I will go with you I will show you to her room".
The nurse and Charles walked down several halls and a left turn to get there. As the nurse finally opens the door, Charles was half afraid to see Caroline for fear of how she looked and faired through the surgery.
Finally they make to where Caroline was resting; she was still sleeping off her surgery medications. Charles pulls up the old white chair and sits down next to his sleeping wife. The nurse stands there waiting for her to wake up. Charles didn't even notice. Now Caroline moans and groans she thrashes around a little then opens her eyes slowly, then a little faster.
Caroline starts to speak, "Char….les". Charles speaks softly to her, "Yes dear I am here, its okay your surgery is over now". Caroline turns to face him a little better; she was still groggy and slow to understand, "What….happened?" Charles had to tell her he couldn't hold it in any longer, "The surgery went as planned dear, now all we have to do is sit and wait". Caroline nods in understanding, and then she turns to him and says "The….girls….they?" Charles says "Their okay their at the Edwards back home, we're in Rochester now". Caroline swallows she almost nearly falls back to sleep. The nurse looks at Charles and says "She'll be fine she needs to rest". Caroline says in a hurried tone, "Charles I hurt what?" Charles says "You got an infection, had surgery, immediately when you got here". Caroline sighs a sleepy sigh and says "oh, I did?" Charles looks full of concern to say "Yes dear you did". Caroline finally falls quickly back to sleep. Charles sits back and sighs, a deep sigh of relief. Charles says quietly "She looks so pale"? The nurse replies, "Its just from the surgery, she'll be fine, don't worry, we'll be watching her round the clock". Charles picks up his hat, and sighs, the nurse then tells him, "You need to go settle paper work with the bill administrator he's in the room 206 just down the hall". Charles sighs he didn't like dealing with bill collectors of any kind but he knew he had to now, he tells the nurse "Thank you I go do that now". Charles looks down at Caroline and sees how fast she has went back to sleep with stirring very little. He nods and says "I'll go find the room, thanks". And he walks on out of Caroline's room to go deal with the bills.
Now Charles walked down the hallway where the nurse said to go and found the room 206. He almost didn't want to go inside for fear of how much hard earned money was going to be gone soon. Now he knew he had to go face the music, he taps on the door, a rough voice answers the door, "Come in please". Charles comes in and shuts the door behind him. The tall gentleman behind the desk said "Sit down Sir please, give me a few minutes and I can tell you what your bill will be". Charles says a quiet "thank you" and sits in the soft cushion chair in the corner of the office. The man says gently to Charles, "Your wife is the one with the infection and she just had major surgery right?" Charles nods "yes" in quiet as the man turns back to his desk and figures out the bill.
The dreaded moment came the slender looking gentleman in suit and tie walks over to Charles and hands him the bill, Charles finally looks at it, and says "Well, a little bit more than what Doctor Baker originally told me". The secretary says "Our cost of health care is always increasing Mr. Ingalls; all we can do is pass it on down to you".
Charles looks at the writing on the paper he couldn't believe how much medical bills cost. He read it three times to try to comprehend how much he was going to need. He asked the administrator nicely "Can I pay half now and half of it later?" The administrator says "Yes you can pay half up front now and then the next by the month or the week, but room rent here is due always at the beginning of a new month". Charles nods in agreement and says "I can pay $5,000 now and then maybe by next month have the other half".
The Administrator says "I will take half payment now and discuss with the board how to manage the rest of the payment". Charles nods in agreement once again, he writes something like a check to the administrator and he says "I'll see that my bill will be up to date". As he folds the paper of his bill and tucks it in his coat. The administrator "Says Good plan Mr. Ingalls I am sure we will be seeing lots more of each other for a while now". Charles "Yes okay have a good day". The Administrator says "You too sir".
Charles steps out of the office and takes a second look at the expenses thus far, he couldn't believe how much Caroline's medical needs will cost him, how is he going to pay for it all?
Once he got back into Caroline's room where she was still sleeping, he noticed that at her bed there was a table and a chair that was not there before. Charles also had seen a newspaper on the table with a meal tray on it. He knew Caroline probably wouldn't want too much to eat and he didn't have the heart to wake her up.
He decides to sit and wait on Caroline to show his support he gets the paper from the table, and then goes to sit on the chair next to her bed. He tries to look calm even though he was worried because she was looking very pale instead of better.
While he was watching Caroline he read the local paper, mostly the help wanted ads, and he was thinking of if this was going to be for a longer stretch of time he might need to find work for a spell. So he was combing the help wanted ads with a fine tooth comb. He did find an add that was very interesting too him he even read it out loud to himself it went something like this:
Help Wanted:
Needed telegraph operators, on board a new river boat,
Base port of Operation is Duluth Minnesota
Highest pay goes to candidates with most experience, but not necessary will train at sea.
Offer $ 500 dollars sing on bonus too.
Contact Human Resources, if interested, Harper's port. East side Duluth Minnesota.
Charles stopped reading it, he marked the page with a crease to save it in case he might go for it. He was watching Caroline and was wondering when she would wake up should he tell her about this job offer that might help them out? (To be continued).