THE RESCUE…
Chapter 3
Steve had been moved up to the Operating Room. Captain Mason went into the room to go over the results with Steve, who was conscious but in considerable pain, with his eyes closed and concentrating on controlling the pain.
"Commander," he said gently, trying not to startle him.
"What's happening?" Steve asked, opening his eyes. A nurse was checking the oxygen which had been switched from a nasal cannula to a mask to get more oxygen to Steve.
"Commander, you've got a punctured lung from one of the broken ribs. This must have happened when you moved to get out of bed. It appears small and we'll just keep you on the oxygen and keep a close eye on your progress. I believe this will heal by itself, but will take time. However, there does appear to be some blood in your abdomen. I believe this may be coming from your spleen," he advised.
"Okay," Steve said, speaking haltingly due to the pain. "What's next?'
"I've called the surgeon and we've discussed your condition. He needs to take you to the O.R. to do an exploratory. We need to make sure that this is from your spleen and how bad the laceration is. If its small enough – which I believe it is – we'll just clean out any free blood that we can, close you up and keep a watch to make sure the bleeding is stopping on its own and that you're healing. If you do not stop bleeding on your own, we'll need to remove part of or all of the spleen, depending how bad the laceration is" he explained further.
"Okay, when do we do this?" Steve asked.
"The surgeon is on his way – he should be here any minute. He wants me to get you prepped. I know you're in considerable pain, Commander, but I'd really rather not give you anything until the anesthesiologist gets you to sleep. Can you hang on for about 10 more minutes?" Captain Mason asked, as he looked up to see the surgeon – Major Dixon – entering the floor and heading straight for them. Right behind him was the anesthesiologist.
"Yup," Steve said, trying to use as little words as possible. "Sooner the better," he finished, trying to catch his breath through a spasm of abdominal pain.
"Commander," Major Dixon said as he came into the room, approached Steve and put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm Major Dixon. Let's see if we can get you fixed up and get rid of this pain for you so you can head back state-side shall we?"
"Sounds like a plan, Sir," Steve answered.
"Okay then. Lieutenant Pritchard, let's put him lights out," Major Dixon said to the anesthesiologist.
"Yes, Sir," he replied and put a mask over Steve's mouth and nose. When Lieutenant Pritchard was sure that Steve was fully under the anesthesia, he gave the go-ahead to start the surgery.
5-0 – 5-0 – 5-0 – 5-0 – 5-0 – 5-0
Chin and Lori had called Danny, Kono and Joe from the hospital to let them know that Steve was having an issue. They told them they'd keep them advised, but they had come to the hospital anyway.
The elevator door opened and Nikki came over to the group. She wasn't surprised that the entire team was there waiting for news – she could tell how close they were from the time Steve had arrived. She had heard the story about when he was brought into the medical facility – it had taken a few minutes to get the team away from him so the medical staff could work. They had been reluctant to leave his side after his rescue. No one really knew the story of what had actually happened to the Commander, but by the looks of him, he'd been through quite an ordeal.
As she reached the group, they all stood.
"Okay, Commander McGarrett tolerated his tests well. The doctor will be right down with the results," she told them.
With that, the elevator door opened again and out stepped Captain Mason. He looked into the waiting area and was greeted with four very anxious faces.
"Commander McGarrett's tests revealed that he has a small puncture in his left lung, which explains the difficulty in breathing. I think when he got up out of bed he moved around enough to have a jagged piece of one of his broken ribs that didn't show up on the x-ray puncture the lung. It's very small so we're going to keep an eye on that to make sure that it is healing on its own," he explained.
"However, there is some bleeding into his left, upper abdomen. The CT Scan shows that it is apparently coming from the spleen. This appears small as well, but we are taking the Commander to the OR to take a look and make sure its not more serious. We'll clean out the abdomen, look around to make sure there is no other danger looming, and as long as it looks minor, we'll close him up and let him heal on his own," he finished.
"And if it's not minor?" asked Lori.
"We would remove a portion of or the whole spleen, depending on how much damage there is," he filled in.
"When is the surgery?" Danny asked.
"It's already under way," Captain Dixon reported. "He should be out in about two to three hours at the most."
They all stood silently for a moment. Captain Dixon waited to see if there were any other questions and then said, "If you have no questions, I'm going to go check on some patients. If you need me, you can have me paged and I'll have Nikki or her replacement on the next shift let you know when he's out of surgery."
"Thanks, Captain," Joe White replied, shaking the man's hand.
5-0 – 5-0 – 5-0 – 5-0 – 5-0 – 5-0
Danny, Chin, Kono and Joe had gone back to their accommodations once Stave had been brought back from the Recovery Room. Lori had stayed behind and been sitting next to Steve's bed since he'd been brought back to his roo. He'd been asleep, but had stirred a couple of times before falling back to sleep. Everything checked out during the surgery and it was decided to let things heal themselves while watching him closely.
There was a low glow from the light falling into the room from the hallway, along with the dim light on the wall behind the head of the bed. After he had been settled into his room and the nurse left to check on another patient, she had moved closer to look at him. His face was relaxed and peaceful, no sign of his usual frown – he always seemed to be so tense.
He was battered and bruised. He had a bandage wrapped around his chest to help with the healing and discomfort of the lung puncture. There was another bandage over the area where they had done the exploratory surgery. Peeking out from under the chest wrap she could see the burn marks from Wo Fat's torture. She knew what it was from – she'd seen it before on a case out in Colorado. In that case, a couple of very sadistic boys had decided to further their bullying of one of their classmates by taking him into a barn on one of the boy's property and using a cattle prod to send electric shocks to the boy's chest.
She took in the sight of the cuts around his left eye and the bruising along his jaw line where Wo Fat had struck him over and over. She noticed too the marks on his wrists where he hung from chains from the ceiling of the abandoned bunker.
She lightly touched his brow, feeling that he was cool – no fever. At her touch, Steve stirred slightly, letting out a soft groan. Lori pulled her hand away and watched the frown reappear just before his eyes fluttered opened and he tried to focus.
"Shhhh," Lori soothed. "Sorry I woke you."
"S'okay," he said, his speech still slightly slurred from the effects of the medications. He started to try to sit up. Lori put a hand on his shoulder and the other on his forehead, gently easing him back down.
"Woah, just lay still. You just came from surgery, remember?" she whispered.
She felt him relax back onto the pillow. "Right. So, how'd it go?" he asked, pulling at the oxygen cannula that had replaced the face mask. His mouth was so dry, he thought as he cleared his throat. Lori reached over to get a facecloth off the stand alongside his bed. She poured some of the fresh water from the pitcher onto it and wet his lips.
"Thanks," he said.
"Major Dixon said they didn't need to remove any of your spleen. They're just going to keep a close watch to make sure that its healing by itself. Same thing with your lung. So, how're you feeling? Are you having pain? I can call the nurse," she said, reaching for the call button.
He took her hand. "Its not so bad just now. I think I'm still a little numb all over from the anesthesia," he said, smiling.
"Lori – thanks for coming to get me out of there," he said, holding her hand and letting it rest against his chest. She felt his warmth and the steady beat of his heart.
"Well, of course we came to get you," she said, making no attempt to move her hand away. "I was…, WE were so scared. We thought we'd be too late," she said with a slight blush. Their eyes met and held each other's for a moment. He had to admit to himself that he felt "something" when they'd first met and she proceeded to intrigue him ever since their little lighthearted exchange at the coffee shop on the Jen Hassley kidnapping case.
He tightened his grip on her hand slightly. "I hear you got to fire an RPG," he said, raising an eyebrow and smirking. "Pretty cool, huh?"
"Cool? It was terrifying!" she corrected. After a moment of silence where he didn't take his eyes from hers, she smiled and admitted, "Yeah, pretty cool." They both laughed, with Steve grabbing at his stomach from the action.
"Sorry," she said, putting her other hand over his on his stomach.
Lori pulled her hands away as a nurse came into the room to check on him. "Commander, you're awake," she said cheerfully. "I'm Stephanie and I'll be working the overnight shift tonight. How are you feeling? In general and pain-wise, I mean," she asked.
"Umm, I'm having some pain, but its nowhere near as bad as before the surgery," he answered and Lori noticed the frown again. She wanted to reach out and smooth his wrinkle.
"Well, how about we give you some more pain medication. Doctor's orders anyway. You can't eat or drink or get up, so you might as well sleep, right Sir?" she asked, as she administered the medication into his IV tubing before he could decline it.
"If I didn't know better, I'd swear that Nikki put you up to sedating me so I don't get out of bed again," Steve answered, feeling the medicine coarse through him, the drowsiness setting in.
"Now Commander, we nurses don't hold grudges…. For too long anyway," she teased him as she marked down the numbers from the monitors that were connected to him. She took a quick look at his dressings to make sure there was no bleeding.
"Agent Weston, he's going to be going back to sleep. You might as well go home and get some rest yourself. I'll be here all night and keep a close eye on him," Stephanie offered.
"Wait, stay until I fall asleep," Steve said, sounding drowsier.
Lori looked at the nurse for approval and got it. The nurse left and she held his hand again, his grip a little weaker now with the medication taking over.
Fighting to stay awake a little longer, he pulled on her hand to pull her a little closer. "So, what was that hug back at the pick up zone?"
"Oh!" she said, blushing darker this time. Thankfully, the lights were low and she hoped Steve couldn't see it. "Sorry – I just…," she was having a hard time bringing her eyes to meet his.
"I was so glad to see that you were still alive…, I just…" she stammered slightly. "No – I almost never saw you again, Steve, so I'm just going to say it. I have to tell you that almost since the day we met, I have…," she started to explain, looking back at his face only to see the frown gone and the peaceful look of sleep on his face.
She wondered how much he'd actually heard before he fell asleep again. She slid her hand from his and stood watching him sleep and listening to the even sound of his breathing. She pulled the sheet up a little higher, leaned over and kissed him, but his lips didn't respond to her own. "I'll see you in the morning," she whispered next to his ear. A very slight sound escaped from him – an acknowledgement maybe?
She gathered her things from the chair and looked back at him just before she left the room.
TO BE CONTINUED…