Chapter 4- Hold on
Antonio watched as the paramedic raced around the ambulance hooking Jay up to what seemed like a million different monitors. This certainly wasn't the first time he had road in the back of an ambulance with him, but something in him told Antonio that this time, it was serious.
"How far from paved road? He's in hyperthermic shock, and if I don't get a line in him now, he'll go into cardiac arrest." The medic yelled to the one in the front.
"Too far to wait!" the driver answered.
"You a religious guy? Now might be a good time to send up a prayer or two for your friend." the medic said, looking up at Antonio. He nodded, and sent a few more prayers than usual.
"I need you to hold his arm as still as possible for me." She said, and Antonio did exactly that. She took a deep breath, and carefully stuck the needle into Jays arm. A few tense seconds later, she stood up and hung the bag of ice cold fluids.
"Alright, were in. He still is way to hot. That lavage won't start working for a few minutes, and he might not have that long. Get me all the ice packs in that cooler." The medic said, pointing to the box in the corner. Antonio grabbed it, and handed them to her. She cut off his shirt to expose his skin so the cold from the ice would go directly into his body without the barrier of fabric. Antonio shook his head at the sight of the young detectives abdomen. With all he had been through between his tours and his time home since, with being blown up, tortured, and shot more than his fair share of times, he figured Jay probably had a few scars, but this many? Most of them were small and barely noticeable, but they were there. One in particular caught his eye. It was a small line just below the collarbone on his left shoulder. As he looked at it closer, he was taken back to the day Jay got it.
Antonio slowed the car down, and parked in front of Molly's. He jumped out and flashed his badge to the officers who had put up police tape, and ran towards the entrance, searching the crowd outside for any sign of Gabby or Jay. The call over the radio said officer needs assistance. A multitude of questions raced through his mind, especially at the sight of the ambulance. Finally, he saw what he was looking for. A swish of brown hair. Concern grew in him as he looked past Gabby and saw that Jay was sitting on the stretcher behind her. Antonio could see that he was talking, meaning he was ok, right? As he got closer, he saw the reason. White bandage covered his left shoulder with a bright red splotch in the center of it, which could mean only one thing.
"...just a through and through. You'll need a few stitches, but you should be fine." Gabby said. They talked for a while longer, Jay obviously unfazed by the ordeal.
"Sir? Hey….sir!" Antonio was snapped back to the present but the sound of the medics voice.
"Yea?" he answered.
"This head wound needs to be cared for. I need you to put a proper splint on his leg. He did a pretty good job with what he had, but if the dirt that's on those branches gets into the wound, he's in trouble, and he's got enough of that as is." She explained, then handed him the supplies. He nodded, taking the things from her, and getting to work. As he did, Jay's words from that day played over and over in his mind. Intelligence. I want Intelligence.
Come on man. I brought you into this unit, and I better be the one that leaves it first. You gotta fight. You gotta hold on.
Later…
"Alright that was Natalie. Will and Jay should be coming in any minute. They've been out in the elements for two days, so when you add that to the accident, their both in bad shape, and as much as we care about both of them, we're going to have to put away our feelings and give them the same care that Will always gives his patients." Maggie said to all the nurses gathered around. They had heard that the brothers were in an accident from what Natalie had briefly told Maggie on her way out. She hadn't had a connection for very long, so Maggie hadn't been able to get any info about what their injuries were, but they knew it wasn't good.
The doctors and nurses gathered supplies and got ready as the doors opened, and the brothers were rushed through. All eyes immediately went to Will, who came in first.
"He's got a punctured lung and his abdomen is filling with fluid. He's lost a lot of blood. Other than that, I'm not sure what else is going on." Natalie said, running alongside Will's stretcher, squeezing the bag of air that was ensuring his good lung was working properly. Just as they rolled him into the room, his eyes opened, and he began to panic as his gag reflex kicked in. He knew better than to try to move because of how much he hated when patients do that, but…..Jay?! Where was he?
"J….j…"
"Take it easy. We got you. He's right behind you. We're gonna fix you both in no time." Connor said, almost trying to assure himself of the same idea. Will was out soon after he was assured Jay was being taken care of. Connor sighed. He had seen his share of bad accidents, but this one hit him hard. Will was family, and now he was barely hanging on. He glanced up at Natalie as they moved the bags over. He knew how much she cared about him, and he also knew they were dating. After this time with Robin, he now knew exactly when people were hiding a relationship, because he had done it.
"Alright, let's move him on my count. 1...2….3!" Connor said, grabbing the handles on the backboard.
"Hang a bag of O- blood, morphine, and the right fluids. Get me a new chest tube. Let's get a chest x-ray so I can see what I'm working with." He said. April nodded, and pushed the machine over as Natalie replaced the tube. She taped the tube down, and then they all turned to watch the monitor as his x-rays came up. Connor shook his head at the sight in front of him. He was out there like that for two days?! Then he looked at the color of the blood on the gurney and floor, and put it together.
"Call the OR tell them we'll be up in three. There's an infection in his blood from the wound, and if we don't completely re-circulate blood, it'll take over his lungs." Connor said, pushing the machine away. They were just about to push the sides of the gurney up, when he suddenly started convulsing.
"He's seizing! Push adovane and watch that tube!" Natalie said, her voice cracking with worry. She held his head still, making sure the intubation tube didn't move or choke him. It took three nurses to hold him down so April could stick the needle into his arm. Her breathing slowed when the seizure finally stopped. Will's head slumped to the side, and the machines leveled out, and everything returned to safe levels. Natalie reached over and hooked the ventilator to the tube in his throat, moving his head. She stroked his head, moving his hair off of his forehead. It was matted down with a mixture of blood and sweat, and she wanted more than anything to clean it off.
"Natalie. Hey...Natalie, we gotta go. I gotta take him now." Connor said, putting a hand on hers. He knew how hard this was, but if he didn't take him now, she might never get him back. Natalie realized what she was doing, and nodded. She stepped back, and then saw the small audience that had formed outside the room. Some of it dissipated once Will was wheeled out, but a few stayed. Maggie came over and gently steered her out of the room.
"Let's get someone to clean that blood up as soon as possible." Sharon said to one of the nurses standing nearby. She watched as Maggie took Natalie into the break room, and sighed with worry. Her attention was drawn away when she heard the shaky voice of Noah from a treatment room across the hall.
"Uh...I...I need help in here!" Noah yelled as he looked down at the blood that was squirting from the leg wound.
"Ethan!" Sharon yelled, taking over Maggie's job. Dr. Choi sprinted towards the exam room, pulling gloves on as he went.
"What's going on?" Ethan asked, while assessing the situation himself.
"Uh….I...It…." Noah stammered, looking at the blood that had sprayed across his shirt and jacket.
"It looks like you moved the leg to fast trying to get the splint off. The edge of the bone cut an artery. How's everything else?" Ethan asked, cleaning the area of blood so he could see the artery. The sooner he could locate it, the sooner he could fix it.
"Hey! Where's your head right now? Get back here, your patient needs you!" April said when she noticed the scared look on her brothers face. He nodded, the look at the monitor, ensuring that all the stats were normal.
"I got fresh line of fluids in, a morphine drip, and a transfusion…." Noah said, trying to gather his thoughts. It's not that he hasn't seen things like this before, but the last time he had to deal with it, Connor had been close by the whole time. He knew he was ready for this, but it suddenly was different when everything was up to him, and the patient was spiraling out of control.
"Ok. The artery is tied off for now, but he needs an operating room." Dr. Choi said.
"Uh, we've got bigger problems. His belly is tender and discolored. Get the x-ray." Noah said when he noticed the color of Jays lower abdomen. The nurses wheeled the machine over. Everyone backed away for a moment while the picture was taken, and waited for it to appear on the screen.
"Looks like he's bleeding internally. Tell the OR we're on our way up. Good catch." Dr. Choi instructed the nurses, then said to Noah. Dr. Sexton nodded, and watched as his patient was wheeled away.
"You alright?" April asked, putting a gentle hand on her brothers arm as they walked to the computers.
"Yea….I guess it was just because it was my first time with such a serious case. There was so many different things wrong, I didn't know what to do first. And Will? Is he going to be ok? It looked bad." Noah asked.
"We don't know yet. Connor took him for surgery, so it must be something thoracic. Are you gonna be alright?" she asked as she pulled out labs that needed to be ran.
"Yea, I'll be fine." Noah said, logging info into the computer.
Later…
Will opened his eyes and looked around the familiar hospital room of Chicago Med. As he took in all the wires and tubes attached to him, and tried to come up with all the things that were wrong with him. After a while, he looked over to see his dad sitting on a chair in the corner.
"Hey son. How're you feeling?" Mr. Halstead asked.
"I'm..ok I guess. What're you doing here?" Will asked, slightly confused.
"My kids were in a serious car accident and one…. What kind of a question is that anyway?!" He snapped back, pausing.
"Where's Jay? Can you tell them to move him in here with me? There's plenty of room." Will said, not picking up on the sharp emotion in his father's voice.
"They can't do that…." Pat said, not looking his older son in the eye.
"Why not? I order it all the time. He's probably out of surgery by now. Tell Nat I want to t…."
"He's dead Will." Pat said bluntly, cutting him off. The words felt like a knife through the heart. Wills eyes grew wide as his mind tried to process what he had just heard.
"What do you mean he's de...dead? He….he can't be!" Will said, nearly yelling.
"Sharon said something about complications during surgery. There was an infection." Pat answered, truly hurting for Will. Though he never said it, he loved how close his sons had gotten in the last few years, and knew this would crush him.
"No! NO! No, this can't be true! No! No no no!" Will yelled, tears starting to stream down his face. His dad stood slowly, coming closer and gently touched his shoulder, trying not to hurt him, but comfort him at the same time.
"No! No….no...no….no…."
"No…..no….no…"
Connor scrunched his brow at the sound coming from his patient. He ignored it, and looked back at the lung in front of him. And picked up the suture tray.
"Suction. How's the transfusion going?" He asked, looking up briefly.
"No complications. It's nearly done." the nurse answered. Connor nodded, then looked back down to what he was doing. Then he heard the mumbling again, and looked over. Will's eyes were racing back and forth beneath his eyelids, and sweat beads were starting to form on his face.
"Alright, done. Close him up, I'm going to go get Natalie. Looks like he's dreaming, and I have a feeling he's gonna need someone to wake up to that's a bit better on his eyes than me." Connor said, backing away from his patient and friend.
As he walked to the sink in the prep room to wash his hands once again, he let out a sigh, putting his head in his hands as he leaned against the counter. This was the first time he had had to operate on a colleague, and he couldn't remember the last time a surgery was that stressful. He looked up when he heard the doors swing open.
"How is he?" Sharon asked, walking over to look through the glass.
"Better than he was. The transfusion hasn't finished yet though, so he's not completely out of the woods yet." He answered.
"It sounds like neither of them will be for a little while. I just talked with Dr. Abrams. He's in the process of removing a piece of Jay's skull. He cracked it when he flew through the windshield, and his brain started to swell. This is the second traumatic brain injury he's had, so there's a chance he could have permanent damage. That was after two hours of surgery on his intestines and left tibia. How'd Will do?" she asked after explaining everything.
"I'll be honest, it was really hard. We lost him twice, and that doesn't even count the close call we had with the seizure." Connor said.
"Twice?" Ms. Goodwin asked with surprise.
"The first was in the minute it took us to get him hooked to out ventilator. The one from the ED shorted out somehow, and he stopped breathing. The second time was in the middle of surgery…." Connor drifted off into his thoughts, replaying the last hour.
"Turn the crank one click more Dr. Bekker. I need better access to the organs. We need to find that rib before it does any more damage." Connor said, looking down at the chaos in front of him. He cleared out more blood and tissue, searching for the pesky piece of bone that had broken off during the earlier set of compressions. Then he suddenly found it when the machine started to beep furiously at him. As he grabbed it and pulled it out, he realized the problem.
"Bp is dropping! Dr. Rhodes, I don't think I need to remind you that if that blood mixes with the new stuff, we're gonna have an issue." Ava said, suctioning away the area. Connor was about to snap back at her when he felt prompted to looked up, and watched a Wills heart slowed, then stopped all together.
"The infections in his heart! Get that transfusion going faster!" Connor yelled as the machine screamed louder.
"You know that's not possible! Start compressions!" Ava said to a nurse.
"No! If you push anywhere near that lung any more, it'll collapse! I have to shock him." Connor said, grabbing the tiny paddles. One jolt, no response. Two. Same.
"Dammit Will! COME ON! Clear!" Connor yelled, the anger that had mixed with fear threatening to take over.
"He's back. Good job." Dr. Bekker said.
"Thanks, but we don't have time for compliments. We need to close up this lung and then fix his back. There nondisplaced, but the one break is way too close to his spinal cord. The ED wouldn't be the same without him, and if he gets through this, I'm not gonna have him be paralyzed." Connor instructed, going into autopilot for his patient.
"He was down for eight minutes all together. He needs to have someone keep a close eye on him." Connor said, running a hand over his face. He glanced up at the clock. It was close to 4am, and he was physically, mentally, and emotionally drained.
"Something tells me we won't have much trouble finding someone for that job." Sharon said with a small smile. The two watched as the nurses wheeled Will out of the OR to an ICU room.
"Go home and get some rest, it's been a rough few hours for all of us. I'll talk to Natalie." Ms. Goodwin said. Connor tried to hide it, but she could tell he was exhausted.
"If anything happens?" Connor said.
"You'll be the first call. Go home." She replied. He nodded, and made his way out.
Later…
Natalie opened the door slowly, her instincts telling her to be careful not to wake him, though she knew that wouldn't be an issue. She checked all the wires and machines before sitting down next to him and finally brushing the hair out of his eyes. That's when she noticed how rapidly his eyes were darting around. She knew this happened sometimes when people were unconscious after surgery, but the look on his face made her think otherwise. He was dreaming, and it looked like it wasn't a good one.
"Your at Med, and your safe now. I'm here. It's all going to be ok." She said, stroking his face. She then pulled her chair up next to his bed, and held his hand. After a day spent worrying, she was soon curled up on the chair, fast asleep. Although this time she couldn't be on the bed next to him, her hand never left his.