The Path Through Discomfort

Chapter 10

Roy woke just past midnight. Yawning contentedly he tenderly disengaged his arm from around his sleeping wife. Softly he climbed from under the covers, and padded into the bathroom. He noted absently as he went about his business that his ankle was now healed enough to take some weight. Though he knew walking around outside of his home without some support wouldn't be wise, he figured short walks, say like down stairs to the guest bedroom, would not be too much of a problem.

Roy discretely made his way out of his bathroom, then bedroom and leaning on the stair rail for support he limped softly down the steps. Snagging a small flashlight from the hall closet, Roy stepped up to the door of the guest room. Clicking on the flashlight beam, Roy carefully found the object of his search hanging from the hook above his sleeping partner's head. The antibiotic bag was three fourths of the way finished, and the saline bag was a little under half empty. Extinguishing the light, Roy found his way to the chair at the side of the bed and settled himself in to wait and doze.

A sound woke Roy from his light slumber not ten minutes later. Johnny was sitting up on the edge of his bed fumbling in the dark for something. "Hey partner, where are you going?" Roy inquired in subdued tones. Johnny gasped in surprise. "Oh…uh….Roy? Didn't know you were in here. Gotta go…ya know. It's the I.V." he mumbled.

Roy stood from his chair, and reaching over to the bedside table he found the lamp. "Turning on the light here, heads up." He said to Johnny. Then he flicked on the lamp filling the room with illumination. Reaching over Johnny's head, Roy removed the coat hanger holding the I.V. bags from the wall hook. "Let me get this for you Johnny" he said and stepped back from the bedside to allow Johnny to stand.

Unsteadily Johnny got to his feet, and reaching out Roy put a supporting hand on his groggy friend's upper arm to steady him as the two men made their way out of the bedroom, down the hall to the bathroom. Roy stepped inside, and hooked the hanger on the shower rod before leaving Johnny to accomplish his midnight mission. When all was finished, Roy escorted his sleepy charge back to bed, pulling the blankets over Johnny's drowsy form. Roy checked the I.V. lines, and re-hung the bags on their hook before clicking the light off again and returning to his chair. Though Johnny had seemed somewhat awake, Roy doubted Johnny would remember their midnight journey in the morning.

When the antibiotic bag was empty, Roy removed it. He left the saline bag in place to finish reasoning it probably wouldn't hurt to make sure his partner was hydrated. When the saline had almost run out it was about three-thirty in the morning. Roy slipped out of the room, returning shortly with another round of meds for Johnny, and a glass of milk. He turned on the light and began removing the I.V. from Johnny's arm. The change in lighting woke the sleeping man. "Hey there partner, you awake?" Roy asked. "Sorta…" Johnny mumbled. Roy slipped the I.V. needle out of Johnny's arm, and placing a folded four by four over the puncture wound, he held pressure on the spot while reaching over to the bedside table with his other hand and picking up the medication he'd brought with him. "Johnny" he said to rouse his partner. "What….huh….?" Johnny said opening his eyes again. "O.k., feeling a little guilt waking you up this way" Roy thought. But he knew that another dose of the meds could only help, and it was right at the appointed time, so he persisted until his mission was accomplished. Somewhere around three-forty-five in the morning, Roy made his way back to his own warm bed where slipping in beside JoAnne he drifted off to sleep.

Johnny awoke to the smell of bacon frying, freshly brewed coffee and eggs cooking. He had no idea when he opened his eyes what time it was, but doing an internal inventory of himself he realized he actually felt pretty darned good. The sunshine outside the drapes was strong, and Johnny guessed it was somewhere around eight or nine in the morning. He never slept this late!

Sitting up in the bed, Johnny checked the back of his left wrist. Where the I.V. port had been he found there was now only a Band-Aid. Standing, Johnny took a moment to balance his body atop his feet, and then he slowly walked out of the room, almost directly into Roy who had been coming down the hallway. Both men were surprised, but Roy's reaction time was better and he quickly reached out to stop the impact. "Well good mornin Johnny!" Roy said his blue eyes widening in surprise at the haste of their meeting.

"Hey Roy..." Johnny replied sleepily. "excuse me, gotta go…." Johnny said, attempting to sidestep his partner.

"O.k., but do me a favor and wait to brush your teeth till I can take your temperature." Roy said after his friend's retreating back. "K" he heard a sleepy voice reply as the bathroom door closed.

Roy stepped into the guest bedroom and readied his gear for taking vitals. When Johnny returned to his room, he plunked himself down on the bed. Roy shook the thermometer, and slid it into John's mouth. While the time elapsed for the temperature reading, Roy did the remaining vitals check noting aloud for his partner that his pupil reactions looked normal. Sliding the thermometer out of Johnny's mouth, Roy eyed it and said aloud "temp is 98.9. Almost normal there Junior. Guess those I.V. antibiotics turned out to be a good thing."

Johnny sighed and grinned sheepishly saying "yeah, guess so. Probably the other meds too 'cause I feel a heck of a lot better today than I have since three days ago."

"Oh?" Roy said quirking an eyebrow. "So how are you feeling this morning?"

Johnny ducked his head for a minute, and Roy suspected he might be about to give the usual answer of being fine. But it never came. Instead, Johnny raised his head and looked Roy in the eye saying "well, hip hurts some, and my head still hurts a little. But the muscle spasms I was getting in my hip and lower back have eased up considerably."

Roy had difficulty containing his surprise, and delight. "Well atta boy Junior! You're getting there. Of course I hadn't realized you were having muscle spasms in your hip and lower back, but I guess Dr. Brackett did and thus the muscle relaxers."Roy thought. Aloud he said "How about the dizziness?"

Johnny turned his head experimentally and said "well, I really don't know. I am sorta dizzy. But I'm still pretty hung over from the meds, so I guess the dizziness could be from that."

"Wow, actual open honesty at last. Yep, you must be pretty hung over." Roy thought. "How's your vision?" Roy asked, figuring what the heck, maybe he'd get a straight answer.

Johnny looked around the room, then down at the hands of his watch saying with some dismay "hey, it's not blurred!"

Roy laughed aloud. Patting his friend on the back, he offered Johnny a helping hand to rise from the bed saying "hungry?"

Johnny's reply was quick and enthusiastic "Starved!" he said.

Both men turned to walk to the kitchen and what smelled like a delicious breakfast. Upon seeing JoAnne's smiling face Johnny greeted her with a cheerful "Good morning, good mornin, good mornin lovely lady!"

She reached out drawing him into a hug saying "well, someone looks to be feeling much better this morning."

"I do" he said rubbing his belly, "but I'm starved! What's for breakfast?"

"Have a seat at the table Johnny; we've got eggs, bacon and toast. You want milk, orange juice or both?" JoAnne enquired.

He sat saying "Both." Chris and Jennifer were seated at the table, and when Johnny sat they greeted him with a warm round of good mornings. Johnny and the kids chatted happily as Roy and JoAnne brought food to the table. The chow was warm and welcome, brilliant sunshine filtered into the room from a perfect day outside and Johnny found he was relaxed and quite content.

Hearty gobbling having dwindled down to nibbling, Johnny sipped at his coffee with a puzzled look on his face. "Say Roy, was I dreaming or did you sleep in the room with me last night?"

Roy chuckled saying "well, for a while. Your I.V. wasn't finished when I came down to check it, so I stayed to let it run out and remove it. You got up to use the facilities while I was there, but I figured you probably wouldn't remember it seeing as how you were pretty out of things."

Johnny nodded as if Roy's words filled in the puzzle, and continued to sip his coffee.

Rising from the table, Roy went over and began pulling medication bottles from the cabinet over the fridge. Dispensing the correct number of tablets from each bottle, Roy brought them to the table and sat them down next to Johnny's plate.

Johnny looked down at the little pile of pills. JoAnne and Roy glanced first at one another, then at Johnny.

Johnny sighed heavily, shrugged his shoulders and picked up the pills. Looking at the DeSoto children he said with a crooked grin "your mom and dad sure are strict with this taking medicine thing, aren't they?" Both children giggled, and agreed heartily.

"Mama says you are s'posed to take your m'dcine 'cause the doctors gave it to you to get better and if ya aren't takin it you could stay sick." Jennifer said looking at Johnny with serious blue eyes.

He reached out and pinched her cheek lightly, laughing and said "well, if that's what mama says I best be gettin to it." And with that he lifted his head back, and tossed one pill at a time into the air catching them in his mouth, and washing them down with the last of his orange juice. Gleeful squeals and giggles were heard around the room, from children and adults alike, the latter sharing looks of unadulterated amazement.

With a look of mock seriousness JoAnne looked at Johnny saying "Who are you? And what have you done with Johnny Gage?"

With a sheepish look, and a bashful duck of his head Johnny chuckled softly himself before he replied "I guess I really do feel better this morning." He looked up at Roy then saying "I guess you were right, I was feeling pretty rotten."

Putting a hand to his ear as if the sound waves didn't compute somehow Roy with a toothy smile and twinkling eyes said "come again? I must have been hearing things. Did you say I was right? Really?" followed by raised eyebrows.

"Alright, alright…." Johnny said, raising his hand in surrender. "Hey, what can I say? I'm just not a good patient."

"Do tell" Roy replied in mock astonishment.

Hearty chuckles were shared by all as JoAnne began to clear the table. Johnny began picking up dishes and flatware to help. As Roy rose to help too Johnny pushed him gently back to his seat. "Not so fast there Pally, you still need to rest that ankle while you can."

Now his turn for surrender, Roy raised his hands saying "Alright….I'm sitting."

Children were dismissed to go play outside. Dishes were rinsed, the table was wiped and JoAnne set off to do chores and laundry. Johnny and Roy were dispatched to the back deck to watch the children play, and soak in the sunshine.

Roy sat flipping through a magazine on the deck with Johnny at his side watching the children frolic in the late summer's glorious morning. Roy saw Johnny's eyelids growing heavy, and he could sense Johnny's struggle to stay awake. Glancing over at his drowsing partner he softly said "relax Johnny; let the medication do its job. You rest now, and I'll keep watch. I'll be here when you wake."

Gentle words uttered in that increasingly familiar voice mixed with warm sunshine and sounds of children at play blended with deep satisfaction eventually lulled Johnny's mind…. His attention began to drift, eyes growing heavy with fatigue, and though he tried to fight the sleep he felt subduing him, eventually he drifted away on a pleasant current of comfort and rest.