Chapter 10
1 week after Callie was hurt
"Shouldn't she be awake yet?" I ask, gripping Callie's hand in my own. I'm sitting beside the hospital bed that she has been in for the last week, incredibly still, her bruises having turned incredibly black on her skin, the smaller ones having gone a slight yellowish green. They have just brought her back from having another scan of her brain.
"Stef, as you know she contracted a staph infection in the shoulder wound which spread into her blood stream which caused the high fever. This complicates the situation, especially as her spleen has been removed. We have managed to get it under control but not before her brain swelled even further. We have given her medication to help reduce the swelling but this means that we need to keep her in the coma for longer until it goes down." Dr Lyons answers.
I feel my shoulders tense as I lean my head against the bed beside Callie's hip. I have barely left her room since she arrived and the week is starting to wear on me.
"I know this is hard for you Stef, but we are giving her the best care that we possibly can." He says, squeezing my shoulder gently. "I have other patients to check on but I will be back to round on her later today."
I feel myself nod but I don't lift my head. I rub my finger across the back of Callie's hand, feeling her cold skin, a big relief from the burning skin that scared me so much just three days ago. When the doctors had come in to the room in the middle of the night to the alarms of the machine monitoring her stats going off, saying that her blood pressure was low and her temperature dangerously high, they revealed her shoulder to be bright red and swollen, sores littering the site of the bullet wound. This was the most action that had happened in Callie's room since she has been here. She has been taken for scans a few times but mostly she has just laid still in her bed, which has been hard to see but at least that meant she was ok.
I sit for a few more moments before I lean up to give Callie a light kiss on her forehead before leaving the room. It is about the time that visiting hours finish for the next few hours so I'm going to be kicked out soon. I nod to the nurses as I walk down the corridor to the elevator to head down to the canteen to get a bit of lunch.
As I step into the elevator I pull out my phone from my handbag and switch it on. I wait for the screen to light up and for it to pick up signal before pulling up Lena's number and press call. I press the phone to my ear and listen to the ring tone and wrap my other arm around myself while I wait for Lena to pick up. She has gone back to work so the kids have someone to go to if they need it since they have had to go back to school. Jude has been staying with her in her office as we have yet to enrol him in school. He has been staying with us since the incident. Phil, their social worker had his doubts about it to begin with but with the fit that Jude threw left him with no real option but to leave him with us. He has been in a couple times since Callie was hurt to check on her condition but he is a busy man so mostly I am the one to stay with her. I don't know how but this girl has snuck her way in so deeply into my heart after only one day of actually being able to speak with her.
"Hello?" Lena answers, her voice slightly distracted. "Hello?" She repeats when I don't answer her straight away due to being stuck in my thoughts.
"Is this a bad time?" I whisper.
"Stef, honey!" Lena gasps, "Sorry babe, I was just doing paper work. I'm all ears, how is she doing?"
"She's still not awake." I answer, my voice soft. "Her brain has swollen even more because of the infection so they have to keep her asleep for longer."
"Oh…" She answers, her voice low. "Jude wants to talk to you. Can I put him on?"
"Yeah… Yeah put him on." I murmur as move out of the elevator and lean against the wall opposite it, my head down."
I hear the rustle of the phone being passed over before Jude whispers my name.
"Hey sweets." I answer him, trying to warm my voice. "How has your day been my baby?"
"I have been reading on Lena's couch." He answers, his voice sounding too tired for a young boy.
"That sounds good honey, what have you been reading?" I ask, knowing what he really wants to talk about but trying to avoid it with small talk for a while.
"The Secret Garden." He answers, pausing for a moment and I know the question is coming. "How is Callie?"
"Oh baby," I say. "Her temperature has gone down so that is a good sign."
"But?" he asks, knowing that I am not telling him everything.
I sigh, rubbing my temple lightly, a throbbing headache making its way through my skull. "There have been no other changes Sweets."
"Oh… ok." He whispers, his voice chocked.
"I'm so sorry baby." I tell him, my heart hurting at not being able to help him. "Get Lena to give you a big hug for me my boy."
"Ok." He answers, "I'll see you after school at the hospital."
"Ok honey." I murmur to him, knowing that this little boy will never not have a place in my heart. The phone rustles again as he passes it back to Lena.
"Stef…" Lena says softly. "I love you."
"I love you to babe."
I hang up the phone and slip it back into my handbag. I don't know how much longer I can take this.
3 weeks after
I wake up to the feeling of something gently brushing across my face, ghosting across my skin, down my arm and lightly over my hand and back again. I keep my eyes closed to enjoy the sensation.
It takes me a moment to feel the pain.
My shoulder burns, searing pain shooting down my arm and across my neck. My ribs twinge with pain as I try to take breaths in. My head stars throbbing, making me feel nauseous and my stomach aches.
As I realise all this, I start to choke the feeling of something threading its way from my mouth and down my throat becomes clear, gagging me. I try to breath around it but it is obstructing my airways. Despite this I still feel my chest filling, an unnatural air making its way into my lungs.
I hear a gasp and the soft fingers that I now understand were stroking my hand jerk away, to be quickly replaced, with one hand squeezing mine gently.
A voice speaks but I can't seem to decipher the words. I try to roll my head to the side, to open my eyes and look in the direction the voice is coming from but the effort makes my head spin and I cough again, sending flashes of fire through my abdomen. I try to bring my hand up to try and rip the tube out of my mouth, feeling myself gag as I do. A hand forces my reaching fingers back to my side, trying to be gentle but not quite managing it.
Frantic words make their way to my ears but they mean nothing to my panic addled brain. My body convulses in pain and my breath comes in choking gasps, still trying to breathe around the tube, as more pain rockets its way through my battered body. Tears sting my eyes as they spring up, building behind my tightly clenched lids. Hands begin to flit across my body, trying to calm me down but only making me feel worse. I try to curl my body away from them, not wanting them to keep touching me as they leave trails of fiery pain in their wake, despite trying to be gentle.
A hysterical voice is screaming loudly beside me and suddenly the room is filled with voices and many hands are trying to hold down my pain riddled, writhing body.
"Callie!" A yelling voice finally makes its way through my muddled brain. "You need to calm down and I will remove the breathing tube!"
I try to calm myself but I can't seem to make my body cooperate. The multiple hands on me only making me panic even further. Suddenly I feel my body begin to feel heavy and it slumps against the mattress against my will.
"The sedation is working." A quiet voice says, breaking through the haze that has made its way into my head. "We will take out the tube now."
There is a rustle as light feet make their way towards my head, and I feel a shift in the tube in my throat that that makes me need to fight back a gag, and the tube slackens slightly as if it was unhooked from something. They feeling of unnatural air inside my body stops and suddenly the air is taken from my body. I feel myself tense even more.
"Honey, I know the feeling is uncomfortable and it feels like you can't breathe but it is ok, it will take a while for your body to return to normal breathing but we will put a mask on you to make it easier." A gentle, male voice says from the other side of me. "Now Holly is going to take the breathing tube out, and it will not feel nice but you need to relax a little to make it easier."
I try my hardest to relax as he says but it is difficult. The feeling of the tube making its way out of my throat makes me gag and I hear the doctor telling me it's ok, that the feeling is normal but it is hard for him to actually concentrate on him when the feeling of light headedness increases slightly.
"I need you to take deep breaths Callie." The doctor says as someone wipes around my mouth. "It will get easier the longer the tube is out. Don't try to talk for a while, there will be swelling in your throat from how long you were intubated for which will make it difficult but I promise that it will go down soon."
Stef's POV
"Will she be ok?" I say my voice stressed to even my own ears, I wring my fingers anxiously.
"The fact that she is awake is a good sign." Dr Lyons answers. "It means that her body is recovering. Her brain scans have showed that the swelling has gone down and she appears to be responding normally. We will test her brain function properly when the sedation we gave her to calm her down wears off."
I watch as the nurses slowly leave the room, one carrying a bag with the tube that used to be down Callie's throat. The doctor pats me on the shoulder gently and moves to follow the nurses out of the room.
"Thank you doctor." I whisper, just before he leaves the room.
He nods back at me with a gentle smile on his face before closing the door softly behind him.
I move over to the side of Callie's bed and take her in for a few moments. She shifts her head slightly to look over at me. Her eyes are slightly confused so I move closer to her.
"Hey sweets," I whispers, gently taking hold of her hand. "You have no idea how happy I am to see those beautiful brown eyes."
She frowns slightly and goes to speak but all that comes out is a pained groan as her swollen throat obviously protested the action. She pulls her hand slightly out of mine and I look down a moment but let her move her hand out of mine.
"Shh honey." I scold gently. "You know the doctor said that you shouldn't talk for a while because of your throat. You don't want to aggravate it more."
She shakes her head, her frown deepening. She groans again, her eyes even more confused as she looks at me and tries to speak again emitting more pained groans.
"Sweets please!" I beg, trying to reach for her hand again but she pulls it away from me. "Please honey you shouldn't move or try to speak."
It takes her a few more moments of pained grunting, ignoring my protests before she finally utters a few words that stop my heart.
"Who... you?"