Chapter 11
Saturday
They both woke the following morning when breakfast was brought in.
"This looks as bad as… the dinner." Tony whispered to Gibbs.
"It looks worse, those eggs look like rubber." Gibbs agreed.
They waited until the nurse had left before shoving the trays away.
"I'm sorry boss but…. I'm not eating that."
"I'll go see if I can find us something edible." Gibbs said and again grabbed his wallet and headed to the nearest diner.
When Gibbs got there it was very busy and he was told he'd be waiting a while. Gibbs left and went in search of a quieter place but couldn't find one. He eventually got some food and returned to the hospital. When he returned to the room Brad was just leaving.
"What's going on?" Gibbs asked.
"I just inserted the feeding tube." Brad sighed "The nurses said he didn't eat last night and he didn't eat his breakfast this morning."
"He didn't eat because the food is disgusting." Gibbs growled. "I have food here that he will eat. I got him lasagne last night and he ate half of it."
"You should have said." Brad sighed.
"I would have if you had waited for me." Gibbs continued. "Is he awake?"
"No, he was asleep when the nurse's came in. He stayed asleep while we inserted the tube."
"Can you take it out?" Gibbs asked
"I'd prefer to leave it in for now." Brad replied. "I know he isn't going to be happy about it but he needs more nourishment and he just isn't getting it from the small amount he is eating."
"Fine." Gibbs relented and entered the room.
"We have the steroid treatment on him again." Brad said following Gibbs into the room.
"When it's finished we'll change it to the nasal cannula. It'll be a little awkward with the NG tube in place but it'll be fine. I'll be back in half an hour to change it."
"Fine." Gibbs replied and took his seat. He pulled out his breakfast and ate it.
By the time Brad returned Gibbs was finished and had tidied up.
"I'm going to wake him first." Brad said as he moved beside Tony "Tony time to wake up."
"Mmm, hey." Tony mumbled as he opened his eyes.
"I'm just going to remove the mask and replace the cannula." Brad advised as he done this.
"Where's my breakfast." Tony asked Gibbs.
"I have it here." Gibbs replied and pulled out the container. "It might be a bit cold."
"It's fine." Tony replied and reached for the food. As he moved forward he felt something pull his cheek. "What's going on?" He asked moving his hand to his cheek.
"We inserted a feeding tube." Brad explained as he moved Tony's hand away.
"But I'm eating." Tony protested.
"I know Tony." Brad sighed "but it's not enough, you need more nourishment. We'll only use it as necessary but you'll need to tell us if you get food from outside of the hospital."
"Fine." Tony replied and started eating his breakfast.
"Call the nurse when you are finished we need to do a few things."
"We will." Gibbs replied
"I didn't know they were putting it in." Gibbs said when Brad had left. "It was already in when I got back."
"I know boss, its fine" Tony replied. "I just hate it being there."
When Tony had finished Gibbs called the nurse and she in turn called Brad. They then came into the room.
"Ok Tony, we need to see how much feeling you have in your legs." Brad said as he moved side Tony. "We are going to put you lying down and then do the usual checks."
"K." Tony replied as Gibbs moved beside him.
The nurse pulled up the sheet and Brad moved down to Tony's legs. "Alright Tony I'm going to start with the pen. Let me know when you feel it."
He had just started moving the pen when Tony gasped.
"What's wrong." Brad asked.
"I can feel it on my foot." Tony smiled.
"That's brilliant Tony." Brad grinned. "Now I'll do the same on the other foot."
"I can feel that too." Tony exclaimed.
"I'm just going to get a needle and test your toes." Brad said as he pressed the needle against the toes.
"I can kind of feel it." Tony confirmed "But it feels kind of like when you're cold."
"That's great Tony." Brad agreed. "Now let's see if you can move them."
Tony closed his eyes and concentrated on wiggling his toes.
"That's it Tony." Brad exclaimed as the toes started to wiggle. "You're doing it. Now try and lift your leg."
Tony again concentrated and he felt his legs move slightly.
"That's great Tony." Brad praised "Now try the other one."
Tony again managed to lift his leg slightly.
"That's really great Tony." Brad said. "Now we need to change your dressings and your catheter."
"Oh ok." Tony replied as they replaced the sheet over his legs and removed his gown.
They turned him onto his side and tended to the two wounds on his back. When they were cleaned and redressed they turned him back over and done the same for the one on his abdomen. They then changed the urinary catheter and cleaned the area before inserting a new one.
"With all the moving about you've been doing, we don't want you to get an infection." Brad explained as he inserted it.
"Ok." Tony groaned as he felt the catheter being pushed into place.
"All done." Brad said as he taped the tube to Tony's leg. "Now we are going to change your gown and the bed clothes."
"Um ok." Tony agreed.
"Don't worry you won't have to get out of bed." The nurse assured.
Brad gently rolled Tony to one side of the bed and held him there while the nurse loosened the sheets and folded under Tony. She then put on the new sheets and Brad rolled Tony to the other side as the nurse repeated the procedure on the other side. They then replaced the pillow covers, then Tony's gown and finally the sheets covering Tony.
"All done now." The nurse said as she gathered the dirty sheets.
"You can relax for a while now Tony, but make sure you do your breathing exercises." Brad said. "We'll be back after lunch to do some leg exercises."
"Great." Tony replied sarcastically as Brad left with a smile.
"Do you want to watch some TV." Gibbs asked.
"Sure." Tony replied "There is probably some Magnum reruns on."
"We'll see." Gibbs replied and started flicking through the channels. Sure enough he came across an episode of Magnum PI so left that on for Tony. It turned out to be a whole day dedicated to the show. Tony settled in to watch it for the day.
He occasionally took a break to do his breathing exercises and for lunch. Although he only had a few bites of the horrible food they had brought him. Gibbs offered to go out for something but Tony declined as he was not that hungry. Gibbs went to the canteen to get himself some lunch and by the time he returned with some coffee Tony was fast asleep. He looked down at his sleeping agent and sighed. Tony normally looked so young when he slept but at the moment he looked sick and frail. Even in his sleep Gibbs could make out the worry lines on Tony's face. The NG tube and nasal cannula just made it look so much worse. Gibbs sighed and again took his seat.
An hour later Brad returned to the room with a man Gibbs did not recognise and a nurse.
"Ah Gibbs," Brad greeted "This is our physical therapist Frank Alexander and nurse Theresa."
"Hello." Gibbs replied.
"We are going to start doing some exercises with Mr. DiNozzo today." Frank said.
"It's Tony." Both Brad and Gibbs said together.
"Ok Tony." Frank replied "He'll need a lot of Physio to get back into shape after this. We are going to work on the leg muscles to keep them loose."
"Alright." Gibbs agreed and moved over to Tony. "Hey Tony, time to wake up."
"Wha's wrong." Tony mumbled as he peeled open his eyes.
"The physio is here to do some exercises with you."
"Oh ok." Tony replied as he rubbed his eyes.
"Hi Tony, I'm Theresa and this is Frank." The nurse said "We'll be doing the exercises with you. Dr. Pitt will be staying to make sure we don't tire you out too much."
Tony nodded in agreement and then they got him into position.
They spent the next half hour doing the exercises and by the end of it Tony was sore and exhausted. After Brad gave him his meds the group left him to sleep.
They were no sooner gone when Tony fell asleep and Gibbs took the opportunity to get some more coffee and stretch his legs.
Tony didn't wake again until his dinner was brought in. Again he tried some but couldn't bring himself to eat the food. Gibbs relented and went out to get pizza. When he returned with Tony's favourite pizza, Tony managed to eat 2 slices and Gibbs ate the rest. When the nurse arrived Gibbs informed her of what Tony had eaten and she added it to his chart. Tony had just finished his breathing exercises when the door opened and the entire team came in carrying balloons and cards and Abby had a stuffed animal.
"Hey guys." Tony greeted.
"Tony, we brought some things to brighten up your new room." Abby said as she tied the balloons to the back of a chair. "I also brought you a teddy bear."
"Wow, thanks guys." Tony exclaimed.
"We wanted to get flowers but we were told you could not have them." Ziva said.
"The pollen irritates his chest." Gibbs explained as he re-arranged some of the cards.
"What's that new tube?" McGee asked as he looked at Tony.
"That is a nasogastric tube." Ducky explained. "It delivers nutrients to the patient directly to the stomach."
"Why does he need that Ducky?" Abby asked worriedly.
"They would only have put it in place if they felt he wasn't eating enough."
"My poor Tony." Abby said as she gave him a hug. "How are you feeling today?"
"I'm ok Abby." Tony assured. "How's work, have I missed anything?"
"Um I don't think so." Abby replied "Oh wait, Maria from accounts is pregnant."
"Oh that's great." Tony replied, a sad look passed over his face.
"We still haven't gotten anywhere with Lieutenant Auckland's murder." McGee added changing the subject. "We have no leads and no evidence to point to anyone."
"Do we still thinks it's….someone in the hospital that ….did it." Tony asked.
"Yes we think so." Ziva continued. "We cannot find anyone who would want to have killed him. He was a well liked man. We cannot needle point who in the hospital could be involved."
"Pin point." Tony corrected. "I suppose it could be anyone….here that did it."
"Yes we have ruled out many people who were off duty but it is like a pin in a haystack."
"A needle in a haystack, ZeeVaaa." Tony corrected again.
"Pin, needle, they are the same thing, what does it matter." Ziva muttered.
"It matters." Tony said. "So there are no doctors or nurses…..whose orders he wouldn't follow…..or some candy striper that had to change…..his bed pan once too often."
"What is a candy striper?" Ziva asked.
"A candy striper is a volunteer who works in the hospital." Jimmy explained. "They are normally high school students and they do clerical jobs or janitorial."
"So they would have much to do with patients." Gibbs queried.
"No, because of insurance liabilities they would have very little contact with patients." Jimmy continued
"So it couldn't have been one of them." McGee concluded.
"That's not strictly true." Tony objected. "They have um… what are they called. I think its 'advanced volunteers' and…… they deal with patients, they are kind of like orderlies. They help out a lot…. with patients especially if it's busy. They…. even sometimes wear scrubs, but not often. A…. lot of these might be med students or people…..who want to have a career in the medical….profession"
"How the hell do you know all this DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked in surprise
"Jeanne told me about it." Tony replied sadly.
"Did you check out the candy stripers?" Gibbs asked Ziva and McGee
"Oh, ah, no boss." McGee stuttered. "We ah didn't think of them."
"Do it first thing tomorrow." Gibbs barked. "Did you check out the orderlies and the janitorial staff?"
"Yes of course." Ziva replied. "We checked out everyone who is employed by the hospital."
"We just never thought to check the volunteers." McGee added quietly.
"Well go get a list of them now." Gibbs barked "You might as well do it while you're here."
"Yes Gibbs." They replied and hurried out the door.
"That was good thinking Anthony." Ducky praised.
"Yeah it was." Abby agreed and looked expectantly at Gibbs.
"I thought they were off the case." Tony said.
"They took a break but are back on it now." Gibbs said as he stood up from his chair and moved beside Tony. He ruffled Tony's hair and said "Ata Boy. Now I'm going for coffee, behave when I'm gone."
"I will." Tony assured with a grin.
Ziva and McGee arrived back half an hour later with a short list of volunteers. Gibbs arrived soon after that and then the team minus Gibbs left. They were just out the door when Helen arrived in.
"Tony how are you feeling." She asked as she entered. "Oh my why did they put in a feeding tube."
"They thought I wasn't eating." Tony grumbled. "I just wasn't eating…..the hospital food."
"Yes the food can be quite bad." Helen replied. "Are you getting enough oxygen with it in place?"
"I think so." Tony replied. "They increased what is going into the other nostril."
"Good, Good." Helen said. "I was over at Jeanne's apartment today to start packing some things. Is there anything there that you want?"
"If there are any pictures of us together and um…..she had an Ohio state sweater that she wore, if…. that's still there could I have it?"
"Of course dear." Helen replied. "I'll have a look tomorrow. I just cleaned out the fridge today and cleaned up a bit."
"Now tell me how are you really feeling?" Helen asked as she sat at the edge of the bed.
"A bit
tired." Tony admitted. "I started physio today and my back is a
bit sore now."
"How is your breathing."
"Brad seems to be happy enough with…. it for the moment."
"Have you gotten back anymore feeling in your legs."
"I can feel nearly all of my legs now. But I still can't move them much."
"That will take time." Helen assured. "How are you coping with everything?"
"I don't know." He sighed "I kind of feel like there is a hole….in my stomach. I want to cry…..but then I want to shout or do both and I don't…..want to be alone."
"It's ok to cry Tony." She assured. "But in your condition I wouldn't recommend shouting."
"Probably not a good idea." Tony agreed.
"I won't leave you on your own Tony." Gibbs assured the injured man. "I'll be here when you need me."
"Thanks." Tony replied with a soft smile.
"Anyway, I'll leave you to rest." Helen said. "I'll call again tomorrow, if that alright with you."
"I look forward to it." Tony replied with a smile.
Shortly after Helen had left, the nurse came in with the steroid treatment. Gibbs switched on the TV again to the Magnum PI day to keep Tony occupied while he breathed the steroids into his system. When the treatment was finished Tony did his breathing exercises and soon after that he fell asleep. Gibbs went to get coffee and then returned to the room. He too was exhausted so climbed onto the bed beside Tony and pulled the covers over him. Without waking Tony moved closer and snuggled into Gibbs and gave a content sigh. Gibbs smiled, closed his eyes and fell asleep.
A/n: Thanks again for all the reviews and alerts.
I'm posting this chapter early today because I'll be gone for the weekend but I hope I'll get another one up tomorrow when I get home.
