They all stood and looked at the Doctor, the tension and fear evident in each of their faces.
He nodded as he spoke, "Sit, please"
They did as requested and Doctor Kawai added, "He did very well and I did not have to take the arm" There were audible sighs of relief from the three as he continued, "I did have to remove an additional portion of muscle as well as surrounding tissue and that does concern me. He will require extensive physical therapy on the arm and until he heals somewhat and we can check for nerve damage I really can't give much of a prognosis. But the good news is, I do believe I've removed all of the infected muscle and tissue now"
Danny grinned, "As I've told you before Doc, he's an ex-Navy SEAL and he's recovered from a hell of a lot of horrible injuries. He's going to surprise you, you'll see"
"I don't doubt you a bit. I want to lay everything out there for you though so I need you all to know that the initial signs of rabies are fever and infection so I'll still be monitoring him very closely. It is common to run a fever coming out of surgery and I'll keep him on the highest dose of IV antibiotics available but the next 48 hours will be crucial. I want to allow him to wake so we can monitor his awareness and he will be in severe pain. Will you be here with him?"
"Absolutely Doc, we'll be here. When will he be back to the room?"
"In about an hour. I expect him to wake in five to six hours. When he does, please get the nurse on duty and she will call for me"
He stood to leave, shaking their hands, "Do you have any questions?"
Danny spoke for them, "No. Thank you Doctor Kawai for everything you've done for Steve"
"You're welcome. I'll see you in a few hours"
Danny left to go touch base with Gracie and his parents and to let them know that he would be spending the night with Steve as the cousins remained in the room, waiting.
Danny returned a short time later letting them know that Gracie was fine and that he had also talked to Rachel again and she would be arriving early tomorrow morning. His parents and Gracie would pick her up at the airport.
Steve was wheeled into the room at a little after three o'clock and they all watched intently as he was moved back onto the bed and all the IV's and tubes were checked. Now along with the catheter and colon bags they had inserted a feeding tube into his stomach. He also had a drainage tube hooked up to the shoulder. A milky gray fluid with a slight yellow tint was filling a bag that hung from the shoulder. They again placed the cold packs against his naked body which has still glistening with sweat.
Once he was settled and Nurse Allie was checking his vitals the detectives moved to his bedside.
As she was finishing up, Danny spoke "Allie, how is his temp?"
"It's high, 104. We need to work on cooling him down. Would you mind applying the cold compresses?"
Kono jumped in, "Of course we will, we're all staying. Thank you Allie"
As Kono began wiping Steve's face Danny spoke, "Allie, the fluid coming from the shoulder...I thought the Doc got the infection all out?"
"He removed the infected tissue but it will take time for the wound to fully drain. It's very important that he not move that shoulder much and if he does move, it will cause him severe pain. Do you have any other questions?"
"No, no...thank you so much"
"Let me know if he needs anything. I'll check back shortly"
She then left the three to tend to their injured friend.
They wiped his head, face, neck and chest trying to cool his fever ravaged body. His chest moved up and down frantically and his breathing was rapid. His hair was drenched and beads of sweat covered his forehead, the heart monitor showing the stress his body was under.
Danny watched as his partners' eyes darted back and forth behind his tightly closed eyelids. He wondered what nightmares had invaded Steve's fevered mind.
They talked to him and carried on conversations with each other. If there was any way Steve could hear them they wanted to make sure he knew that he wasn't alone.
******THANKS again for reading, reviewing and alerting – kind of a short chapter, the next one is longer – hope you enjoy !*********