The third day after the shooting, Chris was sitting with Ezra during the early afternoon. Maude still hadn't put in an appearance, and they had no idea when to expect her. He was just sitting down after getting a refill of coffee when Dr. Carmichael came in. When Chris made a move to get up and wait outside, he waved him to stay put.
"Something up," Chris asked warily. "Is he ok?"
Dr. Carmichael checked the readouts on the screen then turned to Chris. "He's doing quite well. Better than I expected him to be doing at this point. I'd like to start weaning him off the ventilator and tapering the sedative."
"So, he'll be waking up?" Chris clarified.
"It's not going to be like what you see on TV and in the movies," Carmichael cautioned. "It could take a couple of days for him to fully wake up. It's all going to depend on how well he breathes on his own."
"So how does this work? Do you pull out the tube?"
"No. Val, his respiratory will be in later today. Shey'll be able to better explain the process, but, basically, the ventilator will be set to assist, and he'll slowly be tapered off using it."
"How long will it take for him to not need it?"
"It could take a couple of days."
"Ok," Chris said with a nod. It sounded like it wouldn't be too much longer before Ezra was awake and, if Chris knew him as well as he thought he knew him, he'd be complaining about wanting to leave. "That's good."
"It's very good." One of the ICU nurses walked in with the items necessary to change the dressings. "Just in time," Carmichael said seeing her.
"Um…do you need me to leave?" Chris asked. Over the last two days, any time a nurse or other medical personnel had come in to check or change the dressings on Ezra's chest, whoever was sitting with him would be asked to leave.
"You're fine as long as you stay on that side out of the way. That is, unless you'd rather not."
"No. I'll…um…I'll stay." Chris had to admit he was a bit curious how big of an incision Ezra had. Dressings covered most of the left side of his chest making it hard to guess.
While the doctor washed his hands using the sink in the corner of the cubicle and donned gloves, the nurse pulled the covers back then loosened the hospital gown Ezra was wearing, pulling it back.
Chris watched as the doctor first checked the dressing around the drainage tube, then pulled it aside to check the tube itself. Next, he peeled back the dressing over the surgical area and revealed the incision. Chris winced when he saw how big it was. It started just slightly left of the middle of Ezra's chest then curled around under his left pectoral stopping just under his armpit. He estimated it was a good six to eight inches long. Staples crossed the red line of the incision holding the skin together. He estimated at least 20 – 25 of them.
"It looks good," Carmichael said after a few moments. He stepped back from the bed allowing the nurse access to finish the dressing change.
"It looks painful."
"I won't lie, Mr. Larabee. The surgery your friend has undergone is quite painful. He's going to have a bit of a long road ahead of him recovering, but it could have been worse…much worse."
"I keep telling myself and him that." Chris reached down and gave a quick squeeze to Ezra's right forearm. "You're one lucky SOB," he said causing both the doctor and nurse to chuckle.
"If you have any questions," Dr. Carmichael said once he'd stopped laughing, "You can have me paged. Otherwise, I'd say things are going along at the trajectory we want."
"Thanks, Doc."
Once both the doctor and nurse had left, Chris sat back down. He reached to pick up the coffee but realized it had grown cold. "I'm drinking too much anyways," he said out loud. He put the coffee back on the small table by the bed and picked up the book that was there instead. He and the others had taken to reading to Ezra during some of their time with him. There was only so much of a one-sided conversation he or any of the others could keep up. At least by reading, they were able to give him something to listen to without repeating themselves.
"Let's see what D'Artagnan and the others are up to now. I don't know about you, but I'm starting to see a bit of us in those musketeers. JD, now JD's D'Artagnan, no doubt about that, but I can see a bit of him in Vin, too. Buck would probably think he's Aramis, but there's a bit of him in Josiah and you, too, although I think there's a bit more of Porthos in you, but you're a damned bit smarter than him." Chris let out a little sigh. "I guess you'd probably say I'm a lot like Athos and you're probably right. I just can't figure out which one is Nathan. I guess he's probably more like D'Artagnan, too."
He leaned forward and gave Ezra's hand a quick squeeze. "You need to keep getting better, buddy, so you can wake up. I miss having someone I can talk to about literature. I mean, there's Josiah, but sometimes he just goes off on a tangent and I have no idea what he'd talking about." Chris let out a chuckle. "And wouldn't the others be shocked if they knew about our talks. Old ladies book club is what Buck would probably call it."
Letting out another sigh, Chris leaned back in the chair. He opened to book to the marked spot. "You gotta get better," he said again before picking up where he'd left off.
M7 M7 M7 M7 M7 M7 M7
Chris had been reading on and off for the last two hours when the respiratory therapist came into the small ICU cubicle Ezra occupied. He'd met her once before when she'd come in to suction Ezra's breathing tube and had introduced herself as Val. She stood no more than five feet, had fiery red hair pulled back into a single braid. Her eyes were nearly the same color green as Ezra's. Her demeanor was completely professional but she an upbeat personality. The one-time Chris had met her, he noticed how she talked to Ezra and explained everything to him as if he were awake and aware of what was going on.
"Hi, Mr. Larabee," she greeted as she studied the readouts on the vital signs monitor. "Did Dr. Carmichael explain what I'm going to be doing today?"
"He mentioned that you're going to start weaning Ezra off the ventilator and he should start waking up."
"That's it." She gave Ezra's wrist a little squeeze then checked his wristband comparing it to his chart. "It's a big day today for you, Mr. Standish. Time for you to start breathing on your own." Val proceeded to explain what she was doing both for Ezra's and Chris's benefit.
"So, you're not taking the tube out yet?" Chris clarified when she finished explaining.
"No. The ventilator will be set to an assist mode. If Mr. Standish spontaneously institutes a breath, it will just assist him. If he doesn't spontaneously breathe within a set timeframe, the ventilator will take over for him again until he does."
"And if he doesn't spontaneously breathe, then what?"
Val glanced down for a moment then met Chris's eyes. "Then it's likely he'll be ventilator dependent," she told him bluntly. Chris had asked that nothing be held back, and the medical personnel be completely honest with him regarding Ezra's condition. "I don't believe that's going to happen, though. He's shown quite a bit of improvement in a brief time."
Chris nodded slightly. "How long until you can take the tube out and breathes on his own?"
"I'd estimate he should be at a point to be extubated in a couple of days."
"Ok. So, when do you start?"
"Right now." Val made some adjustments on the monitor then stepped back slightly. "It's up to you now, Mr. Standish. Show us how it's done." A few seconds went by without anything happening and Chris started fearing the worst when Val smiled and said, "There."
Chris was able to see Ezra's chest rise with a breath, but without the usual whooshing sound of the ventilator. "That's good, right?"
"It is," the Val said with a smile. "Now, I want to make sure you both understand," she continued, but directed most of her attention at Ezra. "The ventilator is set for 10 second intervals. If you don't initiate a breath within 10 seconds, the ventilator will breathe for you." She looked up at Chris "You'll be able to hear it if it happens. It can get a little scary for loved ones if they don't see or hear anything in that time. I like to make sure they're prepared."
"Yeah. Ok." Chris found himself staring at Ezra's chest for each rise and fall of a breath. So far, he hadn't required the assistance of the ventilator. "He's doing good, right?" he clarified.
"He's doing great." Val gave another little squeeze to Ezra's wrist. "You just keep on doing what you're doing Mr. Standish and we'll have that tube gone in no time." She waited another couple of minutes to monitor him then looked over at Chris and smiled. "If you have any other questions or concerns, don't hesitate to have me paged. I'll be by a little later to check on him."
"Thanks." Once Val had left, Chris again resumed his seat. He sat for another minute or two just watching Ezra breathe before he once again opened the book. "So, where were we?" He'd grown accustomed to the noise of the ventilator over the last couple of day so that it now sounded strange not to hear it anymore. He hoped it would remain that way and soon Ezra would be free of it. He reached over to grasp Ezra's wrist and give it a little squeeze. "You're doing great," he whispered, then began reading once more.
