One Moment Can Change It All
"Hey Tootie, nice of you to join me." Jo said sitting in thick green grass. She sat there smiling away with her chin on her hands and her elbows resting on her knees. She wore jeans, a white shirt, and a blue short sleeve over shirt.
"Wait, where am I?" Tootie asked looking around. There was a stream across from her maybe ten feet away. The grass spread across to an open field, there were no houses or streets or paths around.
"I have not clue. Just found myself here, I've decided I sort of like it here, it's nice and quiet." Jo said smiling as she looked up at the sky.
Tootie shifted nervously. Was this real or was it all a dream, was she sleeping. What happened before she got here? Oh yeah, she heard a car and Natalie screaming and then everything went blank.
"Is this real?" Tootie asked.
"It's as real as you can get. It's what's inside of you. I don't know why I'm here, but your here because this is you, this is what's inside of yourself." Jo said seriously.
"So, this isn't heaven?" Tootie asked.
"Tootie, your not dead, in fact your fine. You just have a big knock on your head." Jo responded as if Tooties question was absurd.
This sounded more like Jo. In fact everything about her except her clothes seemed Joish, what ever that meant. "So, your not really here, your just a figment of my imagination and you have no clue what's wrong with you."
"That about sums it up. I know all that you know which is that I had a fever last night and that I wasn't awake when you guys left." She nodded slowly thinking. "Oh, and that I'm in the hospital."
Everything got real bright and things disappeared. She heard beeping in the back ground the hustle of feet. She slowly opened her eyes and saw that the ceiling was moving which meant she was moving. She didn't know how because her legs weren't going. Oh she was on a hospital bed. She groaned as her head pounded with pain. This was definitely not planed.
"What happened?" Tootie grumbled noticing her throat was parched.
"You got hit by a car. you need to start looking both ways young lady. You were lucky you weren't hurt worse then you are." said a man above her. He was in hospital scrubs. "We think you only got some bruises nothing serious. We want to make sure you don't have a concussion. We're keeping you here for the night. Your friends said that they needed to go see another person when they heard you were ok. They'll be back in a few minutes."
* * * * * *
Mrs. Garrett looked at the poor girl. She was hooked up to so many machines at one time that it looked like she was made of wires. Bags of ice coved her torso, arms, and legs. Jo was pale and looked so fragile.
Natalie had to wait outside because there could only be one visitor. The place seemed very rushed as yells of pain or anger echoed on bare walls. There were maybe ten to twelve patients inside this large open room. The only privacy they got were the little yellow stained curtains.
"Hey Jo." Mrs. Garrett said as she sat down on the chair the nurses had given her. Jo responded by slowly turning her head. The girl smiled and then closed her eyes. "Well, I'm disappointed in you. I wish you had told us that you didn't feel well."
She opened her mouth to say something and then closed it again as if she didn't have the energy to argue. The poor girl had some kind of Polio and a specialist was suppose to be here in a few minutes. Polio had been a big thing in Mrs. Garrett's life, in fact she had a friend that died from it. But it had faded with time and vaccines. How had Jo gotten it.
"Hello, you must be Edna Garrett?" said a large aging man. His hair line receded and the hair he had left grew out silver. She nodded.
"I'm Dr. Stevens, a specialist with Polio. I looked at Joanne's files and noticed she had never had a Polio vaccine. It's required by schools across the nation. I've also noticed other things that led me to believe that she didn't have enough money to pay for it." The man said quietly trying not to disturb Jo.
"Yes, why would you make that conclusion?" Mrs. Garrett asked in the same manner.
"Because she always had the government pick up her medical bills and she has records that show that she was abused for a period of time." Dr. Stevens replied.
"What?" Mrs. Garrett asked. "She was never abused."
The man smiled patiently as her went through a large folder and made an I found it noise. He pulled it out, they were pictures, pictures of when Jo was maybe seven or eight. There were bruises and cuts across her whole entire body. She had a black eye and bloody nose.
"This can't be her." Mrs. Garrett whispered as the man escorted her out of the curtain so they could let Jo be.
"Here are some write ups by her doctors." he handed them to Edna. What jumped out at her the most was three stab wounds taken in the chest just barely missing the heart. How could this be, why wouldn't Jo tell them about this? Then her brain answered quickly. The girl was stubborn and would never let any of them know.
"Your point here is?" Mrs. Garrett asked with anger. Why did he bring this up?
"I just wanted to know if my presumptions were correct about her history background. I like to know about my patients before I treat them. Anyway, I wanted to tell you that the diagnosis is correct, Joanne does have paralytic poliomyelitis, which is unfortunately the highest form possible. This attacks the anterior horn cells in the spine and neck. We x-rayed her spinal cored and it showed signs of aseptic meningitis, which is inflammation of the spinal cord. The problem is that she's an adult now and more serious damage can occur.
"There's not much we can do except keep her calm and comfortable. We can slow and even save some of the muscles by icing the body parts that are being damaged. Also we can stretch out the muscles. That's about it, I'm sorry." He said his eyes full of sympathy.
"What's the best a patient can come out of?" Mrs. Garrett asked quietly still processing what she had just heard.
"She can come out just fine or she could come out with minor paralysis." he said. "In fact a lot of polio survivors come out without any muscle problems."
"Thank you." Mrs. Garrett sighed in grief.
"We put some Antispasmodic into her IV, that should also stop muscle contractions. I'll be back in a little while to check up on her." he said as he headed off out the room.
Mrs. Garrett went back through the curtain into find Jo either sleeping or in a coma. She wasn't sure. She thought the girl was sleeping because of the peace across Jo's face. Would this girl become paralyzed?
"Hey Tootie, nice of you to join me." Jo said sitting in thick green grass. She sat there smiling away with her chin on her hands and her elbows resting on her knees. She wore jeans, a white shirt, and a blue short sleeve over shirt.
"Wait, where am I?" Tootie asked looking around. There was a stream across from her maybe ten feet away. The grass spread across to an open field, there were no houses or streets or paths around.
"I have not clue. Just found myself here, I've decided I sort of like it here, it's nice and quiet." Jo said smiling as she looked up at the sky.
Tootie shifted nervously. Was this real or was it all a dream, was she sleeping. What happened before she got here? Oh yeah, she heard a car and Natalie screaming and then everything went blank.
"Is this real?" Tootie asked.
"It's as real as you can get. It's what's inside of you. I don't know why I'm here, but your here because this is you, this is what's inside of yourself." Jo said seriously.
"So, this isn't heaven?" Tootie asked.
"Tootie, your not dead, in fact your fine. You just have a big knock on your head." Jo responded as if Tooties question was absurd.
This sounded more like Jo. In fact everything about her except her clothes seemed Joish, what ever that meant. "So, your not really here, your just a figment of my imagination and you have no clue what's wrong with you."
"That about sums it up. I know all that you know which is that I had a fever last night and that I wasn't awake when you guys left." She nodded slowly thinking. "Oh, and that I'm in the hospital."
Everything got real bright and things disappeared. She heard beeping in the back ground the hustle of feet. She slowly opened her eyes and saw that the ceiling was moving which meant she was moving. She didn't know how because her legs weren't going. Oh she was on a hospital bed. She groaned as her head pounded with pain. This was definitely not planed.
"What happened?" Tootie grumbled noticing her throat was parched.
"You got hit by a car. you need to start looking both ways young lady. You were lucky you weren't hurt worse then you are." said a man above her. He was in hospital scrubs. "We think you only got some bruises nothing serious. We want to make sure you don't have a concussion. We're keeping you here for the night. Your friends said that they needed to go see another person when they heard you were ok. They'll be back in a few minutes."
* * * * * *
Mrs. Garrett looked at the poor girl. She was hooked up to so many machines at one time that it looked like she was made of wires. Bags of ice coved her torso, arms, and legs. Jo was pale and looked so fragile.
Natalie had to wait outside because there could only be one visitor. The place seemed very rushed as yells of pain or anger echoed on bare walls. There were maybe ten to twelve patients inside this large open room. The only privacy they got were the little yellow stained curtains.
"Hey Jo." Mrs. Garrett said as she sat down on the chair the nurses had given her. Jo responded by slowly turning her head. The girl smiled and then closed her eyes. "Well, I'm disappointed in you. I wish you had told us that you didn't feel well."
She opened her mouth to say something and then closed it again as if she didn't have the energy to argue. The poor girl had some kind of Polio and a specialist was suppose to be here in a few minutes. Polio had been a big thing in Mrs. Garrett's life, in fact she had a friend that died from it. But it had faded with time and vaccines. How had Jo gotten it.
"Hello, you must be Edna Garrett?" said a large aging man. His hair line receded and the hair he had left grew out silver. She nodded.
"I'm Dr. Stevens, a specialist with Polio. I looked at Joanne's files and noticed she had never had a Polio vaccine. It's required by schools across the nation. I've also noticed other things that led me to believe that she didn't have enough money to pay for it." The man said quietly trying not to disturb Jo.
"Yes, why would you make that conclusion?" Mrs. Garrett asked in the same manner.
"Because she always had the government pick up her medical bills and she has records that show that she was abused for a period of time." Dr. Stevens replied.
"What?" Mrs. Garrett asked. "She was never abused."
The man smiled patiently as her went through a large folder and made an I found it noise. He pulled it out, they were pictures, pictures of when Jo was maybe seven or eight. There were bruises and cuts across her whole entire body. She had a black eye and bloody nose.
"This can't be her." Mrs. Garrett whispered as the man escorted her out of the curtain so they could let Jo be.
"Here are some write ups by her doctors." he handed them to Edna. What jumped out at her the most was three stab wounds taken in the chest just barely missing the heart. How could this be, why wouldn't Jo tell them about this? Then her brain answered quickly. The girl was stubborn and would never let any of them know.
"Your point here is?" Mrs. Garrett asked with anger. Why did he bring this up?
"I just wanted to know if my presumptions were correct about her history background. I like to know about my patients before I treat them. Anyway, I wanted to tell you that the diagnosis is correct, Joanne does have paralytic poliomyelitis, which is unfortunately the highest form possible. This attacks the anterior horn cells in the spine and neck. We x-rayed her spinal cored and it showed signs of aseptic meningitis, which is inflammation of the spinal cord. The problem is that she's an adult now and more serious damage can occur.
"There's not much we can do except keep her calm and comfortable. We can slow and even save some of the muscles by icing the body parts that are being damaged. Also we can stretch out the muscles. That's about it, I'm sorry." He said his eyes full of sympathy.
"What's the best a patient can come out of?" Mrs. Garrett asked quietly still processing what she had just heard.
"She can come out just fine or she could come out with minor paralysis." he said. "In fact a lot of polio survivors come out without any muscle problems."
"Thank you." Mrs. Garrett sighed in grief.
"We put some Antispasmodic into her IV, that should also stop muscle contractions. I'll be back in a little while to check up on her." he said as he headed off out the room.
Mrs. Garrett went back through the curtain into find Jo either sleeping or in a coma. She wasn't sure. She thought the girl was sleeping because of the peace across Jo's face. Would this girl become paralyzed?