I make no claims to any medical expertise so any mistakes are mine and mine
alone.
Kim stayed til almost noon. Her neighbor had actually fractured the ankle and it was taking a while down in Emergency. Not being life threatening, the ankle injury kept getting pushed back on the list of patients to be treated.
I was unusually quiet, according to Kim anyway. I guess I just didn't have anything left to say at that point. The waiting game had grown old a long time ago. Before she left, Kim make one last stop.
"How's she doing?"
"Hey Kim." I said not taking my eyes off the doctor in with ma. He came out while Kim was still there.
"How's she doing?" I asked, pausing to wonder how many times he's heard those words.
"Considering what her body's been through the past forty-eight ours, I'd say she's doing well."
"That's good news right?" I asked trying not to get my hopes up.
"Very good news," the doctor replied. "The tests we ran came back negative."
"Why all the tests?" I asked.
"As I explained to you last night, Rose had a blood clot as a result of surgery. It's not uncommon. Unfortunate given what she's already been through but not unusual. The test results don't give me any reason to believe that she will have any further clots. They also show that she's had no further damage to the heart as a result of the clot."
"So what now?"
"Now we just keep an eye on her. I 'll be gradually taking her off the meds that have kept her sedated. She should be waking up soon."
Ma's doctor was starting to say something else when he was paged.
"I need to take this. If you have any more questions, have one of the nurses get in touch with me."
"Thanks Doc," I said, nodding my head before he managed to get away.
I felt a squeeze of my hand. Glancing I noticed it was from Kim who I'd almost forgotten was sitting with me. I stared up at the ceiling, trying to hold it together. So many feelings pent up inside.anger.fear.panic. Yeah let the record show, Maurice Boscorelli had been in a state of panic. I managed to hold it together until I dropped my eyes from the ceiling to the floor. As if controlled by gravity, a single tear escaped my eye, rolling down my face, magically disappearing as Kim kissed my cheek.
"She's going to be fine, Bos," she said smiling. Finally, I thought to myself. Ma had a long road ahead of her but she was going to be alright.
I walked with Kim back to the Emergency area where she rejoined her neighbor.
After helping Kim and the neighbor to the car, I returned to the hospital. Sitting on a bench outside, I reached in my pocket, pulling out my cell phone. I dialed a number, one from memory. Not the phone's memory but mine.
"Hey, it's me," I replied.
"Bos, how are you? How's your ma? I'm so sorry for not being there. I tried to call you earlier but you must not have had your phone turned on."
The array of questions was somehow comforting. I guess it didn't really matter what she said, just hearing Faith's voice made all the difference.
"Sorry about that, I turned it off while I was down in CICU."
"I forgot about that. With all those machines, I guess it's better to have it turned off. So how's your ma doing?"
"She's better I guess. They're taking her off the sedatives today. She should be awake soon. I just thought I should call you...let you know how things are going."
"Have you got any sleep?"
"Yeah, Taylor was here last night. She stayed with ma while I got some sleep."
"That was nice of her.I'm glad you weren't there all by yourself. I hope your getting enough to eat. You are eating right Bos?"
"Yes mom, I'm getting enough to eat. Hard not to with everyone dropping in at all hours."
"Ty gave you my message then?"
"Yeah, he and Sully were here earlier that night.claimed they were on a lunch break Ty stopped by again after work and as he was leaving, Kim and Alex showed up with food. Taylor all but force-fed breakfast this morning too."
"Alex was there after work last night and again this morning?"
"Not exactly.Faith, last night ma developed a blood clot.complication from surgery. I thought I lost her."
"Oh God Bos, I'm so sorry. I should have been there for you."
"It's okay. Alex had forgotten her jacket so she came back in. About that time ma.anyway, I lost it. I really lost it Faith. I was some kind of a mess."
"I can just imagine. If something like that happened to my mother or perish the thought, one of my kids, I'd be a mess too. So she's okay now?"
"Yeah, they managed to revive.the doctors saved her life.again. She had a pretty good night."
"So Alex stayed with her while you got some sleep?"
"Yeah she stayed with her all night. Actually I woke up this morning to find her standing there with a cup of coffee."
"Breakfast in bed huh? You and Taylor, wow!" Faith couldn't resist the opportunity to torment me about this. That was okay by me. I needed to hear her laugh.
"Not exactly how I'd envision the night before the breakfast in bed part," I added to Faith's attack on me. "I didn't think I'd be able to sleep, not after what happened with ma. But I did. I probably slept about 5 hours."
"I'm glad you got some sleep Bos. I just wish I'd been there for you."
"I know you do Faith but Charlie needed his mom. How's he doing?"
"He's pretty itchy.poor kid.he had a bath with baking soda last night and I put calamine lotion on him this morning. He's sleeping right now."
"Poor kid, I remember when I had the chicken pox."
"Yeah me too," Faith replied. "Emily had them a couple years ago. Even so, she refuses to go near Charlie."
"When I had them, ma kept putting Mikey and me together. I think she was hoping he'd catch them from me and she could deal with both of us at once.'
"Yeah? So what happened?"
"Mikey waited a year to get them."
The rest of the day went by pretty smoothly. I was able to see ma more often and for longer periods of time.
By early evening she was beginning to wake up. I talked with her, doing my best to keep her calm. I always hated hospitals.did everything I could to keep from staying overnight. I inherited that feeling from ma so I recognized the look on her face when I saw it. She didn't want to be there. Unfortunately the situation was beyond my control. If she continued to improve, they were hoping to move her from CICU the next day. I was hoping that would help her. A nurse suggested that once she was in another room, maybe I could brings some things from home.things that would make her feel more comfortable in her room. The first thing I thought of was not what the doctors had in mind. I doubted a bottle of vodka was what they had in mind by comforting things from home.
Trouble was I was at the hospital and my car was still back at the 55th. I'd considered having someone bring it up to the hospital earlier but then decided it was probably safe parked in front of a police station. Now, I was changing my mind.if I was going to get some things (minus the booze, of course) from ma's place, I needed transportation. The idea of carrying her stuff on the subway didn't appeal to me.
I wandered downstairs to emergency, leaving a message. A few hours later, my message had been received. Kim and Alex appeared.
"Got your message, what's up?" Kim asked.
"I need a favor," I said.
"Oh yeah, what's that?" she asked as Alex's attention bounced from Kim to me and back. There was something going on in her head again but I didn't want to go there.
"When you get off tonight, do you think you could bring my car up here?"
It was a good thing we were in a hospital. The look on both Kim and Alex's face was that of pure shock. Neither one said a word as they looked back and forth between themselves.
"Look, I need to go by ma's apartment and to do that I need my car," I further explained.
"So you want me to drive your car.bring it up here?" Kim asked.
"I don't get it," Alex added. I turned to face her, realizing that whatever it was, I was going to hear about it.
"Why Kim?" she asked.
"Yeah, why me?" Kim stated as well.
"Why not?" I asked.
"Because Bosco, nobody drives your car," Kim continued.
"Yeah well normally no one does but right now my options are a little limited."
"So why me, why not Sully or Ty or."
"Sully-drive my car?" I asked not even wanting to visualize that scene. "Look Kim, you like my car right? You told me that once. Who else can I trust with her than you?"
"Her?" Kim commented. "Why is it that guys always refer to their cars as 'her'?"
I glanced over at Alex who at this point was silent except for a giggle she was trying unsuccessfully to hide. Whatever it was, I didn't want to go there at the time. I didn't think I wanted to go there at all, especially not right now.
Kim looked at her and smiled. I tried to ignore that too.
"So, will you do it?" I repeated.
"Fine, I'll do it," she finally agreed. I handed her my keys with a slight hesitation.
"Bos, it's just a car. You act like this is your first born."
Kim's comment earned her a glare from me and another snicker from Alex. I was in trouble. Big trouble.
"Look, I won't speed. I won't run red lights. I'll stop at all crosswalks and yellow lights. I won't even turn the radio on. How's that?"
"Get outta here before I change my mind," I replied turning my attention back to ma's room.
Around eleven I developed a fear. As I was searching the parking lot for familiar headlights, my phone rang. This couldn't be good.
I answered my phone to hear Kim's voice. My immediate feeling was my heart sinking inside my chest.
"Hey Bos, it's Kim. We just finished up a call. Headed back to the station now. Be there in about ten minutes. Thought I better call. Didn't want to worry you."
"Is it that late already?" I said, pretending not to know what time it was.
"Yeah it's after eleven already. See you in about a half hour okay?"
"Okay, thanks for calling."
"Sure thing" Kim replied before the line went dead.
So maybe I was acting a little strange. It was just a car. But it was my car and despite what Doherty had said, my car could beat his any day of the week. I just hoped it wouldn't be beating his tonight with Kim behind the wheel.
Kim stayed til almost noon. Her neighbor had actually fractured the ankle and it was taking a while down in Emergency. Not being life threatening, the ankle injury kept getting pushed back on the list of patients to be treated.
I was unusually quiet, according to Kim anyway. I guess I just didn't have anything left to say at that point. The waiting game had grown old a long time ago. Before she left, Kim make one last stop.
"How's she doing?"
"Hey Kim." I said not taking my eyes off the doctor in with ma. He came out while Kim was still there.
"How's she doing?" I asked, pausing to wonder how many times he's heard those words.
"Considering what her body's been through the past forty-eight ours, I'd say she's doing well."
"That's good news right?" I asked trying not to get my hopes up.
"Very good news," the doctor replied. "The tests we ran came back negative."
"Why all the tests?" I asked.
"As I explained to you last night, Rose had a blood clot as a result of surgery. It's not uncommon. Unfortunate given what she's already been through but not unusual. The test results don't give me any reason to believe that she will have any further clots. They also show that she's had no further damage to the heart as a result of the clot."
"So what now?"
"Now we just keep an eye on her. I 'll be gradually taking her off the meds that have kept her sedated. She should be waking up soon."
Ma's doctor was starting to say something else when he was paged.
"I need to take this. If you have any more questions, have one of the nurses get in touch with me."
"Thanks Doc," I said, nodding my head before he managed to get away.
I felt a squeeze of my hand. Glancing I noticed it was from Kim who I'd almost forgotten was sitting with me. I stared up at the ceiling, trying to hold it together. So many feelings pent up inside.anger.fear.panic. Yeah let the record show, Maurice Boscorelli had been in a state of panic. I managed to hold it together until I dropped my eyes from the ceiling to the floor. As if controlled by gravity, a single tear escaped my eye, rolling down my face, magically disappearing as Kim kissed my cheek.
"She's going to be fine, Bos," she said smiling. Finally, I thought to myself. Ma had a long road ahead of her but she was going to be alright.
I walked with Kim back to the Emergency area where she rejoined her neighbor.
After helping Kim and the neighbor to the car, I returned to the hospital. Sitting on a bench outside, I reached in my pocket, pulling out my cell phone. I dialed a number, one from memory. Not the phone's memory but mine.
"Hey, it's me," I replied.
"Bos, how are you? How's your ma? I'm so sorry for not being there. I tried to call you earlier but you must not have had your phone turned on."
The array of questions was somehow comforting. I guess it didn't really matter what she said, just hearing Faith's voice made all the difference.
"Sorry about that, I turned it off while I was down in CICU."
"I forgot about that. With all those machines, I guess it's better to have it turned off. So how's your ma doing?"
"She's better I guess. They're taking her off the sedatives today. She should be awake soon. I just thought I should call you...let you know how things are going."
"Have you got any sleep?"
"Yeah, Taylor was here last night. She stayed with ma while I got some sleep."
"That was nice of her.I'm glad you weren't there all by yourself. I hope your getting enough to eat. You are eating right Bos?"
"Yes mom, I'm getting enough to eat. Hard not to with everyone dropping in at all hours."
"Ty gave you my message then?"
"Yeah, he and Sully were here earlier that night.claimed they were on a lunch break Ty stopped by again after work and as he was leaving, Kim and Alex showed up with food. Taylor all but force-fed breakfast this morning too."
"Alex was there after work last night and again this morning?"
"Not exactly.Faith, last night ma developed a blood clot.complication from surgery. I thought I lost her."
"Oh God Bos, I'm so sorry. I should have been there for you."
"It's okay. Alex had forgotten her jacket so she came back in. About that time ma.anyway, I lost it. I really lost it Faith. I was some kind of a mess."
"I can just imagine. If something like that happened to my mother or perish the thought, one of my kids, I'd be a mess too. So she's okay now?"
"Yeah, they managed to revive.the doctors saved her life.again. She had a pretty good night."
"So Alex stayed with her while you got some sleep?"
"Yeah she stayed with her all night. Actually I woke up this morning to find her standing there with a cup of coffee."
"Breakfast in bed huh? You and Taylor, wow!" Faith couldn't resist the opportunity to torment me about this. That was okay by me. I needed to hear her laugh.
"Not exactly how I'd envision the night before the breakfast in bed part," I added to Faith's attack on me. "I didn't think I'd be able to sleep, not after what happened with ma. But I did. I probably slept about 5 hours."
"I'm glad you got some sleep Bos. I just wish I'd been there for you."
"I know you do Faith but Charlie needed his mom. How's he doing?"
"He's pretty itchy.poor kid.he had a bath with baking soda last night and I put calamine lotion on him this morning. He's sleeping right now."
"Poor kid, I remember when I had the chicken pox."
"Yeah me too," Faith replied. "Emily had them a couple years ago. Even so, she refuses to go near Charlie."
"When I had them, ma kept putting Mikey and me together. I think she was hoping he'd catch them from me and she could deal with both of us at once.'
"Yeah? So what happened?"
"Mikey waited a year to get them."
The rest of the day went by pretty smoothly. I was able to see ma more often and for longer periods of time.
By early evening she was beginning to wake up. I talked with her, doing my best to keep her calm. I always hated hospitals.did everything I could to keep from staying overnight. I inherited that feeling from ma so I recognized the look on her face when I saw it. She didn't want to be there. Unfortunately the situation was beyond my control. If she continued to improve, they were hoping to move her from CICU the next day. I was hoping that would help her. A nurse suggested that once she was in another room, maybe I could brings some things from home.things that would make her feel more comfortable in her room. The first thing I thought of was not what the doctors had in mind. I doubted a bottle of vodka was what they had in mind by comforting things from home.
Trouble was I was at the hospital and my car was still back at the 55th. I'd considered having someone bring it up to the hospital earlier but then decided it was probably safe parked in front of a police station. Now, I was changing my mind.if I was going to get some things (minus the booze, of course) from ma's place, I needed transportation. The idea of carrying her stuff on the subway didn't appeal to me.
I wandered downstairs to emergency, leaving a message. A few hours later, my message had been received. Kim and Alex appeared.
"Got your message, what's up?" Kim asked.
"I need a favor," I said.
"Oh yeah, what's that?" she asked as Alex's attention bounced from Kim to me and back. There was something going on in her head again but I didn't want to go there.
"When you get off tonight, do you think you could bring my car up here?"
It was a good thing we were in a hospital. The look on both Kim and Alex's face was that of pure shock. Neither one said a word as they looked back and forth between themselves.
"Look, I need to go by ma's apartment and to do that I need my car," I further explained.
"So you want me to drive your car.bring it up here?" Kim asked.
"I don't get it," Alex added. I turned to face her, realizing that whatever it was, I was going to hear about it.
"Why Kim?" she asked.
"Yeah, why me?" Kim stated as well.
"Why not?" I asked.
"Because Bosco, nobody drives your car," Kim continued.
"Yeah well normally no one does but right now my options are a little limited."
"So why me, why not Sully or Ty or."
"Sully-drive my car?" I asked not even wanting to visualize that scene. "Look Kim, you like my car right? You told me that once. Who else can I trust with her than you?"
"Her?" Kim commented. "Why is it that guys always refer to their cars as 'her'?"
I glanced over at Alex who at this point was silent except for a giggle she was trying unsuccessfully to hide. Whatever it was, I didn't want to go there at the time. I didn't think I wanted to go there at all, especially not right now.
Kim looked at her and smiled. I tried to ignore that too.
"So, will you do it?" I repeated.
"Fine, I'll do it," she finally agreed. I handed her my keys with a slight hesitation.
"Bos, it's just a car. You act like this is your first born."
Kim's comment earned her a glare from me and another snicker from Alex. I was in trouble. Big trouble.
"Look, I won't speed. I won't run red lights. I'll stop at all crosswalks and yellow lights. I won't even turn the radio on. How's that?"
"Get outta here before I change my mind," I replied turning my attention back to ma's room.
Around eleven I developed a fear. As I was searching the parking lot for familiar headlights, my phone rang. This couldn't be good.
I answered my phone to hear Kim's voice. My immediate feeling was my heart sinking inside my chest.
"Hey Bos, it's Kim. We just finished up a call. Headed back to the station now. Be there in about ten minutes. Thought I better call. Didn't want to worry you."
"Is it that late already?" I said, pretending not to know what time it was.
"Yeah it's after eleven already. See you in about a half hour okay?"
"Okay, thanks for calling."
"Sure thing" Kim replied before the line went dead.
So maybe I was acting a little strange. It was just a car. But it was my car and despite what Doherty had said, my car could beat his any day of the week. I just hoped it wouldn't be beating his tonight with Kim behind the wheel.