The Waiting Is The Hardest Part

Chapter 5

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"She's back from CT. You can come in and sit with her if you want," came the soft voice from the nurse as she opened the door to the lounge.

"Thanks, Dana," Bosco said, standing up to follow her. They walked down the hallway and the nurse took a right turn into a room that was dark, except for one light over the bed. He paused at the doorway, afraid to enter.

"It's okay," the nurse urged him. "She's still asleep," she said, not using the word unconscious.

Bosco wiped his sweating palms on his pant legs and walked into the room, taking in the peaceful sleeping face of his wife. Walking up to the bedside, he looked down at her. There was a slight bruise on the side of her head, under the bandage where the stitches were.

"Um, has she woken up at all?" he asked Dana as she checked a few things in the room.

A sympathetic look was followed with, "I'm afraid not yet. There's a chair right there," she said, pointing to the chair alongside the bed. "I'm going to check on another patient, but I'll be right around this hallway if you need me. Dr. Samuels and the neurologist will be down as soon as they're done looking at the scan," she said with a smile.

"Oh, uh, okay. Thanks," Bosco said.

After Dana had left the room, Bosco moved the chair closer to the bed. Sitting forward, he took her hand in his and leaned close to her ear.

"Jen?" he said softly. "Can you hear me? I'm here. Everything's gonna be okay. You hear me? Everything's gonna be okay," he assured her, looking at her face for some sign that she'd heard him.

Bosco was sitting alongside Jennifer in the E.R. room when Dr. Samuels and another man came into the room. He stood quickly and acknowledged their presence, not letting go of Jennifer's hand as he did so.

"Doc?" Bosco asked, waiting for some news. He tried to read the looks on their faces, but couldn't.

"Bosco. This is Dr. Michaels. He's the neurologist that I called in on Jennifer's case. Bosco reached across to shake hands with Michaels as Dr. Samuels finished the introduction.

"Martin, this is Dr. Boscorelli's husband, Officer Maurice Boscorelli. He's with the New York City Police Department," Samuels finished.

"Nice to meet you, Officer," Michaels said, returning the handshake.

"Please, its just Bosco," he told him. "So, can you tell me what's going on with Jennifer?" Bosco asked, wanting to quickly get to the details.

"Well, Offic.., Bosco. Why don't we step out to the lounge and we can talk about things," Michaels suggested.



Bosco shook his head. "No. I'm not leaving her. We can talk right here," he insisted.

"Very well. As you know, we did a CT Scan on your wife to try to determine if the irregularity in her pupils is from a head injury of some kind. After examining your wife and looking over the films, we can't be positive which came first, but I'm inclined to believe that Dr. Boscorelli suffered a rupture of a blood vessel in her brain, which is causing swelling - from the blood that seeped in between her brain and her skull. This is causing pressure, which accounts for the difference in her pupils - from pressure to the optic nerves," he said, pausing to see if Bosco was following. He seemed to be, although he seemed much paler than he was a moment ago.

"Would you like to sit down?" Michaels asked.

Bosco attempted to work up some saliva in his suddenly dry mouth and licked his lips. "No. I'm okay. Please go on. Is she going to be alright?"

"Well, it's hard to say. We'll monitor her condition, of course. I'm still undecided as to whether we need to go in surgically and remove the blood. She's stable right now. I'll be admitting her to ICU and monitor her closely. We'll do another scan in about two hours - or sooner if symptoms warrant - to see if we need to do the procedure. As long as there's no more bleeding, we shouldn't have to go in and stop it ourselves," he continued.

"Do you have any questions for me, right now? I know it's a lot to absorb," Dr. Michaels said.

"Um," Bosco said, slowly shaking his head. "So, do we know how this "bleed" as you call it happened? Or if it's done any kind of damage?" he asked finally.

"Well, I don't believe that its from any trauma that Jennifer suffered. According to the paramedics that brought your her in, Jordan told the police officer on the scene that she hadn't been feeling well - a headache - and that's why they came home early from dinner," Dr. Samuels offered. "So, we're assuming that she passed out and then hit her head as she fell, getting the cut to her head.

"As far as any damage," Dr. Michaels added. "I'm afraid we won't know that until she wakes up, but there's liable to be some sort of deficit - hopefully not permanent."

"But she WILL wake up, right Doc?" Bosco asked, looking back and forth between the two doctors.

Dr. Samuels put a hand on Bosco's shoulder. "We'll just have to wait," he told him.

"Yeah, but the waiting - that's always the hardest part," Bosco said.

Dr. Michaels told Bosco that he was going to arrange to have Jennifer moved upstairs to the ICU and that he'd see him up there. "But, please don't hesitate to have me paged if you have any questions."

"Thanks, Dr. Michaels, Doc," he replied, as the two doctors walked out. Samuels turned back to him at the doorway.

"I'll be around if you need anything. Feel free to use the phone in the lounge, or the lounge for that matter."

Bosco nodded his thanks and looked back at Jennifer, running a hand through his hair as he digested all that was said to him.

*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*

They were just getting ready to move Jennifer upstairs, when her sister came flying into the ER. Bosco had called her when he'd gotten to the hospital and she stopped to check on the kids. She left her husband, Peter, there to relieve the Andersons and to look after Jordan and Jason, and she'd come to the hospital.

"Kathy," he called to her from the doorway to Jennifer's room.

"My God, Bosco," she said, rushing over and hugging him. "What the hell happened?" she asked, walking over to Jennifer's bedside and looking at her sister.

"She had some kind of a blood vessel rupture in her head. They did a scan and they're planning another one in about an hour, I guess, to decide if they need to do surgery," he told her.

"On her brain?" Kathy asked, horrified. Bosco just nodded, the thought of surgery on her brain causing him too much fear to verbalize.

"The kids okay?" he asked her.

"Yes. Peter and the kids are there with them. I got everyone back to sleep before I came over. Peter's gonna stay there as long as we need him to," she told him.

"I'll have to go over in the morning and let Jordan know what's going on. I really don't want her to see Jen like this right now. Maybe once she wakes up...," he said, trailing off.

"Well, she will wake up, right?" Kathy asked, the horror of her not waking up hitting her.

"Of course she will," Bosco said positively. "They said all we can do is wait right now," he said, stepping aside as the nurses came in to finish preparing her for the move upstairs.

"They're taking her up to ICU," he told his sister-in-law. They both followed silently as they wheeled Jennifer out of the ER room and toward the elevator.

*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*

"Hey, Boss. Have you heard anything from Bosco?" Faith asked after she'd changed out of her uniform at the end of the shift. Sully and Ty followed her over to the Lieutenant.

"Yeah. I got a call from Albany. They wanted to let me know that their officer found his wife unconscious on the floor in the house. They transported her to the hospital. I told them that Bosco was already on his way up there," Lieutenant Swersky told the three of them.

"So, we don't know what's wrong? Was she attacked?" Faith asked.

"No. It appears it was something medical. The daughter told the police that 'Mommy was sick' before it happened.

"Did anyone reach Bosco and let him know? Call his cell phone?" Faith asked.

"Yeah. I called him to let him know, but the daughter had already called him. He didn't sound too good," Swersky added.

"I'll bet," Sully said. "He's down here and his family's up there going through all that without him. I'm sure he's there by now," Sully said, looking at the clock and figuring it from the time Bosco had left.

"Well, I told him to call me," Faith said. "I'll give him a little while and call him if I don't hear from him soon."

"Keep me posted, Yokas," Swersky said, walking away from the group.

"Wow," Ty said. "I hope everything's okay."

"Well, I'm gonna head home in case he calls me there," Faith said, checking to make sure her cell phone was turned on.

"Okay. Let us know if you hear anything," Sully called after her.

"I will," she answered, giving them a wave as she walked out the door.

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TBC...