Chapter 5: Complications
It had been a week since Tony and Palmer had brought Jack back to the United States. He had yet to regain conciousness yet, but seemed to be improving slowly. Tony and Michelle had been taking shifts of staying with Jack. They didnt want him to wake up alone in propably a strange place for him.
It was the Tuesday, the exact day a week ago Tony had brought him back. Tony was sitting comfortably next to Jacks' bedside. Nothing had changed since he had been there last. This was both a good thing and a bad thing at the same time. The good thing is that he hasnt changed, and the bad thing also being that he hadnt changed yet. Tony wanted him to wake up so badly, but as the days progressed the hope of him waking up was fading slowly.
The doctor kept saying that he just needed some time. That he would wake up in his own good time. The doctor also suggested talking to him as if he is awake, fimilar voices may help him wake up. Tony caressed Jacks' bandaged hand, muttering things to him quietly. He spoke to Jack about anything and everything. Mainly he was trying to coax him to wake up. Tony didnt think it was working.
Until that morning he finally felt some movement from Jacks' unconcious form, his hand twitched in Tony's hand. Tony withdrew quickly, almost stunned by it, then smiled looking to his face. His once peaceful serene expression now contorted one that was in slight pain. The doctor couldnt give him enough pain medication to take all the pain away, in fear that would keep him unconcious. He gave enough just to keep him resting peacefully, though when he did wake he would feel some minor discomforts.
"Jack? Come on Buddy Open your eyes" Tony encouraged him. Jacks face twisted in a more pained expression, he started to twitch, and shake. Suddenly violent coughing erupted from him, and didnt stop. Between the coughs there were gasps of breathe. His eyes were squeezed shut.
"Come on Jack this isnt Funny" Tony panicked slightly, this wasnt right, he felt it. He started muttering in chinese inbetween his coughs, sounding desperate. His fingers dug into the mattress he was on. Tony removed his oxygen mask to see if that helped, but it didnt. Jack continued to cough violently, and now blood was spewing slowly from his lips and onto around his mouth. Tony panicked more at the sight of the blood. He quickly turned on his heel and bolted for the door.
"Help!" He called for help as nurses flocked to Jacks' room, along with a doctor. Tony then scanned the room as it was flooded by nurses and a couple of doctors, he was pushed to the wall. He covered his mouth with his hand as he saw the machine keeping track of his blood pressure had skyrocketed, and his heartbeat had become staggered and irregular. The machine that stated his respiration had also gone off the whack. The doctors worked on Jack quickly as as fast as they could. Two nurses went over to Tony and ushered him out telling him he doesnt need to be here for this. Of course Tony refused.
"I want to know whats wrong with him!" Tony hissed at the nurses who pushed him out of the room.
"We will tell you as soon as we know!" One of them said then shut the door on him.
Tony hadnt realized he was out of breathe, he took a deep breathe or too, and calmed his breathing down. He then ran his hands threw his hair. How much more of this could he take emotionally? Jack was in there fighting for his life, and all Tony could do was stand by and wait. This was nerve wrecking. He felt so useless. He felt as if he could have done more, should have done more. He hadnt realized tears were falling from his eyes as he rubbed the back of his neck with his hands. He then began to pace the hallway, waiting impatiently. He didnt even know what was going wrong.
Finally after what felt like an eternity, the doctors and nurses vacated the room. Tony slowly entered again to find one had left. The one from the start. He was inserting something into Jacks' IV. Tony glanced at Jack then realized something was different now. There was a tube sticking up from his mouth. They had to intibate him. Tony gasped at this sight, it seems Jack had only gotten worse now. The doctor turned around at hearing Tonys' gasp. His face was harden, and sad, with empathy.
"We had a few complications, we didnt realize he was suffering from an illness too, he has a rare sickness that can sprout from the conditions he lived through. He had a fever, that had just broken when he started coughing, when you alerted us. If you had been mere seconds later, we propably would not have been able to fix the problem. We are giving him antibiotics now to cure this, but that is all we can do. The rest is up to him. All we can do now is wait, and see if his fever goes down. And once it does, I am almost certain that he will wake from this comatose state. Its all just a matter of time now" The doctor explained.