Dad and I jumped up, "Is there a Charlie and Alan Eppes here?" He asked.
"Us" I responded, motioning to Dad and myself.
"I need to speak to you two privately" He retreated back and Dad and I followed him. The door swung shut and I glanced out, I could see the rest through the window in the door.
"How is he?" Dad asked.
"I'm Dr. Michaels, I have been in charge of Don's care along with Dr. Carter, who is still in there. Don is suffering from internal bleeding. Don was shot in the stomach, right above him heart, about an inch above to be exact, and on his spine" Dr. Michaels began, "The bullet to his spine renders him a T4-6, which means if Don makes it, he'll be paralyzed mid chest down"
"Oh my God" Dad muttered and I rubbed his arm for support.
"However, unfortunately that is the least of our problems" Dr. Michaels continued. "We cannot seem to stop the bleeding and Don flatlined about 20 minutes ago, our team is working to breath for him right now, but we need to know what you want done."
"Flatlined?" I asked, too numb to think.
"He lost his pulse" Dr. Michaels clarified.
"Oh my God" Dad cried, I hugged him and could feel the tears mound up in my eyes, but I forced them away. It was my turn to be strong for Dad and for Don.
"I'm sorry" Dr. Michaels said sadly.
"What should we do?" Dad asked.
"Well, we have a few options. We can continue this to see if we can get a pulse for him, put him on life support, or stop"
Dad thought, and then looked at Dr. Michaels, tears in his eyes. "How bad is he right now?"
"Pretty bad. He doesn't have much of a chance, we are surprised he made it this far"
"What's the percentage he'll gain his pulse back and live?" I asked, running some quick calculations in my head.
"Maybe 20" Dr. Michaels replied.
Sounded right, but I didn't want to admit it, "Okay"
"Is he suffering?" Dad asked, his voice cracking.
"Yes" Dr. Michaels replied.
"Well, I don't want him to suffer. Can you keep him alive enough so we can say good-bye?" Dad asked after a long silence.
Dr. Michaels nodded, "No problem, would you two like to go first?"
Dad shook his head, "We need to go let the others know, we'll go last"
"Alright" We walked back into the room.