Chapter 6
"Ok guys we're going to move her to ICU, we'll be able to better manage her care there ok" said Kate to Sara and Lindsey after the CT scan finished. "We'll have the results of the tests back in about 5 minutes" Kate was a physician who specialized in the care of critically ill patients, usually in an intensive care unit, an intensivist, the best in the business. Sara and Lindsey knew she was in the best hands possible but that knowledge offered little comfort. "Abbey's going to take you to the ICU waiting room, once we get Tegan settled in you can sit with her again – just give us a bit of time" Sara looked like a lost little child… "Oh...Ok…."
About 15 minutes later Kate came walking out of the ICU, now wearing an ICU gown and gloves over some scrubs. Gone were her funky denim jacket and skinny jeans. Jeremy, Ted and Adam was with Lindsey and Sara now, they instructed the rest of the crew to go back to the hotel because they couldn't have that many people at the hospital. Jeremy was trying to comfort Sara and Ted has his hand on Lindsey's back. "Hi guys, let's sit down" said Kate gently. "Doctor, what's happening, how is she?" asked Jeremy sounding spooked. "Call me Kate please… okay here's the lowdown guys. From what we can tell, Tegan has got a very serious lung infection, probably pneumonia. We're managing her oxygenation and we've got her on about 7 different antibiotics right now. We've suctioned her lungs again and she seems to be breathing a bit more comfortably now after the meds. Now, these symptoms are really horrible. I'm very surprised she made it as far as she did through that show! She was probably experiencing chest pain, shortness of breath, dizziness, nausea, chills. She's quite a badass! We're worried about her blood pressure which is super low right now, that's what causing her to lose consciousness so often. We're managing it with fluid replacement and some medication, she was critically dehydrated when she got here, probably from throwing up the entire day and perspiring so much. When we got here her fever was close to 106 – that is critical in itself. However we managed to get it down through vigorous cooling and it's around 102.5 right now, it's still high but it's manageable. We're still sending some cooled saline into her and we've got her under the cooling blanket. We're managing it as best we can. The CT scan we did on her showed that there's no brain haemorrhaging but she does have a concussion, it's not much to worry about though, she just needs to take it easy, which she surely will over the next few days. I was worried about her cheek and jawbone, as you saw there's already a lot of bruising but the CT shows no break, just a hairline fracture. The cut on her forehead required about 6 stiches. They did a really great job and there shouldn't be a lot of scarring, it was a pretty clean cut. We're still running some tests but that's what we know right now." reported Kate. "Is she going to be ok Kate? Tell me she's going to be ok…" pleaded Sara. Lindsey just stared in front of her in a state of shock. "Sara, we're doing everything we can" said Kate. "No don't tell me that" Sara screamed annoyed "Is she ok! Will she be OK!" Kate took her hand in both of hers "Sara I don't know, I don't know. All I know is right now... Tegan is really, really sick ok. I'm … I'm sorry guys… We're doing everything…. I think she's going to be ok, she's young, she's fit, she's healthy, she should be ok... She's a fighter!" Kate didn't know what more to say, what to say to comfort them… she felt like she was punched in the gut … it killed her to see her friend like this.
After an hour or more of waiting and pacing outside Tegan's ICU room the girls saw Kate coming out again. She looked tired and worried. Both Lindsey and Sara jumped up as soon as they saw her. It was 2.30 in the morning. "Hi guys, well, she's finally stable! The drugs seems to be working and her respiratory function seems to be improving. Her sats are up her BPs up, her temp is down to an acceptable level. She's busy rehydrating. She's doing ok." reported Kate. "Thank god" Sara sighed. Lindsey had her hands over her mouth and just nodded as a tear of relief left her eye. "You want to see her? The drugs we're giving her hits pretty hard so she's out like a light, which is good, she needs plenty of rest right now. I think that she probably feels like she's been hit by a truck right about now" Said Kate.
Sara, Lindsey and Kate stood outside the door leading to Tegan's room in the ICU, they have been briefed on the hygiene protocol of the ICU and had to scrub their hands and wear gowns over their clothes and covers over their shoes. Kate took one hand from each girl "I just want to let you know what you can expect when we go in" said Kate in a calm voice looking both of them in the eye. "Uhhh... ok" muttered Sara. "Tegan is hooked up to some machines so there's a lot of wires, we use those to monitor her heart and her lungs, her blood work, temperature and so on she has quite a few tubes going into her arms – just ignore those ok, they're all helping her get better, if you ignore them it's just Tegan sleeping…" Lindsey took a deep breath "Ok let's go, I wanna see my girl"
Lindsey's hands were shaking as they stood outside Tegan's room – Kate took her one hand and held it, calming her instantly. She has never been more scared. Her mind was racing… They stepped into Tegan's room – it was quite spacious, boxes with x-rays and other scans on the walls, a large window, the blinds were drawn, the lights were dimmed. Tegan's bed was in the middle of the room, so much equipment around it. Sara immediately jogged over to the bed but Lindsey froze at the door… she was breathing deeply trying to compose herself, she could feel the emotion building in her throat which started stinging and feeling thick.
Sara looked at every inch of her twin. Tegan looked so small, so helpless in that bed, she was in a hospital gown, covered from the waist down in a sheet. Her tattooed arms had a lot of IV lines going in and a BP cuff around her left arm. Electrodes on her hands. So many IV bags… so many wires… The red light of the pulseox meter on her finger shone eerily in the dim light. Sara could see a lot of electrodes on the part of Tegan's chest and neck not covered by the gown. Quite a large plaster covered a section of her neck, a tube with 3 ports attached to it was sticking out under the plaster. Sara thought to herself that the central line looked bloody sore! Tegan's mouth and nose was covered by an oxygen mask, some condensation was forming inside the mask. Her forehead and face had small sweat beads on it. There was a large bruise on Tegan's cheek bone and around the side of the right eye. Her hair was pushed back out of her face and was matted from sweat and blood. The cut on her forehead had a plaster over it and a goose egg seemed to form under it. Dark circles were forming under her eyes. Tegan looked pale but peaceful for the first time that day. Her chest was moving up and down rhythmically. A high tech monitor was showing numbers and lines and percentages, it made a rhythmic beep, beep, beep sound, the sound soothed Sara. She took Tegan's hand and held it tight. "It's ok sis, you're ok Tee, you're ok" she chanted.
Lindsey sat on the other side of the bed with Tegan's other hand in hers, she held it up to her chest with both hands. She then kissed the back of Tegan's hand over and over and held it to her cheek. Tears were spilling from her eyes again. Sara and Lindsey sat next to Tegan's bed for the remainder of the night. Medical staff came and went regularly, checking on Tegan, listening to her heart and lungs, checking the monitors. Neither Lindsey nor Sara got any sleep. Sara tried to sleep a few times but her mind was racing and the ICU was a busy place. Instead she just put her head on her arms on Tegan's bed and stared at her sister. Lindsey was wiping Tegan's forehead gently with a damp cloth. Dawn was starting to break outside. The few hours next to Tegan's bed was pretty uneventful and for the first time Sara felt a little more relaxed, things seemed to be under control.
Kate came into the room and gave Sara a pat on the back. "Hey, why don't you go get some air, get some coffee, we need to do a few tests and checks" said Kate. "Is everything OK? She seems ok?" asked Lindsey with concern in her voice. "I think so, we're not 100% happy with a few numbers, her pulse ox in particular and she has a low grade fever again, but we've got it under control, we're getting another x-ray and chest CT to see what's changed since the first round." Said Kate. "Is she going to wake up soon?" asked Sara. "Yeah, I think we're going to try and wake her after this round of scans. We need to check her mental status….. guys, she's haning in there, she's doing good okay" said Kate reassuringly. "I need to phone my parents…. What do I tell them?" asked Sara staring at the needle in Tegan's hand. "Just tell them the truth Sara, if you want me to speak to them I will?" offered Kate "Yeah, maybe, I don't know….. should I tell them to fly to LA?" Sara asked her voice changing pitch suddenly. Kate took a few seconds before responding "I don't know Sara… but I do know that if my kid was in ICU I would want to be there" "I just feel like…. Telling them to fly here would be like telling them Tegan is dying…" Sara started sobbing again.. "No Sara, it's just telling them that Tegan needs their support right now, you need their support. You shouldn't have to go through this alone"
Sara sat in one of the smaller ICU waiting areas. The main waiting room was filled with band members and tour managers sleeping on couches. They trickled in through the night, unable to keep themselves away. Lindsey was standing next to the window staring at the warm glow of the morning sunrise holding a cup of coffee. Sara stared down at the iPhone screen in her hands. It showed a photo of Sonia smiling with the word 'Mom' above it. She sighed and took a deep breath and pressed dial. Let's do this! She looked at the time on her wristwatch "5.55". The phone rang quite a few times before a cheerful Sonia answered "Hey Sara!" exclaimed Sonia. "Hey mom" Sara sounded dejected. "Wow, it's super early for you to be up! Even I'm still sleeping" said Sonia with a yawn. "Have you two been rockstarring last night and you're still awake or did you wet the bed" Sonia asked jokingly. Sara smiled and thought to herself 'hardly'... "No... um…." Sara breathed heavily in order to try and pull herself together. "Sara…. Sweetie is everything ok?" asked Sonia, concern rising in her voice. "Mom...um…." Sara struggled for words. "Sara what's going on – talk to me" said Sonia now sounding slightly panicked. "... It's Tegan Mom" Sara's voice broke with emotion "Oh my god what happened" said Sonia immediately. "Mom, it's ok she's ok…. Sit down" Sara tried to calm her mother down. "What's going on Sara!" asked Sonia "Mom, Tegan felt really bad yesterday with the flu. We thought she was ok to go on stage, she seemed ok mom…." Sara trailed off. "Sara! What happened" yelled Sonia causing Sara to jolt. Sara took another few deep breaths before continuing "Mom, Tegan had to leave the stage a few songs in, she was so sick… and then….. she collapsed in the dressing room and... Umm… Kate was there so they took care of her immediately…." Sara tried to explain, her mind racing with images of the previous night. "O my god" Sonia gasped on the other side of the line "Is she ok Sara" she asked sounding scared. "They took her to the hospital in an ambulance mom, she.. she's in ICU mom" Sara started to break down and was soon sobbing "Sara, Sara listen to me, what's wrong with her, Sara! Is she OK?" Sara tried to talk but the only thing escaping her lips were more sobs. "Sara, let me speak to one of the doctors or nurses sweetie, is Lindsey there?" asked Sonia, emotion building in her voice. Sara handed the phone to Lindsey. "Sonia, hi it's LB" said Lindsey. "What's going on – is Tegan OK, talk to me Lindsey" Sonia was on the verge of breaking down. Lindsey was relatively calm "Sonia, she's got a really bad case of pneumonia, she's having trouble breathing and her fever was really high when she came in, her fever is down right now and she's on a lot of medication and IV's and stuff and… ….. It's really bad Sonia…" said Lindsey now becoming emotional again. "No!" Sonia was hysterical on the other side of the line "No, no, no, my baby girl!" Kate walked in and heard Lindsey talking to Sonia and eyed Sara crying with her face in her hand. "Let me talk to her Lindsey" she said calmly. Lindsey handed the phone to Kate. "Sonia, it's Kate… shhh just calm down for a second" she said trying to calm Tegan's mother. "Kate, please…. What's going on" Sonia was now crying. "Sonia, Tegan is in ICU right now and we're taking really good care of her but she's very sick" said Kate honestly. Kate talked to Sonia for a few minutes trying to put her mind at ease as much as possible before handing the phone back to Sara who seemed a bit calmer now. "I'm coming to LA, I need to see my baby" said Sonia determined. "Mom, I'm going online right now and I'm booking you a flight. You just pack, I'll text you the info as soon as I have it. Mom, don't worry, she's ok… she's going to be ok" said Sara trying to convince her mom... and herself.
That's it for today guys. I'll try and post some more chapters tomorrow. Try not to worry too much ;) Reviews please!