CHAPTER 8- ICU
The nurse was pretty accurate concerning the time it took to transfer Ryan to the ICU. Unfortunately for Ryan those thirty minutes felt like some of the longest in his life. Every movement, sound, and light was painful in an almost unbearable way. Ryan had suffered from migraines in the past but the level of pain he was experiencing now put those to shame.
Ryan no longer felt embarrassed by the tears that tracked his face he just wished for the pain to end.
"I know you're hurting." A gentle voice let him know as he was transferred to the new bed in the ICU.
"You received some pain medication downstairs, but we are about to give you something called Dilaudid now through your I.V. that should work quickly. It is a pretty heavy narcotic and since you'll be being monitored closely here we can give it to you a little more frequently and at higher doses to help get a handle on some of your pain.
"Thank God." Ryan mumbled back not sure who it was that was talking to him but grateful for the promise of some form of pain relief.
"Alright it's in. Give it about ten minutes and you should start to feel some relief. I believe your family is here, but I am going to wait to let them back until this kicks in a little. I'll dim the lights some for you. You have a call button by your right hand if you need anything and I am your nurse for the evening. My name is Jerry. I'll be write outside the glass door checking on you frequently though I won't disturb you unless absolutely necessary. We have you on quite a few monitors to keep track of things including a heart monitor, blood pressure cuff that will go off every thirty minutes, and oxygen monitor. For now your O2 stats look good so we will leave you on room air. Let me get a temperature real quick to see where we are. "
AS the nurse said this he had a thermometer in Ryan's ear. It beeped quickly eliciting a wince from Ryan.
"103- a little toasty I see. We'll put a light cooling blanket on you for a while. It won't be the most comfortable but we don't need a high fever complicating things any more than they already are."
The nurse wasn't lying about the cooling blanket being uncomfortable. His headache had just started to abate a little with the help of the meds, but now he couldn't rest because he felt like he was freezing to death.
"I'm going to let your family back here for a few minutes to help distract you from the cold."
True to his word Sandy, Seth and Kirsten were soon gathered around his bed.
"Hey kid." Sandy whispered gently stroking Ryan's arm.
Kirsten merely stood on the opposite side and laid her hand on his other hand choosing a silent show of comfort.
"I see their trying to turn you into the only snowman in California." Seth quipped quietly at noticing Ryan's shaking form under the cooling blanket.
"Not funny." Ryan hissed back.
"Sorry son, but I'd rather have a snow man then a son with a fried brain. Try not to fight it. In a minute it won't be as bad as your body adjusts to it." Sandy assured.
Ryan doubted his logic, but finding nothing else he tried to key in on the sound of Sandy's voice as he continued to mutter gentle assurances. Eventually it worked and Ryan was able to slip into a light dose. For the next few minutes time passed in an unidentifiable flow for the Cohen's. Eventually nurse Jerry stepped back in.
"Alright folks. I let you stay all together for a while since Ryan just got up here. But now we need to go down to one visitor at a time. "
"I'll take first watch." Sandy replied.
"Okay." Kirsten responded. "Seth and I will go home for a while and try to rest. Call if there is any change. I'll be back tonight with Seth for another visit and then you and I can switch places."
"Sounds good."
With that settled Kirsten and Seth reluctantly left Ryan's room.
Sandy had been sitting by Ryan's bed for a while. The cooling blanket had been removed when another temperature check had revealed a temperature drop to 102. Thankfully Ryan had not awakened during the check allowing his body to get some much needed rest.
A doctor suddenly stepped into the room.
"Mr. Cohen. I am Dr. Samuels. I am from Infectious Disease and will be following Ryan while he's in the ICU. We did get his cultures back and I am sorry to say it does appear to be bacterial meningitis. We have caught it early though and are treating it aggressively. Ryan is young and relatively healthy which should all work in his favor, but I am afraid it will be a lot of wait and see. Thankfully the rest of your family's cultures have come back negative. We'll keep you on antibiotics as a precaution and you'll have to continue to have to use isolation precautions like you are now when you visit Ryan, but I don't foresee complications with you'll. So far Ryan is holding his own. It is good that his temperature came down some. For now we just wait and see. Any questions?"
"Not at the moment Doctor. Thank you for the update."
"Of course. I'll check in on you again this evening, and I can be reached sooner through the nurses if need be. Let us know if you need anything or you feel Ryan does."
Sandy nodded gratefully and then watched the doctor step back out. There was nothing more he could do for the moment so he simply sat by Ryan's side, stroked his hand and sent up a prayer that soon this would all be just a bad memory.