Final Chapter: At the Hospital again
Disclaimer: I do not own the charaters nor making money off of this.
In most of my stories the boys are in a relationship, and in a prior chapter I mentioned that no one but Cooter knew this but THIS IS NON SLASH, no kissing etc.
4 am (this was going on while Luke was headed back to Doc's)
At the Duke farm everything was not well. Bo woke up having a hard time breathing and when he didn't see Luke anywhere he panicked. Which made his breathing worse. Bo was mostly sleeping that day and bascially forgot Luke was gone.
"Bo just calm down and breathe." Bo tried to take in a deep breath but he couldn't, which in turn made him panic more. Bo was coughing hard and his eyes were watering.
"Daisy, I can't...bre..ath."
"I know honey." They were on their way to the hospital, Daisy managed to get Bo into the truck by herself. Jesse was at the neighbor's farm helping with a mare that was in labor. He figured it was early so Bo would still be sleeping and he told Daisy to call on the cb if she needed help. She was worried about Bo so she just consintrated on the road ahead.
"Hold on Bo, we're almost there. Alright?" Bo had his head back against the rear window trying to take slow breaths.
"Just...drive." They finally got to the hospital and Daisy ran inside to get help. A nurse came out with a wheelchair. She took him to an exam room and another nurse helped her get Bo on the bed. She placed an oxygen mask over his mouth and nose. When that didn't seem to work she removed the mask to place a different one on; one that was for the nebulizer machine. Then the nurse asked Daisy.
"Does he have asthma, Daisy?"
"Yes. It's been years since he had an attack though."
"Bo? I need to give you a nebulizer treatment."
"No." Bo tried to get up but Daisy pushed him down.
"Now you listen to me. You will not argue with me Bo. You will listen to the nurse and let her give you that treatment." At this point Bo stopped fighting Daisy and closed his eyes. He was developing a bluish coloring around his lips called cyanosis.
"Too late, we need to intubate him." The other nurse got a Doctor while the other got the supplies down. Daisy saw the Doctor get behind Bo, tilt his head back and use a laryngoscope to help guide the intubation tube down his throat. When he got the tube in place he removed the laryngoscope and attached the tube to a ventilating machine. He adjusted the flow so Bo could breathe better. When that was done Daisy spoke. "Will he be ok?"
"We will have to check his lungs later to see if there was any damage done to them."
"How long has it been since his last attack?" Asked the Doctor. He knew the Duke family and had to deal with Bo when he was younger when he would have a bad asthma attack.
She had to think a minute, "it's been at least 3 or 4 years, he doesn't even have an inhaler anymore."
"That's why he went downhill fast. We will prescribe him an emergancy inhaler, he'll get it before he leaves."
"Does Jesse or Luke know you're here?"
"Oh no. I forgot to radio him. He went to the neighbors to help deliver a foal. Luke's at Doc Applebe's." Dasiy looked paniced.
"Daisy calm down, you can use that phone right over there, or the cb at the nurse's station." She wiped her eyes and said, "thanks." One of the nurses walked her to the Nurse's station so she could use the cb there.
"Bo peep to Shepherd, come back." No answer. "Bo peep to Shepherd come back."
"This is Shepherd, is everything ok?"
"No. We're at the hospital, Bo had a bad asthma attack. He'll have to stay here for awhile." She didn't want to say much over the cb.
"Do you need me to go down there?"
"Not much you can do, he's resting now." Daisy hated lying to him, but there really wasn't anything that he could do.
"I know you're not telling me everything Daisy. But if you're sure I don't need to be there I won't be too mad at ya."
"Are you at home?"
"No, still here at Jenson's."
"I might be here awhile. I don't want Bo to wake up alone, he might panic."
"I'll see ya later, try to find a place to rest. I'm gone."
"See ya at home." Daisy put the cb handle down and went to use the phone to call Doc. When she left the message that Luke should come to the hospital as soon as possible with Doc, she went back into Bo's room. They moved him to a room and were getting him situated when Daisy came in.
"I called Doc and left a message for Luke to come here." She told the Doctor as she looked at Bo who was already looking better. His color came back and he was resting comfortably. She went to sit down in the waiting room to wait for Luke.
(At Doc's)
Doc Applebe hated to wake Luke; he had such a bad day, now it was gonna get worse. He walked into the little room and gently touched Luke's shoulder.
"Hey Luke. Luke." Luke opened his eyes and stared at Doc. Doc just waited until Luke woke more. "Daisy just called. I hate to inform you of this, but Bo's in the hospital."
"What happened?" Luke said as he pushed his hair back.
"Bad asthma attack."
"He hasn't had to use an inhaler in a long time. What brought this on?"
"Not sure. Come on, I can give you a ride." Doc grabbed Luke's stuff.
"Here Luke." Doc gave Luke his jean jacket and boots, while Luke got his clothes on.
"Thanks Doc, for everything."
"I take it you two talked?"
"We did." For the first time in over a day Luke gave a genuine smile and shook Doc's hand. The two left and headed to the hospital. He met Daisy in the waiting room.
"Hey Daisy, is Bo ok?" She gave Luke a hug.
"He had an asthma attack, bad one. They had to put a tube down his thoat to help him breathe." Luke nodded. This happened before, several years ago when he got back from Vietnam.
"You gonna be ok Luke?"
"Yeah, hon don't worry about me. Where's Bo?" She lead him to Bo's room and they waited for him to wake.
Several hours later Bo woke up, when he felt something in his throat he started to panic. He moved his hand up to take whatever it was out of his throat. Before he could pull it out someone held down his arms. He started to panic when he could move.
"Bo, it's ok. There's a tube down your throat to help you breathe. Relax and open your eyes for me." Luke told him. He slowly opened his eyes and looked at Luke. He looked around the room not really sure where he was.
"Bo, you're in the hospital. You had a bad asthma attack, they needed to intubate you. Nod if you understand me." Bo nodded his head.
"Good. I paged the Doctor so he can check to see if they can remove the tube. Ok?" Once again Bo nodded his understanding. The Doctor arrived and looked Bo's blood oxygen levels over.
"Well everything seems to be in order. Let's get that tube out." The Doctor put his gloves on and got some other supplies.
"On the count of 3, I want you to blow out like you're blowing up a balloon when I pull the tube out. Do you understand?" Bo nodded.
"One, two, three, blow." Bo did what he was told and the Doctor pulled the tube out and placed it in a pan. He wiped Bo's chin as he started to cough up phlegm.
"Deep breaths Bo and don't try to talk." Bo stopped coughing and laid back. Luke gave him some ice chips to help his sore throat. He nodded his thanks. Daisy went to his side and took his hand.
"Hon don't ever scare me like that again." Bo wiped a tear away from her eye and gave her a small grin. He was still having difficuly breathing so the Doctor listened to his lungs and told him.
"Bo I still need to give you that nebulizer treatment." Bo was going to argue but his lungs hurt bad and he was just so tired that he nodded his head. The Doctor got the machine set up quickly before Bo could change his mind.
"Here you go, deep breaths ok?" Bo did what he was told. Several minutes later he was asleep, with Luke by his side.
"How are you feeling Luke?" Daisy asked.
"I talked to Mr. Johnson about what had happened and I feel so much better. It feels like a weight has been lifted, you know what I mean?"
"Yeah honey I do. Are you going to see someone at the V.A.?"
"No. Talking to Mr. Johnson has helped alot, he said I can talk to him anytime. I think I'll take him up on that. He was there, he knows exactly what I've been through."
"Good. At least you're talking to someone."
"Luke would you be mad if I headed on home?"
"No hon. There's nothing that you can do here except wait until he wakes." She hugged Luke then went home. Several minutes later the nurse walked in.
"Hey Luke the Doctor told me that you can rest in the bed next to him. He's not going to release him today."
"Why?"
"Because of his concussion and his asthma attack. He needs someone to watch over him closer." She gave him a sad smile and added, "besides you look like hell Luke. You need some sleep."
"Thanks, I think." This was not common practice to allow a family member to sleep in the same room as a patient, (seeing the patient was an adult) but this was Hazzard. Almost everyone knew each other and the Doctor knew the Duke family almost as well as Doc Applebe. Besides the Doctor figures Bo would most likely listen to Luke more than anyone else. The Doctor knew that Bo hated hospitals and he did not want to argue with him on staying. He'll let Luke deal with him.
Several hours later Bo woke up feeling nauseous. He looked around the room and saw Luke sleeping in the other bed. He remembered being in the hospital, 'but what was Luke doing here?' he thought.
"Luke?"
"Yeah Bo." Luke rubbed his eyes as he sat up. "You ok?"
"No, are you?"
"I'm fine Bo. The doctor wanted me to rest is all. Also to keep you from leavin' I suppose."
"I don't feel so good."
"You gonna be sick?" Bo just nodded. Luke got him a basin and Bo got sick. He leaned back and as Luke wiped his face a nurse walked in.
"Bo, I see you're awake." She stopped as she saw Luke holding a wash basin and Bo looking very pale.
"Let me Luke." She said as she took the basin from him and went to clean it. She came back several minutes later.
"Are you still nauseous?"
"Not as much, the nebulizer treatments always make me sick." The nurse just nodded.
"Let me check your vitals and I'll let you rest." She checked his vitals and quietly left the room.
"You gonna be ok Luke?"
"I talked to Mr. Johnson, believe it or not I feel alot better. I was feeling so guilty over things I could not control, that's way I was having the nightmares."
"What about the flashbacks?"
"With your help I'll get through them, just like last time."
"Just like last time you don't have to do this alone." Luke nodded at what Bo stated.
'Let's rest some more, huh?"
"Yeah, I want to get out of here as soon as I can." Luke smiled at that and went to sleep in the other bed. The next day Bo was released and things slowly got back to 'normal' in Hazzard. Boss Hogg was up to his old tricks and Rosco was chasing the boys all over Hazzard. 'Normal' indeed.