Chapter 11—
A/N: I ask for feedback… I know a lot of people have read this story, but some feedback would be appreciated. I am to the point that even negative feedback would be appreciated.
"Major Sherwood, This is Carol from the hospital, I am sorry to call you so late, but you and your wife should come down to the hospital. Umm… your son just had a seizure, and he is unconscious. I will have more details when you get here."
The next words out of Frank's mouth, was "We will be right there."
Denise rolled over and said, "Where are you going now?" She was half asleep and really did not hear most of the conversation.
"I am not going anywhere; WE are going to the hospital. Jeremy just had a seizure." What sleepiness was clouding Denise's mind was gone. Both Frank and Denise got out of bed and through on clothes, and ran down the stairs. They were in the car backing out of the drive way seven minutes from when the call came in at 0237 in the morning.
Frank drove as fast as he could. They reached the hospital, and upon their arrival Carol was waiting for them at the nurse's station. She was not the bubbly nurse from earlier; she had a very serious look on her face. Carol was holding a chart in her hand, when she saw Denise and Frank rushing toward her.
"Carol what happened?" Denise demanded.
"Denise and Frank, please some with me." Carol said pointing to a more private waiting area. She had Frank and Denise sit down. The waiting are was small and from the looks of it could use a new coat of paint, but nonetheless was a good place to talk.
"We unfortunately do not know much about Jeremy's condition yet. This is what I can tell you, Dr. Steinbach asked me to brief you on what happened. About an hour ago, I went into check on Jeremy, and he was a wake, which surprised me a little. He and I started talking, about nothing really important. He asked if I would hand him a cup of water, and I did. He took a drink and then started choking, and the next thing I knew he was shaking uncontrollably, basically he was having a seizure. Of course, I called the code, and we were able to stop his convulsing." Carol was very professional in her demeanor, as she continued her monologue.
"Dr. Steinbach was the neurologist on call this evening. We do have Jeremy stabilized, but we do not know the extent if any, of damage the seizure caused, and we also do know as to the cause of the seizure. Dr. Steinbach will be here shortly. Denise, it looked like it was a grand mal seizure." The news was making Denise's head spin, but she was quickly forced back to reality with Carol's last comment.
Frank looked at Denise and asked, "What does that mean?"
"It means that it is seizure that is caused by abnormal electrical activity in a number of parts of the brain. Generally there could be unconsciousness and the lack of muscle control, which may include convolutions. "Denise explained to Frank as Dr. Steinbach walked into the waiting room.
"Denise you are right. And unfortunately so is the diagnosis. As to the cause, I do not yet know. But the symptoms that Jeremy was distributing today were classic symptoms of a seizure. Of course, I believe that we all missed them because Jeremy does not have a history of seizure activity, and we past them off as depression. His moodiness, agitation, extreme tiredness could have been signs… I think that even the fall he took when he came back from physical therapy could have been a symptom as well. Often the loss of balance could be a sign of a potential seizure." Dr. Steinbach explained.
"So what do we do now? Will he have another one? What will the after effects be?" Frank fired questions as fast as he could.
"Right now Major, we wait… We wait for Jeremy to regain consciousness; we wait for the results of the CAT scan and the MRI. I do not know if Jeremy will have another one, nor do I know what the after effects." The doctor always disliked not being able to tell the families the desired outcomes.
"You are the doctor, how can you not know?" Frank was frustrated at the doctor's inability to answer the question. Doctor Steinbach started to say something, but Denise interjected,
"It is often difficult to know why patients with no history of seizures have them. It could be some sort of late developing head trauma, or reaction to meds, sometimes it is a mystery." Denise stated sounding more like a nurse than a mother.
"Again, Denise is correct. I wish I could give you more information, but I am waiting for the results of the MRI and the CAT scan to give me an idea of where the seizure activity was in the brain and what, or if there is any permanent damage." Dr. Steinbach reiterated.
"Dr. Steinbach, can we see Jeremy?" Denise asked. She made a quick look at Frank. Frank was not weathering this one very well; she could see the tenseness in his face. His jaw was clenched so tight that it looked like it could not be pried open with a crow bar.
"Yes, you can. Right now we moved him to the ICU. He is stable and resting comfortably, I did give him a mild sedative to keep him quiet. As I believe that he needs the rest. When he wakes up he maybe somewhat disoriented. I will also tell you, that his eyes are still not responding to stimuli." The doctor looked tired and a little worse for the wear, but it was 315 in the morning.
"Doctor, how soon will you get the results of the MRI and CAT scan?" Frank asked.
"I am hoping that the results are in before rounds at 0700 hours, but I really do not know." Dr. Steinbach was getting tired of not having the answers. This was apart of his job that he disliked the most: not having the answers.
"As soon as I know more I will let you know. Why don't I take you to the ICU?" Dr. Steinbach continued.
With that the doctor walked Carol, Frank and Denise to the ICU where Jeremy was. Jeremy was hooked up to IV's and a couple of monitors, just to track his progress. The doctor looked at the charts, and checked a couple of things, and then said,
"Carol, why don't you and I leave Frank and Denise alone?"
"Denise and Frank if there is anything I can do please let me know." Carol said as she and the doctor walked out of the room.
Denise and Frank looked at each other. Neither one was sure what to say. Denise looked at Frank and just started to cry; and Frank took her in his arms, and just let her cry.
Jeremy was lying motionless in the hospital bed; he was laying flat on his back. He looked like he was at peace; it made Denise think of when Jeremy was a baby, and she would finally get him to sleep. She moved a chair closer to the bed, just in case Jeremy woke up, she would be there. Denise finally broke the silence,
"Frank, why don't you go home and get some sleep? Because don't you have a meeting at 0700? At least you could get some sleep." Denise questioned.
"I would not sleep anyway knowing that you were here. The meeting is with Michael and he will understand when I call him about 0600 and tell him what happened. So I will just stay with you."
Neither one spoke again for a long time. In fact Denise fell asleep in the chair, and she figured Frank would also fall asleep. Denise awoke about 0600 or at least that is what her watch said, to find Frank standing out in the hallway talking to Michael.
"Thank you, sir. I apologize, but under the circumstances I need to be here with my wife and son." Frank then shut the cell phone.
"Oh, good morning. Did you have a nice nap? How about if I go get us some coffee?" Frank said as he walked back into the ICU room. Denise never understood how Frank could get only a couple of hours of sleep and be so coherent.
"Yeah, I would love some coffee." Denise replied wiping the sleep from her eyes.
"Ok, I will be back shortly." Frank walked back into the hall toward the cafeteria.
Denise looked at her son, and his eyes were opened.
"Jeremy, are you awake?" She asked.
"Yes." Jeremy said very softly.
"How are you doing?" Denise was surprised that he was awake.