An Act of Friendship
Chapter 7
Roy jumped to his feet, "Doc, how is he?" he questioned anxiously.
Kel waved his arm toward the door, "Roy, if you want to follow…" he started to say, but Roy waved him off as he replied, "Doc, whatever you have to say, you can say here," he assured. Kel nodded, "Alright, then have a seat," he stated as he pulled a chair in front of Roy and sat down, Brice and Dwyer walked in and came to stand behind Chet. "Let me start by saying he made it through the surgery and he's stable." A collective sigh traveled around the room as Kel continued, "We just moved him to recovery and Dixie's with him." He looked down at the floor, his lips pursed as he crossed his arms.
Roy's stomach flipped when he saw the concerned look on Brackett's face.
"There is really no easy way to say this, Roy," Kel said as he peered at Roy. "He's critical. Between near drowning and the physical damage, which was more extensive than I originally anticipated, his lungs are severely compromised."
Brice stiffened and color drained from his face when he heard this.
Kel's mouth twitched as he said, "When we got Johnny up to surgery, we did a bronchoscopy and found a moderate amount of freshwater meaning that he aspirated water before his trachea went into laryngospasm."
Roy broke in, "What about brain damage Doc?"
"I can't tell for certain, but the x-rays don't show anything significant and I don't think enough time elapsed without oxygen, but honestly, I can't rule it out completely either. It's going to be a few days until we can evaluate fully. I'm sorry I know that's not what you want to hear." Kel replied sincerely, a look of deep compassion in his eyes.
Roy struggled to contain his emotions. The room suddenly felt like it was closing in on him. He took a couple of deep, slow breaths to calm down.
Cap put a hand on his shoulder, "We'll deal with whatever happens, Roy," he assured looking him straight in the eye.
Roy gave a brief nod to his captain and then turned his attention back to Brackett.
Kel continued, "We evacuated as much water from his lungs as we could and we're starting him on furosemide. The freshwater in his system means we'll have to closely monitor his heart and renal functions and because of the hypothermia, his liver functions will be watched also. One of the difficulties we're facing is maintaining enough fluid so that his kidneys don't fail, but not so much that his lungs develop edema, which is a common complication of near drowning."
Roy blanched at the implications, he felt nauseous and his heart was pounding. He glanced quickly around the room, noting the wide eyed, shocked expressions on everyone's faces. Brice looked as green as he felt. "Um…could I have a moment, Doc?" he questioned.
"Of course Roy, I know it's a lot to take in," Kel said sympathetically. He stood up and went to the water cooler, poured a cup and brought it to Roy, "Here try this," he said as he handed it to him.
"Thanks," Roy said then took a couple quick sips. He closed his eyes, trying to collect himself. When he felt calmer, he opened his eyes and said, "Okay Doc, what else did you find?"
Kel looked at Roy to make sure he was okay before he proceeded. "When we examined the lung, we found a fragment of the rib was still partially embedded and another fragment apparently grazed the surface of the lung, causing a series of perforations. We repaired the ribs by evacuating the fragments and wiring the remaining segments and we sutured the lacerations on the lung. The good news is that the lung reinflated nicely…" before Kel could continue, Brice made a hasty apology and fled the room.
Cap looked at Dwyer, who said, "I'll go see what's going on," and left the room.
One brow rose questioningly as Kel glanced at Hank and then looked at Roy who nodded for him to continue. "The bad news is that, at this point, I'd have to say that Pneumonia is a certainty. I've ordered a strong cocktail of antibiotics in the hopes of lessening the severity." Kel stated as he rubbed the back of his neck. "We have Johnny on a ventilator for at least the next 72 hours, but more than likely longer. I've given him a moderate amount of sedation, but that may have to be adjusted. I don't want to compromise his lung function by sedating him too deeply, but he does need to be comfortable. We'll see how he does," he said as he glanced at Roy.
Roy nodded his understanding of the seriousness of the situation. Johnny normally had a problem with sedation, which would just complicate matters.
"Jack Lewis from Ortho recast the arm and he doesn't foresee any problems there. There's a large contusion on Johnny's right hip that we're watching, but we're not overly concerned. The open reduction on the leg went well. We evacuated the bone chips and put screws and plates in to stabilize the tibia. Jack opted to brace it and put it in traction for now to let the incision site heal, but in about a week, he'll put a cast on it. As I said earlier Roy, Johnny will need extensive physical therapy on that leg, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Kel declared as he looked around the stunned room. "I'm sorry. I wish I had better news. I know how important Johnny is to all of you and we'll do our best to see him through this. Is there anything I haven't answered?"
The words had no sooner left Kel's mouth when Roy piped in, "When can I see him, Doc?"
Kel gave a small smile, he was expecting this. "Let us get him settled in ICU and then I'll come down and get you and your crewmates. You can go in two at a time for a few minutes, okay?" he said as he stood up.
Cap rose and shook Kel's hand, saying, "Sure Dr. Brackett and thank you for taking such good care of my man."
"My pleasure, Hank, I only wish it were under different circumstances," he said ruefully.
Cap shook his head, "You and me both," he agreed. Kel strode out of the room as Cap turned to his men, he looked each of them over carefully before he said, "I'd better go call the Chief. He wanted to be kept posted." He headed for the payphones, praying that they wouldn't get a run anytime soon.
Roy sat immobilized. He knew he should go check on Joanne, but he couldn't muster the stamina to move. Maybe that was a good thing right now. He realized Joanne would take one look at him and know how wrong things were. As he recalled Brackett's account of Johnny's injuries, bile rose in the back of his throat and sweat beaded on his upper lip. His vision grayed as he pictured Johnny the last time he saw him. The next thing he knew, he was sitting bent forward, his head between his knees. He felt a hand on the back of his neck and heard Mike telling him to relax and that he'd be okay. He stayed still for a few moments before saying he was okay. He felt the hand lift from his neck as he slowly sat up and came face to face with Charlie Dwyer. "When did you get here?" he asked curiously.
Charlie gave a small grin and grabbed Roy's wrist saying, "Not long ago."
"Oh," Roy replied.
"That's better than before, your pulse is slowing down nicely," Dwyer informed him.
Roy blushed as he hadn't even realized that Dwyer had already checked his pulse once. Trying to deflect the conversation, Roy looked around and asked, "Where's Brice?"
Dwyer gave a sheepish grin as he replied, "Actually, I came to find you to see if you could talk to Brice."
Roy's eyes widened as he put his hand to his chest and said, "Me?"
"Yeah, after I caught up with him when he flew out of here, he muttered something about talking to you. I thought maybe you knew something about it." He looked over and saw Roy shaking his head. "I checked him out and he seems okay, but he's pretty shaky. I didn't think he and Johnny were that good of friends."
"They're not," Roy responded perplexed.
"All I know is that he's been acting pretty strange all day."
"Yeah, Cap mentioned that too. He seemed fine when I worked with him this morning. Annoying as usual, but that's to be expected." Roy replied wryly.
Charlie shook his head as he said, "That's not how he's acted since I came in; most of the day he's seemed really hesitant to treat patients, which as you know, is very unlike him. I asked him several times if something was bothering him, but he wouldn't say. I thought maybe you'd have better luck."
Roy was completely puzzled. "I'm not sure what I can do, but I'll talk to him," he said as he stood up. Charlie led him to a smaller waiting room that was down the hall, then left. As Roy walked in the door, he saw Craig, looking a little pale, sitting in a chair staring at the floor. He said, "Hey Brice, how are you doing?"
Brice's head popped up, fear swept briefly across his face to be replaced by a look of resignation. He shrugged as he replied, "I'm fine DeSoto," he sighed heavily, "Guess I know why you're here." He just wanted to get this over with.
Roy shot him a look of confusion. "I'm glad you do, because I certainly don't," he replied puzzled.
Brice stiffened, he dreaded what he was about to do, but it had to be done. He said, "I assumed you came to ask me to give up my badge and pin to Brackett."
Roy looked at him questioningly, "Why would I do that?" he asked not sure why Brice would think that.
"Because of what I did to Gage," Brice responded regret tingeing his voice.
"What do you mean?" he asked completely mystified.
Brice saw the confusion on Roy's face and realized he needed to clarify. "I'm the reason Gage is so ill. If I hadn't grabbed him, he wouldn't have nearly drowned," he stated adamantly.
Suddenly, it all became clear. Roy was stunned to realize that Brice felt responsible. "Brice, did you know that Johnny's ribs were injured?" he questioned pointedly.
Brice looked down, "No," he replied.
"Exactly," Roy replied. "Besides, even if you did know that his ribs were injured, you still needed to get him to the surface or were you planning on letting him drown?" he questioned.
"Of course not. But Roy he was struggling, I really had to hold him tight…and…and I could feel them moving," he said shuddering as he recalled how Johnny's ribs shifted beneath his arms as he twisted and turned then suddenly went limp.
"Craig, it was not an ideal situation, quite the opposite in fact. It didn't matter who went for Johnny, the outcome would have been the same. We needed to get him out of the water as quickly as possible, and you did that. So don't beat yourself up about it."
Brice let Roy's words sink in. He had worked with Roy enough times to know that he truly meant what he said and harbored no ill will towards him. He heaved a sigh of relief. "Are you sure?" he questioned.
Roy rolled his eyes, "Yeah, we're good. You know, Craig, not everything is covered in that rulebook of yours," he replied as he gave him a light slap on the back. He chuckled when Brice shrugged and replied, "It should be." Roy opened the door and said, "C'mon, let's go back to the waiting room," he was anxious to see if there was any more news.