"A quiet rage, a screaming silence is all around. Let me in, the world we built is crashing down. We made it through hell and back again. We were slipping through the cracks, starting at the end." LIFEHOUSE

Here we are again and it's Jo's turn with the angst this week, she might have woken up but she is a long way from okay...

"Okay Jo," Jay, the nurse who had been looking after her, began. "We're going to get you sitting up and then we can try and transfer across to the chair. Is that okay"

Jo nodded, she didn't care that she was still feeling weak and dizzy. Or that she had a splitting headache. All she wanted was to go and see Kate.

"Aside from your attempt to get up yesterday, you've been lying down for quite a while, so we're going to go really slow, is that okay." Jay gave Jo a reassuring smile. "We don't want a repeat of you ending up on the floor, or for you to hurt yourself in any way."

"O… o-o... k...k-kay." Jo stuttered. She was still really struggling with her speech, she knew what she wanted to say, but she just couldn't get the words out clearly. It was as if the muscles she used to speak had forgotten how to work.

"I'm going to raise the bed so you're sitting upright, then we're going to stay like that for a little bit to give your blood pressure a chance to stabilise. If you feel okay with that we can then get you positioned for a transfer," Jay explained carefully.

Jo felt weak and wobbly and wasn't overly confident in her ability to get any words out so she just nodded. All she could think of was seeing Kate, no matter how difficult she was finding things, she needed to see Kate.

"How does that feel?" Jay asked once Jo was sitting up.

Jo screwed her eyes shut as a wave of dizziness crashed over her.

"Do you want me to lower you back down," Jay asked, slightly concerned.

"N… n-no," Jo shook her head. That was a mistake. The world continued to spin and Jo thought she might be sick.

"Jo, can you open your eyes for me?" The concern in Jay's voice increased. The young nurse had noticed how their already frail patient had paled further and was trembling slightly.

Jo cracked her eyes open and immediately regretted it. The bright light burnt at her eyes and it felt as if her head was being split in half.

"H… h-head… a… a-ache… F… f-feel s… ssi… ck…"

Jay reacted in an instant, holding out a kidney dish and Jo retched and heaved violently.

"It's okay, Jo, it's okay," Jay reassured.

But Jo didn't feel okay. Tears streamed down her face as the bile burnt at her throat. She wasn't even able to sit up, how useless was that. She felt so weak and stupid.

"You need to give yourself time," Jay soothed. "You've done well to get sitting up, your body has been through a lot and you need time to rest and heal, but you've fought so hard to be here and to be awake, that's not weak or useless at all."

Jo pushed the kidney dish away with a weak grumble. Am I supposed to be happy about sitting up? And I can barely even do that. I'm useless. Broken.

"I know it must be so hard to accept, but recovery from an injury like yours is going to take time. I've only known you for a few weeks, but you've clearly shown you are a fighter. You've come through injuries many others wouldn't survive. And just because something feels broken, doesn't mean it will stay like that forever." Jay offered Jo a reassuring smile.

Jo sniffed as further tears spilled down her face. It was as if the young nurse could read her thoughts. She just couldn't believe that people would care for her in such a way, Kate, Steve and now the Doctors and Nurses in the hospital. They all cared for her, they all wanted to do their best to help her and Jo just didn't know how to accept it.

"I…" Jo stopped. Her head really hurt and she felt really weird. "F… f-feel…"

Suddenly her eyes rolled back in her head as her body went rigid before beginning to jerk violently.

Jay sprung into action, lowering the bed and pressing the emergency call button.

"It's okay, Jo, I'm getting help for you now."

Jo continued to seize, and Jay grew increasingly concerned for their patient.

Bernie rushed into Jo's bay and Jay quickly explained what happened.

"I trialled her with sitting up, her blood pressure stayed stable but she was sick and then started fitting. Now her BP is high at 142/96, and pulse rapid at 112."

Bernie took charge, checking Jo's vital signs again and giving Jay orders to draw up medication.

"It's okay Jo, we're going to look after you." Jay continued to gently reassure their patient until finally Jo stilled, her body becoming limp and breathing noisy.

Her eyes fluttered and she murmured quietly as she moved into the post-ictal state of the seizure.

"Jo, can you open your eyes?" Bernie asked gently.

"K… K-Ka… K-Kate?" Jo mumbled, still only half conscious. She opened her eyes slowly but her gaze remained unfocused and confused.

"K… K-Ka… n…n-no. Wh… wh-where? W… w-what?" Jo stumbled over her words, evidently still drowsy and disoriented.

"Hi Jo, it's Jay here. I'm one of the nurses that have been looking after you." Jay spoke softly, trying to comfort their patient. "The Doctor, Bernie, is here too. You had a seizure and are still in intensive care at City Central Hospital."

"S… s-sor s… s-sorry…" Jo murmured. "R… r-re… r… r-remem… ber n-n-ow…"

Jay smiled warmly at Jo. "There's no need to apologise, it's normal to feel quite confused and out of place after a seizure."

"How are you feeling now?" Bernie asked. A glance at the monitors told her that Jo's vital signs were beginning to stabilise.

"T…t-tired." Jo replied quietly.

"That's okay, you can sleep if you need to."

Jo's brow furrowed for a moment as she tried to order the thoughts in her head. She had been doing something before she'd felt all weird.

Kate.

Amongst the confusion, her mind kept coming back to Kate.

Kate.

"S… s-sit u… u-up?" She asked, still uncertain. "G… g-go s… s-see K… K-Kate?"

"Yes, that's what we were doing before you started to feel unwell," Jay confirmed with a gentle smile. They knew Jo needed a lot of reassurance right now.

"K… K-kate?" Jo asked again, more insistent this time.

"Oh Jo," Jay sighed quietly. "You'll get to see Kate soon, we just need to make sure you are well enough to do so first.

Jay's heart ached at their patient's desperation to see her friend, though they had a feeling that Kate might be more than that. It was clear that Kate meant a lot to Jo, but she was only just about stable at the moment and nowhere near well enough to manage a visit.

They thought back to when Jo had first been brought into intensive care, following emergency surgery to treat a subdural haematoma and a punctured lung. She'd also had a tear in her liver that needed close monitoring, several broken ribs and extensive bruising and blood loss. Her injuries were so severe, there had been little hope for even surviving at that point and even if she did, there had been talk of significant brain damage and lifelong disability. But despite all the odds, Jo's condition had stabilised and continued to improve until she was able to be weaned off life support and now her chances of near, or even complete recovery were looking good.

Jo had come through so much and although Jay didn't like to use the word, they thought it was nothing short of a miracle that Jo had survived. She was clearly a fighter and Jay was determined to help her in any way they could.

Once Jo had finally given in to her body's plea for sleep, Bernie and Jay gave her some time to rest, seizures often left patients exhausted and given her already weakened state Jo most certainly needed time to recover.

"Seizures can be pretty common with brain injuries but we are going to have to watch her more carefully." Bernie suggested. "I'm going to order an MRI and an EEG, but I think we could be looking at TBI related epilepsy."

"I'll book those in right away," Jay replied. "But I'm also worried about Jo's mental state." Jay thought back to how forlorn and distant Jo had seemed as they had tried her with sitting up.

"I think we have two patients that care about each other a lot, and that desire to be there for and with each other could be both a hindrance and a help to their recoveries," Bernie stated.

"Yeah," Jay agreed. "I watched Jo visibly pale and she still insisted on staying sat up. I think she was hoping she'd be able to see Kate."

"She's already tried to get out of bed once, and gave us all quite the shock when she did that!" Bernie added.

"Though given that it was only a few hours after waking up I don't see how she managed that, but it does show just how determined Jo is. We're going to have to keep a careful eye on Ms Davison from now on. I think seeing Kate is going to be really beneficial for her mental health, but we need to make sure she is physically ready for that first."

"Got it," Jay replied. "And if I can do anything else to help, just let me know. Jo and Kate, they're both good people and I want to do all I can to help them get better."

"So do I," Bernie agreed, offering Jay a reassuring smile. "It's the cases like these, well, they are still why I do this job."