Disclaimer: I don't own the characters of Coyote Ugly just the ones I make up in the story.

Chapter 14: Waking Up and the Road Ahead

St. Luke's Medical Center

December 15, 2000

10:00am

My dad and Kevin were sitting along side my bed holding my hands when the doctor and a couple of nurses came in.

"Hello Mr. Sanford and Mr. O'Donnell. We're ready to see if Violet is ready to breathe on her own and wake up this morning," the doctor said as Kevin and my dad stepped away from the bed so the doctor and nurses could take me off the ventilator. I was just starting to come to. As soon as they disconnected me from the ventilator I took first a shaky breath then a smooth breath and the doctor noted that on my chart.

"Violet can you hear me? Blink once for yes two for no," the doctor said as I blinked once.

"Okay I'm going to take the tube out of your throat. You need to breathe in deeply then blow out fast okay?" the doctor said as I blinked once again to let him know I understood him.

I breathed in deeply and blew out as fast as I could as the doctor removed the tube really fast. I coughed heavily after the tube was out.

"Where am I? What happened?" I asked weakly.

"You're in St. Luke's Medical Center in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit. Your appendix burst causing some damage to your right ovary and your colon so we had to remove the damaged ovary, repair some arterial damage and do a colostomy which you will have for about a year until your colon heals completely," the doctor said.

"Dad? Kevin?" I said as they both came over to my side.

"We're right here sweetie," my dad said as I squeezed his hand.

"We were so worried about you Vi," Kevin said.

"I'm sorry," I said.

"Don't be sorry we're just glad you're okay," my dad said.

"How long will I be here?" I asked the doctor.

"You mean in the hospital? About 7 more days counting today. Another night in the SICU and another 6 days in the post surgery unit. We just want to make sure you're healing all right," the doctor said.

"Okay I can live with that," I said.

Kevin and my Dad visited with me for a few more hours until I got sleepy then they left and said they would come back later.

December 19, 2000

6:00pm

I was just finishing my dinner tray when Keith and Paige came in to visit me.

"Hey Vi, how are you feeling?" Keith asked.

"Doing better. The doctor said that I'm healing really fast and should be discharged on the 21st, just in time for Christmas," I said.

"Cool."

"Can I sit next to you Auntie Vi?" Paige asked as I nodded and she crawled up on the bed and sat down next to me.

"How are you doing Paige? Getting excited for Christmas vacation?" I asked her.

"Yep. I'm going to go sledding and make stuff with my friend Molly!" Paige said.

"That's awesome!" I said as Kevin and Dr. Racer came in the room. I knew they were going to tell me something I didn't want to hear.

"We better get going. Come on Paige we got stuff to do," Keith said as Paige got off the bed and followed Keith out of the room.

"I'm sorry I had to ruin your visit," Dr. Racer said as she sat down on the bed.

"Why are you here?" I asked.

"Well, the surgeon who operated on you told me everything and that he had to remove your right ovary," Dr. Racer said.

"Yeah and?" I asked wanting her to continue.

"Well, I hate to tell you this Violet, but it's going to be a lot harder for you to get pregnant. You're looking at a lot of negative pregnancy tests and a lot of false positives," Dr. Racer said.

"Okay how long am I looking at?"

"About three to five years of trying and the doctor that's taking care of you is going to tell you to wait six months before you start trying, to give your body a chance to recover from the surgery you had."

"Okay this is a lot of stuff I have to process so I'm going to thank you for telling me ahead of time and leave it at that."

"Okay that's fine. I'll see you when I see you," Dr. Racer said as she left the room.

"You're not mad, are you?" Kevin asked me.

"No I'm not mad just a little disappointed. I mean, it's going to take us a little bit longer to have a child of our own but what if we can't, you know?" I said.

"She didn't say that Vi. She meant that we have a good chance it's just going to be hard."

"You're right, and I'm glad that you are. Maybe we should wait to try until we get married."

"Yeah we should. I love you," Kevin said giving me a kiss.

"I love you too," I said back.