I do not own Hawaii Five-0 or any characters. No copyright infringement intended.
Notes: many thanks to KomodoQueen and such generous help on the incredible volume of all medical things. CinderH and TheDogo must be thanked for continued very fast and patient beta work!
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CHAPTER FIFTEEN
"It's going to get worse before it gets better." Those were the words from the experts - the real experts on the mainland, for no one could trust Doctor Franklin Ray regardless of his knowledge. Their advice was meant to be reassuring yet it rang incessantly through Steve's head as a warning while he sat by Danny's bedside in the ICU.
In response to the snake's toxin, by the time he'd arrived at the hospital, Danny had been suffering from blepharospasm. His eyelids had severely constricted to clamp shut and he had been no longer able to open them on his own.
Worse. Definitely worse because Danny's panic had re-escalated and it didn't help that real knowledge was also coming to the Oahu-based doctors in dribs and drabs. Delivered fractionally too late, the information was more than enough for Steve to refuse to leave, as did Doctor Ramirez. However, the physician had much more right to be there than the Commander of Five-0, despite his rank and regardless of his very vested interest.
There had never been a doubt that Doctor Ramirez would remain to manage and control his patient even though he was not in his hospital. However there had been a short altercation as harried medical staff politely requested their peer to stand down, demanded room to work, and tossed about their own brand of authority to a disinterested group. Furthering the cause, Ellen Ramirez and Doctor Jasper Mitchell had arrived in a timely fashion to see Ponch. The minefield they walked into though forced them to change course as they too, rounded on tackling ridiculous administrative concerns and belayed purported problems that would, in reality, never surface.
So in the end, Ellen's reunion with her husband was rushed and far from satisfactory. Tears were quickly dashed and hugs all too brief. His wounded arm was acknowledged and then pushed to the side for later.
"Work around me and just help him." Steve's answer had been unyielding and greatly more definitive than that of either the emergency room doctor or the ICU's head of staff. His stance was appreciated, but his argument was not initially enough. With both Ramirez's doing their combined damnedest to intervene plus an eventual edict leveled on the hospital from the Governor, Steve and the rest of the team soon had carte blanche in the facility. That particular battle came and then went, yet the primary fight continued.
Worse. The emergency room doctor had put a few drops of a local anesthetic into Danny's eyes before using a tool called a Morgan lens to continue irrigation. The anesthetic provided nearly instant relief but the concept of the lens was frightening and Danny still couldn't see. While the Morgan lens allowed Danny's lids to close and simultaneously continued the required flushing despite the uncontrollable spasms, the fact was ... he was still blind.
Regardless, the entire flushing process had continued for a time. It had added layers of stress despite the light sedative as the staff continued mapping out symptoms and best standard protocol.
Worse. Danny had been moved to the ICU and the thick swath of white bandages had been reapplied to circle his head. They would remain for many hours to further protect his highly sensitive eyes so damaged by a pernicious venom.
But then as the mainland experts had so predicted, it had only gotten much, much worse.
In fact despite the ongoing communications between medical professionals, Steve hadn't realized exactly how bad until Danny was placed on life support. Based upon resounding advice from those in the know, the Oahu ICU staff hadn't waited to see what might happen to further cripple their patient's respiration. Knowing that the ability to breathe would fail as their patient worsened in front of their eyes, Ponch had agreed and then had demanded that the proactive intervention be conducted under the remote guidance of the very same experts located on the mainland.
Much worse indeed. Beaten down and exhausted, still Danny had been conscious and subsequently coached through the entire sedation process, the need to be placed on a ventilator, and how it would be done step by patient step. It was a kind and gentle explanation, however it had been literally terrifying as the last vestiges of control were entirely removed from him. Steve had remained stubbornly entrenched for as long as humanly possible to offer the link Danny required to communicate. By that point, talking was moot and communication was conducted only through an erratic soundless puff of air and a tightening of his fingers around Steve's hand.
That was when much worse had slowly stepped into the realm of terrible.
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Now five hours later and it was nearing midnight when Steve took time to close his eyes as he tiredly hung his head. Leaning forward in the chair, his elbows rocked on his knees and his upper body slouched nearly in half. Mentally, he was continually replaying each sequence of events as a mini episode so that he could understand them and try to cope. The tactic wasn't working though as he found himself speeding up the timeline to the near present. Unable to shut his brain off, Steve resentfully found himself stepping through Danny's placement on the ventilator as he physically reversed direction to sprawl backwards in the chair.
"I know it's getting hard to breathe, Danny." Ponch had been a godsend through each excruciatingly slow minute. The doctor had thrown himself into caring for Danny. But in reality, his calm, steady demeanor had gotten not just the one, but two men through the process.
The loud sigh was undeniably sad when Steve forced his eyes back open to stare at his partner in the hospital bed. In the dimmed lights, he could see a normal enough outline under blankets but that was the only recognizable shape due to an overwhelming display of medical devices and bandages. He swallowed an emotional sound in disbelief for having had to watch his partner struggle to breathe for a second time since the advent of their now deeply forged friendship. A few hours earlier, Steve had been the only conduit for Danny to relay his understanding of what was going to have to happen. His role had been to literally hold Danny's hand to receive affirmation to each of the doctors' questions before being sedated and placed on a ventilator. Unable to trade places with Danny, Steve would not have been anywhere else and so, what had happened certainly had not been easy for him either.
"I promise that this is going to help and the best way to is for you to sleep for a while. Do you understand?" Ponch had spoken to Danny, but was watching Steve's face for the reply. There was a tiny shift to Steve's expression followed by a slow nod before he spoke.
"Yeah, he's okay." Steve had duly provided a soft verbal affirmative as soon as he felt the first tremulous pressure. But Danny had been the farthest from fine as humanly possible.
"You're doing fine, Danno. Don't fight the sedative … just relax and let Ponch do his thing." Steve had tried to help as he sensed the never-ending tide of panic as sedation was administered yet Danny still could sense the activity increase. And though he fought it, Steve was positive that Danny could at least feel the stressed dampness leaking to Danny through his own hand.
For his part, Danny had a very long moment where he had relentlessly strangled the blood from Steve's fingers before everything had simply ceased with a startling release. The change to nothingness was so abrupt, Steve had looked to Ponch for reassurance. However, the doctor had merely kept a steady thrumming conversational tone even long after Danny had seemingly gone under. He had continued to talk and explain how Danny should relax, go to sleep and not worry about any pressure he might feel in his throat. He had talked himself out rendering Steve the sole audience to wipe volumes of sweat from his face mingled with a glassy-eyed moisture as the machines took over where his partner now couldn't.
That was the precise moment when everything described as worse had waltzed determinedly into the black realm of terrible.
Now hours later, virtually nothing of Danny's face was clearly visible. His badly injured hand was splinted and wrapped to keep it straight and immobile. Yet the swelling had surpassed his hand and his wrist, moving upwards and much higher into his arm. Astonishingly, doctors were watching for signs of compartment syndrome which could occur if swelling and damage increased pressure enough to create an insufficient blood supply to muscles and nerves. It was clear that people were cautious and worried as time ticked endlessly on.
Unmoving and almost anonymous, Danny lay there helplessly, entirely dependent upon man-made wires, tubes and dwarfed by machinery.
Fidgeting briefly, Steve felt Chin re-enter the room. Kono had reluctantly gone home but was sure to return sometime well before dawn. The idea amongst the three had been to take shifts. But as far as he was concerned, that concept had not been specifically designed for Steve, himself. With a quizzical disapproving look, Kono had initiated the plan hoping that example would eventually lead to a more universal consensus. She hadn't gotten very far.
"Ponch and Ellen are still here. They're in the cafeteria." Chin had returned from a nervous stroll around the ICU which had become a longer walk by necessity. Riku Bhandari was doing well in a neighboring room. Under guard, he was grievously ill but expected to recover. But then Chin hadn't seen Ponch and so had continued on. "He's tired but fine. His arm was only a flesh wound."
"That's good," Steve breathed out softly. He sniffed appreciatively, surprised that the scent of the coffee Chin had brought back was somewhat enticing. He nodded his thanks as the cup appeared over his right shoulder.
"The ophthalmologist's report was very promising. His vision should be fine." Not knowing why, Chin was whispering. "You should take a break, Steve."
Standing just behind Steve now, he lay a settling hand on his friend's shoulder feeling the rock-hard tension that continued to emanate up from his hunched body. "Steve?" He scowled unhappily when his comment was utterly ignored. His short visit with Ellen and Ponch in the cafeteria had reiterated some very important positive feedback which Chin felt obligated to remind Steve.
"There's no sign of abrasion or ulceration. We did the right thing at least." Chin continued because it was what they feared the most and he simply needed to restate the fact often. Both he and Steve had been complimented in spades by the ophthalmologist for the copious flushing that had gone on for in excess of fifteen minutes. All in all, the ongoing reports were optimistic; in fact, they were very good, but the sight before them was negating each and every positive word.
"Alright." Blowing on the small opening to the coffee's lid as he stared at Danny's face, Steve barely murmured a response. He wanted tangible proof; he wasn't getting it and wouldn't for a long time to come. Putting his partner on life support for the next many hours made no sense to him if the antivenin was doing its job as it should. There were too many machines, too many intravenous lines and mechanical noises that didn't fit his partner's usual gregarious nature. His arm was splinted to keep the injured hand completely flat and still; more bandages kept him intentionally blinded.
"He's got to pull through this." It was overwhelming and Steve ducked his head to pinch the bridge of his nose. The annoying rhythmic sounds of the machinery droned on in his head and the adrenaline dump had left him with a violent migraine.
"He will. He is," Chin reminded Steve with a reassuring squeeze. It had taken him and Kono twenty long minutes to make their way through the mansion. The HPD volunteers flanked them fore and aft with a diligent focus. The reptiles were not entirely dispatched but they were thwarted and sent slithering to darker corners. Local herpetologists from the zoo and from the Biology Department at the University had been contacted afterwards to round the remaining denizens up. Of everyone involved, only this small handful of people seemed in their glory for the unexpected opportunity.
Franklin Ray's well-designed manmade den had stayed the most inhabited portion of the house. In lieu of time, the team had simply dispersed the confused and defensive mass of reptiles before they literally unplugged and carried the entire single-door, roughly four-foot tall stainless steel upright refrigerator out to the front lawn. From there, the team had carried it to Steve's truck where it was tied in place and literally driven to the emergency room's double doors.
That same set of HPD hands helped Chin and Kono cart the entire unit into the hospital and on to the ICU where it was plugged back in and its contents dutifully catalogued for efficacy. Pictures were taken, then texted or emailed, as urgent phone calls were made to the mainland doctors for advice and confirmation of what to look for and use. Once the proper antivenin package was confirmed and then reconfirmed twice more, the antivenin was dispensed as quickly as possible.
Worse and bordering on downright horrifying. The well-stocked refrigerator had been a stunning thing to behold and was testament to Franklin Ray's depth of organization. The authorities still didn't quite understand the evidence of self-vaccination products used by Bhandari and Ray to protect themselves from certain species. They were still attempting to contend with the fact that Danny could have a severe anaphylactic reaction to the very thing they'd just so carefully delivered to the hospital ... the antivenin, itself.
Words were important though, and the right doctors had been consulted to echo Doctor Ray's reluctant and mostly distrusted advice. Advice they all craved and then wanted to discard from the lunatic as Danny lay in an intensive care unit. The antivenin had been cautiously administered and the universal sigh of relief across both medical staff and friends alike was astounding when the newly feared anaphylaxis was mitigated.
"Suppose they're all wrong." Uncharacteristically negative, Steve pinched the bridge of his nose until it hurt. As far as he was concerned, they were still dealing with a relative unknown. The experts weren't even in the hospital as medical records were shared by email from Hawaii back to the mainland. Phone calls were conducted with a constant sense of urgency and Danny was rarely left alone from another set of intrusive hands for less than five minutes at at time.
"Steve. Stop," the disgusted reprimand was louder as Chin bore annoyed fingers into the man's shoulder. Adamant, he repeated himself when Steve hesitated. "Take a break. They said it would look bad, but he's getting better. You really need to walk away for a few minutes."
Chin felt it then; the minuscule shift where Steve gave in finally to his suggestion. "Go. Just for a few minutes." He pushed harder then, with a stronger determination, until he received a more satisfying nod.
Only five hours had passed and Danny would be on life support anywhere from another seven to twenty hours as the antivenin chased after the Rinkhals venom which had indeed paralyzed his respiratory system. One would maim and the other heal but behind its evil nemesis and only just in time. And time was what Danny's body required hence, the need for life support.
Being treated separately, the ophthalmologist would keep his eyes protected up to a full twenty-four hours. That last hurdle would constitute an overwhelming, emotional trial because Danny would wake before he'd be able to truly see.
"Yeah, Chin, I know exactly what they've said. It's worse before it gets better," Steve mumbled under his breath. Reluctantly, he clambered to his feet while he cradled his cup of coffee with intent to at least take a short walk around the hospital's quiet grounds. Bitten out with a severity, his parting words were both dour and filled with a residual sense of angry frustration though. "They damned well all better know what they're talking about."
~ to be continued ~