Hal walked into the hospital and asked where his son was and what they could tell him about his condition. It had been a painfully long plane trip and he had driven straight from the airport. He realized he had forgotten his luggage as he was pulling into the hospital's parking lot. He shrugged. To hell with it, he thought, his son may be dying. What did he care about a bunch of smelly clothes crammed into his old cheap suitcase?
The nurse at the desk gave him directions to the intensive care unit and told him that Malcolm's condition remained unchanged, he was in a coma.
On the 5th floor Hal was stopped by a large, serious looking nurse and asked what his business was in the ICU. He stammered out his name. As soon as the nurse heard Wilkerson, she escorted Hal down the corridor and through two sets of doors. She opened another door and led him into a small room furnished with a tiny couch and several upholstered chairs. Lois was there with Reese and Dewey. It was obvious they had all been crying
"Mr. Wilkerson, Malcolm is in a deep coma." The nurse's face had become warmer as she explained the situation to the newcomer, no doubt a skill she had acquired by telling many people horrible news about their loved ones.
"I'm Helen Donaldson, the head ICU nurse. Dr. Landers is in with your son right now and as soon as he is finished he will come here and discuss Malcolm's condition with you, ok?" She turned to leave when Hal stopped her.
"Thank you. You have been very kind." Hal was on the verge of screaming. This all seemed like a nightmare. Nurse Donaldson smiled and patted Hal's hand. Then she left. Hal sat next to Reese in one of the chairs; Lois was on the small sofa with Dewey. The boys looked like hell. Both of Reese's sneakers were untied, his hair was uncombed, he was wearing a dirty shirt and he had dried snot under his nose. Dewey's head was resting on his mother's shoulder, his hair was a mess, he looked like he was in shock, and he was sucking his thumb. Lois didn't look much better but she was hanging in there.
"Lois, what in god's name happened?" Hal asked softly. Reese immediately burst into tears and blurted out that Malcolm was dead, the doctor was going to come tell them he was dead and it was his fault. The boy sobbed so hard he had trouble breathing. Hal patted his son on the back and tried to comfort him. "Come on, champ. Crying won't help anything."
Reese regained control of himself and dried his eyes and wiped his nose on the sleeve of his shirt. "I'm not crying! I never cry, you know that!"
Hal and Lois exchanged looks and rolled their eyes.
"It's no use, Hal. He's been like that ever since he found Malcolm in bed." Lois smiled at her husband, glad to have another adult to share her anxiety with, and to help her with the kids. "And for the record, no one is dead."
The door to the room opened and a tall, heavyset man wearing a white lab coat entered. "Hello, Lois, boys." He walked over to Hal and pulled up a chair, sitting down facing him. "You must be Hal, I'm Dr. Landers."
Hal listened intently as the doctor explained. "Malcolm's injury produced a very large subdural hematoma …" Hal interrupted.
"Hang on, what injury? I just got off a plane and don't have the facts yet. What injury? How did this happen?" Hal felt foolish but was glad he had spoken up.
"Oh, forgive me, Hal. No problem. Apparently your boys were roughhousing and Malcolm took a fall and struck his head very hard."
Reese erupted into tears again. "It's my fault. I killed my brother!"
Landers felt sorry for Reese but ignored him and continued speaking to Hal. "As I was saying, the injury produced a very large subdural hematoma. In other words, a large amount of blood pooled between Malcolm's brain and his skull. Lois and the boys say he seemed fine and he went to bed but the next morning he didn't wake up. He apparently was bleeding into his brain for several hours. That much pressure inside of his skull compressed his brain and put him into coma." Landers adjusted his chair so that he could see both Hal and Lois at the same time.
"We were able to relieve the pressure by putting in a shunt, a drain, in other words, and the bleeding has stopped on its own so he won't require surgery to fix the torn blood vessel. Now it's just a matter of time. His brain has to heal and hopefully regain normal functions." Landers did not smile.
Hal was the first to speak. "You say hopefully regain normal functions? What if he doesn't?"
Dr. Landers sighed. "Comas are funny things, Hal. He might wake up today or next month or he may never wake up. His brain was badly damaged from the pressure. I wish I could tell you he is going to be fine but at this point we just don't know. Of course we will closely monitor his condition and will let you know immediately if there's any change. Right now he's breathing on his own and he has a strong, healthy heart rate, so there is some good news, at least. And the fact that he's young is a real plus, he's 14, right? Kids can take some incredible damage to their bodies and bounce right back. There's no reason to give up hope at this point. I'm sorry I don't have better news for you but we are remaining optimistic about his case."
