Chapter 15
Back at the hospital
Brian started to experience a lot for pain,
He said to Matt," My pain level is getting to a point, I can't take it, I can deal with the shoulder pain but my head pain is unbearable."
Matt checked the drain to make sure it wasn't anything to do with intracranial pressure. It was draining fine so it must that his medication was wearing off.
Matt told Brian," I am going to the nurse's station to see if we can get you some more pain medication, you haven't had anything since you were in the recovery room it has probably worn off so hang tight buddy."
Matt left the room to go see what he could get for him a Fitzpatrick left an order for IV Pain medicine and left instructions that his brother Dr Matt Camden was allowed to administer it, if needed. Matt signed off on the medication grabbed the medication and filled the syringe with the medication and also grabbed a second syringe with saline in it to flush the IV port and he grabbed some gloves and went back to the room,
"Here you go, I will fix you right up this will make you feel much better you won't feel anymore sleepy but it will help with the pain and you may get a little loopy from it."
He put his gloves on uncapped the needle with the saline and flushed the port then he uncapped the needled with the pain medication and injected it in the IV port. Brian felt almost immediate relief.
"Thank you so much Matt" Brian said. "I am a bit fuzzy now but I feel better."
They were able to keep him awake until Dr. Fitzpatrick came in the room. It was about 2:00 in the afternoon.
Matt said to him. "Are you still here?"
"I am" he replied. "But I got about 4 hours sleep in the Doctor's Lounge on the 7th floor."
"Glad you were able to sleep." Brian said slightly sarcastically, "THEY" he pointed to his family. "Won't let me sleep."
"Well let me do an assessment on you and examine you." Dr. Fitzpatrick said "and if you are ok I will give permission to sleep how's that?"
He asked everyone but Matt to leave the room for a few minutes. He consulted for a few minutes with Matt then did the exam and Neurological assessment. He told Brian and Matt that everything looked really good from what he could tell. Brian had a lot of healing to do but the prognosis so far looked good, but he will still need to be closely monitored and they couldn't take the drain out for at least another day.
Then Dr. Evans the Orthopedist who saw Brian in the ER came in to check his shoulder. "Hey you forgot to invite me to the party so I showed up anyway. Hi Brian I am Dr. Evans you may not remember me. I am the Orthopedist who treated your shoulder injury in the ER."
"Well Let me get out of your way" said Dr. Fitzpatrick "oh and by the way when he is finished with you I will give you permission to sleep just don't lower you head although the nurses have to wake you every 2 hours still but at least you can get some sleep. I am heading out now he told Matt. I normally don't do this but here is my personal cell # to reach me at if there are any problems."
"Thanks" Matt said
Dr. Evans took the immobilizer Off of him, and examined him, then said "Your muscles are very loose and I think you should wait a few more days before I start you on range of motion exercises (ROM) even then when not exercising the shoulder the Immobilizer needs to be on for a few weeks it can only come off during bathing and changing your clothes keeping movement to a minimum."
He put the immobilizer back on him "ok we are done I guess you can get some sleep."
He then left the room. A nurse came in to check his vitals and take care of some other issues.
She asked him "do you want to sleep first and then get a bed bath later" she went to lift the sheet to check his Foley catheter.
He quickly grabbed it with his right hand "Ah that's ok I am fine no need to check that, and I don't need a bed bath, I am good."
Matt told the nurse "He is my brother I will look after this stuff for him"
She left the room when she was finished, Matt told Brian "I will go out and tell mom, dad, Bridget and Nicole, you want some sleep and tell them to go home, I don't think they will leave but at least they may go to the family lounge so you will have some quiet."
"I know you have been here all night and I hate to ask….Brian started to say but stopped.
"It's ok ask me anything Bri."
"Would you stay Matt? I think that chair folds out flat so you could sleep on it."
"Yeah I will stay. I am going to see if they have some scrubs I can change into though, plus if you don't mind you have a shower stall in your bathroom so I may grab a shower. I will be right back."
He went down to the lounge, he told his family Brian wanted some sleep and that they could go home Nicole agreed she had to go check on her daughter Bella who was with Jamie her nanny.
Bridget said "I will go in and see him for a bit I really don't want to leave him but I will leave and come back later. I may go home shower but I won't even try to sleep I may go to Dave and Deena's to give them more information."
Then Matt turned to his parents, "you should go too, Go home and give the family more details, and when you come back later if you could bring me a complete change of clothes I would appreciate it."
"You're stayin?" Annie asked.
Matt replied, "Brian asked me to stay, so I am going to grab some scrubs for now, one of the Nurse said she would get for me and then grab a shower and change."
Then Bridget said, "Matt why don't I sit with him while you are in the shower then when you are done, I can go home."
They all walked back to the Brian's room one of the nurses handed Matt some scrubs and some towels as they walked by the Nurse's station Brian had dozed off but woke up when he heard them come in His parents and Nicole walked over they told him they would be back later and to told him to get some sleep.
Bridget sat next to him on his right side kissed him and slowly and gently rubbed his head being careful not to touch the left side of his head
Matt lowered his head slightly "Bridget is going to stay with you until I am done with the shower and then she will go home for a bit and come back later." Matt told him,
He then went in to the bathroom to take a shower.
Bridget softly spoke to Brian "I want you to close your eyes and go to sleep, I will be here for a while at least until you fall asleep"
He looked at her, "I Love you honey" He then closed his eyes, She again started to gently stroke his head and caress his face,
He said to her "MMMM that really feels good, it really relaxes me"
"Shhhh no talking just sleep honey".
She continued caressing him. She watched him relax, he finally fell asleep.
"Finally" she thought to herself. "My poor baby, I hate to see him like this." She shook her head, "I don't think I realized how much I really love him until this happened to him."
Another 15 minutes went by and Matt emerged from the bathroom freshly showered and shaved. He started to say something to Bridget and she put her finger to her lips and motioned Shhhh. He looked over at Brian, he was asleep.
She got up quietly and walked over to Matt they went out into the hall. "I just didn't want you to wake him."
"I am glad he is asleep" He said He looked at the clock it was 3:30pm "I know you are heading out I have to ask you a very personal question, but I have a reason for asking what I am going to ask, I want to know if Brian is comfortable being naked in front of you?"
"Yes, Brian and I, well have an intimate relationship." Bridget replied
"I only asked you because, well I think we need a plan for him because he cannot really take care of himself and with some of the reactions I saw him have today he isn't really comfortable with a lot of hands on care with some of his bodily functions."
He explained to her the issue earlier with the bedpan and then later when the nurse suggested a bed bath
"Yeah he is funny like that" she told him
Matt said, "once he wakes up later he is going to need to be cleaned up and I can do a lot of it but I may need some help."
"Ok I will be back later tonight after 7 and I will bring an overnight bag back because I will stay tonight." Bridget told him
"Ok see you in a while." he said
Before Bridget left she gave Matt her cell # for him to contact her if there was any change or even if Brian just needed her there. She then left. Matt opened up the chair into a flat position. Before he went to lay down he checked on Brian one more time, He was ok so Matt lay down and fell asleep.
Back at the Camden's
Eric and Annie had gotten home in the middle of the afternoon the whole family was there plus Dave and Deena their kids were there but Brian's other friends were not Which surprised Eric and Annie given how close Brian had told them they all were;
Eric and Annie were bombarded with questions "Slow down, I am sure you all have the same questions and concerns." Eric said "I know you all are chiefly concerned about the brain surgery because the shoulder injury will heal a lot easier. So this is what we know." He explained about the surgery which most everyone knew."
Then he said "He took a bit more time in recovery. He looks a lot worse than he is, but as long as he has pain medication in his system he is ok but as soon as it wears off he is in a lot of pain. The Neurologist came back and checked him while we were there and right now it looks like the prognosis seems to be good but he did have major surgery so it is still wait and see."
Nicole was in the car heading to the Camden's. She had left Bella again with her nanny at home the phone rang, it was Bridget to let her know Brian was sleeping when she left she was home and going to take a shower. Nicole let her know that everyone was at the Camden's Bridget told her she would head over there too after she showered changed and packed an overnight bag .She then Hung up as she pulled on to the driveway.
Back at the Hospital
About an hour or so went by Matt awoke to Brian calling to him and he didn't sound good
"Matt, Matt" Brian moaned,
"What's the matter Bri" Matt asked him as he was getting up ,he put a dim light on and saw that Brian had vomited all over himself He checked his pulse when he touched him he was very hot His pulse was high he pushed the Nurse call button
Then over the speaker the nurse said "Can I help you,"
"Yeah its Dr. Camden, Brian's brother Look I need you to contact Dr. Fitzpatrick I have his personal Cell # if you need it. Brian is very hot to the touch he is spiking a temp, I need equipment in here to get his exact vitals, I also need help cleaning him up he vomited." Then he said to Brian "Its ok Brian I will take care of you"
"I don't feel good Matt"
The nurse brought in everything needed to clean him up and the stuff to take his vitals B/P was low Pulse was high And his temp was almost 104,
"Wow he spike a temp fast he was normal 2 hours ago." Matt said
"We paged the Doctor on call" the Charge nurse told Matt and it was not Dr Fitzpatrick
"No call Dr Fitzpatrick, he gave me his cell number, he had given it to me and told me to call him if Brian had any issues,"
" We are not allowed to do that." She told him.
Matt dug out his cell and found the number, he dialed it
"Hello" Dr Fitzpatrick answered.
"Hi, Dr Fitzpatrick this is Dr Camden, Brian Davis' brother, you told me to call you of there was any problems."
"Yeah Matt what's going on" Matt explained. "He may have an infection he vomited and he pulse is 150 b/p 74/40 Temp 103.8 the charge nurse called some other on call doctor she wouldn't call you"
"Ok Put me on with the charge Nurse"
He gave her a list of instructions and ordered some medications and then she handed the phone back to Matt and he relayed the same info to him
"I will be come back in right away" he told Matt.
Matt told Brian "Dr Fitzpatrick prescribed you some more medicine you are going be given some IV antibiotics and give you some medicine to try and get the fever down"
Matt pulled the curtain "ok buddy we are going to get you cleaned up"
Brian looked at the nurse, "No way"
"Brian You can't lay in this mess" Matt told him
Brian refused while the nurse was in the room "I can't"
Matt looked at the nurse "I will see if I can handle this myself Don't go too far
The nurse stayed on the other side of the curtain "Ok I am going to put the bed down a little bit but I can't lay you flat."
Matt had all the necessary supplies and proceeded to clean him up rolling him over ever so gently as he did it. It took him twice as long because he had to change all the bedding too and it was hard to do it by himself. He figured while he at it he would give him a complete bed bath. He knew he could use the nurse's help but he didn't want to risk Brian having a panic attack on top of everything else if he had the nurse help him.
"Ok Brian all done he put the head of the bed up again put a new Johnnie on him an after he cleaned of the immobilizer he put that back on him to The nurse came in with the both medicines to put in the IV. She let Matt know the Doctor put Brian on dietary restrictions for the next 4 hours NPO (Nothing by mouth) she retook his temp it had gone up a lot more. It was now 104.9 Brian was had the chills
"I am so cold I want another blanket" Brian said weakly.
"I know you are cold Bri, but I can't bundle you in blanket it could cause your temp to go higher." Matt told him "I am actually going to do something you that will make you feel colder that will help bring your temp down because your temp is going up to high too fast." he said.
An electric cooling blanket had been brought in. It was plugged in, Matt took the top blanket off Brian and left only the sheet then put the electric cooling blanket on him "this has to stay on you" Matt told him.
Brian was too weak to fight him "I am not going anywhere Brian I will be right here do you want me to call Bridget?"
"Yeah" is all he was able to say.
He moved away from the bed and dialed Bridget. Bridget was already showered and had everything ready she was almost out the door with her bag packed and her charger in the bag. Her cell was ringing. It was Matt's number on her phone.
She answered "Hi Matt how is he?"
"You need to get back here right away and call the others and no other visitors besides you and maybe mom and dad and Nicole no one else!"
"Oh God what's wrong Matt, he seemed so good when I left him?"
He told Bridget what had just happened and what the probable cause was. T
hen said" Dr Fitzpatrick is on his way back in"
"Is Brian coherent Matt?" Bridget asked
"Yes he is" Matt replied
"Put the phone on speaker so he can hear me."
Matt turned put her on speaker, "Ok Bridget go ahead,"
"Brian honey can you hear me?"
he weakly said. "Yeah"
"I am on my way back in, I will get there as fast as I can, hang on for me ok. You will be ok I promise I love you"
"Love you too"
Matt took it off speaker phone and whispered get here ASAP he hung up the phone. She ran to her car this time leaving Brian's in the driveway she was trying to keep in control. She threw her bag in the back and dialed Nicole's cell number.
She knew she would be at the Camden's answered "Hi Bridget are you on your way over."
"No, I am on my way back to the hospital. Matt just called me"
She told her everything Matt told her about Brian's condition; while Nicole was on the phone Annie noticed Nicole's demeanor and expression. She heard that she got a call from Bridget. When she got off the phone she burst into tears.
She said to Annie, "you and Eric and I have to get back to the hospital" and told them why.
Others in the room wanted to go to but Nicole said "Bridget told me Matt said no one but the four of us should come. We will call you when there is any more news."
Sarah handed Annie a bag she packed for Matt (which had his cell charger in it and a change of clothes and various toiletries Matt had asked for)
Sarah hugged her and said. "We will all pray for Brian. He will be ok he has to be. With that the 3 of them left for the hospital. They took Nicole's' car but Eric drove it because Nicole was too shaken up to drive.