TOM
It was day two.
Jane had been able to rest somewhat comfortably for the last 24 hours. Still on the nasal cannula, but only two liters and her oxygen levels were at 99%. You can't even remember the last time you saw that number.
You were keeping Ben, Sophie, and Chris all updated. Encouraging Ben and Sophie to put off their visit for a few more days, Jane still struggled with moments of intense pain which caused an up in pain medication, which would then cause confusion and eventually she would just pass out all together.
Currently she was about to be moved to a chair so that she could sit up and start moving. She was terrified, knowing it was going to be painful.
Two nurses came in to help with the process. "Hi Jane, I'm Ginger and this is Helen, we're here to help get you up and in a chair. Are you ready?"
Jane pauses a moment before giving a hoarse "Yes". Glancing at you nervously. I help fold the blankets down and the nurse, Ginger I think, hands me a gown to drape over her front.
"Jane dear, lift your arms for me please, let's get your arms through here." I say as I hold the gown over her. She slowly lifts her arms, not much, but enough for me to slide the sleeves over her arms.
Helen is gather tubes and wires, while Ginger holds her arms out for Jane. "Ok Jane, I want you to grab my arms ok? Tom, would you mind going behind her to help her to sit up?" You nod and as Jane reaches out and grips the nurses arms, you slide your arms gently behind her back. She winces in response. "I'm sorry, have I hurt you?" She shakes her head slightly. "I'm a little tender, but it's mostly your cold hands."
You nod and watch carefully as Ginger begins to gently start pulling Jane upwards, you help her to sit up as tenderly as you can, a look of pain a constant on Jane's face. "We're almost done." Ginger encourages as Jane's eyes squeeze shut.
Soon she's sitting, gasping slightly, at the effort or the pain, you weren't sure. You keep your hands at her back, giving her support, rubbing comforting circles. "Ok, now I'm going to swing your legs down, and Tom is going to help you to turn so you're feet are dangling off the bed. Ok, Jane?"
She silently nods before turning to look at you, it broke your heart to see her in this amount of pain, but you give her a smile of reassurance and then begin to gently turn her as Ginger moves her legs to hang off the bed. This seemed to be less painful than sitting up, thankfully.
"Alright, now we're going to take these three steps to the chair, alright? Tom and I will be on either side of you so you don't fall and Helen has all your tubes and wires so we don't have to worry about it. On the count of three we're gonna help you up, alright?"
Ginger moves to Jane's other side and takes her hand, Jane gives us a nod and the nurse counts down. "1, 2, 3!"
And on weak and wobbly legs, Jane manages to push herself off the bed, hisses of pain and tears falling from her eyes, she takes the first step, squeezing my hand tightly. Ginger and Helen begin speaking encouragements to her, but you don't listen. You're too focused on Jane. Watching her features carefully for any sign that this was too much.
She makes it to the chair and you and Ginger help her to sit, Helen hovers close by with arms full of IV's and monitors. Jane is breathing deep and heavily from the pain, eyes still squeezed shut and tears spilling from them. You kneel beside her and take her hand in yours.
"Jane? You did it darling. You did it and I'm so proud of you. I know it hurts now, but soon this will be nothing but a memory. A memory that will be worth it when you're running marathons and skipping and jumping around doing all the things you've always wished for. Right?"
She nods lightly, opening her eyes to look at you and give you a weak smile. It takes all you had not to burst into tears. You'd do anything to take away her pain. But instead you just smile back, wiping away her tears and leaning forward for a kiss.
JANE
It was getting late, you were still in an intense amount of pain after sitting in a chair this afternoon.
It wasn't just the incision, it was the four chest tubes. The stitches were beginning to pull and the tubes were rubbing inbetween your ribs. It was incredibly painful, and despite the morphine, you were still hurting quite a bit.
You tried just laying still for a long time but that didn't really help. Tom and the nurses were trying to get you to eat a little something, but the pain you were in was making you nauseous. The nurse told Dr. S and he ordered some anti nausea medicine, which helped, but did not get rid of it completely.
You look to Tom, who looked positively exhausted. All this worrying and fussing over you was clearly wearing him out. You reach for his hand and he turns to you, eyes somewhat urgent. "Is everything ok?"
You smile at him, always the worry wort. "Yes Tom, I was just noticing how tired you look. I think you should go home to sleep for the night."
He immediately starts shaking his head. "No no no no no. I will get even less sleep there. I appreciate your worry for me darling, but I'm ok. Really I am."
You decide it's not worth the argument, you were both too tired for that. "Fine, then please sleep on the pull out couch on the other side of the room then? You don't need to sleep in this chair. You're too tall for it and I know you can't be comfortable. I'll be fine if you're just a few extra steps away. I know you'll sleep better over there."
He gives a small sigh before smiling, running his hand through your hair. "Despite having a major surgery and being in all this pain, you worry about me? Oh how I love you my little penguin."
"I have to make sure my giraffe is well taken care of, no matter my situation." You say with a yawn.
"Do you think you'll be able to sleep? Or do you want me to ask the doctors if there's anything else we can do about pain?" He asks with some worry in his tone.
"No, I really don't think there is anything. It's bearable for the most part, I'll manage through the night and hopefully tomorrow they'll be able to remove one of the tubes like they said." You say, feeling a tad bit lightheaded, but just chalking it up to being overtired or the morphine making you woozy.
Tom kisses your forehead and begins to get ready for bed. Laying pillows and blankets on the pull out couch and changing into sweatpants for sleeping. Your nurse comes in during all this to take your vitals before leaving you alone for the night.
"I'll bet you're off that oxygen tomorrow with numbers like this!" She says looking at your o2 levels. You just smile and nod. She takes your temperature and blood pressure, only she takes your blood pressure twice.
"Hmmm.." She says after the second time. "What is it? Tom asks as he steps out of the bathroom, making his way beside you.
"Her blood pressure is low, I know that's how she's been running, but it's really low. Jane, are you feeling ok? Not dizzy or lightheaded?" She turns to you and asks.
"A little lightheaded, but I assumed that was from the morphine or being so tired." You say quietly, feeling more tired by the second.
"I'm going to go and get the doctor who's on overnight, he's right at the nurses station. I'll be right back." She says before quickly making her way out of the room.
Tom grabs your hand and you turn to him, his eyes wide with worry. You feel like your lids could slam shut at any second. "Jane? Try and stay awake until the doctor comes in, ok?" Tom says as he gives your hand a little squeeze. You nod weakly and force your eyes to stay open.
Soon the doctor and nurse return, the man was younger, average height with short reddish hair. The nurse takes your blood pressure again and he comes and stands in front of you. "Hi Jane, I'm Dr. Simon. Your blood pressure is pretty low, your nurse, Alice, says your lightheaded?"
You nod weakly, still fighting with your lids. "And tired too, I see. Ok, well I really don't like the numbers we're seeing so I'm going to give you something to try and bring it up a bit, ok?" You think you nod but you're not sure you manage, you finally lose the battle, succumbing to sleep.
TOM
"Jane? Jane, can you hear me? She's asleep." You say to Dr. Simon, trying your best not to sound too frantic.
"I see that, I'm administering a medicine right now." He says as he pushes a syringe of medicine into her IV.
Immediately the nurse takes her blood pressure again and everyone watches anxiously to see higher numbers. They go up, but not much. Dr. Simon grabs another syringe and gives her half of it before Alice checks her blood pressure again. The numbers are a decent bit higher this time.
You look down to Jane, she appeared fine.
"Well, I'm going to want her monitored extremely close tonight. This happens with transplant patients sometimes, their body is just so weak and tired from not just fighting their old failing organs, but now fighting to recover from a major surgery. Some take longer to recover than others. We will just have to watch her closely to see if her body corrects it on it's own, or if something needs to be done. Only time will tell. For now we just watch and wait. I want to be paged if it get's that low again, I'll come by about half way through the night to check in."
You just nod, keeping your eyes on Jane. Him and Alice leave.
You grab your pillows and blankets and return to your usual chair beside her, taking her hand in yours and closing your eyes to get whatever sleep you could get.