The mountains we climb together
Author: zeusfluff.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Blue Bloods characters. They belong to CBS. I do own all original characters. Summary: Jamie and Eddie embark on their biggest challenge yet, testing their strong bonds as a married couple when Eddie finds out she has End Stage Kidney Disease. Will this revelation make the couple stronger? Or will it tear them apart? A/N: *This fic hits close to home.* This fic will have lots of ups and downs. But I promise the ending will be a happy one. Date Started: 7/19/23. Date Finished: 7/19/23. Enjoy!
Eddie squinted at the magazine in front of her. She held it farther away from her face. Jamie wrapped his arm around her shoulders and gave her a concerned look.
"You ok babe?"
Eddie nodded her head yes and continued to try and read the article in the magazine in front of her.
"Yeah. My left eye is kind of blurry when I read. I'm probably just tired."
Jamie furrowed his eyebrows in concern.
"Do you feel like you have something in your eye?"
Eddie shook her head. She wasn't sure.
"Maybe. I don't know."
They were both relaxing in bed before turning out the lights for the night. Jamie leaned in next to her and blew into her eye.
"Better? It's probably a piece of dust or an eyelash."
Eddie pushed Jamie's hands away and pressed her right hand against her left eye.
"Ow Jamie! That stings!"
Jamie pulled her into his arms and kissed her forehead.
"Babe I'm sorry. I thought that would make it better. You ok?"
Eddie nodded and took her right hand away from her left eye, and for a moment, the vision in her left eye was completely black. Then it became blurry again. Eddie shook her head and blinked.
"Yeah. I think I'm just tired. It's late. Let's go to bed babe."
Jamie nodded and turned out the lamp on his side of the bed. Him and Eddie were now lying on their sides cuddling each other.
"We're both off tomorrow. Let's get you to the eye doctor."
Eddie rolled and closed her eyes.
"Great. They'll probably tell me I need glasses."
Jamie laughed and Eddie could feel it vibrating against her back.
"You would look so hot with glasses."
Eddie snorted and whacked Jamie playfully in the head with a pillow.
"Reagan. Don't get any ideas now."
Jamie quieted and soon the couple was fast asleep. The next morning, Eddie woke up and her left eye was blurrier than the night before. The couple quickly dressed and ate a quick breakfast. Eddie's eye appointment was scheduled for 10 am in the eye clinic at Saint Victors. Once they got to the hospital they checked in and waited. Eddie looked at Jamie.
"I'll be right back. I need to use the restroom."
Jamie nodded and watched her disappear towards the restrooms. A couple of minutes later the intercom above his head went off.
"We have a Code Blue. Attention Code Blue."
Jamie felt his stomach do flip flops as three doctors and four nurses headed towards the restrooms. His eyes widened when he saw the door the restroom Eddie had gone into open and a couple of doctors carry her unconscious body out. Quickly rising from his chair, Jamie reached Eddie in two long strides.
"Oh my god Eddie! Eddie! What happened?"
Another doctor and nurse looked at Jamie.
"Sir please stand back."
Jamie shook his head and got closer.
"Doc please! That's my wife! What happened?"
The two doctors looked at Jamie seriously as they placed Eddie on a stretcher and took her down the hall, Jamie following.
"We don't know. We'll update you once we get her stabilized."
A nurse was reading off blood pressure numbers to a doctor holding onto the stretcher.
"Doctor! Her blood pressure is way too high! 285/190!"
The doctor next to the nurse paled and started wheeling the stretcher faster.
"We have to get her stabilized or she's going to stroke out!"
Jamie felt sick to his stomach. His heart began to race.
"Doctor! Is my wife having a stroke?"
The doctor rushed the stretcher with Eddie through the emergency room doors and shouted back to Jamie.
"We don't know yet! We'll get back to you once we get her stabilized!"
Jamie felt his stomach lurch and a nurse showed up next to him with a green plastic throw up bag. The nurse helped Jamie sit down.
"Take it easy. What's your name?"
Jamie felt his stomach lurch one more time before he could speak. Once he was sure his stomach had stopped betraying him, he spoke.
"Sargent Jamie Reagan. NYPD. That woman they wheeled on the stretcher through the emergency doors is my wife Edit Reagan. Eddie. What's wrong with her?"
The nurse whose name was Megan shook her head and grabbed for Jamie's wrist, taking his pulse.
"We'll have to get you admitted and re hydrated. You've been vomiting for a while."
Jamie furrowed his eyebrows.
"How long was I throwing up?"
Megan put a light hand on Jamie's upper back.
"About 40 minutes. Come on. Let's get you back and get you on some fluids."
Jamie hadn't realized he'd been throwing up for that long. He had so many questions about Eddie. Once they admitted him, he spent a couple of hours hooked up to an iv with saline. Once the doctor was satisfied that he was re hydrated, they disconnected Jamie from the iv. Another nurse placed some gauze and wrapped a bandage around the crook of his left elbow. She took him up to Eddie's room on the fourth floor. He felt his legs start to give way as he entered her room, so he quickly found a chair and sat down in it. The nurse explained the situation to him.
"It's been hard trying to get her out of control blood pressure down. Her head is bandaged because she hit her forehead and the back of her head on the sink. She lost consciousness. We're equating it to her extremely high blood pressure."
Jamie didn't realize he had a lump in his throat as his fingers of his right hand grazed the fabric of the bandage around Eddie's head.
"Did she… Did she have a stroke?"
The nurse shook her head no. Jamie turned to her and noticed her name plate said Sandy.
"No. She's lucky. But like I said we're having trouble controlling her very high blood pressure."
Jamie ran a hand over her cheek and then brushed his lips up against it.
"Do you know when she'll wake up?"
Sandy shook her head.
"Could be in a few minutes. Or it could be a few days. We just don't know. I'll go and get the doctor. He'll explain what's going on. You might want to stay sitting for what she has to say."
Jamie felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. He watched Sandy exit the room. It was three days before Jamie saw Eddie begin to stir. She became confused as she opened her eyes and looked around her.
"Jamie? Where am I?"
Jamie kissed her bandaged forehead.
"Your in the hospital baby."
Eddie furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.
"The last thing I remember was us being in the eye clinic and then me going to the restroom. I don't remember anything after that. What happened to me?"
Eddie could see Jamie was trying to hide his tears.
"I'll go get the doctor. Just rest baby."
Jamie went to the door and opened it, Sandy was just about to step into the room.
"Jamie is something wrong?"
Sandy took a peek into the room behind Jamie.
"Eddie's awake. I'll get Doctor Stevenson."
Eddie was losing her patience and ready to fly off the handle. She didn't know what was going on.
"Jamie Reagan. Tell me right now what's going on? Why am I in a hospital bed?"
Jamie came back to the bed and sat down in the chair. He grabbed for her right hand with his left and squeezed it.
"Baby you need to relax. The doctors are having a hard time controlling your very high blood pressure."
Eddie felt an invisible question mark come to her face.
"Why is my blood pressure so high Jamie?"
Jamie was about to explain when Doctor Stevenson entered the room.
"Glad to finally see you awake Eddie. I have some news to share with you. It's not pleasant. You were admitted to the emergency room because your blood pressure was 285/190. We were afraid for a few minutes you were going to stroke out. Your body decided to render you unconscious instead. We've got you on 6 different blood pressure medications to try and control it. Some work, while other's we've had to try other blood pressure medications. Now what I want you to do for me right now is look straight at my pen light. Tell me if you can see the light with your left eye.
"No. It's all black."
Doctor Stevenson's shoulders slumped. She was troubled by her findings.
"Hmm. Your blood pressure's still too high. The blood vessels behind your left eye are constricted so much its impairing your vision. Do you feel nauseous?"
Eddie shook her head no.
"No. What's going on doctor?"
Doctor Stevenson shook her head and took a seat on a rolling stool.
"Eddie you have End Stage Renal Disease. Kidney disease. I know this is very personal but, have you been taking more trips to the bathroom or less?"
Eddie had to think for a minute.
"Less actually."
Sighing, Doctor Stevenson made a note in Eddie's chart.
"Unfortunately, since you are in the last stage of the disease, you'll have to start dialysis right away. Now there are two options. There's hemodialysis where you come to the hospital two to three times a week and are hooked up to a large machine which takes all the blood out of your body and washes all the bad waste out and puts it back into you. That requires you to have a fistula or stent put into one of your forearms. The surgery to place the fistula would typically take no more than an hour. Peritoneal Dialysis is where we place a type of soft catheter into your Peritoneum which is an empty space between your small intestine and your bladder. Surgery for that takes an hour. For that type of dialysis, you can either come to the hospital to do it or you can do it at home. We usually start patients on manual dialysis. You'd be hooked up to a mixture of saline and glucose. A glucose mixture of 1.5%. You'd be filling yourself up with the liquid. Letting it sit in your body for at least 4 to 6 hours. Look, I know this is a lot to take in all at once. But I'll give the two of you a few minutes to let all this information sink in."
Doctor Stevenson left the room to give Jamie and Eddie time to speak with one another. Eddie felt her bottom lip begin to tremble. Jamie pulled Eddie into his arms.
"It's ok babe. I'm right here. We'll get through this together."
Eddie was trying to sort out her emotions and all the information she had just been given. It would take time.
To Be Continued…
A/N: So, I know I threw a lot of information into this chapter. What do you guys think so far? Let me know! Thanks!