Notes:
Thank you to everyone who took out time to review my story and to follow it. I am grateful :)
The medical situations in the story may not be close to accuracy, but I'll try to make this an interesting read!
Hope you enjoy this chapter! :)
Chapter 2: In the hospital
I hear the door opening, but I feign sleep. I don't feel like facing the world right now, but beggars can't be choosers. "Patrick, you awake?" I hear my doctor's voice and a sudden feeling of dread creeps over me - he's going to talk to me about my neck! I slowly open my eyes and find him standing at the foot of my bed with some charts in his hand.
"Hi doc."
"Hello Patrick, how are you feeling now?"
"Oh, I feel as good as new, ready to get out of here actually."
The doctor notices my grin and smiles. "Well that's for me to decide, isn't it?" I simply sigh knowing that there's no way out of this, so I put on my best behaviour for him.
"Do you remember what happened to you?"
I nod, immediately regretting the decision as the slight movement increases the headache. This doesn't go unnoticed by the doctor as he adjusts my bed to a more comfortable position. The change in the posture is already making me feel better. He hands me a glass of water and waits till I settle down.
"I feel better now. I remember you telling me about the fracture in my neck. How bad is it and why are all these symptoms coming up now – months later after the accident?"
" Mr. Jane..."
Uh oh, the doctor's getting serious now – he's come down to using my last name. This is never a good sign. Mark has my complete attention now.
"After your accident you might remember you were given a neck brace to wear."
"Uh huh"
"Which I believe you didn't wear for the time period that was suggested, am I right?"
Guilt washes over my face and I feel like a kid whose parents have found him eating a tub full of ice-cream way past midnight. I meekly agree with him.
"Let's take a look here", the doctor has pulled out two sets of films of my neck. Pointing towards the first set of films he says, "These were taken right after the accident and these were taken a week ago."
"Okaaaay. What am I looking at?" I suddenly feel dumb looking at my films.
"The x-ray taken initially had a hairline fracture, which means your vertebrae had a small crack running through them and now what you see in your latest CT scan is a deepening of the crack."
"How did this happen?" I ask him worriedly.
"Someone hasn't been a good patient…", the doctor smirks at me. "The neck brace is given for a reason. It helps in stabilizing the injury sustained and prevents further damage. How long were you told to wear this?"
"Well, the ER doctor had mentioned about 6 – 7 weeks, but I hardly wore it for 4 weeks." My face drops as I say this.
"Ah, there you go! You've answered the question yourself." Softening his tone Mark says, "I understand why you might you have stopped wearing the brace. Many patients feel better around 4 weeks of wearing it, so some forgo the remaining time of wearing it. This usually leads to further complications in most cases."
"Further complications like what?"
"Like the ones you have begun experiencing – increased pain in a larger area of your neck and pain or tingling in your neck and hands. Further, you may also start experiencing numbness in these areas, difficulty grasping objects and performing routine actions, dizziness, blurring of vision, nausea and difficulty breathing."
The last one takes me by surprise. "Difficulty in breathing? How come?"
"Well, as you know the central nervous system regulates almost all of our body functions. When there's an injury to it, complications such as these might occur if proper care is not taken.
It takes a few minutes for all this to sink in. The reality hits me, I've abused my body and if I neglect it, I will never be able to catch Red John and make him pay for what he's done. With this renewed focus in mind, I ask Mark, "What are my options?"
"There's only one option - surgery. Unfortunately, the deepening of the fracture will worsen with time and it will start hindering your life in a major way. To prevent this from happening, surgery is the only option."
"What kind of surgery are we talking about Mark?"
He sees the nervousness on my face and says,"I will discuss that in detail with you once you are discharged from here. I want you to rest for now and not worry about the surgery. I know you are worried, but worry will only make things more complicated for you. For now, I am admitting you for 24 hours as you've had a period of unconsciousness. We will re-asses your condition tomorrow."
"But I have to go work tomorrow, there's an important case I am working on." I almost whine as the doctor looks on.
"So you are saying, the case is more important than your health?"
"No, I didn't mean it that way, it's just that it's too short a notice to give at work for my absence tomorrow. Nobody knows I am here."
"Am sure you will figure out a way to deal with this Patrick." The doctor smiles kindly and walks out of the room, leaving me with a thousand questions and thoughts in my mind.