"Appreciate you stopping by today, Tom," Jack said to his new friend as the two men stood up from where they had been seated in the break room. "You really have been a blessing-the company, the chats, the food, the help. I just don't even know what to say."
"Jack, I'm glad I could help, that my church could help. I hope all our talks these last couple of weeks have given you some perspective and have made things clear about what you need to do going forward."
"If I can get her back," Jack frowned, his voice wavering, "I'll never let her go. Why it took almost losing her for me to see that, I don't know. She is just such an amazing woman, and I've really taken that for granted. It did start with my going to Arizona, and I really saw how miserable I was. I suppose then I realized it was pretty final, and I wasn't okay with that. Sadly, she saw my reasons differently, but that's on me. I loved her too much to drag her down with me, and she thought I didn't love her enough to stay with her. I'm going to fix that. Promise."
"Elle revient," the two men were interrupted and turned to see one of Lisa's normal ICU nurses sticking her head into the door. Jack's head snapped, and he looked to Tom for the translation.
"Sounds like she's out of surgery," he told Jack and gestured. "She's returning. That's what she said. Remember how I said they don't have you exactly go to recovery here. You'd asked about that. That's a good sign, that they are bringing her up to the floor."
Jack nodded and gathered his things. The two men had eaten an early lunch or late breakfast-Jack could barely keep track of the time or the day for that matter, and he felt his hands fumbling as he tried to gather the trash. Tom steadied his hand and put his on Jack's. Jack looked up to see kind eyes looking back at him.
"She's going to pull through, Jack. I have faith she is. You contact me and let me know how she's doing. I'm going to go for today. I know they will pull Helene up here sometime today to translate all of this for you. I'm just a call away."
"Thanks again, Tom," Jack said, patting his shoulder as he started toward the door. He frowned slightly, looking back at him, "I'm nervous. I don't know what will come of this-if she will have permanent damage, her arm, just all of that, and that's for her physically, Our personal relationship is another matter, but I want her physically to be okay. Lisa deserves a win," he said with a sad nod and then a gesture toward the hall. "I'm going to wait in her room for her to return."
Jack was grateful for the information that Lisa was apparently out of surgery, but with that information, he somewhat expected her to be up within the half hour. It took over two more hours, now into the afternoon before her door was opened, and he had his first glimpse of her after her surgery. He put his hand to his mouth and even whimpered slightly seeing her this time, and quickly wiped at the tears on his face. He'd been an emotional mess and had stopped caring about it a few days ago.
"She's not on the ventilator," he nodded, speaking as if the orderlies moving her would be able to understand. They glanced at him as they wheeled her into the room, but they didn't say anything. He made eye contact with the orthopedic surgeon who was following her, and Jack noted Helene was behind him. He gestured at Helene and repeated himself.
"She's not on the vent."
"She's not," Helene smiled softly, gesturing at Lisa. "That is a very good sign, a good step. The surgeon wanted to update you." She spoke in rapid French to the surgeon, and he turned toward Jack and started to inform him of everything.
"This surgery went much better than the first surgery on her arm. The healing her arm already did allowed things to be stable enough now to repair her arm. He's pleased with the surgery and thinks her arm will recover okay. She will eventually need physical therapy, but that is in the future. For now, they were successful bringing her off the ventilator, as you can see," she waved toward Lisa. Jack nodded, having trouble swallowing, and he looked back at her.
"Thank you very much," he turned to the surgeon. "Merci, merci," he said over and over. He looked at Helene again, "When will she wake up?"
Helene translated, and Jack stepped to the end of Lisa's bed just looking down at her. Even with all of the bruising, and nearly now three weeks in the hospital, she was so beautiful. She had a massive splint of sorts around her arm with it looking like it was braced there and could break at the slightest touch. Jack looked back to Helene and the surgeon when she spoke again.
"She's been in recovery for some time, so it should be soon." Jack nodded, hearing that, knowing that it had been over a couple hours since he had been told she was on her way up. She will be groggy as she wakes up, might be really out of it, especially since she's been in this induced coma. It's not just coming out of a surgery, but he pointed out that they have been working to wake her up since yesterday afternoon. All of it has gone smoothly so far, and the swelling continues to go down."
"Yes, right," he nodded. "So, no intubation, so she's breathing on her own okay, all things functioning okay?" Jack waited on the translation again, noting the surgeon nodding. Before he could reply, the neurologist joined them in the room and began speaking to Helene.
"Okay, the neurologist said her function looks good so far. Yes, she's breathing on her own okay, and things are going well to wake her up. She did not have any problems in surgery." Jack waited for her to get the rest of the information, and she smiled softly at Jack. "They said her prognosis to come out of this is good, and her brain function looks good so far. That doesn't mean she's out of the woods, but her brain activity after all that swelling seems within a normal range."
Jack let a whimper escape as he put his hand to his mouth and nodded, looking down at Lisa. This horror of the last few weeks might actually be turning a corner. He took a moment to collect himself and then waved his hand as he replied.
"I'm sorry, "he said to them. "A lot of emotions." Helene gave him a sympathetic smile.
The entire room turned when Lisa coughed, all eyes on her now. The room stayed silent just watching, and Jack started to step toward her, but it was a tight space with all the medial professionals in the room. She coughed again, and the neurologist, closest to her now, stepped toward her, Jack, Helene, the orthopedic surgeon, and now Lisa's nurse joining them.
"Madame, madame," the neurologist said, hoping that Lisa might open her eyes.
"Lisa, Lise," Jack said standing there at the end of the bed, his eyes searching for any movement. "Lise, open your eyes. You're in the hospital." He wanted to be closer to her, but he understood the doctor there at her side, and the other side had all of the machines and lines running everywhere, so he put his hand on her feet, of course, covered by the bedding, but he stood there at least able to touch her.
She coughed again, and this time, for the first time in weeks, Lisa opened her eyes. They moved around rapidly, and the neurologist stepped in to examine her eyes, but there, with her eyes open, she seemed to search the room but didn't say anything.
"Lise, oh, Lise," Jack said, bending over the bottom of the bed, trying to get her attention. "Lise, it's me, Jack. I'm here. You're in the hospital, in France. Helene, what is he saying?"
Jack turned to Helene who was there between him and the neurologist. The neurologist turned to her, and she answered Jack, "Ahh, hold on, he wants me to speak to Lisa."
"Lisa, can you understand? Blink if you can understand. He's speaking French. I'll speak to you in English." They all seemed to hold their breath to see if she could retain the information. Lisa didn't do anything but continued to search around the room. Helene tried again, "Lisa, I'm Helene, a nurse here, and I speak English. Please blink at me if you understand me."
With all eyes on her, Lisa blinked at Helene.
Jack broke down when she did, nodding. He patted her leg, "Lise, that's really good."
Lisa coughed again and made a groaning sound, lifting her non-injured hand slightly, "Water, throat," she coughed again barely audible, but she'd spoken, and Jack eyed the surgeon.
"Yes, she can have water," Helene nodded after checking with the doctor. Lisa's actual nurse worked quickly to fill a pitcher of water and handed Jack a cup with a straw. He gestured, wanting to step toward her and basically ended up pushing around the neurologist. Lisa was awake, and he was too far away from her right now.
"Lise, it's me, Jack. I'm here. Oh man, it's so good to see you open those beautiful eyes. Here is some water," and he bent down to her eye level, tears rolling down his face as he made eye contact with her. She had turned her head and just looked at him, still very much out of it and coughed again. He put his hand on her hair and tried to help her shift slightly to sip at the water.
"Just a sip, Lise. Take your time." He continued to wipe at his face, finally waving his hand to the room. "I'm sorry, just wasn't sure we'd ever get to this point where she was awake again." He looked back at Lisa who just had her eyes trained on him, or so it seemed. Her head was turned toward him, but she wasn't saying anything, just looking at him or even through him.
"Umm, Jack," Helene patted his arm, "the neurologist would like to do some tests here and then will take her out for tests shortly. He's asking that you step around to let me check things."
"Do I have to leave the room?" Jack eyed them. "I don't want to leave her side." He looked back at Lisa, and while she hadn't said more, she seemed to be searching with her eyes, those eyes rapidly darting around, trying to take everything in and figure everything out.
"He said you can wait in the corner. I will wait at the nurse's desk to see what he needs translated. The orthopedic is asking if you have other questions."
"None now for him, thank you, and please thank him."
"He will check on her arm tomorrow and will be updating the rehab plan soon."
"Thank you," Jack said, standing as he started shaking his head and nodding, "I mean, merci. Merci." He shook the surgeon's hand, and the man gave him a nod before stepping out of the room. Jack noted the neurologist was waiting for him to move, and Jack leaned down and kissed Lisa's hand there even with the IV and other tubing, his face close to hers. "It's so good to see you awake. This is your neurologist, and he's going to check some things. I'm going to wait right over there. All I've wanted is for you to wake up, and we'll have plenty to talk about later. All that matters now is that you get better. You were in a serious accident so let the neurologist see how you are doing."
Jack stepped to the corner and pulled out his handkerchief, continually wiping at his face. He didn't take his eyes off Lisa, not even as he tried wiping away his own tears. He let the neurologist work, but he soon found her eyes locking with his. She'd not said more, not yet, but he watched as she just kept her eyes trained on him, and soon, tears began falling on her face too. He just wanted to step up and wipe them away, but he knew it would only interfere with the neurologist who already seemed a bit anxious to figure out Lisa's state of mind. So, he stood there, his eyes locked on hers, and now, her eyes, locked on his. He didn't know what in the world might be going through her mind, but she was awake.
Jack stood there, rooted in his spot, nodding at her, wiping at his eyes. They'd always been good at nonverbal communication, and somehow, someway, he just hoped that she might understand he was here for her and loved her. He'd tell her, of course, over and over and over, but right now, as she was trying to wake up and was being poked and prodded, he would just keep his eyes on her and wait until he could start confessing everything to her that should have been said so long ago.