I wanted to wake up so I could go home. And I wanted to go back to sleep so I wouldn’t be in any more pain. My chest ached and my left side felt like someone kicked me with steel toed boots. I could see that I still had hives on my right arm, but they had faded and weren’t stinging any more.
It was dark outside, but I didn’t know if it was morning or night. It hurt too much to try to turn my head to look at the clock, or to reach over and grab my phone. The light was blinking with a notification, but I honestly didn’t care who it was. I tried to look for Nikki, but even the slightest movement hurt. I hoped she finally got some rest. I was so thirsty, my throat felt like sandpaper, but I couldn’t reach the pitcher of water on the nightstand. My guess that I didn’t have very long to wait for a nurse to come in was right.
“Finally awake, I see. You had some day yesterday,” the nurse I recognized as Sheryl came in the room. “How is your pain, on a scale of one to ten?”
“Eight,” I lied.
“Ok, so eleven,” she said. “Other than that, how do you feel?”
“Still tired, and thirsty.”
“Ok, I’ll get you some water as soon as I get your vitals,” she said, sticking a thermometer in my mouth and wrapping a blood pressure cuff around my right arm. “Your temp is back to normal and so is your blood pressure. Dr. Grimsley will be glad to see that. Looks like he also ordered some blood work, just to make sure the infection is all the way gone.”
“Does he know what caused the infection in the first place?” I asked, holding my bruised right arm up to her. Being a good patient was making me very impatient. I felt absolutely out of control here and it was driving me crazy, even though I was trying my best to cooperate.
“I’ll go through your IV, so I won’t have to stick you again, how about that?”
“Is it going to burn?” I asked. I don’t think I could stand them putting one more thing through that line.
She looked at me. “It shouldn’t. Nothing we push through your IV should hurt at all. That’s why we do it that way. What burned?” she asked, pressing around the IV.
“Everything so far.”
“Hmm, it looks like it’s in correctly. I’ll ask the doctor what he thinks. I wish you would have told us sooner.”
“Well, it burned before, when I came into the ER, I just thought it was normal.”
“It happens, but that usually means something is wrong with the placement. Is it burning now?”
“No. I can feel it in my arm if I move it, but it doesn’t hurt.”
“Ok. I really do need to get your blood work to the lab so it will be back by time Dr. Grimsley is ready for rounds. I won’t go through the IV if it bothers you, though. If you will put up with being stuck one more time, I can numb your wrist and get the lab that way, how about that?”
“Ok,” I said, flipping my wrist toward her. “If its doctor’s orders.”
“Good,” she sprayed something cold on my wrist.
“Ok, try and be very still for me,” she said.
I didn’t breath at all until she was finished. I was beginning to think numb didn’t mean what I think it meant.
“Good, do you need anything else?” She asked putting a bandage on my wrist.
“Water, please.”
“Oh, yes. Do you want to try to sit up?”
I nodded
“Ok, I know your side is still bruised, so stop me when it hurts, ok?”
I was surprised that sitting eased the pain in my side some.
“No pain?” She asked, handing me a cup of water. “Just sip that for now.”
“No, it actually feels better,” I told her.
“Great. Sometimes moving around helps. We might can even get you walking around this afternoon, try and work out some of that stiffness.”
“That’s fine with me,” I said.
“Dr. Grimsley will start to make his rounds around 8 and give you an update. Someone should be around with your breakfast tray soon, too. You haven’t eaten in 2 days, so try and at least get some toast down,” she said.
“Ok, I’ll try,” I told her.
“Good. See you in a bit,” she said.
Toast was all I managed to get down. Nothing else on the tray looked, or smelled, appealing. I tried the coffee, but it was cold and weak. I had food in roadside dinners that was better than this. How did they expect people to be healthy eating, or more likely, not eating, this crap?
I was just wondering how to pass the time until the doctor came in when there was a soft knock at the door. Nikki opened the door slowly, and I couldn’t help the huge grin on my face when I saw her.
“You look like you are feeling better,” she said, kissing my forehead, then feeling it with the back of her hand. “No more fever. Are you in pain still?”
“I was, but I actually feel good right now. The nurse said I might even be able to walk around some this afternoon.”
“You’ll enjoy that. The hallway has lots of windows and light. You can see the Dallas skyline from the waiting room at the end of the hall.”
“I can’t wait to see it,” I said, taking her hand and kissing it. “Did you get some rest?”
“Maybe a little more than I would have gotten here, but the doctors said there wasn’t anything else I could do. He said you would probably sleep for a good while, and they would be in and out of the room constantly checking on you.”
“How long did I sleep?”
“A whole day. I had to extend our hotel reservation by a night. I called your parents and let them know we would be back later than planned. They are worried about you, but happy to keep Everette.”
“I can’t believe I slept that long. Did Zac or Taylor call?”
“Zac texted to ask how everything was going, but not much else. Taylor has been texting every few hours for an update. I guess he’s reporting back to the rest of the family.”
“Seems typical. He is the people pleaser.”
“He is, but he also keeps you and Zac from killing each other.”
“That’s true. The nurse said the doctor is going to start making rounds about 8. Maybe I’ll call Tay after we hear from the doctor.”
“He would like to hear from you, I think.”
I only nodded in reply, since the doctor came in the room just then.
“Well, how are we feeling?”
“Better.”
He looked at my chart by way of answer. “Fever’s gone, no sign of infection in your blood work. Blood pressure is back to a normal range. That’s all very good.”
“Is it normal to have an infection like this after surgery?”
“It’s certainly not normal, but it’s not unheard of. The important thing is that we cleared it up. It could have already been in your body, and the surgery just exacerbated it.”
Sounded like CYA to me. I didn’t have the time or the inclination to sue him, but he knew better than to admit fault. “Well, in any case I’m glad it’s gone. When can I go home?”
“If everything still looks good tomorrow, you can go home in the morning. Speaking of looking good, I need to look at your side to make sure everything is healing properly.”
“That’s fine,” I told him, bracing myself for more pain.
“I hope that this won’t be to uncomfortable. Stop me if it is,” he said, pulling the bedsheet back and lifting the side of my hospital gown. I could see the two bandages out of the corner of my eye.
“Alright,” I said.
He pressed all around my left side, but it only hurt when he got to the spot where he drained the infection.
“You’re tensing up, that is still tender there. It wasn’t hurting before I started poking around, was it?”
“Not at all.”
“Good. I want to start backing off your pain medicine since what we will send you home with won’t be as strong as what we have here. I’ll decrease the dose by half to start, then by tonight half that. We can give you a small dose in the morning before you leave, too. That should help if you hit any bumpy roads on the way home.”
“Sounds like a plan to me.” Home. I wanted to go home so bad.
“Sheryl mentioned that she didn’t think your IV was set correctly, so I’ll take a look at that and push some pain medicine and one more antibiotic, just to be safe.”
“Ok.”
“Hmm,” he said. “It’s in right, but really close to the vein wall, that’s why everything we push through burns. I will put both of these here,” He pointed to a place on the IV. “So they will drip through, instead of pushing through, and it won’t hurt.”
“Ok,” I said. He was right, I didn’t feel anything that time. After he left, I called Taylor with an update and talked to Nikki to pass the time until the next round of poking and prodding.