Chapter 47 - We Shout Our Dreams, Into The Echo

 

 

Jon sees the doctor come out of the surgery suite, he watches him take off his face mask and his crown cap.  The look on his face isn't one that shows happiness, or even satisfaction.  Jon's heart sinks as the doctor approaches, "How is she?"  Jon asks him, extending his hand.

 

"Surgery was a success, we were able to clean out all of the infection and remove the appendix." he pauses and takes a breath, "But we had to remove her right ovary and fallopian tube due to the severe infection that they had in them.  There wasn't anything I could do, other than that."

 

"She's okay?" is all he can ask.  "When can I see her?"

 

"She's headed to recovery, let's give her about an hour to wake up and have something to drink and then I'll have you come back." the doctor tells him, but Jon doesn't like that.

 

"I would like to go sit with her." he states, and he's not going to take no for an answer.

 

The doctor hesitates for a minute and can sympathize with Jon, it is Christmas Eve and they aren't with their family, at least they should be together.  "Ok, follow me."  And they turn to leave.  As they walk the doctor tells him, "She'll be groggy for a while.  Her pain should be minimal, and she's being pumped full of antibiotics.  I want to keep her for a couple of days, to ensure that the infection is gone."

 

"Can she still have a baby?"  Jon didn't want to ask that question, but he knows that it will be Beth's first question when she hears what happened in surgery.  "Can she still get pregnant?

 

The doctor turns and looks at Jon, as they stand outside the recovery room door, "I see no reason why she couldn't.  Many women get pregnant with only one ovary."  The doctor sees that that didn't help, Jon expression didn't change.

 

"Can we go in?" Jon asks.

 

The doctor pushes open the heavy stainless steel door and lets Jon walk through first, Jon glances over the room and sees Beth in the corner, with her face facing away from him.  But he would know her anywhere.  As quick as he can, he walks over and kisses her head, "Hey babe, I'm here."

 

She doesn't move, Jon can see that she is in a very deep, drug induced state and that made him a little happy.  She's finally getting some rest.  He takes a seat next to her and takes her hand.   Sliding the chair close to her bed, he rests his head on the bed.  He just rests there and watches her rest. 

 

A while later, a nurse comes in and checks her vitals and that wakes her up a little bit.  When the nurse is done, she pushes some medicine into Beth's IV and tells Jon, "She'll be a wake in a few minutes."  And she leaves the area.  She had given Beth the medicine to reverse the effect of anesthesia, waking her up.

 

Jon, anxious for her to wake up, starts to rub her hand and talk to her.  "Beth."  She stirs a little.  "Babe, come on, wake up."  She stirs some more.  Jon starts to rub her arm, "Babe, hey wake up."  Beth turns her head toward the sound of his voice and tries to open her eyes.  They were pretty heavy still.  She tries to talk, but the cottonmouth is too bad.  Jon sees that and asks, "Do you want something to drink?"

 

Beth nods her head yes and whispers, "Please."  Jon gets up and peaks around the corner of the curtain and got the attention of the nurse.

 

"What can I do for you?" she asks Jon, with a smile on her face. 

 

Jon gives her his fake smile and says, "She's thirsty, can she have some water?" 

 

The nurse comes out from behind the desk, "She can have some ice chips, I'll get her some."  And she disappears into a small room, that she had to unlock.  Jon goes back to Beth side, and takes her hand again.  He can see that she fell back asleep.

 

"Babe." he shakes her hand.  "Babe, the sooner you wake up the sooner you can go to your room."

 

Beth struggles to get her eyes to open, smacking her lips together, her mouth is so dry, "How are they, are they both okay?" she startles Jon.

 

"What are you talking about?" he leans in and kisses her lips, "What are you talking about babe?"

 

"The babies, how are the babies."  her eyelids were way too heavy, she couldn't keep them open.

 

"Honey, you had your appendix taken out, remember?"  he questions her. 

 

The nurse appears and hands Jon the cup of ice chips, "How is she doing?"

 

"She's still pretty groggy and she's confused.  I thought that medicine would wake her up?"

 

"Sometimes we need to give an additional dose to wake them all the way up.  I'll see if I can get the doctor to order more.  What do you mean she's confused?"

 

"She thinks we're here for another, more personal reason.  Is this normal?"

 

The nurse checks the flow rate on her IV and runs another set of vitals.  Beth's vitals are good, and the flow is right where it should be.  "Patients can sometimes wake and think that they are here at another time.  What does she think she's here for?'

 

Jon didn't want to give a nurse the details, so he breezed right over that question.  "Can you see if you can get her some more medicine.  I don't want her in the frame of mind that she's in right now."

 

The nurse turns to leave, "I'll go find the doctor, is there anything else I can do for you?"

 

Jon shakes his head no and she leaves the area.  Jon, a little anxious by what Beth had asked, does what his heart tells him to do.  He drops the railing on her bed and climbs in with her, holding her tight he starts to talk to her.  "Babe, we are here because you got really sick.  You had surgery and the doctor took out all of the infection and made you better.  You need to wake up so you can have something to eat and something to drink."  All the while, he's running his fingers through her hair and kissing her cheek.  She leans into the kisses, she liked the way that it felt.  She's always liked the way that his kisses felt. 

His touch gets her attention and she turns to him again, "How are the girls?"  Her eyes are open a bit and she miles when she sees Jon.  "Are they perfect?"

Not wanting to remind her of the large loss that she suffered, Jon didn't answer her questions.  He quickly  changed the conversation, knowing it was the best thing to do.

"Here babe, have some ice chips.  Your mouth is pretty dry."  He reaches for the cup off of her bedside table and gives her an ice chip.  She opens her mouth and welcomes the relief, holding the ice cube I place and letting it melt, taking care of her dry and sticky mouth. 

"Thank you." she mumbles, still half asleep.  "How long have I been out?"

Jon looks at his watch and calculates the time, "About 6 hours.  How are you feeling?"

"Sore."

"I bet.  Do you want another ice chip?"

She nods her head yes, and he gently places on in her mouth.  She sucks on that one, "When can we go home?"

"The doctor wants you to stay a couple of days to make sure that he got all of the infection out."

"How are the girls?  Are they okay, did they have any of the infection?"

Now he knows that he has to remind her of why she is in the hospital and what she had done.  This is killing him, knowing that she thinks she was there to have the twins.  They already lived that nightmare.  "Beth, listen to me honey." He pushes back some hair that had fallen in her face.  "You're here because your appendix ruptured, they had to operate and remove it."

"Ok, how are the girls?"  Her eyes are closed again and he can see that she's going do doze again.  He runs his fingers up her arm, stimulating her.  She tries to open her eyes again, but they were still pretty heavy.  "When can I see them?"

"Beth, the girls aren't here honey."  He sits on the bed next to her, "You are here because your appendix ruptured."  he looks around, wondering where that nurse is with the drug to wake her up the rest of the way.  He sees no movement out by the nurses station, so he presses the call button. 

Within seconds, the nurse appeared with the medication and injected it into Beth's IV.  She stood there for a few moments and waited to see what she was going to do.  Beth started to stir some more, but her eyes were still heavy with sleep.  The nurse gave her the rest of the medication and within seconds, Beth was able to open and keep open her eyes.

Beth looks back and forth, taking in her scenery and pauses on Jon.  She just stares at him for a minute, feeling the pain in her abdomen get worse.  She rubs her belly, "Damn, that hurts." 

"Would you like some pain medicine ma'am?" the nurse questions her.

"Yes, please."  Beth mumbles to her.  Looking at Jon, "how long have I been asleep?"

He leans over and kisses her dry, chapped lips, "Almost 7 hours.  You were hard to wake up." 

"How was dinner?  Did you talk to anyone?" she asks about the Christmas Eve dinner that they missed because she was sick.

"Are you in a lot of pain?"  He takes her hand and kisses it several times.  "Want more ice?"

She shakes her head no, "The pain is about a 6 and I would love more ice."  She takes a chip from him and asks again, "Did you talk to anyone?"

"I've only left your side when you were in the OR, no I haven't talked to anyone.  We can call when you get to a room."

"Get to a room?  An appendectomy is outpatient, you're silly."

"Babe, they had to take more than your appendix.  Your infection was pretty bad." he hesitates to go on without the doctor and Beth sees that. 

In a panic, she asks "What else did they take, Jon?"

Seeing her distress and her anxiety over what he said, he had to be honest, "They had to take your right ovary and your right fallopian tube."

"They what???" she squeaks, she can't believe what she had just heard. 

"They were too infected, he didn't want to take the chance and leave them in there.  Beth, you're pretty sick."