The Inn in Rhode Island, page 14
I moved the curtain and found Erin. She appeared fine. The moment she saw me, she put her arms out to me. I sat on the edge of the bed and held her.
Erin started to cry. “I’m so sorry.” Voicing the unfairness of the situation.
“Shh,” I whispered. “It’s okay. Everything is going to be just fine. Are you okay?”
The nurse said, “Thank God for seatbelts.”
I turned toward her. Barry always insisted the boys and Lynnae wear their seatbelts. “The driver, Barry, he had his seatbelt on as well, right?”
The nurse shrugged her shoulders.
Like a needle stuck on an old stereo, the letters. ‘ICU’ kept playing in my head.
“Yes,” Erin said. “He had his seatbelt fastened but… it didn’t matter.”
“What happened? Do you remember?” I asked pleadingly.
Erin looked down. “Someone drove right into Barry’s side of the truck. I overheard one of the paramedics say the man appeared to have suffered a heart attack.”
“Is he okay?” I asked.
The nurse shrugged again, offering a deep sigh and thoughtful expression.
“I remember I had my hands out in front of me, stretching my arms toward the windshield. The next thing I knew, the air bag had deployed. I pushed it out of my face. Barry was covered in blood. I screamed for help. As they were putting me in the ambulance, I saw them carry Barry out of the truck. Julie…” she cried.
I hugged her and told her Barry’s tough. “He’s a big man, strong, he’ll be okay. Don’t you worry,” I said as I noticed her new bruises.
Chapter 29
I kissed Erin and told her I needed to check on Barry. She insisted she come with me. The nurse said she would have to get clearance. “I’ll bring her to the waiting room near ICU as soon as Dr. Shannon comes back with her x-ray results.” The nurse looked down at Erin. “I promise.”
I touched the nurse’s hand. “Will you stay with her?”
“For as long as I can.” She raised her eyebrows for me to leave.
I walked in and found Lynnae sobbing in Dan’s arms. For a minute, it looked like Lynnae might crumble into a thousand pieces. Gone was her radiant smile. When she saw me, she stood up and held out her arms. She turned slowly, wobbled, and almost fell to the floor.
All three of us sat down on the small sofa. Dan on one side and me on the other. Three hours later, Dr. Shannon walked into the waiting room. He placed his hand on Lynnae’s shoulder. “Mrs. Woodland?” Lynnae’s eyes met his. “I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to get to you. Your husband has suffered a concussion. He took a terrible blow to his head. Looking at the CAT scan, I don’t see any broken bones or fractures. Right now, I am concerned with his loss of consciousness. We are waiting for the result of one more test before we move forward. Questions?”
“Can I see him?” Lynnae pleaded.
“Only for a few minutes.”
“Based on the CAT scan, can you tell us his prognosis?” I asked.
Dr. Shannon looked at me and then at Dan.
Lynnae sat up straight. “These are my parents. Julie and Dan Holliday.”
He nodded. “It is very difficult to make an accurate prognosis at this time. Let’s see what happens in the next few hours.” Before he left the room, he put his hand on Lynnae’s shoulder again adding, “I’ll check on Barry in an hour. You stay strong, now,” he said looking directly at Lynnae.
“Thank you.” Lynnae’s voice was soft. She turned to Dan and he helped her to her feet.
Dr. Shannon held the door open for us. “Down the hall on the left. They’re expecting you.”
Dan and I held her in our arms. A nurse pointed to Barry’s room. No door. Only a curtain pulled back.
It was worse than I expected. There were lines everywhere. Barry was on a breathing machine. The left side of his face covered in red marks and slashes. His head was wrapped in gauze.
Lynnae reached out and touched his hand. Dan pushed a chair up to her. Then he sat her down. Dan stood behind her. His hands never left her shoulders. Tears were running down his face. When our eyes met, I inhaled and shook my head. I hated to see a man cry. I took a deep breath. I had to be strong for Lynnae.
I stood at the foot of his bed, listening to his monitors. Looking at Lynnae remembering the day she walked into my bakery. From, that lanky young girl who had dreamed of becoming a baker to a serious and composed woman.
Her dreams of marrying the right guy – Barry.
When Lynnae put her head on the side of Barry’s bedrail, Dan let go of her. I could hear her begging him to fight. “I love you,” she whispered over and over.
A nurse came in. Moved about the room. Stood in front of the monitors, writing her findings down on her chart. Before she left the room, she gently touched Barry on his forehead. She flashed a grin at Lynnae. “We’re all praying for him.”
“Thank you so much,” Lynnae whispered back to her.
I found her words comforting. I was glad Lynnae had acknowledged her.
Lynnae sucked in a breath. “Wake up. Please, wake up.” Tears were streaming down her face. “I need you.”
When Lynnae moved her head and rested it on Barry’s chest, Dan looked at me and motioned for us to leave the room. Dan and I met everyone in the waiting room with sad eyes. When Jesse’s eyes filled with tears, I went back into the room, closing the curtain behind me, and sat at the foot of Barry’s bed. Lynnae was like a sister to Jesse.
“He’s a healthy man with a will to live. Barry’s going to pull out of this,” I said to Lynnae, hoping she believed me.
Lynnae sat there for a minute. She reached down and touched his hand. “Talk to me, Barry. Tell me, ‘I got this.’”
A moment later, two doctors came into the room. Dr. Shannon said, “This is Dr. Plimpton, she’s Barry’s neurologist.”
Dr. Plimpton held out her hand. “Mrs. Woodland, I am going to do everything in my power to help your husband.” She placed her hands on the foot of the bed. “He’s very weak. Now we wait and see if there is any more swelling during the night.”
I looked at her. “Dr. Shannon said he was waiting for one more test. Has that test come back yet?”
Dr. Plimpton looked at me and then at Lynnae. “The test Dr. Shannon was referring to is the test of time.”
Chapter 30
Dan came into the room and told us they were keeping Erin overnight. They want to observe her for the next twenty-four hours. Lynnae looked up. “Oh, my. That poor baby. How is she?”
“Her neck hurts her, and that’s why they want to keep her. They just want to make sure she doesn’t have any spinal issues down the road,” Dan said.
Lynnae’s entire body was shaking. Her hands were trembling. “I had forgotten about her being in the truck.” Tears filled her eyes, but she refused to let them fall.
I hugged her.
Dan walked over to us. “I’m going to get you something to eat. I’ll bring you back anything you’d like,” he said to us.
Lynnae looked at me. “He’s right, you should eat.”
I was too upset to think about food. “Can you bring saltines and ginger ale?” I looked back at Lynnae, “Lynnae?”
She didn’t answer me. She just nodded.
Dan kissed us both. “I’ll be right back.”
People with long white jackets moved in and out of the room.
By evening, a low-grade headache had settled on my right temple. Lynnae reached over and tapped me on my leg. “Tell me one of your stories.” She rested her head on my shoulder. I began stroking her hair. Lynnae let out a tired sigh, when a nurse came in holding a cup of water and a handful of oral swabs.
“This will help to keep his lips moistened,” the nurse said.
I reached up and took the cup and swabs from her. “I’ll do it.” We both stood up. Lynnae busied herself by fluffing Barry’s pillows and by moving his tissue box from one night table to the next and back again.
She touched the side of Barry’s face. “I love you,” she whispered, leaned down and kissed his forehead.
Nighttime surrounded us. The only light in the room was from Barry’s monitors. Dan sent me a text message. He was sitting in the corridor with Jesse outside Erin’s room. I texted him back, “I’ll see you in the morning. Thank you for the soda and crackers.”
Lynnae made a sobbing sound. “Wake up!”
I felt the sting of tears. This is not how it was supposed to be.
“I can’t take this crap,” Lynnae said in a raspy voice. She meandered around the room and then let out a sigh.
At one a.m. I heard Lynnae say, “Remember how long he made me wait? He wouldn’t make love to me, unless it was special. Pissed me right off when he called me a girl. Now, I just want to hear him say, ‘Girl, stop worrying. I got this!’”
Seconds turned to minutes and then into hours. By three-thirty, Lynnae had fallen asleep. All those months. Time lost. Precious moments that I never saw happen because of my tainted mind. I didn’t care about the woman who had given birth to her. She was mine to take care of… to look after. I bent down and gently brushed the hair from her face. Then I remembered her news of having a little girl of her own.
I picked up the glass of water, dipped the swab, and moistened his lips. A lump formed in my throat. “You made me a promise. I’m holding you to it. Open your eyes, Barry, come back to your family. They need you.” I kissed the side of his face. “She’s waited all her life for you. You are the love of her life. Those boys need their daddy. Your baby girl is expecting you to be the first to hold her.” I closed my eyes to the sound of the machines. Beep. Beep. Beep.
Chapter 31
Five a.m. three doctors, including Dr. Plimpton, came into the room. “Good morning,” Dr. Plimpton said to us as Lynnae lifted her head up and opened her eyes.
Lynnae and I both stood to greet them and hear the news.
“Could you give us a moment?” One of the other doctors asked.
“Of course,” I said. I looked at Lynnae. She wasn’t moving. “Come on, sweetheart, we’ll wait outside the room,” I said to her and gently touched her elbow.
We were standing near the nurse’s station when two men pushing a gurney stopped outside Barry’s room. Dr. Plimpton came to us and the men wheeled the gurney inside. “We’re sending Barry down for another MRI.” She reached over and touched Lynnae’s forearm. “This is normal procedure.” She motioned for us to step out of the way. When they rolled by us, Lynnae sucked in a breath. I saw the doctor wince. “I’m sorry,” she said to me. “What is your name?”
“Julie Holliday, I’m Lynnae’s—”
“Mother,” Lynnae said. “This is my mother.”
She put her hand out, and I shook it. “Please come with me.” We followed her to her office. She closed the door and held out a chair for Lynnae. I sat in the one next to her.
“Let me tell you what I know.” She sat down and opened a file folder. “At the accident site, at first, Barry was unresponsive. Then he would make movements, but they made little sense. He would move body parts that weren’t an appropriate action given the stimulant he received.” She stood up and walked over to us, holding an iPad in her hands. Dr. Plimpton grabbed a chair and pushed it between ours. “When Barry’s truck got struck, the impact caused him to hit his head in a manner that may have jarred or shaken his brain.” She scrolled to the top of the iPad. Tapped on the screen and said, “We believe Barry has suffered a contusion of bruise on the left side of the brain, when the skull slammed and the brain was displaced, sort of like Jell-O if you dropped your container on the floor. Allowing it to become injured during the shakeup.”
She pointed to the iPad. “Bleeding over the left surface of the brain. Um, that would be the left occipital lobe from this bruise. The same as if someone hit you very hard in the arm with a baseball bat. The damaged tissue would make it bleed.”
I liked her. She was phrasing her words positively to make Lynnae feel better.
“Looking at this diagram.” She motioned with her hand from the neck to the top of the head. “We can see one tiny white spot in the left occipital region. That is a small spot of blood.” She pointed to an even smaller one at the top and said, “Here’s another one in the right frontal cortex. We call those hemorrhagic contusions. Small spots of blood that show damage to the underlining brain tissue.”
Lynnae’s breathing was erratic. I looked at her. So much for calming and reassuring. She appeared terrified. I wasn’t sure who would hit the floor first, her or me. I asked, “How do you treat this kind of injury?”
“Unlike those injuries that you may have heard about called epidermal or subdermal hemorrhages bleeds on the outside of the brain. Those can be surgically evacuated, relieving the pressure on the brain. Where these are located, there is no surgical treatment for this. The treatment revolves around keeping pressure inside the skull as low as possible by medical means.”
We heard someone knock on the door. Dr. Plimpton turned around. “Yes.”
A woman wearing a blue shirt and matching pants handed Dr. Plimpton a file. “Mr. Woodland’s latest MRI.”
Dr. Plimpton reached up. “Thank you.” She looked at it and took a deep breath. “Good news.” She pointed to the same photo we had just looked at. Then she pointed to the new MRI delivered to her. “There’s no further damage. Barry has not developed any more spots of blood.”
“What’s next?” Lynnae asked with barely a breath left in her.
“We wait. Your husband needs to fight.” She looked at Lynnae. “Is he a fighter?”
“With all his heart,” Lynnae replied.
Chapter 32
At eleven o’clock that morning, the emergency room physician told Erin she could go home. Dan insisted on staying at the hospital with Lynnae and me, but I begged him to go home and take care of the boys. Someone had to explain to the boys where their mother and father were. Dan suggested telling them Lynnae and Barry went back to Block Island. Lynnae told him that would be fine. She gulped. “Sam will not take this lightly.”
“But Sam knows school starts tomorrow,” I said.
“Julie, please!” Lynnae snapped at me.
“I’m sorry. Lynnae,” I said, trying to apologize.
“I can’t deal with anything other than my husband.” Lynnae crawled onto the foot of his bed. Wrapped her arms around his feet. “Wake the fuck up,” she said, rubbing his legs.
Dan kissed me and promised me he would return with clothes for the two of us.
“Wake up. Please wake up. I need you. Your sons need you.” An hour later, she drifted off to sleep.
I quietly moved my chair next to Barry’s head and sat down. The room would have been silent if not for the monitors. When a nurse made an entrance in the room, I held my finger to my lips. “Shh.” Then I pointed to Lynnae, and the nurse nodded.
A minute later, she came in with blankets and pillows. She bent down next to me. “I’ll have the orderly switch the chairs for reclining ones.” She flashed me a smile. “We believe in positive energy. Don’t be afraid to talk to him.” Before she left, she turned around and said, “I’ll send two dinners in at four o’clock.” Then she pointed to the sign above the nurse’s station: “South County a Friendly Hospital.”
I stood up and moistened Barry’s lips with another swab, then I whispered in his ear, “Okay, the staff is extremely nice and friendly. Please, can we leave now?” Nothing.
By day three, I had to admit I was getting worried. With every passing hour, Barry seemed to drift away from us. Lynnae refused to eat any more than she had to. Stressed, her stomach couldn’t handle any food. Her face, drawn. We saw Dr. Plimpton again. Each time, she assured us, Barry was stable and we needed to give him time. If I hear the word ‘time’ one more time, I’m going to explode.
Two a.m. Lynnae closed her eyes. I tucked a blanket over her. I sat in the corner with my cell phone and looked up symptoms of a head injury that included unconsciousness. When I read, “After traumatic brain injury (TBI), the deepest level of true coma lasts two to four weeks. If the person does not wake from the coma, they enter semi-comatose state, called vigil coma or vegetable state that include sleep/wake cycles.”
My heart started racing. I needed a glass of water. I wanted Dan. Lynnae groaned. That’s when I got up. Grabbed a cool cloth, and wiped Barry’s forehead. I moistened his lips and begged him to wake up. Nothing except that damn beep, beep, beeping sound.
I stood at the window. I never saw the snow come down. The entire parking lot was covered in snow. It was beautiful, magical. I looked up at the sky. I saw Him. Four gray lines. His stance was firm. His arms stretched out. I closed my eyes and pleaded, “Dear Heavenly Father, please place Your healing hands upon him. Wake him up. Bring him back to his wife and children. Lord, I am begging You. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Thank You.” I opened my eyes. “Amen.”
“That was beautiful,” Lynnae whispered.
I sat down next to her. Held her in my arms. Perhaps she was holding me. We both fell asleep.
I woke up during the night. Jumped out of the chair and felt a chill go through my body. I looked at Barry, his lips were dry, so I moistened them with the swab. Then I whispered in his ear, “You promised me. You told me that you would take care of her. Barry, I trusted you. I believed you when you said you loved her with all your heart. You told me those boys would never have to put a damn thing back. You have a daughter coming soon. Wake the hell up! You have a family to take care of.”
My tears touched his face. I turned around and grabbed a tissue.
“Where are my boys?” Barry asked in a raspy voice.
I looked at him. His eyes were on Lynnae.
I turned around. Lynnae was sitting up in the chair with the look of surprise and joy on her face. Tears streamed down her cheeks. I stepped back.
Lynnae stood up. Held her hands over her heart. She whispered, “Thank You.” When she moved closer to him, three nurses and Dr. Plimpton came in.
