The sounds of oxygen tanks filled the ICU room with life as well as the imminent potential of death. The other hospital rooms with patients had signs of life in them everywhere; it was inevitable that these people would end up recovering. They would go back to their comfortable little cubicles, living as if nothing changed at all. Being in ICU was the total opposite. It was so close to death you would think Hades himself lived there. If you were one of the lucky ones, you’d make it out alive. Yet most of the time you weren’t even promised a tomorrow, sometimes not even the next hour. I stood over my comatose body, examining every single part of what I saw. My hair, a mess of brunette waves was now shaven completely off. Instead, someone replaced it with a cream bandage like the one plastered around my …show more content…
right leg. My sapphire eyes swelled like cysts, and my face was as rough as sandpaper. I knew I couldn't feel the cold, torn skin on my body, but I grazed my fingers over it anyways, "You're a fighter Dannie; you've got to wake up. You have to. You don’t have a choice. I’m telling you that you don’t have one," I told myself as I ran my fingers up and down a heinous bumpy scar. I rose from the starched hospital bed my body lay still in. I took a glance at myself once more before I stood up to ponder around in the waiting room. It was there where I was hoping to find my parents and my friends waiting for me to awake from my slumber. ~ Outside in the waiting room, I found my parents sitting next to both Law and Lilly in complete silence. When I saw Lilly, she had horrible bruising on her freckled cheekbones. Her left arm also sat uncomfortably in a navy blue sling, but she strategically covered it with her soft brown hair. Law had a huge mummy cast on his right leg and was positioned in a rickety old wheelchair. His perfect posture was replaced with one that was slumping and his once sparkling caramel eyes lost their shine. Even his brunette hair, which typically was slicked back into a pompadour, now hung limply across his large forehead. I then looked at my dad, noticing boiling anger insinuating in his eyes. Then I glanced at my mom who looked even more tired than she usually did. A fatigued surgeon walked up to them and cleared her throat, "Mr. and Mrs. Smith, your daughter just got out of surgery. Right now her vitals are extremely low. To bring them back up, we put her in a medically induced coma. We don't know if she will be awake during the next few hours, days, or even weeks. We encourage you to think about life quality just in case." My dad raised his voice at her, "Ma'am, you don't understand. She's only eighteen, she was driving and someone refused to yield in the intersection. Now you're telling me she's hanging by a thread?" "Mr. Smith, it's not a strong possibility. Besides, it's definitely something for you and your wife to consider. Dannie may or may not wake up, and we need to prepare—" "Damn right we're going to prepare for this! We're going to take our daughter home. Then we're going to sue the drunk that hit her and her friends for every penny he has!" my dad responded gruffly. My mom grabbed his hand. "Michael, calm down. They're doing their best to keep our daughter alive." She said softly. Both of them collapsed into a fountain of tears. Lilly looked at the surgeon sheepishly with her fatigued eyes and asked, "So, do you know anything about our other friend?" "I'm sorry, I'm afraid I—" "His name is Adlet Barnes. He's about, oh, I don't know, five foot six, and he's got a mop of brown hair." Law interrupted, arching his thick, dark eyebrows. "I’m sorry but I’m not allowed to disclose that information to anyone but family. I'll come back to check in on in a few hours." The surgeon replied curtly before she turned out of the waiting room. "They don't even know where Adlet is? Wow, what a bunch of egotistical—" "Lils, they're just doing their job, we should find him just to see how he's doing." Law rubbed his rough hands against Lilly's back. I wandered over to them and put my hands on their shoulders. No matter how much I wanted them to see me; I knew that they wouldn’t be able to. "I do too, but we need to find Adlet before it's too late." Law said softly, grabbing Lilly's hand. Together, like one body, Lilly pushed Law down the hallway in blissful oblivion. I followed behind them the whole way knowing in my heart that Adlet would be okay. ~ "We're here to see Adlet Barnes." Lilly spoke authoritatively towards the medical secretary at the front desk of the lobby. The secretary was a rather stout woman with short silvering hair and moon rimmed glasses. She had frown lines on top of liver spots and looked like her job had worn her out to the point of no return. Lilly wrapped her calloused hands around the handles of Law's wheelchair. Together, they waited anxiously for a response. "Are you friends or family?" she asked through her adenoidal voice, making Lilly, Law, and me cringe to our bones. "Uh, we're... His siblings." Law stammered. Lilly nodded her head, clearly in unanimous agreement with Law. “He's in ICU room two," the secretary said. Lilly and Law gave apathetic smiles and made their way casually over to the elevator. I knew they felt exactly the way I was: Distressed, angry, and optimistic. However, the optimism we had died out quickly. As Lilly, Law, and I made our way down the ICU hall, a group of surgeons and doctors whizzed past Law and Lilly. Law nearly collapsed from his wheelchair to the shiny stone gray floor of the hospital. As we made our way near Adlet’s room, we heard sounds of utter chaos. "The ICU patient in two is critical, we need a crash cart stat!" one of the surgeons exclaimed as they sprinted into the second ICU room. Lilly and Law looked at each other nervously, "ICU room two, that's—" "Adlet!" they cried agonizingly.
I strolled behind them, attempting to keep up with my stubby legs, doing my best to keep from breaking down. We made an abrupt halt in front of where Adlet's room was. When we saw what was going on, our hearts shattered into a million infinitesimal pieces. In the room, surgeons and doctors pushed tons of needles into Adlet’s chest as if he were Julius Caesar. Just the pure sight of this was enough to make Law have a fit of hysteria. He began to wail, "No dammit, no dying. You can't die! You’re a God! C’mon Adlet! Don’t do this!” "Law, things happen for a reason, we can’t stress. He’s Adlet, he’s going to fight this." Lilly responded as confidently as she could. However, despite her best efforts, her voice still shook like an earthquake. In the room, one of the surgeons glanced over to them. With an aggravated look, the surgeon made eye contact with one of the other doctors. He said bluntly, "He's flat lining. We need to push another of epi, and have one of the nurses make sure those people watching leave the premises. If he survives this, we're going to have to rush him to the OR and we cannot have civilians watching us do our
jobs." "Right away sir," one of the nurses in rose pink scrubs stated. She rushed over to where Lilly, Law, and I peered into Adlet’s room. Briskly she told us, "You can't be here." “But he's our—" Lilly stammered. Her calm tone began to fade, making Law begin to panic once more. "Ma'am, you and your friend need to wait in the waiting room." Lilly shot her a malicious glare with her broken-hearted eyes. She wheeled away with Law, doing her best to be as strong as she could be to prevent Law from breaking down. I stood watching the scene from outside of Adlet's room through the tiny glass window even after they were forced to leave. I kept hoping that maybe he would make this through alive, but like I said earlier; once you’re in the ICU, death is the only way out. "It's a caravansary in there," a voice said. I glanced out of my peripherals and saw the stubble of Adlet's beard and his sly, mysterious smile. "Adlet?" I asked in disbelief, looking over at him. His face looked completely fresh and lively. Unlike today, he looked completely healthy; he looked just like he always did. Seeing him nearly convinced me these last twenty-three hours were a nightmare, but I knew that was just false hope. "Yes, 'tis me. God, I look like shit in there," he said, looking at his dying body with his warm hazel eyes through the glass. "You're dying Adlet. Of course you look like crap." "So? I still look awful. Even if I survive this, I don't think I want to. I'll be a vegetable. They cut me open like I'm a dartboard and took parts of my brain. I'm good as dead Dannie." "Adlet, you have so much to live for, you wanted to be a Manga—" “Forget my dreams Dannie, just forget them. I'm going to die, they've been trying to restart my heart for ten minutes now and they have nothing. No murmurs, no pulse, nothing. I'm dead Dannie, it's over. My dreams are as good as gone. I'm going to be in the afterlife. While there, I'll be creating a living hell for you. That is like ten times better than this purgatory." "Adlet..." I responded, trying my best to stifle a laugh through the tears welling in my eyes. "Choose to live, follow your dreams. You are going to be amazing. Live for god's sake. I know you can, and I promise I'm going to be watching you." He gave a jubilant smile. Adlet began to walk down the dimly lit hallway. He slowly became lighter and lighter until nothing of him remained except memories. In front of me, one of the surgeons lifted up his hands and glanced at the heart monitor. Without a moment of hesitation, he declared hoarsely, "Time of death, 15:42." As quickly as I could, I ran back down to my room and sat on the corner of my hospital bed. Tears began to drip down my beet red face. My mom was holding my hand as my dad rubbed her back. Lilly and Law sat on the other empty bed staring with melancholy in their eyes. I looked back at my exhausted body and stroked my hand. I whispered to myself, "Dannie, Adlet is dead. You have a choice. You can die, and you can live. If you live, you have so much potential in your future, and if you die, you give that up. You need to live. You have to live. I'm telling you this because I am you; Live Dannie. I want to live." I looked down at my hands and they began to fade right before my eyes. My head began to hurt and my lips felt like sandpaper. My bones felt like they were collapsing, and my muscles ached everywhere. I opened my eyes, wincing at the pain I was feeling in my forehead from the surgery. I forced myself to open my jaw locked mouth and utter two words, “I…I’m Alive?”
“I was all bandaged up. But they had told him about it… ‘have given more than your life.’ What a speech!”
A doctor’s job is to save people. However, they cannot be given the title of being God like because they do not have the power of giving and taking away life. Similarly, Fitz tries to save Mr. Amiel’s life in “Night Flight”, but fails to do so. This short story exemplifies how the course of nature can not be stopped for any reasons. Although, Fitz knew from before that Mr.Amiel was not going to live long he still decides to complete his duty in the chance of him surviving. Fitz says, “I say that this is an unfortunate case, and obviously Dr. Manolas has done everything in his power” (Lam 246). Regardless of knowing Mr. Amiel is dying and is in serious condition, Fitz takes him on the plane. Despite the effort, Fitz knows the chances of Mr. Amiel surviving are low and therefore tries to consult Mrs. Amiel. He says, “‘He is physically delicate’, I say. I try to continue, to explain specifics. I want to clear my conscience by mention...
They knew that if they just held out that everything would be okay and that King would get them through it. All they needed was faith and patients. They knew that King would one day bring them out of the horrible hole that they had been put in, they knew that one day everyone would be able to eat in the same place, and they wouldn’t have to go to the back of the store if they wanted to buy something, they just had to trust in King, and that’s what they did.
that the patient could easily snap out of it. Elf is admitted in the hospital after attempting
Takayuki watched helplessly from outside the surgery. Anguished. Relentlessly he beat against the cold steel door. Why did you have to leave me? Bursting into tears, the orphan’s body began to spasm violently with each powerful sob. The surgeons looked on helplessly…
...when attempting to rise from bed, Mr. Hill may not have experienced fluid overload, and the surgical patient’s handoff would have gone smoothly with the pre-op nurse.
I arrived at the hospital with eight units of blood pooled in my abdomen. Somehow I survived and those I talked to that attended various facets of the emergency surgery marveled at the wizardry Dr. Simon demonstrated in pulling me through. When he discharged me, I asked him how close a call I’d had. He said, “You are the first to walk out of here considering the state of your arrival.” I gave silent thanks for all the years of training I’d done to become a top tennis player because this was surely why I survived.
Children develop normally by stimulation and from the experiences around them. Usually when a child is shut out from the world they will become developmentally delayed, but that is not the case with Jack. In the novel Room by Emma Donoghue, Jacks mother, Ma, has been kidnapped and held prisoner in a shed for seven years and five year old Jack was born there. This room is the only world he knows. But, despite being locked in a room for the first five years of his life, according to the four main points of development, Jack has developed normally intellectually, physically, socially, and emotionally.
Paramedics squeeze my arms, staining their gloves a deep red. Doctors and nurses scream at each other as they run across the hallways wheeling me into the operating theatre. I look over to my wrists as clear fluids begin their journey into my veins. My heart is in my throat, my pulse is echoing throughout the room, my limbs are quivering, and my lungs are screaming. Nurses force plastic tubes up my nose, as jets of cold air enter my sinuses, giving me relief. Inkblots dance before my eyes like a symphony of lights. A sudden sleepiness overcomes me and slowly my vision dims.
The sound of her son’s voice brought her to tears. She did not know how to respond to losing her child. She falls to the floor. She could barely move. Her exhaustion has taken over. Her body was drain of every bit of strength she could muster. She strains her neck looking up to Colet. He tries to help her up, but she did not want his assistance.
I slowly wake up, and it must have been hours later. I looked down and my leg was gone. I could feel a searing pain rush through my body. My leg was bandaged up around the cut, but I could still imagine how it looked. Blood was dripping from the bandages. I could not take it anymore. Right there I shut my eyes, and never again were they opened. My family was traumatized at my death.
The last hour I had spent preparing for this moment, because deep down I seemed to know that my family would never leave the hospital alive. Still, the words hit me at full force, and I feel my breathing quicken and heartbeat pick up as my eyes dart around the room. My pulse pounds in my temple as if I just ran a mile, and the doctor is trying to get me to calm down, but the room is spinning and inky blackness edges into the corner of my vision. My legs feel weak and shaky as I succumb to the horribleness of it all.
The patient and I walked laps around the unit accompanied by “Where is my husband?” “Where am I?” “How do I get home?” “I have to get home, or my husband will worry. Don’t you understand?” “Can you help me?” and many more questions. I was able to get food ordered and a few bites in the patient before the laps continued. After a few hours, I convinced her to lay down in her room for a while. I was able to tuck her into bed and carefully explained the situation, knowing she would forget it in a matter of minutes. To my surprise, the
Who brought me here? Out of impulse, my hand travels to my face, pressing the throbbing area on my right temple. I felt a scar and flinched at the pain. I tried to get up. Once I stepped on the cold, white tiles, I instantly fell back on to the bed. My body, engulfed in pain as if objecting my decision to stand up. I lay there pathetically, waiting for the pain to wash away. Staring at the ceiling, illuminated with a white fluorescent light. Perhaps waiting for some help by the hospital staff. I still didn't know how I got here, who took me here, how long I've been here.
OUCH! My leg crippled with pain. I tried to shuffle my way to the window, but it was excruciating. As my senses kicked back in, I felt pains shooting up and down my body. Peering down at my hands I screamed. My hands were covered in cold, congealed blood.