XIV - Anxiety
The jet ski was long gone as Stan managed to locate and drag Diana's body to the shore.
He rummaged through their things in the beach hut to find his phone.
He was shaking as he rang 911. He feared the worst.
As the rescue helicopter touched down only five minutes later, the paramedics leapt out and shone their torches on the lifeless body of Diana. She felt clammy to the touch, but there was a slight pulse as one nodded to the other to get the stretcher. The senior paramedic attached an oxygen mask over Diana's face and examined her head injury. There was a very deep gash, but the blood flow was a small trickle.
Stan helped them to carry Diana on her stretcher into the helicopter.
As soon as they landed the senior paramedic took the radio and called for a crash team at Miami’s Atlantic University Hospital to meet them at the rooftop helipad.
A few minutes later, Stan watched helplessly as the crash team took his bride into the bowels of the hospital while he was ushered to the waiting room.
The interval was agonising. When Stan asked, nobody seemed to know anything. So he sat with his head in his hands, fearing the worst.
Eventually, a doctor appeared.
“Stanislav Havel?”
“Yes. That's me.”
“Ah, Mr Havel. Your wife is alive. She is lucky. The glancing blow from a jet ski I believe knocked her out very quickly. That in itself may have minimised damage to her brain. And also probably prevented her from drowning. Your prompt actions certainly saved her life. But she is a very sick young lady. We are keeping her in a coma to protect her brain from further damage. Preliminary scans indicate only superficial swelling. But we cannot be sure until it goes down. She must remain sedated with a feeding tube until further notice. As a seconded staff member, Doctor Garry is covered for all medical costs here. She will be put in a private room with round the clock supervision. We can arrange for you to stay nearby. May I ask, exactly how many months pregnant is your wife?”
“What do you mean, pregnant? Diana never said anything. “
“Oh, OK. She is, of course, a busy lady. There can be superficial bleeding in early pregnancy. We have known several professional women to assume they were having a light period and not realise they were pregnant. When your wife regains consciousness, I will organise scans and gynaecological exams with the appropriate department. Until then, she is under my care. I am Doctor Lynda Beak, neurosurgeon and specialist in neurological traumas. Here is my card. And don’t worry, the prognosis is good. We do have some members of the Royal Bahamas Police to speak to you about the incident. They believe they have caught the offenders. Drinking and fast transport do not make a good combination. We have many incidents on the mainland here too.”
“Thank you, doctor. I am very grateful. The news will take a while to sink in.”
“I am sure. I have instructed the police that this must be a short visit, so get some rest once they are gone. My colleague here has your room key, a map and details of the hospital. Diana is in safe hands.”
The police officers were respectful and just requested an initial statement as well as offering their sympathies for Diana’s situation. The taller one, detective White left his contact details. He and his colleague were based at the Bahamian High Commission in Miami and were called in on cases like this where a victim had to be evacuated to the US mainland. They offered to arrange a courier to bring Stan's and Diana's passports over to them.
Shortly afterwards Stan was ushered into his private room on the same floor of Diana’s hospital ward. By now, it was early morning, and the Sun was starting to come up. He knew he was hungry, but his attention was elsewhere, and his stomach was tight with anxiety. He lay down on the bed in his clothes, but as he was in his beachwear and the air con was on full, he started to shiver before pulling a blanket over himself. He fell into an awkward sleep.
XV - Hope
A loud knocking on the door broke Stan out of his troubled sleep. He had been having a horrific dream where he had been swimming in the sea and had become surrounded by pirates on motorcycles brandishing chains and medieval scorpions with sharp spikes. He felt powerless.
“Mr Havel. Mr Havel. Can we come in, please?”
“Ah, yes, OK.”
Stan got up and wrapped the blanket around his shoulders before opening the door. Standing outside was a hospital orderly and a nurse in his thirties.
“Here are your passports and a change of clothes that the Bahamian police collected for you from your ship.”
The orderly handed Stan a small box, then smiled and walked away. The nurse introduced himself.
“Hi, Mr Havel. I am Staff Nurse Alec Stevenson. I am assigned to your wife’s care while she is on our ward here. I am glad to say that her condition has stabilised and the doctor wants to proceed with a series of scans. You may wish to accompany her.”
“Yes, of course. Thank you. “
Stan quickly opened his package, put on his jumper, pocketed the passports and followed along with the nurse to Diana’s ward.
The hospital corridors were dull but well-lit and clean. This was a modern and well-funded teaching hospital.
When they reached the ward, Nurse Alec used his thumbprint to open the sliding door. Once inside, a ward sister looked up and passed over the visitor book to Stan to sign. It was an iPad with a securing cord to the desk. He gave his thumbprint to it and then gave a slight smile to the camera as it prompted him for his photograph. He handed it back to her, and immediately she handed him a printed photo visitor card attached to a lanyard.
Nurse Alec beckoned Stan with him. They entered a private room with a series of monitors wired up to the patient lying in the high-tech hospital bed.
Diana was breathing via a face mask, her injured head carefully sutured and her face otherwise very pale and lifeless. Her hand did twitch very slightly as Stan looked on dumbfounded by the sight of his bride of only a few months in such a dire predicament.
Nurse Alec checked the monitor screens and proceeded to unplug a number of the connections. Once the required amount was disconnected, he continued to lower the backrest of the bed and unlock the travelling wheels.
“Follow me please sir.” Said Alec.
Stan obediently followed as Diana was pushed out of her room and along the corridor to an Ultrasound room just outside the ward.
The clinician spoke to Stan. “Are you the father of the foetus?”
“Diana is my wife, and if there is a child, it is mine also.”
“Yes, of course. I meant no disrespect. But we have to be careful. Hopefully, your lady will regain consciousness, but if not, you are the legal guardian and have full legal jurisdiction over it. And in the meantime, of course.”
“I see.”
“I have been asked to do an I initial scan of the womb area to ascertain the stage of the term it has been carried to. You may watch the screen; of course, I will take measurements and determine life functions. “
The clinician wiped and lubed up a stainless-steel probe then applied it to Diana’s bare tummy area. The screen showed up a tiny foetal baby with a small head, body and limbs. At critical cross-sections, he paused and used the touch screen to pull down a ruler to measure the size of the tiny creature.
“Your child appears to be in good order, alive and measuring approximately six inches. Which indicates it is around four months in age. I suspect that the gynaecologist will recommend proceeding to term. But they are not bound to my purely indicative opinion. “
“Um, thank you. I am ever more surprised. This is amazing news. I hope she is around for it too.” Stan stroked Diana’s hand as he spoke. The clinician just nodded.
Alec returned. He tore off a scan, nodded then wheeled Diana back out of the Ultrasound room.
“Follow me, please.”
The small party entered a large office at the edge of the gynaecology department. The short south-east Asian doctor looked up.
&nb
sp; “I am Hong, Dr Hong. Sit down please.”
Dr Hong took the notes and the scan from the nurse. He muttered, then shook his head plus nodded a couple of times as he pulled up Diana’s details via the barcoded note sleeve.
As he looked up at Stan, he spoke.
“We will have to see if your wife regains consciousness before the due date or if we have to intervene at the appropriate time. The baby appears to be in good condition and is in its second trimester. The mother appears to be feeding it correctly, but we are at early days after her accident. I have asked to be kept informed at all times for any changes. I am recommending rich feeding tubes be connected to feed both, um, Diana and the child. From the initial tests, it is likely to be a girl since the hormones do not indicate any elevated testosterone in the bodily system. But without further information, intersex or male states are still possible if less likely. Due date is approximately four months hence.”
“Thank you, Doctor. It has all come as a shock to me as I didn’t know she was pregnant. “
“It could be that she wanted to surprise you, but usually that would be a few weeks earlier in my experience. More likely and increasingly common is ‘working woman syndrome' where a busy woman with less regular periods dismisses the possibility of pregnancy when she sees the occasional bleeding she gets from the early stages of carrying a foetus. I see a lot of it. I hope that she regains consciousness in time to enjoy her motherhood. And with minimal damage, of course. Good day to you.”
With that, they were on the move again back to where they started.
At the neurological trauma ward, Diana was plugged back into her monitors.
Alec spoke. “We can’t do a full-body CT scan due to her pregnancy. But from the initial scan, we are hopeful that the healing process will kick in and minimize the damage from the blow. Despite the bruising and blood you saw, and can still see, she was lucky and the prognosis is good. But there is no guarantee that she will regain consciousness I am afraid. We are now in a waiting game. Can I get you some coffee?”
“Ah, yes, please. Diana is strong. She will pull through. “
Stan stood next to his wife’s unconscious body; the tears welling up in his eyes. He clenched his fist and punched the air. “Why, why, Diana? Please come back to me!”
There was not a sound to be heard in the room apart from the pings and hums of the monitors, and yet he suddenly felt comforted as he was convinced that a small voice in his head had said “She will be OK. This is not her time.”
Alec returned with the coffee for him.
“Are you coping OK with this, or would you like some counselling? We can provide it for you.”
Stan shook his head. “No. I will be fine. I am positive she will pull through.”
After his coffee, Stan was so exhausted that he just had to go back to his room for a snooze. He asked Alec to call him if anything changed with Diana’s condition.
XVI - Waiting
Stan did manage to sleep for just over four hours.
He dreamt of beautiful sights where Diana was swimming in clear pools of water or standing surrounded by sparkly crystals. It was very comforting and relaxing for him.
Even when he awoke, he was more relaxed than for a long time. Memories of the accident came back, but they seemed less real than the dream, less relevant and much less critical.
When Dr Beak knocked on his door, she was greeted by a more upbeat Stan, freshly showered, changed and even shaved.
“Come in.”
“Ah, Dr Havel, your wife is responding well to stimulants. We will have to wait at least a week before all of the swelling has shown itself. But early signs are good. She had a lucky shave with death, I think. Another inch to the middle and things would be much worse.”
“I am feeling more positive now. But I will not rest peacefully until Diana is back with me again. “
“If the swelling appears to be superficial in a few days, we will let her come out of her coma naturally. “
“Thank you.”
The doctor left the room, and Stan sat back down. He sighed and plugged in his air tube earphones. Now for another hard task. To inform Diana’s mother about the accident.
The phone rang for two rings, and Diana’s mother answered.
“Hello?”
“Ah, hello, um, Mrs Garry, Karen. I have some bad news.”
“Oh, my God! Diana isn’t dead, is she? Oh those Americans with their guns, I should have stopped her. Oh, no!” She started crying hysterically.
“No, no, she is alive. But she was involved in an accident. She was swimming when a jet ski came out of nowhere and hit her head. She is injured and in an induced coma in a top hospital in Miami. She is under specialist supervision, and I am with her. The prognosis is good for her recovery, but it is early days as the accident was yesterday evening and the swelling on her brain needs to reduce again before she can be brought round. But I will keep you informed. “
“Oh my God Stanley, I mean Stanislav, I mean Stan. This is all such a shock. Has the jet ski person been arrested? This is awful. This sort of thing you don’t expect to happen to your own flesh and blood. That poor Kirsty McColl was run down while swimming in Mexico. She died. Oh, poor Diana. Let me pack and come over.”
“I don’t know what good that would do but, I entirely understand if you want to. I am sure we can find a hotel for you. We are not that well off to pay for too much though as our wedding cost quite a lot of course.”
“Don’t worry darling. I will not impose. Diana’s daddy will book it all for me. What is the name of the hospital? You must give me the ward details so we can send cards and flowers anyway. My poor dears I will come over straight away. “
Stan gave his mother-in-law all the required contact details. After the customary goodbyes, he turned his phone off and sighed again. Good grief, he thought. I am sure I could do without her mother around us 24/7. He sat down and made himself another coffee then started another call.
“Hello, my darling sister. How are you? And how is your beau, Tara?”
“Super dearest brother. We have some wonderful news for you!”
“Well, I have some more distressing news first, I am afraid. Diana is in an induced coma after being hit by a jet ski last night. It has been the most awful experience of my life. The doctor said she should be OK in the end, but...”
The tears welled up and were let loose as he sobbed uncontrollably on the end of his phone. The tears rolled down, and he was inconsolable.
“Oh, you poor boy. That is awful. Tara, my lovely, Tara, come here – bad news.”
The sound was muffled as Stan's sister first called out to her partner, and Diana's sister, to come to the phone. Stan heard more muffled voices followed by a shriek as Tara got the news. When things had settled, it was Tara on the line.
“Stan, how is she now? Will she be OK? Is she going to come round soon?”
“Hi, Tara. Wish we were chatting in better circumstances. Diana is in an induced coma. She had a big gash on her head from the jet ski, and it has bruised her brain. Until the swelling goes down, we won’t know if there is permanent damage. It is a waiting game. Your mother may well be on her way here. You could try stopping her if you want, but I don’t think it will make any difference. “
“Thanks, Stan. As you know, we are a force of nature in the Garry family. Mummy will take herself over to you, and fingers crossed, Diana will pull through like the fighter she is. She survived the fall when she was a kid. She will do it now. Besides, we want her as our bridesmaid. And you as our best man. “
“What? Are you guys getting married? That is fantastic. I wish I could tell Diana the good news. I better tell you our other surprise. We are going to be parents. Most probably of a girl. But that last bit of information can you please keep to your selves.”
“Oh, wow. How many months?”
“Around four. So, July or August, maybe?”
“Awesome. When Diana is back from her forced rest, we wil
l have to organise a baby shower for her. And we may need to look at wrap style bridesmaid dresses to accommodate her bump, or what remains of it as we are having an early September wedding. Daddy’s managed to wangle the use of Corfe Castle for the wedding and reception. OK, it will be in a tent mostly, but it’s home. We are going to be living in Swanage. Your sister is a natty diver and fisherwoman, so she's going to be running diving and fishing tours around Poole Harbour and the coast here.”
“Wow. Congratulations. We all have a lot to take in.”
“Very true. You get that sister of mine well again, Stanislav. We are all counting on you.”
“I will do what I can. But most of it is down to the medical care here and Diana herself.”
The couple swapped over so Stan could congratulate his sister. Then they agreed they would receive updates when anything changed. As Tara was generally broke and was saving up for her wedding, it wasn’t an option for her to come over. But she would be there in spirit. Tara would pass on the news to their other sister Aphrodite.
Stan put the phone down, then lay back down to rest and sleep.
XVII - Visitors
“Stanley-slav!”
Karen Garry called out to her son-in-law at the arrivals gate. She had (partially) corrected herself as she called out his name.
“So glad to see you. How are you, and how is my sweet daughter currently?”
As she spoke, she held out the handle of her largest case to Stan.
“Uh, okay thanks, considering. The dig has given me a leave of absence. Diana is still sedated. The swelling has peaked and is now going down. Tomorrow they will do the main scan to see what damage is in situ. That will determine if she can come out of sedation or stay under longer. It is a critical day. I doubt that I will sleep tonight. “
“I see. We best head over. Thank you for organising a guest apartment for me at the hospital. “
“They have been outstanding. It is a staff benefit. There is a shuttle bus about to go there, leaving in two minutes if we can just get to the door now.”
The Priestess Page 7