Karen closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “I know, I’m sorry,” she said. “I don’t know what’s gotten into me. I’m tired and…I don’t know.”
Eric sat down by the cots and held her hand under the covers. “It’s ok. I love you. Go to sleep if you can, and we’ll deal with whatever it is when Ty gets here.”
Ty showed up about ten minutes later and knocked on the frame around the tent flap.
“Come in,” Eric said.
Karen squinted at the streaming sunlight as the flap opened and shut.
Eric squeezed Karen’s hand and then gave the seat to Ty.
“So, Karen, feeling a bit under the weather,” he said.
“I guess so,” Karen said. “Mostly just a headache and fever, though.” Karen put the lie to that by trying to roll her head again, which Eric had been noticing her doing since he’d returned to the tent.
“How about your neck,” Ty asked.
“Kind of stiff, I guess,” Karen said.
“Appetite,” Ty asked.
Karen frowned and shook her head. Ty picked up the canteen and shook it, noticing that it was mostly empty, so at least she had drunk some water.
“Stomach-ache,” Ty asked.
“No,” Karen said.
Ty nodded and pulled out his pen light. “Okay, let me check your eyes,” but as soon as he swung the light towards Karen’s face, she flinched and squinted, and he turned off the light.
Ty sighed and nodded.
“Eric, come sit down,” Ty said.
Eric felt his stomach drop, but came and sat on the side of the cot and reached under the covers to hold Karen’s hand.
“Karen, have you ever heard of Meningitis?” Ty asked.
Eric and Karen had had no warning, and both of them gasping in stereo would have been comical if the situation hadn’t been so serious.
Karen nodded weakly. “How bad is it?”
“I can’t put this mildly, and I don’t have the tests to make a definitive diagnosis, but you are showing all of the classic symptoms of bacterial meningitis,” Ty said. “The good news is that if it is, I may finally know what is going around camp.”
Ty sighed. “The bad news is that I have no idea how far along it is, or if we have the right kind of antibiotics to treat it.”
Ty reached out and grabbed Eric’s hand and Karen’s shoulder. “I’m going to give you the strongest antibiotic we have, but because I honestly don’t know how far along it is, or even what strain we’re dealing with, I can’t know for sure if it’ll be the right antibiotic.”
Eric took a deep breath and squeezed Ty’s hand. “Thank you for being honest with us. I think I speak for Karen, too, when I say that it’s better than false hope or an outright lie.”
Karen nodded and swallowed. “How long before I’ll start to feel better?”
“I brought the antibiotics with me,” Ty said, “just in case. I want you to start now. It’s intravenous–sorry, an IV–twice a day. I’ll start a saline IV now and add the antibiotics to it. We’ll keep the IV going as long as we need to. It’s at least a ten-day course, though, so it could be a week before you are feeling much better.”
Ty was fighting back tears, because he knew at this point that there was a real possibility that nothing he could do would make any difference for any of the sick patients in camp or in town. The best case would be that they had caught it in time and the antibiotics they had were correct for this strain. Karen could start feeling better in three or four days. In a worst-case scenario, they all had a drug-resistant strain of streptococcus pneumoniae, causing pneumonia or meningitis, and people would either get over it on their own, be left with severe neurological damage, or be dead within the next week.
“I’ll be back tomorrow morning, or have one of the medics come by,” Ty said.
“Thank you,” Karen said, “for everything.”
Ty nodded and left as Eric and Karen hugged.
Chapter Six
Eric laid out a sleeping bag on the floor of the tent next to their cots, but didn’t sleep at all the first night. He’d asked Ty if he needed to worry about catching anything from Karen, but Ty told him not to worry as long as they weren’t kissing and she wasn’t coughing. He’d stayed off of their cots–mostly to make her more comfortable, and so she could get as much sleep as possible.
Ty showed up at 5:45 in the morning to give Karen her meds. “It feels like your fever has come down a little bit,” he said. “It’s probably a little early for the antibiotics to have done too much but are you feeling any better?” As subjective as patient reaction was in a case like this, it would still be the best barometer to the efficacy of the drug.
Karen shrugged. “I was able to sleep, but I don’t know if that was just being tired. I’m hungry for breakfast,” she said.
Ty nodded. “That’s definitely a good sign,” he said. “Stay in bed, eat when you can, but get as much rest as possible.”
Karen yawned and nodded and then pointed at Eric.
Ty was a little alarmed at first until Karen clarified after her yawn. “No, tell him the same thing.”
“Of course,” Ty said, relieved. “Eric, you won’t do anyone any good if you make yourself sick by not getting any rest. Sleep when Karen sleeps, Doctor’s orders. I’ll talk to the Major.”
“Fair enough,” Eric said. “I’ll get breakfast for both of us and then we’ll both take a nap,” he looked at Karen, “deal?”
“Deal,” she said.
“Things are getting worse around camp so I won’t be able to stop by as much as I’d like, I’m afraid” Ty said on the way out. “Unfortunately, just knowing what’s causing it won’t miraculously cure everyone, and more people are coming down with this, or pneumonia, every day.”
“Do what you can, and try to get some rest yourself,” Eric said and Karen nodded in agreement. “We need you healthy right now more than we need me.”
…
Ty was right, and things really did seem to be going from bad to worse around camp. When the medic came to give Karen her antibiotics that night he was wearing a mask, and he gave Eric a handful of disposable masks, with instructions to wear them whenever he was out of the tent.
Breakfast the following morning was a surreal experience. Every cough or sniffle was followed by the sound of someone scooting over on their bench seat, or their chair sliding on the wooden floor. Nobody sat right next to or directly across from anyone else. Eric caught up to Joel after the meal and only really felt like he was allowed to talk to him because they were both wearing masks.
“How’s Karen doing,” Joel asked. “Rachael sends her best, and she’s in our prayers. The kids are really worried.”
“I think she’s doing a little better, actually” Eric said. “The fever comes and goes but she’s still got the headache and the sensitivity to light.”
Eric held up a covered tray that he had taken out of the mess hall. “She had an appetite yesterday, though,” he said, “and Ty says that’s a good sign. She’s tough, she’ll be ok.”
“How are you managing,” Joel asked, noticing how bloodshot Eric’s eyes were. “You don’t look like you’ve been getting much sleep.”
“Me,” Eric asked and shrugged. “I’m fine. I really didn’t have my life turned upside-down. Your family is split in half right now. How are you guys handling it? How’re Rachael and Aurora?”
Eric could see the emotions warring on Joel’s face until eventually concern won out. “Rachael says they’re doing fine,” he said. “Sheri’s down there with her while Chuck is out checking on the availability of coal at the New Johnsonville Steam Plant. She’s also got almost a dozen other people who went into isolation with her down in town, including another family. It’s rough on the kids, though. They weren’t able to bring any of their own clothes or other belongings from town up into camp, and now we’re back to sleeping in tents.”
“Hey,” Eric said. “The tents aren’t too bad now. I sleep in a tent.”
…
“Time for breakfast,” Eric said when he got back to Karen.
“Not hungry,” Karen said.
Eric checked her for a fever, which she didn’t have, thank goodness.
“Babe, you have to eat,” Eric said. “Even just a little bit is better than nothing. You have to keep your strength up.”
“I need to rest,” Karen said and rolled over. “And I need for this to just be done.”
Eric put the tray on a folding chair next to their cots and sat down beside her. “It’s just going to take time,” he said. “Ty said it could be a week before you really start to feel better.”
He reached out to massage her shoulders and neck and she flinched away. “Still sore,” he asked.
“The neck is, yeah,” she said.
…
Today was Karen’s third full day on antibiotics, and Ty had come by in person a couple of hours ago to switch her IV. Over the past few days, Karen had broken a fever at least a dozen times and her appetite had come and gone almost as often. It had been a long day and Karen was finally sleeping quietly, so Eric decided to move from his sleeping bag onto the cots to be closer to her. As he was drifting off, he reached over to hold her hand and felt a slight tremor to the bed frame, and in her arm.
Eric was immediately wide awake. He sat up and turned up the lantern and saw that Karen was shaking…hard.
Eric jumped out of bed, flipped his cot out of the way, and grabbed his radio off the pile of clothes on the folding chair. “Mayday, mayday, mayday. This is Eric; I need the doctor to my tent NOW!” Eric dropped the radio back onto the pile of clothes.
“Thank you, Sparky, for fixing these!” Eric thought.
Eric’s radio crackled, “I’m on my way, Eric,” and then went dead. The response registered with Eric, but only peripherally. He was on the bed now, holding Karen and trying to keep her from hurting herself as the seizure increased in intensity.
He barely heard the running boots approaching their tent, and didn’t look up as three people stormed inside–Ty in the lead with his medic’s rucksack.
Karen was still breathing and the seizure, although terrifying to Eric, didn’t seem to be getting any worse. Ty checked Karen’s eyes, but they had rolled up to the point that you could only see the whites.
“What’s causing this?” Eric screamed.
“Swelling,” Ty said, “against the brain. That’s what meningitis is.”
“Can’t we do something,” Eric begged as he looked from Karen to Ty.
“Right now,” Ty said, “we’re doing all we can. The seizure isn’t getting any worse and she’s still breathing.”
The seizure was coming to an end after less than five minutes and Ty checked Karen’s pulse and breathing. Both were elevated, but not dangerously so. Her eyes were back to normal but…
“What,” Eric asked when he saw that Ty was obviously concerned with Karen’s eyes.
“Just a minute, please,” Ty said as he checked Karen’s pupils repeatedly and then swore under his breath.
Ty looked at the two medics that had accompanied him and nodded to the door. Apparently they wouldn’t be needed and they were dismissed.
“Eric,” Ty said, “sit down.”
“I am sitting,” Eric said and crouched nearer to Karen on the bed.
“Please, Eric,” Ty said, “on a chair.”
Eric realized that Ty was trying not to let his agitation show and slowly stood. He pulled on his pants as he realized for the first time that he was in his boxers and a t-shirt, and brought one of the chairs next to the bed.
Ty was checking Karen’s vital signs again.
“What’s going on,” Eric asked.
Ty checked Karen’s eyes one more time and then turned his attention to Eric.
“Eric,” Ty said. “It’s common, not normal but common, for someone to be unresponsive after a seizure. This is different. Karen is most likely in a coma right now.”
“No,” Eric said and started to stand up.
Ty put his hand on Eric’s arm to keep him in his chair.
“I’m sorry, Eric,” Ty said. “I’ll do what I can, but I have to be honest…unless the swelling goes down…”
“The antibiotics,” Eric asked.
“Right now it’s a waiting game,” Ty shook his head. “I’m sorry, Eric.”
“You keep saying that,” Eric said, “but she’s not dead. You don’t know Karen like I do. She could get better; she could come out of it. If it’s possible to beat this, Karen will beat it.”
“But you need to prepare yourself,” Ty said. “We don’t have the facilities to treat her, or anyone in camp, like we used to. You need to know that she might not.”
…
Eric spent the next two days by Karen’s side; holding her hand, talking to her, trying to coax her out of her coma. He was convinced that if he said the right thing, triggered the right memory, touched the right nerve, that she’d come back.
He slept fitfully in the chair, and was occasionally startled awake when one of the medics came in to change her IV. He realized near the end of the second day that the IV was the only nutrition she was getting at this point.
Twice he thought he felt her squeeze his hand, and yelled for the medics, but both times turned out to be minor seizures. Neither was as bad as the one that had put her in a coma, but they weren’t a good sign.
“I’m not taking her off of the antibiotics,” Ty said. “We don’t know if they’re working or not, and if they are, we need to give them a chance to do their job. The fact that she’s still having seizures isn’t encouraging, though. I’m sorry, Eric.”
“Is there anything I can do,” Eric asked. “I feel so helpless. I’m just sitting here.”
“She knows you’re there,” Ty said. “If the antibiotics are working and she comes out of the coma, she’ll know you were there. Don’t underestimate the power of your presence.”
…
One of the medics had brought Eric dinner when he realized that he hadn’t left the tent all day except to use the latrine. If something happened, Eric wanted to be there for it no matter what it was. He ate with his eyes on Karen, watching her for some sign that she was coming out of it.
It was because he was sitting up and not hunched over her hand, and could see more of her body, that he noticed the exact moment she stopped breathing. He didn’t recognize it at first, only that something profound had changed. After about ten seconds, he realized what it was and called for help–after almost dropping his untouched plate of food on the floor.
“Karen!” he yelled, knowing at this point that it was a futile gesture. He fumbled for her wrist to check for a pulse, hands shaking like he’d been injected with one-hundred cups of coffee. He pressed his ear to her chest, listening for any beat at all, just as Ty ran into the tent. He’d been on his way to another patient when he’d heard Eric yell.
He saw that Karen wasn’t breathing right away and checked for a pulse at the throat. If her heart had stopped there really wasn’t any point in CPR.
“Eric,” Ty said, and gently took Karen’s wrist from his hand. “She’s gone.”
Eric nodded and as he hung his head the first tear fell to the floor.
“I need to go get a couple of the medics,” Ty said.
Eric closed his eyes for a heartbeat and then turned to look at Karen’s still form; his fiancée in all but name. The woman he had wanted to marry but had never found the time or words to ask. Now she was gone.
“We need…” Ty started.
“I need a couple of minutes,” Eric snapped and then took a deep breath. “Surely you can give me five minutes.”
Ty closed his eyes and nodded and then left the tent.
Eric brushed Karen’s hair with trembling fingers and tried to get some of the tangles out. Karen wasn’t really that fastidious, even though she claimed to be a girly-girl. She looked calm now.
“How am I supposed to go on without you?” Eric thought. “Wow that is
so selfish. I’m sorry. I feel like I’ve let you down again.”
“You’re beautiful, you know that?” Eric said. “You’ll always be beautiful. I love you. I was going to ask you to marry me. I even have a ring, right over there…”
Eric got up and went to his trunk, got out the ring, and brought it back to the bed.
“See,” he said, and showed it to Karen. “I even had it before the lights went out.” Eric was starting to sob.
“I, uhm, I’m not going to be using this ever, now, and we were together for so long, and one of the things you said the night we lost power was that you were waiting for me to propose,” Eric said. He had to stop talking for several seconds; the words couldn’t get past the strangled feeling in his throat. Finally, he wiped his eyes and nose with the back of his hand, unable to keep up with the tears but allowing himself to see. “I’m going to go ahead and give this to you now.”
Eric gently pushed the ring onto Karen’s left ring finger, kissed her hand, and kissed her tenderly on the lips. “I had it the whole time, babe. I’m so sorry. I love you so much, Karen. Oh, God, Karen, I love you so much.”
Chapter Seven
June 2, 2013 - Redemption
Rachael had been up since the sound of the steady rain and water dripping into buckets woke her up shortly after dawn. Sleeping in wasn’t an option if she and Aurora were going to have a warm bath this morning. The fire she had going outside, under the carport, needed to be stoked, water needed to be brought to a boil, and at least a dozen buckets of water needed to be hauled in to the tub.
As Rachael was lugging buckets into the bathroom, she took a moment to appreciate the roof over her head, leaking though it was. “At least we’re in a house now,” Rachael thought, “and not that drafty cabin, or worse, a tent.” With the thought of the tent came the realization, again, that Joel and the kids were in tents up at the base in Promised Land. “How miserable must they be right now,” she wondered.
After every trip with the buckets, Rachael peeked in on Aurora who was still fast asleep in the bedroom. As much as she wanted to be able to watch her baby every second of the day, she knew there was no way she’d be able to do so. One of the first things they’d done when they moved into the house in town was to put the mattress in the master-bedroom directly on the floor so that there was less chance of Aurora rolling off of it while unattended.
Dark Grid (Book 3): Dark Coup Page 5