by Ellie Mack
The floor rushed up to meet him. He landed with a thud; the pain in his leg went from hurting to blinding. He felt a warmth spread at the back of his thigh seconds before blacking out.
Kai carried two cups of coffee to Nathan’s room. He’d stopped by the cafeteria to talk with the manager and worked out a trial deal for the purchase of coffee from his family’s plantation.
He sipped his cup as he got off the elevator.
“Best coffee evah!” He spoke aloud as he walked down the corridor. He knew that Nathan would appreciate a good cup; it was a week with him in the hospital. Chances were, he’d only had bitter or burned coffee brought to him. Kai walked through the door to his cousin’s room.
“Hey, cuz. You plannin’ on making this your vacation suite or somethin’?” He spoke as he walked through the doorway.
Nathan slowly turned his head toward the door, offering a weak smile to Kai. He accepted the cup of brew eagerly.
“I’m so ready to be out of here.”
“I’ll bet. You don’t strike me as the lay around type.”
“Not even on my worst day.” He took another sip of the coffee. “Thanks for this. First decent coffee I’ve had since before. . .” his voice trailed off and the blank stare returned.
Kai nodded. He couldn’t fix this; all he could do was bring the coffee and offer his support. His cousin was in a bad place both mentally and physically. He hated that he couldn’t fix it, but he could be there.
“I was hoping they would release me today, but . . .” He fiddled with his phone for a few seconds, before sighing. “The nurse said I opened up the wound on the back of my leg, so now I don’t know if they are going to let me go.”
“I hope they do, but don’t you have to be able to walk and put weight on your leg before they release you?”
“I’m waiting on the doctor to come in and tell me what’s going on.” He eased back into the pillow. “I don’t know man, I just feel so groggy after falling, and my leg burns really bad. I wish they’d given me a shot of the pain meds in the IV, but if they do, I know for certain they won’t release me. I’m hoping he’ll prescribe something I can take at home, and I can get on with it already.”
Kai stared at the floor realizing that even if they sent him home, Nathan wouldn’t be able to drive himself for a while, and even longer if he was taking painkillers.
“I can get Tommy to be your driver for a while if you’re okay with that. He’s got his license now, and I told him he needs fifty hours of practice. You’d be there to keep him from speeding, and it would keep him busy. He’s been hot and heavy about spending time with a girl from school. He don’t need to be getting serious about that stuff now. Boy needs a future.”
“Sure, Kai. I’ll even pay him twenty a day to drive me around. Maybe more on days I have to run errands. That would be ten bucks to the campus and ten bucks home. It’s worth the cost to have dependable transportation.”
The unsaid spoke volumes to both men. They were on the same page, same paragraph, and same sentence.
“Guess now we just wait to see when the doctor is going to let you go.”
“Here’s your discharge papers and instructions. Mr. Wanoki has been contacted to pick you up.”
Relief flooded Nathan’s mind. Finally, he could get back to a normal life.
“Dr. Kelley has asked for a home visiting nurse to come by daily to change the bandages. At the end of two weeks, a tentative date for physical therapy is set.” Louise shoved the papers across the mobile cart for him to sign.
“Good luck, Mr. Fletcher.”
The transport person pushed a wheelchair through the doors immediately after Louise walked out. Nathan was helped into the wheelchair, his bag of personal possessions placed in his lap.
“Anxious to get home?”
“You can’t imagine! It seems like an eternity that I’ve been here.”
They were stopped in front of the elevator for a few minutes. Wade, the nametag read on his chest, pushed Nathan into the open elevator. “I would have to have someone care for my little dog. Found him down by the beach one morning. The poor little guy was nearly starved. You got any pets?
“Not yet. Thinking about getting a dog after my daughters come to live with me.” Nathan was jostled in the chair as Wade tried to maneuver around a cracked part of the sidewalk.
“Sorry about that. They are supposed to fix this next week.” He pushed the wheelchair down the walk to a spot marked with a car symbol. Kai pulled up in his jeep and jumped out to help Nate into the car.
Toward the end of the two weeks, Nate fell when he was going to shave and the incision on the back of his thigh opened. It seemed that the rest of the wounds were healing fine, but the back of his thigh remained painful, swollen, and tender. Nathan cleaned up the mess from the floor the best he could, but when he tried to stand, intense pain in his leg caused him to yell out and collapse again onto the floor.
Vera was in the house that day to clean and discuss the nanny position. She immediately called 911 and wouldn’t try to move him. She kept saying she didn’t want to make it worse and the nurse wasn’t due to come by until the afternoon.
The paramedics worked quickly, exchanging minimal words but a few sidelong glances that had Nathan worried.
“What’s the problem, guys?”
“We will need to transport you to the hospital, Mr. Fletcher. You’re going to have to have that re-stitched. I’ve applied a compression bandage to it for transporting. Try not to put any weight on that leg.”
The two men worked together to lift him onto the gurney and get him situated comfortably.
Nate drifted in and out of consciousness. People came and went from his bedside. Nurses checked his vitals and injected needles into his IV tube. Bright surgical lights, doctors in masks, nurses in surgical scrubs–just flashes. Or were they hallucinations?
He rolled over to put his arm around Tonya. Instead of Tonya’s soft skin, his hand landed on a cold steel bar. Slowly his eyes opened, adjusting to the light. Maybe it was time to wean himself off the meds. It seemed they were giving him bad dreams.
He was back in the hospital, but why? Nate searched his mind trying to remember. He had gone home. He had crutches and a wheelchair. He had been doing great, not putting weight on the leg too much.
‘Think, dammit!’
Panic crept into his mind as he tried to recall. There was blood. He remembered turning to look at the back of his thigh in the mirror and seeing that it was red, inflamed, and weeping a nasty mixture of watery blood and puss. He made the mental note to call the doctor just before he adjusted the crutch and fell.
The pain was unbelievable. The paramedics worked quickly and were using medical words that he didn’t understand.
He turned trying to sit up but felt like the room was spinning. Suddenly, he felt nauseous. There was a square plastic tub on the rolling cart. He grabbed it, throwing the stuff that was inside of the tub onto the floor, before vomiting into the container.
A nurse came through the door at a jog hearing him strain after emptying the contents of his stomach. She offered a cool damp washcloth as he eased back onto the pillow.
“That anesthesia is some nasty stuff when you come off it. Especially, when they can't wait for your stomach to empty before performing a critical surgery like you've had.” She took the tub, carrying it to the small bathroom and emptied it in the toilet, then rinsed it in the shower. She moved quickly to replace it on the cart. “Feeling better, Mr. Fletcher?”
Nate thought about nodding just as another wave hit him.
“I’ll take that as a no.” She moved to read the screen on the mobile terminal as he continued to heave. “Best thing to do is get it out of your system. I know it’s not pleasant, and I’m sorry about that.”
Anesthesia always made him hurl. He assumed the doctor had to re-stitch the wound on the back of his thigh because it didn’t burn like it had been. Nate was breathing hard, his pulse elevated after the
exertion. He leaned back into the pillow, glancing over at the nurse. He couldn’t see her nametag, but he could read the whiteboard on the wall behind her. Michelle.
“Michelle, can I get some clear soda and ice?” His voice was raspy and weak.
“Certainly. Let me clean this up in case you need it again.” She repeated the actions from before, setting the cleaned tub on the cart. “I’ll let the doctor know you’re awake. Just rest for a bit and I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
She walked out the door at a brisk pace.
Nate licked his lips, his mouth as dry as cotton. He hoped she hurried with that soda as he stared at the ceiling, settled into a comfortable position that allowed his stomach to calm down. He probably needed some sort of antibiotic treatment. Maybe a stronger version than he first had been given. That was probably the reason for the back of his thigh still hurting and tender.
Dr. Kelley came through the door with Michelle. She poured the soda into the cup of ice and set it on the cart in front of him.
“Mr. Fletcher.” He nodded as he pulled up a stool to the edge of the bed. “I’m afraid I have some bad news.”
“I need a stronger antibiotic, right?” Nathan took a sip of the soda. It tasted like heaven as it wet his mouth.
“Well, yes. However, it’s more serious. When Mr. Wanoki brought you in the first time, there was a lot of tissue damage. We cleaned the area, had to debride the nonviable tissue. You were lucky that your bones were intact. We were able to suture around the wound, with the most damage to your hamstring and quadriceps. I saved as much of the muscle tissue as I could, but the severity of the bite on your thigh required a skin graft.
“I had hoped that the doxycycline and ceftazidime would halt any water born contagions. However, sepsis from Vibrio species in the bite, possibly from bacteria in the water or the shark’s mouth itself, spread. We saved as much of your leg as we could, but when I went back in to close the reopened wound, the wound was septic and there were gangrenous signs in the tissue.”
He paused, sitting very still as he let what the doctor said soak in. There was a lot of medical jargon in there, but what was he really saying?
“So, the antibiotics will get rid of that, right?”
“I know this is a difficult thing to accept. I did everything I could.” He stood, pushing the stool back to the terminal. “Let’s have a look at it.”
The doctor motioned for Nate to turn to his side so that he could see the back of his thigh. “The dressing should be changed every few hours for the first few days. After that, we’ll have the visiting nurse come by to change the dressing daily.”
He gently tugged on Nate’s shoulder, rolling him back onto his back while adjusting the bed so Nate was sitting upright. It was then that the full impact of what the doctor had said registered. Nate saw with his own eyes that his left leg was a bandaged stump at mid-thigh.
Nate was emotionally numb. The initial shock had thrown him into a fit of rage and self-pity for several hours, but being confined to the hospital bed, all he could do was lie there, breathing heavily with his jaw clenched.
He felt more alone than he had ever felt in his entire life. Anger consumed him. Anger at Tonya for doing him wrong and not being there for him, and by proxy, his children being thousands of miles away from him. Anger at his father’s alcoholism and the depression that he’d fallen into. His stomach churned. He felt like slamming the damn phone against the wall but knew that would only result in costing him.
He wanted to cry, scream, something. Instead, he lay in the bed staring at what was left of his leg through the blanket.
Nate refused to look at ‘it’ when the nurse changed the dressing, keeping his head turned to the right. She tried to engage him in conversation, but he refused. She told him it was looking good, that there were no signs of infection as she injected antibiotics into the IV tubing.
Ha! The only way it would look good is if he were a whole man again, but that wasn’t going to happen. Life knocked him down and handed him a steaming pile of shit, and he was left alone to deal with it.
He mentally berated himself for being impulsive. Maybe if he had waited on Kai that morning, if he hadn’t been impulsive. Maybe…if he hadn’t been such a goddamned bull-headed Marine.
In the distance, he could see the blue-green of the ocean. Before today, the ocean was a thrill: the distant sound of the waves, the tang of salt in the air, the excitement of getting up on the board. The thought of getting back in the water, however, gave him a sense of panic.
The subtle sound of the waves in the distance lulled his ragged nerves to sleep.
His breath became heavy as the exertion of swimming out to the break line wore him out. He was out of shape. His buddy, Joe, was on a board to his right.
“Hey, Brah, gonna catch that righteous curl?”
Nate nodded, getting himself into position as the wave rose, flashing a shaka to his pal.
It was a sweet ride! He couldn’t ask for a sweeter wave. He owned that wave like a rock star! Smooth as butter! He moved down the face of the wave, shooting the curl. He was in the zone!
The adrenaline was pumping as he held the board steady with perfect timing.
Suddenly, a twenty-foot shark shot out of the curl, swallowing Nathan’s body, its teeth closing on his calves. The pain shot up both legs to his hips. He was surrounded by the inside pink flesh of the shark’s mouth. A surge of water was pulling him back to those razor-sharp teeth! The shark’s mouth became a giant chipper shredder and he was being forced toward it!
Nathan shot straight up in bed, gasping for air.
Two days later, Nathan was released from Honolulu General Hospital to Kauai Rehabilitation Center. He would have to learn to maneuver himself with a wheelchair and with crutches while his leg completely healed. After that, he would be fitted for a prosthetic limb.
The day he was discharged and driven to the airport, Nathan couldn't shake the depression. Hopefully, things would begin to turn around and he could make progress at the rehab center. Nathan needed to have his girls with him. He couldn’t wait any longer. As much of an adjustment as it was for him, he knew it would be an even bigger adjustment for his children as well. In another week, it would be June, a good time to start their new life together. He decided it was time to make the call.
“Hello, Vera?” He held the phone between his shoulder and ear as he tried maneuvering the wheelchair into the dining hall.
“Hello, Mr. Fletcher. How are you recovering?” Her voice was pleasant and comforting. Finally, a connection with the outside world.
“I’m doing better thank you, Vera. I was just wondering…are you still available for the nanny position?”
He pushed himself up to the first table, where one of the staff came over with an order slip. He read the choices as he listened to the other end of the receiver, marking his selections then smiling at the server as he handed it back, whispering, “Coffee, black and a glass of water also, please.”
“Pardon, sir?”
“Oh, I was just about to have my lunch. About the position. . .”
“Oh yes! Looking forward to meeting your two little ladies. When will they be arriving?”
“I’m going to make the call this afternoon to arrange for their flight, but I wanted to make certain that you were still available. I’ll let you know when they will be here. For the first few weeks, that means that you will have full care for them while I am still in here.”
“No problem. Won’t be the first young ones I’ve cared for.”
“Thanks, Vera. You are the best!”
“Would you like for me to bring you your briefcase or some books?”
“Thank you, Vera. Yes, that would be great. There are two books in the side drawer and my lesson planner will be on top of the desk. If you could bring those in my briefcase along with my laptop, I would greatly appreciate it. I’m at the Kauai Rehabilitation Center. The address is . . .” He motioned to the server to ask the address
.
“I know where it is. My niece, Kini, works there. You will meet her when you start your rehab. I’ll bring those things over this afternoon.”
“Thank you, Vera. Oh, and is there any way you could possibly sneak some of those macadamia cookies you bake into my briefcase?”
“Of course. Already got a batch made for you.”
That brought a smile to his face, which disappeared quickly when the server brought his lunch tray to him. Those cookies couldn’t show up fast enough. Some sort of casserole stuff with chunks of carrot and celery, he thought it was probably chicken, with big wide noodles. It all looked like a congealed paste with a nearly fluorescent sauce that bound it together. A small bowl on the upper right held a few scraggly leaves of lettuce with some shaved carrot and a single ring of red onion. To the left, was a bowl of applesauce. How could you go wrong with applesauce, right?
With one spoonful, he knew how. The tasteless gritty substance masquerading as applesauce passed his taste buds, making him want to eject it.
He sipped the coffee as he contemplated the rosemary potatoes on the side of the casserole. It was one of his favorite sides, but these looked overcooked and had a rather grey pallor that suggested they were left over from a previous time.
Nathan finished his coffee and pushed himself away from the table, snagging the plastic wrapped package of saltines and the package of graham crackers as well.
“Mr. Fletcher, you need to eat something, so you’ll have the strength to get through physical therapy.”
He waved her off, covering his mouth. “Not now. I think my meds are messing with my stomach.”
It was a lie, but he wasn’t going to make a scene in front of the other patients there. It would be rude to blurt out You expect me to eat this garbage? I wouldn’t even feed it to the pigs! He’d keep those thoughts to himself.
“Oh. I can get you a soda if you’d like.”