Matters of the Heart

Chapter 34

Jesse lay in his hospital bed in his cardiac icu hospital room sleeping, Abbey lay beside him in the recliner pushed up directly next to his bed. Her body curled up to the side of the hospital recliner, her head resting on a pillow on the side practically resting her head on the side of his bed, one hand intertwined with his, the other resting on her stomach where she housed the baby she and Jesse had created. She felt something being wrapped around her arm. She woke up to see Leah checking her blood pressure.

"Mmm. Hey"

"Hey. Sorry. I wanted to check your vitals while he was still was out cold. I didn't want him seeing me check and getting worried about you" Leah said as she unwrapped the blood pressure cuff from Abbeys arm.

Abbey removed her hand from her stomach and extended it to Leah so she could check her pulse.

"Well?"

"BP was 110/72 Heartrate 76 you're doing fine"

"Thanks. How are his vitals?"

"He's stable. BP is 100/65, pulse is 68 no fever, temp 98.8, respirations are 15 per minute, o2 is 99, lungs are clear and heart is sounding normal faint detection of murmur but that should continue to detoriate and I just readministered his pain meds through his pump"

Abbey looked over at Jesse soundly sleeping and nodded.

"Thanks"

"Sure sorry I woke you, go back to sleep while you can"

Abbey nodded and curled back up in her chair, falling back asleep.

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A few hours later, Jesse woke up to a dry cough. Which to him felt like he was being stabbed repeatedly in the chest.

"Abs?"

Abbey woke up almost instantaneously and shot up in her seat.

"Hey you."

He let out a rather harsh cough as tears exited his eyes. Abbey leaned forward and hit the call button repeatedly. Leah promptly arrived in the doorway. Abbey looked up at her.

"Ice chips"

Leah nodded and was gone. She was back within moments handed Abbey a cup of crushed ice with a spoon.

"Thank you. We're good. I just didn't want to leave him. "

Leah nodded "call me if he needs me" she told her sister before leaving again.

"This really hurts" Jesse got out as Abbey nodded, a spoonful of ice entering Jesse's mouth.

"I know honey. I know it does. But we can't give you anything else right now. If we do, you'll OD. Talk to me."

"It hurts to breathe, it's really tight"

"Yeah it's from all the wiring. Unfortunately that's not going away anytime soon. After you're done with this, I'm going to text Ryan and see if we can change your drug cocktail. Its not working"

Jesse nodded but quickly winced at the pain and from the central line.

"What's all on me?"

"You sure you want to know?"

Jesse shot her a look like that was a stupid question.

"Well you've got several iv lines in. The one on the back of your hand is for medication access and its connected to your pain pump. The one in your arm in your elbow is for fluids. And the one in the vein inside your wrist was for blood transfusions. You lost a lot of blood. You were hemorrhaging from the ruptured aneurysm. They had to continuously transfuse you during surgery and when they moved you from recovery they were giving you another unit. The central line in your neck is from the bypass. The pacing wires in your chest are connected through the central line. Don't complain but you've got a catheter in and that will stay in for at least another day or two. You just can't be up and moving yet. And basically most of these are monitoring lines to track your heart rate and activity and breathing and other body functions. Monitoring your blood pressure and oxygen rates. You've got some drainage tubes still in your chest. Those and the central lines will come out before they move you from ICU. You had an NG tube in your nose to help with nutrition while you were out but that was removed before the vent actually. You're on a lot of medications and fluids right now. It's a bit scary and overwhelming but it's all to help you sweetheart."

Jesse tried moving his left arm which was riddled with IV lines.

"Do I still really need all of these?"

"For now yes. You need the medications and fluids and Ryan mentioned you receiving occasional blood units. You did lose a lot of bliod and had a lot of internal damage which is why they had to remove your spleen, appendix, and gallbladder. So they're monitoring all your blood levels and platelets making sure your at a healthy level and if you need some more units, they'll transfuse you again."

"Okay" Jesse nodded off with Abbey spooning more ice against his lips and not getting a response.

"Hey Jess you still with me?"

His eyes shot open, looking back at Abbey.

"Sorry I'm so tired"

"That's ok. That's completely normal. You'll be feeling that for awhile."

Things were comfortably silent for 3 more scoops before Jesse waved his hand signaling to Abbey that he was done for now.

"You need to go home"

"What?! You dont me here with you?"

"Of course I do. I don't want you to leave me. But you need to rest"

"Honey I'm fine. I can rest right here. I'm not leaving you"

"Babe, you and the baby"

Abbey smiled lovingly at her husband. She was worried telling him that early that he might still be too out of it from the anesthesia and pain medicines but he remembered.

"We're fine honey. Our baby is healthy and so am I. Leahs been checking my vitals I'm doing fine."

"Ok I just- Abbey if you ended up losing this baby because of me I'll never be able to live with myself"

"Hey that is not going to happen. If I thought something was wrong I would tell you but it's not. Everything is fine, the baby's development is just as it should be for 9 weeks and its heartbeat was strong. We're both doing fine. We're just so glad to came back to us"

"Always"

And when things are a little better I'll have them come in and do an ultrasound so you can see for yourself. But right now we're both perfectly fine"

"Promise?"

"I promise"

She could tell Jesse was fighting sleep again.

"Hey you get some rest. I'll be right here with you"

Jesse reluctantly closed his eyes again. Abbey whipped out her phone to shoot a text to Ryan informing him of Jesses condition before she noticed Jesse had managed to get a hand up on his chest. Plopping it right on one of the incision lines, drainage tubes, and pacing wires. It hurt like hell but jesse challenged himself to stay there for 5 seconds. Five seconds of feeling his heart gallop strongly against his hand. But it wasnt long before Abbey noticed. She was out of her chair and standing at Jesse's bedside in two swift movements.

"Oh whoa. No no no you can't be doing that right now"

Abbey grabbed his hand and gingerly placed it back by his side.

"That can happen later, but right now you've got a lot going on in that area"

Jesse nodded rolling his head to the side

"How long was it?"

"The surgery?"

Another nod.

"Almost 15 hours."

"Oh damn."

"Yeah it was a risky one but the important thing is you made it. Just rest sweetheart. We can talk about it in later"

"K. Sounds good. I love you."

"Love you too honey"

"I love both of you"

"We love you too"

She placed a soft but sweet kiss on his forehead again gently caressing his head.

Meanwhile while Jesse was napping, Ryan came in to discuss Jesse's treatment with Abbey agreeing on changing the two part cocktail to a 5 part medication cocktail. Jesse slept soundly as things were switched up. Abbey was so proud of him for resting this much but also realized it was the heavy blanket of pain medication and lingering effects of anesthesia. She knew that in due time she would have her hands full trying to keep Jesse in bed and probably have to bribe him just to take a nap.