Why Me?

chapter 6

(No One's POV)

Derek saw Meredith close her eyes and the nurses and doctors rushed her away to the O.R. In the O.R, Dr. Romano immediately got to work. "I'm seeing a lot of dead tissue and only a little bit healthy tissue here.", Dr. Romano said after starting the surgery. "One kidney is too far gone but her other kidney looks good. I need to remove the damaged kidney to save her life. Then prepare to remove the infected ulcer from her stomach lining."

(So sorry about the skip but I do not know enough medical terminology to go through everything in the surgery)

After the surgery, Dr. Romano took Meredith back to the ICU and kept her intubated and on the ventilator as a precaution. Her body went through so much in the past day alone and she needed to rest without overexerting herself and breathing could be hard for her since she is so weak. 

Derek held Meredith's hand as she slept and she looked peaceful other than the machine breathing for her. Derek knew it was normal that she was still on the vent considering the major surgery she just had and her chronic illness, severe gastroparesis. He felt so bad for her. What did she do to deserve this? Derek silently cried with his head on Meredith's bed until Dr. Romano came in.

"Dr. Shepherd?, Dr. Romano asked. Derek looked up. "I just wanted to come in and talk about the surgery and what you should expect for her recovery and the future." "Oh, okay.", Derek sighed.

"When I opened her up, one kidney had so much dead tissue which is why it was failing. It was salvageable so I had to remove it but her other kidney was fine. She'll be able to live with one kidney as you already know but we just have to be more careful considering how her body does not empty waste well due to her gastroparesis. I do not know exactly how long her hospital admission stay will be but a good guess is at least a month. I will keep her antibiotics for a week and a half for her sepsis but the infection had almost cleared up after I removed the dead tissue and the infected ulcer. Now that the ulcer is removed, she should not vomit blood again but if she does after she is discharged, immediately call 911 like you did when she first vomited blood."

"W-when do you think she will wake up?", Derek interrupted. "In a hour or so.", Dr. Romano replied. "Okay."

"Also, she will not need dialysis. She should be just fine I just need to monitor her kidney closely for a week or two considering her other health issues. She could develop Post-Sepsis Syndrome or PSS and can experience physical and psychological or emotional effects such as joint pain, repeat infections, skin rashes, panic attacks, depression and anxiety. I will set her up with physical therapy and counseling sessions for as long as needed/wanted for counseling."

"Thank you Dr. Romano. Could I have some alone time with her, please?"

"Of course."

After Dr. Romano left, Derek started talking to Meredith. "Hey Meredith, it's me, Derek. I don't know if you heard what Dr. Romano said or if you can even hear me but I need you to get better. I miss your smile and your giggles. I miss hearing about your day after you got to scrub in on a surgery. Take your time though. When you wake up, I'll be here. I'll help you with your long recovery and I will never leave you Mer. I love you.", Derek whispered.

Derek held Meredith's hand and felt a twitch. "Mer? It's ok. Take your time, I'll be here.", Derek repeated. 15 minutes after, Meredith's eyes fluttered open and met with Derek's. "Meredith you're awake!", Derek smiled

Meredith tried to reply but suddenly became aware of the tube in her mouth. She started choking and grabbing her neck. "Mer, it's ok. Calm down. The tube will come out soon.", Derek said trying to soothe Meredith.

"What's going on?", Bailey asked as she entered the room. "Meredith is awake we just need to get the tube out.", Derek said. "Okay. Meredith? It's me, Bailey. We're going to get the tube out. Just cough on 3. Okay?" Meredith nodded. "1. 2. 3." Meredith coughed and the tube came out but her coughing was really rough so Derek immediately got a water with a straw.

"Thank you.", Meredith said raspily drinking the water gratefully. "You gave us a quite a scare Grey.", Bailey said while cleaning up. "Yea. I'm glad you're awake now though. How are you feeling?", Derek asked.

"My whole body, especially my stomach, hurts.", Meredith said with a slight cough. "Okay, I'll go ask a nurse to get you some more pain meds.", Derek said.

The nurse came in and pushed pain meds through her I.V which immediately made Meredith fall asleep and then replaced her feeding tube and started a tube feed. 

Derek watched his girlfriend sleep peacefully. She looked like his Meredith again, the only thing different being the feeding tube but he did not care. He was going to spend every night and day he could with Meredith during her long hospitalization and recovery. He knew that he was going to marry her someday.

It was now 10 p.m and Meredith had slept mostly throughout the whole day because of her strong pain medicine. Dr. Romano came in twice to check on her kidney function, her stomach, and her incision. 

Derek was tired too even though he spent most of his day in waiting rooms or sitting by Meredith's side.

He set up the couch pull-out bed and before he went to sleep, he thought about everything going on right now. How strong Meredith has been, how strong he has to be for Meredith, and how their happy, healthy life, changed so quickly. Derek didn't resent it though. It allowed Meredith and Derek to talk about emotions with each other and he knew that after Meredith was out of the hospital and was able to manage her gastroparesis with fewer hospital trips, their relationship would be much stronger. 

He then fell asleep, preparing himself mentally for day 1 of recovery that would start the following morning.

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I hope you guys enjoyed reading this chapter. Comment some ideas of what you would you like to see next and I'll probably add it sometime in the story. :))

1,054 words. I know the past few chapters have been pretty short but I don't know how long I should make them. Do you like the chapters to be a little short like this one, the previous ones (chapter 5 and chapter 4) or a little longer?

Have a great day/night!!

<3