Magnolia Blooms

20. Goner

"Josh!" Debby screamed from the top of the basement stairs. "Josh!"

"What!?" he yelled back, annoyed at being interrupted. He and Tyler were working on a new tour and a new album.

Debby came running into his basement studio, panic written clearly across her face. His attitude changed immediately.

"What's the matter? Debby!? What's wrong?"

"It's Maggie. The school just called. She's had a seizure!"

"What?!" he said, this time with incredulity.

"The office just called. Maggie's had a seizure and they're sending her to the hospital. Come on. We have to get there!"

Josh abandoned what he was working on, didn't bother turning any equipment off, and ran up the stairs after Debby. They threw on jackets, ran out to their car and sped off to the hospital. Debby had been concerned about Maggie not eating the past couple of days, but neither of them expected this.

In record time, they arrived at the hospital and ran into the emergency room. They were met by Mrs. Donovan, who had come to the hospital with Maggie.

"What happened?" Debby asked, running up to the teacher, who had tears running down her face.

"I don't know. She was sitting in the reading corner, reading a book. I asked her if she was hungry and she said she wasn't. I tried to convince her to eat something, but she insisted she wasn't hungry. I was just sitting at my desk eating my own lunch, when Taylor started screaming and when I rushed over, Maggie was having a seizure in the book corner. Her heart stopped," the teacher said, fresh tears running down her face. "The paramedics got it restarted, but, well, I don't know. They obviously won't tell me much, as I'm not her parent."

Josh ran to the desk to ask about Maggie while Debby tried to remain composed and get as much information as she could from the teacher. Which wasn't much.

They thanked the teacher for everything she was able to do, and waited for the doctor.

"Please, please let me know what happens with Maggie," Mrs. Donovan said. 

Debby nodded, looking over at Josh as he spoke to the person at the desk.

Mrs. Donovan left, returning to the school though the principal had told her her class would be covered for the remainder of the afternoon and she was to go home. Mrs. Donovan wanted to check in Taylor and Ashley, Maggie's best friends. They'd been inconsolable when the ambulance and paramedics arrived in the classroom.

Josh came back to where Debby was standing, her arms hugging herself while she tried to think about whether there were any signs that Maggie was getting sick. Besides the skipped meals, she'd been completely fine. Energetic, smiling, her usual self, just not hungry.

Josh wrapped his arms around Debby and it was then that she broke down.

"What's happening to her?" Debby cried.

"The nurse says all the info she has is that Maggie had a seizure or something like it at school, that the paramedics had to resuscitate her, and that the doctors are working on her now. Someone should be out to see us soon."

The two worried parents sat down in the uncomfortable waiting room chairs, holding on to each other as if their lives depended on it.

"This is the second big health event Maggie's had this year," Debby said. "Are we missing something?"

"I don't know," Josh said. "I really don't know."

Debby put her head on Josh's shoulder and silently cried for her tiny daughter. Josh looked stoic, but behind his eyes, tears threatened.

Neither of them paid any attention to the passage of time, so they weren't sure how long had passed when a doctor came out looking for them.

"Mr. and Mrs. Dun?" He asked. They stood up and approached the doctor.

"Yes. Hi," Debby said. "How's Maggie? Is she okay?"

"We're not really sure what happened to cause Maggie to have what looked like a seizure. We're going to do an MRI, and a CT scan to check the structures of her brain and see if there's something there that could explain this. For now, she's unconscious."

"She's in a coma?" Debby asked.

"Well, technically, no. She's breathing on her own. We are giving her a little supplemental oxygen, but while she's not responsive she is breathing on her own. She may be just recovering from the effects of the seizure. I'd like to keep her here a couple of days at least to have the tests done and interpreted. When she wakes up, I'd like her to have an EEG. I'd like to rule out epilepsy. It's not entirely uncommon for children to have a one-off seizure from either a fever, an illness, an infection, so we'll be checking for that as well."

"She hasn't had a fever or complained about anything lately. She has, however skipped meals the last couple of days. She didn't eat her lunch at school yesterday, and she didn't eat dinner last night or breakfast today. Her teacher says she didn't eat her lunch today, either."

The doctor nodded.

"Has she complained of stomach pain? Nausea? Has she been going to the bathroom okay?"

Debby shook her head.

"There's been absolutely nothing out of the ordinary except that she hasn't been eating. She hasn't complained. I suppose maybe she's gone to the bathroom less because she hasn't had anything to eat in two days."

"Has she been drinking anything?" The doctor asked. Debby thought. She didn't recall her having anything to drink over the past couple of days, either.

"I don't think so."

"Okay. I'm going to run some more blood work to check her electrolytes and we'll do an abdominal CT scan and see if maybe Maggie's bowels are full. If she's constipated, she might not be feeling hungry. Though not being thirsty either, that's uncommon."

The Duns knew they were in for another possibly lengthy hospital stay while they tried to figure out what was wrong with Maggie. For now, though, the doctor allowed them to come back to where Maggie lay, unconscious but breathing, an oxygen mask covering so much of her tiny face.

"Hey, Bug," Debby said, going up to Maggie's side and picking up her hand. "Mama and Papa are here my sweet girl. Can you open your eyes for us?"

Maggie didn't move. A heart monitor beeped showing Maggie's heart was beating a strong rhythm.

"Please, Maggie. Wake up for us, huh?" Josh said, tears coming out of his eyes.

Maggie slept on.