One Day At a Time ✔️

Ch. 55 Capped Pt. 2

Jolt's P.O.V.
Even while he's worried about Jamie not tolerating being capped, he gives Jamie a bath. Crosshairs thinks it's helping get Jamie to sleep even if she took a nap earlier. He thinks he can handle Drift, but Ratchet and I think it's better to have Drift use sleep aid. The three of us suspect Drift will argue he's sleeping here.
"At least this should be the last thing that caused him anxiety like this," Ratchet points out.
"Uh, she can still get sick easily and it's harder for her to recover," I remind him.
"I think he can deal with that better than this," Crosshairs claims.
There's a lot more to work on, but I think Crosshairs is right. Even when we work on removing the G-tube, Drift will do better. He has seen Jamie eat without a problem for weeks.

Drift walks out of the bathroom, carrying Jamie who's asleep. He goes into the room Jamie has been in and sits on the bed. The three of us can tell he's not looking to leave. Even as Ratchet explains that we'll be monitoring her. I didn't think Ratchet would have me stay. Drift doesn't bother arguing what's the difference if he stays or I. Unless he feels better knowing I'm staying here.

Ratchet stays until Crosshairs texts that Drift is asleep. Jamie's oxygen level is still 97%. Ratchet goes upstairs and I his room, while I go into a back room we set up as a call room. I'm going to check on Jamie a few times overnight. I set a timer for one in the morning.

We didn't think Janie would be crying — though she can't make a sound — if she woke up alone. 
"You're ok," I assure her as I take her hand, "you'll be out of here tomorrow."
Her oxygen level is still good at 93%. I make a note for Ratchet. Hoping he doesn't believe this is a sign that Jamie isn't ready to have the trach removed.
Jamie falls asleep quickly.

I'm up for the day at five in the morning. Jamie is still asleep and doing fine. I tube-feed her, before looking at today's schedule.
Ratchet has some appointments this morning. He noted the potential trach removal at noon. I sit by Jamie, waiting for either her to wake up, Ratchet to walk in, or a text from Crosshairs. Thinking of the promise I made. Sure, I've been with her and her guardians, but I want to do something more than a walk in the park with her. I don't know if she'll want to go anywhere else right now.

Ratchet walks in at eight. He didn't get a text from Crosshairs, so we're hoping this means Drift slept all night. Ratchet is concerned Jamie woke up at one in the morning, but believes it's because she wasn't with her guardians.
"I think she'll do fine going back to their room tonight," I argue, "we'll know if she needs to stay here by then."

Drift's P.O.V.
I didn't think I'd sleep all night. Not sure if Crosshairs stayed up or not. He's probably going to worry if I'm in the shower. While waiting for Crosshairs to wake up, I text Jolt.
I wasn't sure if he'd leave anything out. He tells me Jamie did wake up crying but fell asleep quickly. I worried she wouldn't like Crosshairs, and I wasn't there. I hope she'll be back in our room tonight. She only has three hours before the trach is hopefully removed.

I don't wait long for Crosshairs to wake up. He's happily reading the text from Jolt, even though he's reading that she woke up crying. It's the fact he didn't say Jamie suddenly struggled to breathe that has us happy, but we don't like how she cried.

Everyone in the cafeteria wants to know if Jamie is getting the trach removed. We don't know if Ratchet will go through with the plan or not. Then there's the period watching Jamie without the trach. We tell everyone they might find out tonight.
"Wonder how many of them asked Ratchet?" Crosshairs whispers.
"I doubt anyone dared to ask Ratchet."

Jamie smiles, seeing Crosshairs and I walk into the room. I told the terror twins they can come by, but they're busy right now.
Even while Jamie has been doing well for twenty-one hours, Ratchet still wants to wait until noon to remove the trach. I'm worried about after he removes it. Even if she's been doing fine. Even with the short walk to the bathroom. Ratchet is having Jamie go use the bathroom between the offices rather than the one connected to the room she's been staying in. It's not much farther of a walk, but I'm assuming it's enough to know if Jamie cannot walk without her oxygen level decreasing. 

The last three hours are uneventful, but as Crosshairs and I worried, Jamie is scared to go through with the procedure while she knows a lot about medical procedures.
She's trying to push us away from her.
"Can't you let him hold her?" Crosshairs asks.
"I can try," Ratchet agrees.
I get Jamie to calm down and tell her what we're going to do. I don't want to say anything, but I think the problem is how she needs to lie down. We know those so-called doctors removed the monitor chip while she was awake. She thinks Ratchet is going to do some kind of surgery. She's traumatized that it doesn't matter that she trusts Ratchet.
"You're safe, we're taking out the trach," I assure her as I hold her. Hoping a twenty-five degree angle is enough for Ratchet.
All Crosshairs can do is sit in the chair on my right and hold her hand.
Ratchet finishes quickly and gives the three of us instructions. I'm concerned about how little Jamie talks. Not sure if that's going to be a problem with recovery.
"Look what I have, Jamie," Jolt says, showing Jamie candy.
Jamie takes the candy, not caring we haven't had lunch yet. Ratchet knows this, but says nothing. Crosshairs goes to get our lunch and to tell the others the good news. Finally, past one major step in Jamie's recovery.