Finding Jaime

Chapter 83

Jaime pretty much slept through the next two days. He started on the antibiotic right away and Don checked him again in the morning when we stopped for fuel.

The hospital in Houston removed Jaime's port. He would have a new one inserted at his next chemo appointment, which meant making a ton of phone calls to get that set up.

Seeing the site fully shocked me. His whole shoulder was red and angry looking. The doctors at the hospital said he was starting to go septic and it was a good thing we got him looked at.

It took two more days for Jaime's fever to break and he was miserable the whole time. When he was awake.

On the third day he was up and eating breakfast at the front of the bus before I woke up.

"Hey. Look who rejoined the land of the living," I said, lightly punching him in the shoulder.

"Mmhm," he said, through a mouthful of cereal while he read a book.

"Is that for school?" I asked him. He nodded.

I made coffee and sat down across from Jaime. I watched him as he read and ate his cereal. Froot Loops. I shook my head and smiled. Almost 16 and he loved his Froot Loops.

Jaime seemed enthralled by his book. He was really into it, anyway.

"Jaime?" I said. He looked up.

"What?" He asked.

"Good book?" I asked, nodding towards the book on the table.

"Yeah, actually," he said.

"What's it about?" I asked.

"What could happen if theocracy formed in the US. It's really kinda disturbing."

I lifted the book to see the cover. The Handmaid's Tale. That is a good book.

I left Jaime to his reading and went to get some clothes on. I was in pyjama pants.

By the time I'd changed and brushed my teeth and such, Jaime was lying on one of the couches, stretched out and reading.

"How are you feeling?" I asked him.

"Better," he said simply.

I put my hand on his forehead and checked his temperature. He was cool.

The rest of the guys started getting up and moving around. Jaime barely registered them, he was so deep into his book.

"Jaime," Andy said, getting my son's attention.

"Yeah?" Jaime muttered from the supine position he had taken on the couch.

"One, move. I want to sit down and you're taking up the whole seat," Andy said. Jaime bent his knees so Andy could sit down. "Second, I'm going to a salt cave in Albuquerque. I thought you might want to come. Might help you feel a bit better. It's supposed to boost your immune system and help move stuff along. Want to come?"

Jaime looked over at me. Andy was into a lot of different holistic things so this wasn't a surprising side trip. He'd often go to gyms, massages, chiropractic clinics, somewhere health related. And he was generally pretty healthy, so it's at least not hurting anything. I shrugged. It was up to Jaime. But I was sending the tour photographer/videographer with them.

"Sure," Jaime said. "Why not. Can't hurt, right?"

I shrugged. I doubted it would hurt anything.

Jaime had missed the past two shows because he'd been so sick, so Patrick and Andy filled him in and we told him about the fans wishing him well.

"More stuffed toys and notes, by the way," I said. "They're in boxes under the bus. You can go through them but there is no way we can keep them all."

"Can we bring them to the hospitals when I go for chemo? And bring them to kids who are there?"

"We can certainly do that," I smiled. "I'll get someone to start making calls and see how we get about doing that."

I pulled out my phone and texted our manager to get someone on that. I smiled at my son's generosity.

"But I get final say. I might keep a few for Mar," Jaime said. "And I kinda like the bear in scrubs."

He looked a little embarrassed when he said that, but I didn't say anything. I just smiled and nodded.

We drove through New Mexico towards Albuquerque relaxing, talking, singing, even. Jaime read most of the way but then Andy got him playing a video game and that did it for his reading. I didn't mind. He was doing the best he could. Initially he wasn't going to take any credits this semester, so I wasn't going to push when he chose to take a break from schoolwork.

At some point, Jaime headed to the back and didn't come back. I went to check on him and he was asleep in his bunk. I felt his forehead and he felt fine.

"I'm just bored and sleeping the miles away," he mumbled. I laughed.

"Okay," I said, and went back to the front with the rest of the guys.

"He okay?" Patrick asked me.

"He's fine. Just bored. And 'sleeping the miles away'," I smiled. Patrick nodded and smiled, too.

A couple of hours later, we were in Albuquerque. I went and woke Jaime up.

"You succeeded. We're in Albuquerque. You successfully slept the miles away," I smirked at him.

"Cool," he said, rolling into his back and rubbing his eyes.

"The crew is going to start getting stuff off the trucks and buses. Andy says you guys are leaving here in an hour, okay?"

"Mmhm," Jaime said, his arm over his eyes.

"Are you sure you're feeling okay?" I asked, scrutinizing him.

"Yeah. I'm just really tired. Probably this dumb infection thing," he said.

"Oh, yeah. Don wants to check that. Stay put. I'll grab him and he'll take a look at it," I said. Jaime frowned. I knew he didn't want me fussing over him and his infected port, but too bad.

I hopped off the bus and headed to our first aid area backstage to see if I could find Don. He was going over some things with our crew just near his set ups

"Hey, Pete. How's Jaime?" He smiled as I approached.

"He's okay. Says he feels better. Can you come take a quick look? He's saying he's tired, which is not abnormal, but he seemed okay this morning. He doesn't seem warm, but Andy wants to take him into town and I want to make sure he's okay."

"Yeah of course. He's on your bus?" Don asked.

"Yeah," I said.

"Okay. Give me," he checked his watch. "Ten minutes. I just have to tell these guys a few more things then I'll come out there."

"Great. Thanks. Uh, I told him you wanted to check him out. He gets a little annoyed when he thinks I'm 'hovering'," I smiled.

Don laughed a hearty guffaw.

"I'm willing to bet the close quarters are a little closer than he was expecting?"

"Yeah. Probably. He's doing pretty good, but this is new to him. I'm letting him have his space as much as possible."

Don nodded.

"Alright. I'll see you in 10," he smiled. I thanked him and went into the dressing room to see how that was getting set up. Joe was playing on one of his guitars that had been unpacked.

I went back out to the bud to check on Jaime and see if Patrick was still out there. Or Andy.