Stronger Together: A Story of Love, Strength, and Family - A Drew and Rick Story

Chapter 3- Rick and Bri still in the hospital / Proposal

Rick's POV

"How long am I going to have to stay here for?" I ask. "Depends on how your incision is doing and when the drain has less fluid in it, cause at the moment, it's still draining a bit more than I'd like. Plus it's only been a week Derrick," Drew says. "I know, but you know I hate hospitals," "Yes, I do," "Am I allowed to get it wet yet?" "Uh, let me check with Scott and see what he wants to do, he'll probably want to look at it too and see how it's healing. So if he gives the Ok to shower, then after I'll change the bandages," "Ok," "Why don't we just do it," "Do what?" "Get married," "Well, I was-" I say as Drew turns around and sees the ring box I grabbed from my backpack.

"What's that?" He asks. Pointing at it. "What do you think it is?" "I.. What.. Rick?" "I know that this is a big decision, but you don't have to answer right away if you don't want to. Just know that that is yours from me,"

Drew's POV

I picked up the box and opened it to reveal a ring. There was an engraved infinity symbol around the entire band and a date in Roman numerals engraved on the inside. "Wow, of course I'll marry you, I wouldn't want to be with anyone else," I say, kissing him. "Is the date on the inside our anniversary?" I ask. "Yes," "You were pretty sure I was going to say yeah, huh?" I ask. "Yeah I was pretty sure, " He replies. " I think some things are going to change. Clearly I'm becoming way too predictable," "Well, that's what married life's all about, right?" "Guess we'll find out," I say. Now that I got that off me, go or else you'll be late," "Right, love you," I saw putting the ring on and going downstairs.

A bit later

"What is.. What is that? Did Rick?" Krista asks, "Yes, He did. Now I'm going to go up to the peds ward and go see Bri. Cover me?" "Yeah," I went to the elevators and went to the peds floor and to Bri's room. "Hey," "Hi," "How are you?" I asked her. "Good. Is there any way for me to be able to sit in the chair instead of in the bed all day?" She asks. "Possibly, let's see," I say.

I moved some stuff around the room and was able to get the recliner chair closer to the bed so that she was still near the machines. I picked her up and sat her in the chair. "Ok Bri, now you don't have to be stuck in bed all day," I say, crouching next to her. "Thanks, does it go back all the way?" She then asks. "Course it does, up down, I don't know, press the buttons, " She presses some of the buttons and the back of the chair goes down a little bit. "There you go," I tell her. "It's not quite like a roller coaster, but it'll do for now," She says. "I got some more good news for you. You got bumped up on the transplant list, so you're in the top 5," I then tell her. " But that just means my lungs are getting worse, I'm going to have to go on a ventilator or Bipap soon, right? " She asks. I put my head down and sighed. " We'll figure that out when the time comes, okay? Listen, you've had 8 potential donors in the past 3 weeks, that's promising," I say. " And yet none of them matched," Bri says. "And the reason they didn't match was because-" I say, but get interrupted. "Because I have to match not only the blood type but 6 antigens, it has to be perfect or they'll go to someone else who is perfect. Which is never me," Bri says, and I look down and sigh again. " You're too smart for your own good sometimes, you know that," I say to her.

"What's that on your finger?" She asks, trying to brighten the mood. "You just now noticed that?" I ask. "It wasn't until you put your hand on the arm of the chair that I noticed," She says. "Ohhhhh, sure sure," "So are you two going to get married?" "Eventually, we want to talk with Nina about a few things first, and then we'll see about getting married," I tell her, as my pager goes off. I pull it out and look at it. "For now, I have to go downstairs, but here's Rick's phone number so you can bother him all you want with more questions," I say handing her a piece of paper.

I go downstairs, get handed a chart, and then run into Scott. "Hey, can I pick your brain for a minute after I see my patient?" "Yeah," He says. "Cool," I go into the room my patient is in and do my assessment.

10 minutes later

I come out of the room after sending my patient for a CT scan and x-rays. I meet Scott in the Break room. "Hey, Rick very much would like to get out of the hospital, his incision is looking good, I just need you to go look at it and give the okay for the drain to come out the okay for it to get wet," I say to him. "Yeah, I can go take a look," "Cool, you want to go see him now?" "Sure,"

Scott and I go up to Rick's room and see Rick holding Azrah . "Hey," "Hey" "What's up?" "I brought Scott to see your incision," "Ok," He went to put Az down, but Scott stopped him. "Here, I'll hold him, I haven't gotten to actually see him yet since my caseload is so busy," Scott says, as Rick hands him Az . I grabbed supplies I needed out of a drawer and then sat on the stool in front of Rick's bed. "Did you take pain meds recently?" "Yeah, I'm good," "Ok," I start taking the dressings off. "Your incision looks good, is the drain empty?" Scott asks. "There's a little bit in it, but not much," I say. "If you're comfortable with me taking it out I will," I say as well. "Sure, pull it," "OK. This may hurt a bit," I say looking at Rick. "Just do it, the faster the better," "Ok," I start pulling it out and see Rick make a pained face. "Not as bad as I was expecting,"

I then cleaned his incision and rewrapped his limb. "In 4-6 weeks, the stitches and staples should all be out and then you can start the process of getting a prosthetic," "Cool," "I'm also comfortable with you getting it wet, as long as none of the stitches or staples come out and you start bleeding, and I would like to keep you here at least another day," "I'm okay with that. After I'm discharged, I may just go to Brianna's room and keep her company, too," "Ok," Scott handed me Azrah , and then left the room. "I need to go back down to work, but I am going to take him with, why don't you go see Bri for a bit," "Sure,"