The life of Nusi

Chapter 10: The Hospital

TW: Mentions of blood/gore, hospital procedures.

By the time they had made it to the hospital, Nari's mother was sitting in the waiting room still crying. They rushed over asking at the same time, "HOW IS SHE!?"

Nari's father, with his arm around his wife's back, said, "We haven't heard anything yet. She's still in the ICU." he said in a sad voice.

They took seats and waited. Some stared off at the walls, some sobbed, and some hugged. Nusi was sitting next to her uncle. Ms. Heejin was on his other side.

"Why did this have to happen?" Nusi asked her uncle.

"It just does," her uncle said back to her. "No rhyme nor reason, things just happen." Nusi looked at him for a moment, then said.

"It was my fault uncle," as she started to cry again.

"Why would you say that Nusi?" Her uncle asked in a puzzled voice.

"I should have held on tighter" Nusi said. "I had her, I had her hand and it slipped away." She said again. "That makes it my fault." She said once again. Nusi started crying uncontrollably, face in her hands, hands on her knees.

"Nusi!" Her uncle said, "It's not your fault. You tried." He said again, as he rubbed her back. This only made her cry louder, as she dropped to the floor on her knees. "She will be fine," Nusis uncle said. "We all thought she had died, but you knew she was still alive," he said. "If it wasn't for you, they would have taken their time getting her here, you are the reason she is here now and being cared for." He said with a small smile. "You Nusi could be the only reason she lives. You might have saved her life with your quick thinking." He said to Nusi. "Now stop that crying," he said. "Crying is for later." He said again. "What have I always taught you? Did you forget?" He asked. Nusi looked up at him, shaking her head no.

"I didn't forget Uncle." She spoke.

"Then tell me Nusi," Uncle said.

"We must focus on the task at hand," she said. "There will be time for crying when the crisis is over." She said to him as she dried her eyes and got back into her chair. Nusi leaned over towards Uncle and said, "I'm sorry Uncle, I forgot myself." Uncle looked over at Nusi and said,

"It's ok, I almost forgot myself when I saw Nari get hit." With that he put his arms around Nusi and hugged her tightly. Finally, the doctor came out and Nari's mother and father ran over to her.

"Is she going to be alright?" Nari's father asked. The doctor looked and motioned Nari's parents to follow her into a private room.

"Mr. and Mrs. Chun, please sit." The doctor said while motioning her hand towards the two seats in front of her desk. Nari's parents did as the doctor asked and sat.

'How is she doing?" Nari's father asked in a very emotional voice.

"She does have a few broken ribs, a broken arm, and two fractured legs." The doctor said as she looked down at her report.

"OMG!" Nari's mother screamed in a tear-filled voice. "MY POOR BABY!" Nari's mother cried in a shrill voice as she put her head in her hands.

"Hush dear," Nari's father said in a soft voice. "Let the doctor finish," he said.

"As I was saying," the doctor said in a matter-of-fact voice. "The ribs, arms and legs will all heal in time, and she will be fine from that. What I'm confused about is this part of the report that states the female was pronounced dead at the scene, the time of death, and the duration of the death." The doctor said puzzled.

"What do you mean Time of death, pronounced dead and duration of death?" Nari's father asked. The doctor looked at him asking,

"Were you there at the time of the accident Sir?"

"Yes," Nari's father said "I saw it happen. It was a group of us, we were heading back to the bus."

With that, the doctor cut him off asking, "then you saw when the EMTs pronounced her dead. Right?"

"Well, yes, I guess so." He said. "They pulled a blanket over her face and..." He stopped. He looked down at his watch for a second. After about four minutes, he said out loud. Then he looked at the doctor and said. "It was about four minutes before she woke up."

"Seven," the doctor said looking at the report. "It was a full seven minutes before your daughter moved at all." She said. "Your daughter was dead for at least seven minutes, and just woke up without any medical interventions."

"What!" Naris mother said as she sobbed. "What are you saying? I don't understand, what?" Mrs. Chun said, looking very confused by this time. The doctor looked up at the Chun's and said,

"In all my years of treating patients I have never seen anything like this. We ran more tests on your daughter and did a CT scan and the results were stunning," she said. "Not only did your daughter suffer from the injuries I mentioned, but she also suffered massive head trauma." The doctor said as she went on. "The back of her skull was cracked open from the base to almost the top. The brain itself was crushed by the force of the impact on the street." The doctor continued. "That's not the strangest thing." The doctor said. "When your daughters' ribs were broken, a long piece of her rib pierced her heart, which should be fatal." She said again. "Yet here she is, alive without life threatening injuries." The doctor said again. "We see where the injuries occurred," the doctor said, "but they are all healed as if they happened years ago. I am at a loss," the doctor said. "If miracles are real, your Nari is a living one." The doctor said with a smile.

"When can she go home?" Nari's mother asked.

"A week or so, we want to run some test and watch her to make sure she is truly fine." The doctor said. "You and your husband are welcome to stay here at the hospital with her, at no expense to you." The doctor said. "We find it helps the patient recover faster if they have their family with them."

"OH, THANK YOU DOCTOR!" Mrs. Chun exclaimed. The doctor left the room, while the Chun's were gathering themselves. They stood up and walked out to the awaiting group and told all of what the doctor had told them. Everyone hugged and cried and thanked God for this miracle he had given them. Never once did any of them question how had happened, they were all just glad Nari was going to be fine.