Leave The City (Book 8 of Adopted by the Josephs)

70. Tyler

Samantha was cleared to go home shortly after breakfast Sunday morning. The relief on her face was palpable. She couldn't wait to get out of the hospital, out of the hospital gown and into her own clothes.

We did ask the doctor about her heart stopping and whether that was a concern we needed to follow up on. He told us that at no time during her stay had there been any issues with her heart. He had all the EKGs from her stay and they'd been monitoring her heart the whole time, too. He said what he thought might have happened was that the headache and the subsequent issues from the headache and the concussion, when she threw up, which they say was probably from the
concussion, and also had a seizure, her heart wasn't sure what was happening and her brain was busy dealing with two issues at once.

"It's almost like a system reset," the doctor smiled at Sam, who frowned because she's not one to look at things that way. She's logical and wants to know what is happening. She doesn't want, or need, things to be dumbed down for her. "Essentially, your brain said 'I am overwhelmed. I'm having a seizure, but I'm also concussed.' So, instead of dealing with each issue, your brain told your body to just switch off. The thing is, we aren't like computers and we don't have easy to find power switches. So your heart stopped because your brain stopped it. Unless your heart stops again for no reason, or you have another seizure and your heart stops, we'll look deeper into whether there's more going on, but so far, there hasn't been any indication that there's any problem with your heart. You've been on a monitor the whole time, pretty much, and nothing concerning has come up."

"But, isn't my heart stopping a bad thing?" Sam asked.

"Well, yes, but unlike having a heart attack, your heart stopped, not because of a loss of blood flow because of a clot or a blockage. Your heart muscle is still fine. Your heart stopped because your body was overwhelmed with everything that was happening at the time. Your bloodwork shows markers of you having had a seizure on Friday, even though your family says you didn't. So, I'm pretty confident that your brain was firing off an electrical storm, and on top of the concussion, instead of a visible seizure, your heart stopped. I understand it got restarted fairly quickly.

I am going to suggest you take it easy for a few days. Maybe skip school tomorrow. You should be able to go back on Tuesday or Wednesday, as long as you're feeling well," the doctor concluded.

Samantha nodded. We'd keep her home tomorrow, for sure. She needed the rest.

The doctor left the room, and a nurse came in to take out Sam's IV and bring the discharge papers. Jenna picked them up and read through them.

"Your MRI is on March 18 at 8:30 at night," she said to Sam.

"Um... Okay," Samantha shrugged.

"I was just telling you. We'll have to let Sarah and Brendon know so they can get you here," Jenna said.

"Or I can bring you," Dylan said. "It's no problem."

I watched as Sam blushed a little. My daughter has a boyfriend and I'm supposed to accept that. But he really is a nice guy. Like I'd said, he's exactly who I would have picked for Samantha. God help him if he ever hurts my little girl.

Once Samantha was unhooked from her IV, we got her bag of clothes from Friday night out of the cabinet and she shooed Dylan and I out of the room.

While Sam was getting dressed, Dylan was acting a little nervous.

"Dylan? Are you okay?" I asked him.

He looked up at me and I saw fear cross his face just briefly.

"No. I'm okay," he said.