Yellowstone: Love and Cowboys

Coma

Day after day Coralee watched John Dutton lying motionless in his hospital bed. Day after day she wondered if he was ever going to wake up.

"He's not on a respirator, dear, that's a good sign. Your uncle is a strong man, even with a punctured lung he's able to breathe on his own." The nurse, as always, was trying to be reassuring. The young Miss Dutton was sweet and endearing, and the staff admired the devotion she showed towards her uncle. "Just be patient, his coma is giving his body a chance to heal, that's all, he'll wake up in his own time."

"Well, how long is that going to be?" Beth was not so sweet and patient with the staff. It was only Coralee's patience and concern for her uncle's well-being that kept a fight from erupting between the two. "Will this take much longer, is he going to wake up any time soon? How long are you people going to keep him hooked up to IVs? How much longer are you going to keep giving him drugs? As far as I can tell he'd be better off at home."

Coralee turned and left the room. It was a strain being in her uncle's room with Beth every day, let alone having to listen to her tirades. Beth knew about business but knew nothing about medicine. Her sister Suzette was a nurse practitioner and made arrangements with Jamie to oversee Uncle John's care once he was released from the hospital.

"Keep it in the family," Coralee advised Jamie, "You're an attorney general, see what you can do about setting it up. Suzie knows Uncle John and he knows her. She knows how he thinks and how to talk to him. Anyone else would be a disaster, Susie he'll listen to."

She needed fresh air, desperately, so she walked through the hospital doors and out into the sunshine. There was a little courtyard where she liked to sit and drink coffee when she needed an escape from the hospital room and Beth.

She dialed Travis's number, crossing her fingers and hoping that he had his phone turned on and could get a signal. She didn't quite know why she insisted on doing this, he was still angry at her but at the same time, he took her calls whenever he could.

It comforted her to hear his voice. She wished that he could come to Montana, but he was on the road busy making money. She should be with him, she knew it, but as long as Uncle John lay unconscious in his hospital bed, she could not leave his side.

She had seen her father weeping as he sat next to his brother. Uncle John had always been a strong and vigorous man, now he was shrinking away to a shadow of his former self. He was being given nutrients, and physical therapists came in and exercised his muscles every day, but every time she saw his emaciated form she wanted to cry.

Travis's phone kept ringing and she wanted to hang up before it rang into the mailbox when she heard her husband's voice answer the phone.

"I'm sorry honey," he told her, "I was afraid I wasn't going to be able to answer in time. Are you all right?"

"No," she started to cry but stopped herself, "I'm so stressed out trying to deal with this. The doctors and nurses tell me Uncle John's getting better, that he slipped into a coma because his body was too tired. His body needs time to heal himself, that's what they keep telling me but I don't know if I believe it. Beth threw another fit today, I wish they'd kick her out of there. She's rude to the doctors and nurses, she's rude to me, she's rude to Mom and Dad, and my family when they come to see him. I'm eating in the kitchen with Gator because that's the only way I can get some peace."

"Have you been going to the doctor? You've had a pretty bad shock, I'm worried about you and the baby." And he was concerned, she could read it in his voice.

"I've been seeing a doctor at a clinic in the hospital. He told me I'm doing fine but I need to remember to eat and rest. They did the first ultrasound and everything thing looks good." She hoped telling him this would appease him.