Finding Jaime

Chapter 108

The nurse came back in to tell me Jaime had been taken to surgery and that it was likely going to be a very long night. I wasn't going anywhere. I was staying right here until Jaime was out of surgery and then I was staying glued to his side until he woke up.

I tried to keep Meagan in the loop, and texted her to let her know what was going on just now. At two am I expected her to be asleep but she responded.

"Have you seen him yet? Before he went for surgery?"

"No," I said. "They wanted to get him stabilized first and when they did, they took him straight down to the operating room. He has a bleed on his brain and swelling. I'm so scared,  Meagan!" I texted back.

"I know. Me too.  Try to get some sleep while he's in surgery, okay?"

"I'll try," I said.

I lay down in the sofa in the room the hospital had given me to stay out of sight of the press. My manager and media representative kept calling and texting asking what was happening. I told them what I could.

Eventually, I must have fallen asleep.

"Hey Dad," I heard. I looked up and Jaime was standing in front of me.

"Jaime? What? How are you here?"

"What do you mean? Why wouldn't I be here?" He asked.

"Because you're supposed to be in surgery," I said. He frowned.

"Oh. Well, I'm not. Can I go home now?"

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I want to go home. I'm ready to go home," he repeated.

"No, Jaimie. It's not time for you to go home. You need to get well and heal and then we can go home," I said.

"But, I don't want to be here," he frowned, looking around. "Where am I anyway?"

"You're in the hospital, Jaime. You got beaten up. You're having surgery to repair some damage from that. You're going to get better. You have to."

Jaime frowned.

"I gotta go, Dad," he said and turned around and walked away.

"Jaime!" I called out. "Jaime! Don't go! Please, Jaime!"  I was sobbing. And shaking. But it wasn't me shaking. Something was shaking me.

I opened my eyes and the doctor I had spoken to before was standing over me. She was smiling.

"Hi there," she said. "Sorry if I startled you. Are you alright? You were shouting."

"Weird dream," I said, wiping my face with my hands. "How's Jaime. How? What happened?"

"Well, I'll be honest with you. It was a very hard surgery. Jaime struggled some and we nearly lost him a couple of times. He coded and needed to be resuscitated."

"How many times?" I asked.

"How many times what?" The doctor asked.

"How many times did he need to be resuscitated?"

"Oh. Four," she said. "And the last time took the longest to get him back. He was down for eight minutes. We're confident he didn't lose any oxygen, but it was touch and go for a while. However, he is out of surgery, had good, strong vital signs when I left him just now, and will be transferred to the ICU in the next fifteen minutes.

Let me tell you what we were able to do."

I listened intently, taking notes as she went.

"We removed the pieces of skull that had been fractured. This will allow more room for Jaime's brain to swell without causing increased damage. We were able to find and stop the bleed on his brain. We'll keep monitoring that over the next twelve hours.

We've placed a chest tube to help get some fluid build up away from his lungs and heart.

His ribs have been set and his lungs reinflated. We've set his broken legs and shoulder. His broken arm is set and in a cast. We are going to need to do more surgeries as he heals but we had to fix the most life threatening injuries now. Once he's more stable, we'll put pins in his pelvis to facilitate healing and reassess the ribs.

I can't tell you when, or even if, Jaime is going to wake up. He's suffered a lot of trauma. I can't make any predictions about what he may be like when or if he wakes up. He has a very long road ahead of him. He is in critical condition and we are taking things hour by hour.

I wish I had better news."

"I do too, but thank you. Thank you for saving my son's life. At least for now," I said.

"You can go up to the ICU now, if you'd like. They'll let you know when he's settled in a room there," the doctor said, touching my knee. "He's young, still. He could be okay when he wakes up. I don't want you to think there's no hope. There's always hope."

I nodded. Jaime had beat the odds twice already. This could go either way. But what I knew for sure, I wanted justice. I wanted those assholes to hang for what they did to my boy. I'd be calling my lawyer in the morning to get him involved. And I knew the police would be back once they'd had a chance to talk to the school.

A security guard and a volunteer came into the little room and escorted me up to the ICU. It was nine am and I hadn't even noticed.

Once upstairs, I waited for the nurses to settle Jaime and come out to get me. As soon as he was settled and a nurse came out, I steeled myself for what my son was going to look like.

Even still, I wasn't prepared for what I encountered in that room.

Jaime's head was wrapped in bandages that also covered his eyes, but I could still see the deep bruising around his eyes.

Both legs were wrapped in plaster casts. So was his right arm. Tubes and wires came from every possible oriface. His chest was covered in bandages. A gown had been placed over him and then a blanket covered his torso and part of the lower part of his body.

There didn't seem to be a single spot that didn't have a bruise or a bandage.

"Jaime," I sobbed sitting beside his inert body. He was still wearing a cervical collar keeping his neck stabilized. He was on a respirator, the machine breathing for him. Monitors beeped, I.V. pumps delivered fluids and medications and hopefully pain medications. His skin was dry and warm. His hand lay slack in mine.

I was sitting beside my son, but I didn't know whether I would ever bring my son home again.