Brallie Metropolis AU | In This Together

Chapter 36 | Complications

All Brandon could hear was blurred out noise. Everything was going in slow motion; Callie being loaded onto a stretcher, the ambulance ride, the paramedics asking questions, arriving in the ER, the doctors asking questions. Brandon didn't break out of the haze until Callie was being wheeled away from him to go to a trauma room.

"Wait! Where is she going? I have to go with her! What's happening?" Brandon shouts while a nurse tried to hold him back.

"We don't know yet, sir. They have to run tests. Is there anything information you can give us? Allergies, any medications she's on..." The nurse spoke.

"We were having an argument and- could that of caused this?" He was frantic.

"It's highly unlikely, sir."

Brandon didn't have a moment to breathe before Callie was being wheeled out of the triage wing and into the hallway...fast, very fast. All of the doctors pushing the gurney were running. He wanted to run after her but one of the doctors stopped him.

"Okay, Mr. Foster," the tall doctor with the name on his badge of Dr. Jeffery blocked Brandon from going past the OR line. "Your wife's fallopian tube burst because of her ectopic pregnancy."

"Her what?" He stopped resisting immediately.

"Her ectopic pregnancy, about eight weeks along. The on-call OB-GYN surgeon is gonna meet her in the OR. Your wife is going to pre-op."

"She needs surgery? Is she going to be okay?"

"I will come speak to you after it's finished." The doctor walked off and assumingly into the an operating room.

Brandon spent the next four and a half hours filling out forms, pacing, worrying, crying, and talking with someone in billing to figure out a way to pay for all this. They had very little insurance. Even though they weren't dirt poor at the moment, didn't mean that they could jump at all the loyalties life gave; for example, health insurance. The woman in billing ended up sending Brandon away because he was too distraught and couldn't focus. Once he got back to the waiting room his cell phone in the back of his pocket was suddenly started vibrating. He sees the doctor walking towards him so he shuts off his phone without looking at who was calling.

"Is she okay?" Brandon speed walks towards the doctor that was talking to him before. His mind was immediately put at ease knowing that Callie was done with surgery.

"She's in post-op, doing very well, and coming off anesthesia. The surgery went smoothly for the most part-"

"For the most part?" he interrupted. The doctor is used to being interrupted by frantic family members.

"There were a few complications and the surgeon will be out to discuss that with you. Oh, and here she is now." The doctor hurries away to another case as a red-headed surgeon comes into view around the corner.

"Mr. Foster, I'm Dr. Grace," she extended her hand to shake. "I operated on you wife-" Dr. Grace was interrupted by her pager beeping. "Oh, Mrs. Foster is being transported to a different floor for admittance. Why don't we walk and talk?" Brandon nodded and began walking beside the surgeon down the hallway. "Your wife suffered from an ectopic pregnancy. I'm not sure if you know what this is or not."

"Uh, I don't."

"It's a pregnancy outside of the uterus. The most common location of these types of pregnancies are in the fallopian tube, which in this case, is where the fertilized egg was growing. There are a couple different things that could of happened, but for your wife, it caused the fallopian tube to burst. Which can lead to hemorrhaging, pelvic pain, fainting, the list goes on and on."