Stay With Me

Reunion

makayla

The surgery was somewhat successful. We managed to get the glass out of the man's chest. He was quite lucky. The shard was about 5 centimeters away from puncturing his heart or one of his major arteries. However once his body ran out of adrenaline he went into shock. He seemed to have a panic attack of some sort and his heart stopped beating on it's own. We got the glass out and closed him up but for now he needs to be on an external LVAD and he's been on bypass for the last hour. His condition is in worse condition than we thought at first. His leg also got stuck between the steering wheel and the car door which allowed another shard of glass to go straight through his foot. We didn't notice at first because the glass fell out but now the wound is infected. The guy has a broken leg and now we're gonna have to amputate his foot. 

"M-Makayla?" I feel someone gently grab my arm. I turn around in surprise but then realize that the guy is awake. Great, I was really hoping I wouldn't have to be the person to tell him about his foot. Wait how does he know my name?

"Hey there! You're surgery went pretty good, you're a very lucky man. I regret to inform you that your pretty green shirt got ruined though" I have him an apologetic smile. "Um, how do you know my name?" I asked with a small laugh. I'm pretty sure I don't recognize him, although how could you? His face is covered in cuts and bruises and he now has an oxygen mask covering half his face.

"I-It's me....Will, the biology guy from the c-coffee shop" he replied weakly. I smiled at him. I remember who he is now. This is gonna make it a bit harder to tell him the bad news.

"Hey Will, thank you so much again for buying us coffee, we practically live on it. Now, I have good news and bad news. What do you want first?" I asked.

"Bad news. Bad news always comes first"

"Ok, well the bad news is that when you were in the accident, your leg got caught between the steering wheel and the door and your foot went through the window. A piece of glass went through your foot and now the wound is infected. We didn't see it earlier  because the glass fell out."

"So...what does that mean? I have to take antibiotics and get stitiches" He asked with hope in his eyes. I hate to crush it but I can't lie to him. Damnit I wish I could lie to him.

"Not exactly...you will need to take antibiotics but I'm afraid that we're going to have to amputate your foot." I explained. The hope drained out of his eyes and panic began to overtake his features. 

"W-what? You mean like cut it off?" 

"Yes, for now we can provide a wheelchair for you and maybe crutches for when you're ready to relearn how to walk. If you want a prosthetic you'll have to go through physical therapy." 

"Isn't there another way? Can't you just get rid of the infection and give me some pain killers? Please, there has to be something we can do." He pleaded. He looked so desperate, it breaks my heart to see patients like this. For him, this would affect his entire life. 

"I wish there was, but the infection has spread too far. If we wait much longer it could go into your leg, then we would have to cut off your leg. It's your choice." He didn't respond, he just nodded and laid his head on his pillow. He was staring up at the ceiling when the first tear trickled down his cheek. I couldn't sit here and watch him cry so I handed him a tissue and walked out the door.

will

I closed my eyes to stop the tears from rolling down my face. It didn't really matter thoug. Nobody could see me.  It was dark in my room. The doctors had moved me from the ICU to a patient room a few hours ago. Now I'm stuck here on bedrest in the middle of the night surrounded by darkness and silence. At least when I was surrounded by other patients and a night light there was something to look at and always some backround noise to bring me out of my depressing thoughts. A cough, a sneeze, the sound of someone snoring, or even the sound of the small fan in the corner of the room. Now I have nothing. I miss being home. I miss sleeping in my bed with the soft sound of my cat snoring next to me. Shit, whose gonna take care of Winston? I reach for my phone before remembering that it got totally destroyed in the accident. The accident. It was my fault, if I hadn't tried to drive home or if I had just looked up to see the red light, this wouldn't have happened. The other car held a family. A husband and his wife with a little 5 year old girl in the backseat. They didn't deserve this. And it was my fault. I felt tears start to well up in my eyes again. I deserve this. I never should have gone to that party. Now my heart needs some thing called an LVAD to pump blood through my body and by this time tomorrow, I'm not going to have a left foot. But I deserve it. I deserve this and so much more. 

I wonder if I'll have to go to jail. Or prison. I could get charged for man slaughter if one of the people from that family dies. Although I'm pretty sure I heard the nurses say they were all in stable condition. I can't believe I have to get my foot cut off. The doctors say I'll need a wheelchair for the first six weeks, and I'll have to go to physical therapy before I can get crutches and a prosthetic. It's going to be hard. Makayla said I might even have to learn to walk again. All of this is rediculous. Physical therapy is for old people who have stiff joints and arthritis. Not 23 year old guys about to graduate from grad school. Which is another thing. I have to be out of this damn hospital by next Tuesday so I can get to my bio lecture. I need to be able to go to all my classes and I need to get home so I can study for my exams. 

My eyes began to feel heavy and I could no longer keep them open for more than 2 seconds. I felt myself starting to drift off so I wiped the tears off my face and closed my eyes, trying to get as comfortable as I could on the still mattress. Hospitals suck.

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Pls don't kill me lmao. 

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