Waiting With Death

Chapter 2:

In the morning, Cassedy still was unable to move. Rosanne had gotten really worried last night and by six the next morning, she had Shaun put Cassedy in the car. She was still unconscious and had not opened her eyes. 

Rosanne went to get in the driver's seat and Shaun stopped her. "How are we supposed to be able to pay for this?" She turned to him, hand on the door. "We just have to find a way. It's Cassi, Shaun. It's Cassi." She turned away from him and climbed into the car. She started backing out of the driveway. "Rosie!" Shaun called after her but she was already gone. 

The traffic was surprisingly busy for this early. The street was full of people heading to work, maybe heading home from a night shift. Rosanne stopped at a stoplight, behind three cars. She looked at Cassedy and reached over to brush her hair out of her eyes. 

The light turned green and the cars slowly drove off. They were all going so slow. Maybe they figured that no one could be rushing anywhere this early. They were wrong. She looked at Cassedy again. "It'll be ok, Cass." 

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Rosanne parked in front of the hospital, jumping out of the car. She knew she wouldn't be able to carry Cassedy in so she went inside to ask for help. She walked up to the front desk. The nurse looked up at her. "Yes ma'am?" Rosanne gestured out to her car. "My daughter won't wake up, she won't move. I can't get her out of the car by myself."

 The nurse nodded and motioned for two male nurses nearby to go help her with Cassedy. "Of course, they'll go get her if you just show them to the car." Rosanne nodded and hurried out to her car. The nurses followed her out to the car and pulled Cassedy out carefully, carrying her back inside. They set her gently in a wheelchair and start wheeling her down the hall.

 Rosanne followed them down the hall but the lady at the desk stopped her. "Ma'am, you need to let the doctor do her job. You need to fill out this sheet. Can you do that?" Rosanne nodded, taking the clipboard from her and sat down in the waiting room. 

Rosanne had to form filled out in thirty minutes. She stood up to return it to the front desk. The lady glanced over the sheet. "Ok, Cassedy Dyer. That's your daughter, correct?" Rosanne nodded, wringing her hands together. The nurse smiled. "The doctor just finished examining her. She should call you when you can see her, until then you can just sit back down. It shouldn't be long." Rosanne nodded and went back over to her seat. 

While Rosanne waited, she decided to call Shaun. He answered on the third ring. "Rosie?" She glanced up the hallway to see if the doctor was coming. "Yeah, it's me." He paused slightly before asking, "How is she?" She glanced back up the hall and ran a hand through her blond hair. "Still no word. The doctor finished doing his examination, now I'm just waiting for them to call me back." 

He let out a sigh. "Let me know when you here something new?" She glanced up again to see a doctor heading towards her. "I will. I have to go, I think the doctor's here!" She hung up and stood up, meeting the doctor in the middle.  The doctor was a woman with shoulder length red hair and calming hazel eyes. "Mrs. Dyer, I assume?" 

Rosanne nodded, sticking her hand out to shake the doctor's. "Yes, that's me." She accepted the hand extended towards her. "Dr. Audrey Webber." The doctor motioned for her to follow as she started down the hallway. "Regarding your daughter, Mrs. Dyer, are there any conditions we need to be aware of?" Rosanne nodded, "Yes. She was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer about three years back." The doctor mumbled under her breath, "That makes sense."

Rosanne cleared her throat, "Pardon me?" The doctor glanced down at the chart in her hands. "Your daughter's brain has suffered from a severe lack of oxygen. If her lungs were damaged, this might explain this lack of oxygen flow." Rosanne tucked her hands into her pockets. "She was unable to move. Would lack of oxygen be able to do that?" 

The doctor nodded and took a left down a hall. "Yes, the brain sends messages throughout the whole body telling it what to do. When the brain stopped receiving the flow of oxygen, it lacked the strength to send these messages out. She would not have enough energy to move or even open her eyes. Does this make sense, Mrs. Dyer?" She nodded. "So how can you fix that?" Audrey hesitated slightly before speaking.

 "Well, that's the problem, Mrs. Dyer." She said, "The lungs need to be able to pump oxygen again on their own before the brain can repair itself. And with Cassedy's lung cancer, they may not be able to. We have put her on a ventilator at the moment, to keep her breathing. That may help the brain start to work again but until it is properly running, we think it would be best to keep her in a medically induced coma to ensure that she does not sustain more damage while her brain is healing." 

Rosanne paled. "A coma," she whispered. The doctor nodded, "It's safer for her that way. That way she wouldn't be in pain." Rosanne stopped in the hallway, taking in a deep breath. "And, uh..how long, exactly, would she be in this coma?" Dr. Webber stopped and turned to look at her. "Until her brain has healed enough to command the lungs to breath on their own. That could be anywhere from a couple of days, weeks or a month." 

Rosanne stepped towards the doctor, "Where is she? Can I see her?" she asked. Audrey nodded and pointed to the door closest to them. "That's her room. I'll leave you alone with her." She disappeared down the hallway and Rosanne looked at the door she had pointed at. She took a deep breath before opening the door. 

Cassedy was lying in a hospital bed with tubes hooking into her nose and mouth and an IV in her arm. There was a nurse setting up the machine next to her bed and Rosanne noticed he was one of the ones that had helped Cassedy in. He nodded at her and left her alone in the room. 

Rosanne sat in a chair next to the bed and took the one hand that wasn't attached to any wires. "Oh, my baby." She wiped a tear away as it slid down her cheek. "It'll be ok, Cassi. The doctors are gonna make it ok." She stared at Cassedy's face, trying to ignore the tubes attached. "My baby," she whispered softly. 

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Later that day, Shaun came down to the hospital to see Cassedy. He had left Aiden with a sitter, he didn't know about his sister yet. He met Rosanne outside of Cassedy's room and hugged her tight to his chest. "How is she?" he asked her softly. Rosanne pulled back, a sad look crossing her face. "Not good, they had to put her in a medically induced coma to prevent brain damage." Shaun let out a shaky breath. "Can I see her?" Rosanne took his hand and pulled him into the room gently.

He looked at Cassedy on the bed, still except for the slow movement of her chest as the ventilator pushed air in and out. His face drained of all color and he stumbled over to her bedside. "Cassie..." He grabbed her hand and held it between his. "I'm here, baby. I'm here." Rosanne walked up behind him and set a hand on his shoulder, comforting him.

 He moved his other hand to place it on top of hers so that he was holding both of their hands. Cassedy's hand flinch slightly then went still. Shaun glanced up at her face. "The doctor said that she'd have those flinches every now and then as her brain healed," Rosanne said. He nodded, squeezing Cassedy's hand slightly.