It's a Long Story

Chapter 13

The sterile scent hits me before anything else. Then the bright lights, followed by a ridiculous beeping.

"Turn off the lights." I groan. The lights are flicked off and I open my eyes slowly.

"How are you feeling?" a female voice asks. It sounds familiar, but I can't put my finger on it.

"Like someone pushed me in front of a train." I grumble. She laughs a little.

"Cate, you had a grand mal seizure. You hit your head hard, you got a bad concussion. We need to keep you here for a few days. There are also some other things we need to talk about..." Dr.Monroe says. She sits down on the chair next to my bed.

"You have my attention doc." I joke. I regret it, laughing made my headache jump from a low pain to a throbbing, borderline migraine.

"Cate, I am so sorry, but you had a miscarriage. When you were seizing, there wasn't enough oxygen going to the fetus. We performed a D&C when you came in. We were also able to remove your tumor, when you came in you had a brain bleed, so we were able to operate and stop the bleeding. We took that chance to also remove your tumor. You have been unconscious since then." She explains.

"Well, it was a risk. We knew it was a risk. I guess I don't need to schedule that abortion anymore. How long was I out for?" I whisper.

"About forty eight hours. Cate-" She starts.

"No, this isn't the first that I've lost. I wasn't excited about this baby. I just wish it could have had a better chance of survival." I say looking down.

"Unfortunately, not everything works out. Life is not guaranteed. As much as we would want things to go perfectly, they don't always. But this isn't the end of the world. It is just another hiccup that you will overcome. Like you did before." She explains.

"You are right, but that doesn't make this any easier. Will I have to receive chemo or radiation therapy?" I ask.

"As of right now, no. But we will monitor you, and I will refer you to our oncologist. We will have to keep watching it, in case there were any particles we missed. But I don't think I missed any, I have removed a lot of tumors, and I have a spectacularly low recurrence rate." Dr.Monroe assures me.

"Okay. Is my husband here?" I ask. She smiles brightly at me.

"Yes, but you need rest. You just had major surgery. You need much more rest. I don't even think you realize how much you need the rest. You have been slurring every word you have been saying." She chuckles softly.

"Oh." The pain is nonexistent so I guess I just didn't think about it.

"You are on a morphine drip right now, so the pain should be minimal. I will let you rest some more, but there will be a physical therapist here in a few hours to get you up and around. You need to walk, it will help you recover quicker." She explains.

"Sure..." the darkness of sleep took over once again.

The obnoxious beeping sounds woke me up from my restful sleep. This time when I woke up, my pain was a ten.

"Argh!" I scream out loudly. My head feels like it is on fire. My body aches, and everything hurts.

"Okay, okay, breath. I will get you more morphine." A nurse rushes out quickly. It feels like hours when she returns. It was really only about a minute, but the pain is gut wrenching.

She pushes the morphine into my IV, and it feels like a wave of relaxation as the morphine rushes through my veins.

"My goodness Cate. You are really a tough one. You are still having seizures. Although I am unclear as to why. I am going to keep running tests, but I will need to keep looking.

"W-w-why?" My voice is shaky, and I am too weak to really say anything more.

"Well it could be a post-op symptom, that could go away with time. Or it could be a small bleed in your brain, that we could operate on. Or it could be a residual effect of the tumor. For right now, we need to wait and see if you have another seizure." Dr.Monroe explains.

"O-o-kay." I whisper.

"You need rest. I will call in the physical therapist soon, and we will get you walking soon." She smiles. I start getting freaked out.

"N-no. Pain." I gasp out.

"Cate, calm down. This is a common practice for all patients after brain surgery. It helps make recovery time faster. We do this all the time. I promise you, you can do it." She assures me. I have a hard time believing her, but if there is a chance I can make recovery time faster, I will do anything.

The therapist is a perky young blonde who looks very optimistic. She makes me get out of bed, and the pain is so strong that the second I stand up, I vomit. The pain was too intense. I cry as I sit back down.

"Well done. Most patients can't even sit up, without vomiting. So be proud of yourself Mrs. Centineo." She announces proudly.

"It's great to know that you guys are sadists who want us to be in pain." I groan. She laughs.

"No, we aren't sadists we are healers who are helping our patients understand that sometimes things need to get worse before they get better, and right now this pain is going to help you get better. While yes it sucks, but bed sores and forgetting how to walk is even worse." She smiles brightly.

"Yeah okay." I moan. "Is my husband going to come in to visit me?" I ask quietly. Her perky bright smile falters for a moment, and picks itself back up.

"I am sorry Mrs.Centineo, you can't have any visitors yet. You still need rest." She won't meet my eyes.

"I was a therapist for almost ten years, I can tell when someone is lying. Why aren't you telling me the truth?" I ask sternly. She frowns, and her brows furrow. She looks me directly in my eyes, as she speaks.

"I can't tell you, with the severity of your seizures, you need to be isolated from any and all potential stressor. We had to convince him to go home. For your safety, we need to figure out why you are having seizures." She explains. She is telling the truth this time, but not all of it.

"So my husband is a stressor. I was fighting with him when I had the seizure that lead to me being in here again." I sigh.

"He was also in your room when you seized again after surgery." She whispered.

"I don't remember him being in my room..." I shoot back, trailing off in the end.

"We just need to keep you alive and safe.-" She says something else, but I can't hear her. I smell something strange, and then everything goes black again.