all that time away <3

all that time away - chapter 7

essie -
i did as dom ordered and got a bloods kit from cupboard. i wandered quietly (not wanting to disturb the other patients) back over past the nurses station. i could not believe who it was, zosia, back after all this time. "zosia?" i said, almost in disbelief. she smiled weakly at me, unfortunately looking really rough. "shall we get you into a gown?" she said yes and sat up. unfortunately i had to quickly grab a sick bowl as poor zosia vomited again. there was blood in her vomit, and i kept her relatively calm. she spluttered for a few moments, and when she'd finished, i disposed of the bowl and got her changed out of her sicky clothes and into a fresh, clean gown. i checked her notes. "so they've given you an anti-emetic, and youre still vomiting?"
"yeah.." she sighed.
"right, well not to worry, we'll fix you up and you'll be back home in no time."
"thanks essie." she smiled weakly. i took some blood and sent them off to the lab, before booking a chest and abdo CT as per doms orders. from across the ward, i saw jac going into zosias room, amd kind of smiled at how close the 'ice queen' was with zosia, when usually the only person she got close with was fletch, if you know what i mean.

jac -
when i went in to see how zosia was doing, she already changed into a gown with an iv in, with fluids running into her, and had already had bloods done. she'd thrown up a few times since she arrived, even with the anti-emetic, but hopefully she'd be sorted soon. i sat nect to her bed, and messaged ollie to tell him what was happening, and i got a reply in minutes, saying, okay, thanks, let me know if anything changes.
i sat with zosia for a short while, before dom came back in to tell her they were ready for her in radiology. i'd promised zosh i'd come with her, so off we went, with Gemma Dean pushing the bed. i kept reassuring zosia that everything was going to be fine but it really is quite difficult to hide the worry when you cant be 100% sure. while zosia was in having her scan, me and Gem waited outside. Gem had worked here for a while at this point, but not long enough to know zosia.
"she your friend?" she asked, just trying to make conversation.
"yeah, she used to work here, with her now husband," i replied. "she left to go on a 6 month placement to Yale, and then her husband ollie followed her out there like a puppy following its owner around, and then they reappeaered almost two years later, a few days ago, with three children and a marriage."
"three?!" i nodded.
"im guessing you two were close seeing as you literally came in at half 3 in the morning to make sure she was okay."
"we were," i replied, "anyway emma's with jonny, so i offered to come and stay with zosia while her husband stays at home with their girls."
"that was kind of you," she replied, softly. then the door opened at the end of the corridor, signalling that they were done and we could go in. "oh, and thank your brother for bringing her in."
"will do," she replied as she went in to wheel zosia back.

zosia -
once i was wheeled back, i lay there, feeling horrible, but glad jac was with me so i wasnt alone. we talked for a while, about america, and my Yale placement, though the conversation was quite brief on my part.
after a while, dom came back in and perched on the edge of my bed. me and jac simultaneously looked at him questioningly. "so..?" jac said.
"the CT scan was inconclusive, so we're going to have to do an gastroscopy, to find out if we can find out whats going on with you, okay?"
i nodded and sighed, laying back on the bed, pulling the blankets up around me, suddenly getting chills. "you alright?" jac asked.
"i just got really cold."
"do you want another blanket?" she replied, squeezing my hand slightly.
"please."
jac went off to find me another blanket from the linen cupboard, while dom stayed sat on my bed. he sighed and said, "well, i may as well do your obs while im here."
"okay," i replied, sighing too.
he stood up and got my charts out, marking all my obs on the chart, including my temperature, whice despite feeling freezing cold, was still over 38 degrees. then it came again, the discusting, panicky feeling of throwing up. i grabbed the bowl from my lap as quick as i could and out it came. dom dropped the chart on my bed and came to my aid, pulling my hair out the way and tying in back with a rubber band he, for some reason, had in his pocket, and rubbing my back gently. he'd had to deal with me throwing up a LOT in the past, not because i was always ill, simply because i used to drink way too much a LOT.
he took the bowl away as jac came back with another blanket and she whispered something to dom before walkimg over to my bed. i was feeling to discusting and weak and horrible to ask what she said, so i just stayed quiet and pulled the blanket around me as she laid it out on the bed. i asked Jac phone to text ollie, as i'd left mine by bed, obviously concentrating on getting to the ambulance rather that getting my phone earlier. she asked him how the girls were, and told him what was going on with me. he replied a few minutes later with the girls are fine, awake already, poppys still grizzly but otherwise well. i'll see if i can come in and see zosh later, Jas and Mo might be able to look after the girls if i ask them nicely x. i smiled slightly when jac showed me the text and lay back on the bed, pulling the blankets even closer to me.

ollie -
by this time it was about 6 in the morning, and the girls were already wide awake with no chance of going back to sleep any time soon. i managed to get them downstairs and put them down on the floor in the front room while i got their first feed ready in the kitchen. i poured each of their milk in their bottles and screwed the lids on, before hearing a little babbling posy behind me. she'd left poppy and ava in the front room, and had crawled all the way across the hall into the kitchen. i grinned and crouched down, cooing "and where have you come from you cheeky little monkey?" she reached her chubby little arms out and i whisked her up in the air and gave her a kiss on her little rosy cheek. i gave posy her bottle which she helpfully held cheerily, and grabbed the other two, going back into the front room to feed them all. posy practically fed, with only a little help, with poppy and ava still needing me to feed them. i have to admit looking after triplets is actually pretty, well, very, difficult.
when theyd finished feeding, and were back to rolling around (or in posys case, crawling), i got my phone out to call Mo, and then Jas, to let them know what was going on, and to beg them to look after the girls while i went to the hospital.
"Mo?" i said, as she answered the phone.
"yo, valentine," she replied, cheerfully, even though it was about 7 in the morning.
"i have a massive favour to ask."
"shoot."
"i need you, and Jasmine, who im about to call now, to look after the girls."
"we were going to come over to see zosh anyway.."
"thats the thing," i started.
"whats the thing, ollie?"
"zosias in hospital. i had to call an ambulance for her a 3 this morning."
"what? what happened?"
"well she got a temperature last night, so i sent her to bed, like a good husband would, and then she woke up in the middle of the night with a temperature of about 40, and started throwing up, and then she started throwing up blood."
"oh, my god.." she said quietly.
"and this might just be me being medically paranoid but if i didnt know better i'd say the extent of how ill she was last night it could even be meningitous.."
"oh, ollie.." she said again. "i'll call jas and come right over, you just get ready to go zosh.."
"thank you, mo," i replied, thankfully, "i owe you a massive one."
"no, you dont, i'll see you soon."
she hung up and i put my phone on the window sill. i bundled the girls back up into my arms and took them upstairs. i packed a bag to take to zoaia while constantly checking to make sure posy hadnt crawled off and tumbled down the stairs.
after a short while, mo knocked on the door, and i let her in hastily. i warned her that posy was a little monkey and had just started crawling, and thanked her again. she told me to go, and that Jas would be there in about 20 minutes. i thanked her AGAIN and left, a taxi waiting outside for me.

jac -
and then it all went downhill.