Fix My Feet When They're Stumblin'

Chapter 27

     Is somone...is someone calling me? A gentle shaking of his shoulder roused Brandon, and he struggled to open his eyes, straining to identify the shadowy figure in front of him in the darkness.

     "Honey, are you awake? Can you hear me?"

     "Mmmm." He suddenly became aware of the peculiar, uniquely disconcerting sensation of burning alive and freezing to death simultaneously. The familiar pounding in his head had sharpened to a harsh, stabbing pain that caused his stomach to roil unpleasantly. "I don't feel...I don't..."

     "I know, honey. I need you to answer some questions for me. Do you know your name?"

     "Um...B-Brandon..."

     "Do you know what month and year it is?"

     "...oh...no."

     "Do you know where you are?"

     "........no...where?"

     "In a hospital, honey, Saint Luke's hospital. Can you tell me if your neck hurts?"

     "...yes. Yes."

     "Thank you, Mr. Flowers. You can go back to sleep now, it's alright."

     For a few moments, he was conscious of the woman bustling around him and gentle touches here and there, and then...nothing.

- - - - -

     "Mrs. Flowers? A word, please?" Just returning from breakfast in the hospital cafeteria, Tana left her children with Olivia and Ronnie and followed the doctor, butterflies stirring in her stomach.

     "I'm sorry, I'm afraid I don't remember your name," she said to the back of his white coat, rubbing her tired eyes as she walked through the empty corridor after him. The doctor stopped and turned to face her, contrite.

     "Dr. Johnston, your husband's neurologist. I should have introduced myself again, I'm sorry, I know you've met a lot of people in the last few days."

     Dr. Johnston smoothed imaginary wrinkles in his lab coat nervously. "Mrs. Flowers, unfortunately, we believe your husband has developed bacterial meningitis. It's a common complication of a basilar skull fracture in particular. His nurse noticed a return of his fever last night, a fairly high fever in a very short amount of time. Brandon had regressed cognitively; he was less responsive and less oriented than he had been early yesterday. He knew his name, but not where he was or the date and he complained of a sore and stiff neck.

     "Unfortunately, many of the symptoms are virtually identical to a traumatic brain injury, but we have taken blood samples, performed a lumbar puncture and started him on another course of antibiotics and steroids to begin combating the meningitis as quickly as possible. We should have the diagnosis confirmed in a few hours. We are optimistic, as we were able to catch it very early on, and he was already being treated for the infection in his shoulder, which may reduce the severity. However, it is a very serious disease nonetheless."

     Tana felt as though the ground had crumbled away beneath her feet for the second time in a week. "Meningitis...bacterial meningitis? But that's...that's really bad, that's really serious...and he's already so weak, oh God...how did he get it?"

     "People with basilar fractures are the most vulnerable population. Your husband had a small leak of cerebrospinal fluid from the fracture, present in the blood in his ears, when he was admitted. Although it resolved itself, that may have been the cause of the infection."

     "Oh. Oh my God." Tana could feel her knees shaking, knocking together, and it was becoming increasingly difficult to breathe, even to think. A grey cloud seemed to descend in front of her, obscuring her vision. "Is he...is he...please tell me he's going to be okay."