Doctor & Nurse

Chapter 39

I wake up in a hospital bed, hooked to multiple wires and IVs. Faintly, I can hear a beep, beep, beep in my ear before my brain registers I'm hooked to a cardiac monitor. I can feel the coolness of the IV fluids entering into my vein, and the oxygen running into my nose. Suddenly, the pain becomes evident in my stomach. It's killing me, it feels like I have been jabbed by a million knives. My eyes flutter open, searching for Tobias in the room. I don't have to search long, he is pacing near the side of the bed. "Hey," I whisper. His alert eyes snap to mine, he says, "Thank god you are awake, I was so worried," he quickly moves to the side of the bed, his eyes glistening with unshed tears. I reach for his hand, asking, "What happened?" Tobias's face instantly looks guilty, he mutters, "I'm so sorry Tris, I tried." Fear fills my chest, I ask once again, "Four, what happened?"

Tobias carefully sits onto the bed next to me, squeezing my hand, replying, "After Eric was taken care of, I came over to you as quickly as I could, but you were bleeding everywhere. You had both internal and external bleeding from Eric's mistreatment of you. Since it was late in the day, most of the doctors had gone home, and the on-call was already dealing with another emergency case. I was forced to perform your surgery, it was either that or let you die. I had to remove part of your spleen. It ruptured from the trauma when Eric kicked you. I also had to remove one of your ovaries. During surgery, I was terrified something was going to go wrong in the OR." Attempting to smile, I say, "I'm alive, clearly, the surgery was a success," trying to cheer him up. He continues sadly, his eyes on the ground, "It was touch and go for a while in the OR, you went into shock from the amount of blood you lost. There was so much blood everywhere, I have never seen so much, I couldn't get the bleeding under control. That is when I had to make the decision to remove part of your spleen hoping that would control the bleeding, but it didn't. One of your ovaries began to hemorrhage, I had to remove it. I'm so sorry Tris, I did everything I could."

The first question to pop into my mind is about children. I might not want children now, but eventually, I will, and lately, I find myself to be daydreaming about my future children with Tobias. Panic fills my chest while I steady myself to ask him, my eyes burn with tears, "Am I going to be able to have children?" Tobias is silent for a few moments, he glances at me, replying, "Yes, but it won't be as easy for you as it is for other people." I let out a breath I didn't realize I was holding. Tobias looks deep in thought, I ask my next question, trying to distract him, "How long have I been out?" Tobias answers, "A day, but I'm going to take you home as soon as I can." I grin, teasingly, "What's the matter, Dr. Eaton, do you prefer to keep an eye on me yourself?" He smirks, "Of course I do, you know it." Sliding over in bed, I pat the space next to me, attempting to get him to lay next to me, he sadly responds, "I don't think I should lay with you, I don't want to hurt you." I tug on his arm, "You aren't going to hurt me if you lay next to me, I promise to tell you if you do." He lays next to me, and we falling asleep for the rest of the night, cuddled together.

Waking up the next morning, my eyes land on Tobias, sitting in a chair, watching me, I smirk, "You know you are kind of turning into a stalker with all the staring you do." He crosses his arms, smiling, "I guess someone is feeling better today." Nodding my head, I reply, "I am feeling much better. Can we leave to go home now?" He glances at me, answering, "I have to find my attending, who is your actual doctor, to find out about your release, and he may be able to get us out of here. Stay put, and try not to get yourself into any trouble while I'm gone," he says, pressing his lips to my forehead. "Yes sir," I smirk, mocking him with a salute. He grins, "Funny Tris." I giggle, "I try," winking at him. Rolling his eyes, he says, "Let me go find my attending who should be able to give us the all-clear to leave. Your vital signs have been stable since surgery, and I don't foresee any complications as a result." Tobias leaves the room to find his attending, who is my doctor. When he is gone from the room, I lift my covers and my gown to look at my stomach, I have several small incisions on my right side and one larger incision line in the middle of my abdomen. My abdomen is black and blue. I feel like I have been run over by a bus. Tobias returns to the room with a nurse who goes over my discharge instructions, telling me to stay on top of my pain medication, to stay out of clinical for a few days, and to not lift anything heavy for a few weeks. Reluctantly, I agree with her instructions, imagining Marcus's face when I share my new restrictions with him for clinical.