“Honey! What’s wrong?” Leighanne questioned as she stood in the doorway. “My God, did something happen to---”
Brian held a hand up cutting Leighanne off in midsentence. Leighanne walked over to sit on the bed beside her husband as he punched buttons on the phone.
Seconds seemed like minutes for Brian as he waited for someone to answer the phone. ‘God why isn’t anyone picking the phone up?’ Brian mentally yelled.
“Oncology ICU, this is Gretta.”
”CHECK NICK CARTER’S ROOM!”
“Sir, I’m sorry I cannot give out any information on any pa---”
”JESUS LADY SOMEONE CHECK ON NICK CARTER!” Brian yelled into the receiver, startling Leighanne. “I was just on the phone with Nick, this is Brian Littrell and I think he fell out of his bed or something.”
“Oh my gosh......Mark go into room three stat!”
Brian pressed his ear against the receiver as he tried to make out sounds of what was happening hundreds of miles away from him.
“Sir, I will have someone call you back after we check on the patient, I’m sorry but I will have to hang up now,” the nurse quickly apologized and before Brian could say anything, the phone went dead.
“Hello? Hello.......great, they hung up on me,” Brian sighed as he tossed the phone onto the bed.
Leighanne placed a comforting hand on her husband’s shoulder. “Brian, I’m sure it’s not as bad as you’re thinking. Nick has to be on monitors and things so I’m sure if something bad had happened they would have been aware of it as soon as it happened. Come back and lay down with me honey,” she coaxed as she held her hand out.
Reluctantly, Brian stood up and followed his wife into their bedroom.
”I hope you’re right,” he whispered.
“As many times as I’ve been here, this place still freaks me out,” AJ admitted as he involuntarily shivered.
Kevin nodded in agreement. ”Too close to home,” he whispered.
“I hope he’s not too sick this morning, I don’t think I could stomach another puke fest with Kaos,” AJ muttered.
Kevin threw a dark glare at the tattooed man. “Like he can really help something like that Jay.”
“I’m sorry, that was uncalled for,” AJ quickly apologized. “I just hate seeing him so damned sick, that’s all.”
As they approached Nick’s ICU room, a flurry of commotion was evident at the nurses station. A code was being called over the intercom and Kevin’s heart started pounding as he feared the worst. Both men picked up their pace, thinking that once they got into Nick’s room that they would find that everything was alright with their young brother.
They stopped in the doorway, mouths open in shock as they found Nick sitting on the floor, his legs entangled in his bedding, giggling.
“Kaos, what the fuck are you doing on the floor?” AJ yelped as he approached his fallen friend.
“Wazzup my peeps?” Nick slurred as he smiled up at his visitors.
Kevin instantly grabbed Nick under the arms and quickly lifted his body back into the bed; shocked at how easily he could now lift the young man. “What are you doing on the floor and where the hell are the people that should be watching you?”
AJ sank into the chair at the edge of the bed, his face a pale green. “Good his hand is bleeding....”
Nick eyed the scratch on the top of his hand, wiping the blood off on the sheets. “Just a flesh wound matey,”
Kevin eyed the cut suspiciously. “A flesh wound my ass, you’re bleeding! What the hell were you doing?” he asked as he pushed AJ’s head down toward his lap. “Keep your head down until you feel better!”
“Dude chill....you’re over reacting again dipshit!” Nick giggled.
“Where the hell is someone in this place?” Kevin angrily yelled, looking toward the open door and then resting his eyes on the monitors above Nick’s hospital bed. “Heart monitor my ass,” he spat as he saw the flat green lines on the screen.
As if on cue, a young male nurse raced into the room.
“What’s going on in here mister Carter?”
Kevin whirled around. “What’s going on is that you people seem to have your heads up your asses!”
The nurse looked at the monitor as he approached his patient’s bedside. “Nick did you pull your leads off again?”
“Probably when you fall out of bed it would pull the leads off and he’s bleeding too!” Kevin advised in an angry tone.
“Fell out of bed? How could he have fallen out of bed?”
“I wanted to get up,” Nick admitted with a grin.
“Nick you know the rules, you have to call your nurse before you do anything!”
Kevin and Nick watched the nurse hook the leads back on and resetting the monitor. He then reached up at the head of the bed and grabbed a pair of latex sensitive gloves, snapping them on his hands. “Lemme look at your cut.”
“Jus a fleshwound I tell ya,” Nick giggled.
“What the heck is wrong with him? He’s acting out of his mind,” Kevin stated irratibly.
“Drugs,” Nick mumbled.
AJ slowly sat up in his chair. “What did you just say Nick?”
“Drugs....I’m trying them,” he grinned.
“He’s on morphine right now,” the nurse informed as he bandaged up Nick’s cut.
Kevin jerked. “Morphine! Care to explain why he’s on that?”
“Sorry but that’s confidential patient information,” the nurse replied.
“Confidential!? He’s our brother--” Kevin argued.
Nick lazily held a hand up. “I can tell ya why! I got some shit sucked outta me this mornin and they gave me this stuff cause it hurts like a muttha.”
AJ arched an eyebrow at Nick. “Sucked some shit out? I thought you were suppose to start chemo again. What shit are you talking about? Did you get an enema?”
Nick’s eyes widened when he realized what AJ was thinking. ”GOD NO! I wouldn’t let anyone come up to my ass with that motherfucking hose......you shudda seen it....it was like huge as big as my....”
AJ cracked a smile knowing where Nick was heading with his description. “That small huh Kaos?”
“I guess since Nick sort of has already told you, I can explain it better,” the nurse chuckled at the interaction between Nick and AJ. He then went into the details of Nick’s allergic reaction to the anti nausea medications the night before and then the doctor wanting to harvest bone marrow before he started his new round of chemo.
“All ‘cause of you Bone,” Nick agreed sleepily.
“You’re doing this because you want it, not because of me,” AJ corrected.
Kevin folded his arms across his chest. “I for one am not amused with all of this! Don’t you realize that you are in charge of taking care of Nick? He fell out of bed and from what I understand he could have gotten seriously injured!”
“Lay off Kev,” AJ growled. “The kid didn’t get hurt only a scratch.”
“That’s beside the point,” Kevin protested.
“I’m fine dad,” Nick smirked.
“We have the rails up on the bed to prevent him from falling,” the nurse explained. “It won’t prevent him from climbing out of the bed unfortunately.”
“Yeah dad,” Nick agreed. “I don’t remember what I was going to do but I’m positively sure it was really important,” he added, scratching his head. “I think.”
“Nick is there anything you need before I go?” the male nurse questioned.
“How ‘bout some of this kick-ass shit for AJ?”
Kevin furrowed his brow in disgust at Nick’s antics. The nurse smiled and left the room in a hurry saying he needed to attend to another patient.
After a few minutes of silence, Nick piped up, “Hey I’m going home tomorrow!”
“Okay it’s official, he’s higher than a kite,” AJ grinned.
Nick frowned. “No I’m totally serious! Doc said I can go home tomorrow! I can’t wait cause I’m sick of this place.”
Kevin stared at the blond. “Yeah, sure you are Nick.”
“You don’t believe me do you?” Nick cried.
“Nick, think about it, you’re still in ICU, I really doubt that they would let you go home when you’re still in ICU,” Kevin pointed out.
“Prolly cause I’m on this wicked shit....”
“Still, you haven’t been out of bed on your own---”
“Hospital rules or some lame shit,” Nick interrupted.
Before Kevin could continue the agrument, AJ broke in. “How about we wait until we can talk to one of his nurses or the doc, I think that would be better than tryin’ to make sense out of his mushed up brain.”
“Are you insu..insu.....saying I’m stupid?”
“No, I’m just saying we’ll wait until we talk to a medical professional dumbass,” AJ replied.
“Good morning,” she smiled sweetly as she set the tray on the bedstand and hurried out of the room.
Nick eyed the tray suspiciously, recalling the slimy green jello that was served to him yesterday. Leaning himself up on his elbows, he saw that there wasn’t any sign of jello. Reaching over to the side, he raised the head of his bed up so he could be in a sitting position.
Eagerly, he lifted a cover, his mouth dropped in surprise when he discovered a plate of scrambled eggs, white buttered toast and bacon! Before he could open the plastic covering the utensils, the young woman that had delivered his tray came rushing in.
“I-I’m so sorry, this isn’t your tray,” she said quickly announced as she pulled the tray away. She returned in a few moments, laying down a new tray, a can of Ensure replacing the inviting glass of orange juice and one small covered plate.
After the girl left, Nick removed the cover from the plate to discover that the scrambled eggs and bacon had been replaced with a bowl of cream of wheat.
“Awww what the fuck?!” he mumbled as he shoved the untouched tray away, eyes brimming with tears.
“Good Morning Nickolas,” Dr. Andersen said as she breezed into the room, chart in hand.
“It was good,” Nick mumbled.
The doctor looked at the untouched tray sitting off to the side of the bed. “Did I interrupt your breakfast?”
“Not eatin’ that shit.”
“Nickolas, what did we have a talk about the other day?”
He pointed a finger at the tray. “How do you expect me to eat that shit?”
“You can’t expect your stomach to handle a hamburger at this stage of your recovery,” she softly acknowledged.
“What about scrambled eggs? I just got a tray of scrambled eggs, toast and bacon and the witch from the kitchen took it away from me! I can’t eat cream of shit! How do you expect me to eat that? Do you eat cream of shit?”
“Cream of wheat and I’ve eaten it hundreds of times.”
Nick only folded his arms across his chest and glared at the doctor. “I ain’t gonna eat it.”
“Okay then we will hang the nutrition IV again.”
Nick’s eyes widened.
“It’s the IV or you eat Nickolas, I can’t keep telling you this if you don’t follow orders.”
“I just want to get out of here, I thought we said I could leave today?”
Dr. Andersen smiled. “Your drugged induced mind probably said today, but you know you can’t leave just yet. You need to start the higher chemo before you get discharged to home and we cannot start that until you build up your strength. Besides you haven’t been able to walk yet, have you?”
Nick flipped the blankets off his legs. “I’ll walk to the bathroom right now then.”
This time it was Dr. Andersen’s eyes that grew wide. “You stay where you are! When I read your chart I see that you fell out of bed yesterday----”
“I did not!”
“I will make arrangements for physical therapy to come to your room to work on strengthening exercises before we can consider anything else.”
“I want to go home!” Nick protested weakly.
“Not until you’ve eaten solid foods and can walk twenty-five feet and not before,” the doctor stated. “I can make a phone call to Brian, you know.”
Nick shook his head in defeat. “Don’t bother Brian, he’s just gonna agree with you. Everyone is against me I guess.”
Dr. Andersen rubbed Nick’s shoulder. “We’re not against you Nickolas, we just want you to get better. I know we’ve talked about letting you go home, but you’ve had some setbacks so I don’t think it will happen as soon as you’d like.”
Nick nodded mutely, wiping the tears that had fallen on his cheeks. “So if I can eat and walk, I can go home, right?”
“That’s part of the plan, but you’re forgetting we need to start the higher chemo.”
Nick groaned. “Please can I just skip the chemo for a week? I’ve been off the treatments for a month I’m guessing so what would another week be?”
“I know you’re tired of this, but as an oncologist and your doctor, I can only disagree with you on that one. You’ll be glad you did this before you go home. Now how about I order you something besides the cream of wheat? Do you really want to try something different?”
Nick looked at the doctor suspiciously. “Different as in what?”
Dr. Andersen smiled. “Different as in a plate of scrambled eggs.”
Nick nodded his head vigorously in reply.
“Okay, I’ll get the nurse to order you a plate and schedule PT to start you on walking and strengthening and hopefully we can get some of the anti nausea meds figured out on you today so we can start on the chemo.”
“Yippee,” Nick mumbled.
Laying on his side, he tried closing his eyes, praying that the queasiness would subside when he woke up., but sleep wouldn’t come. Instead a squeaking on the linoleum floor announced that someone was entering the room. Faking he was sleeping, Nick silently hoped that whoever was in his room would leave.
His mission was accomplished when he heard the sounds of the squeaking leave the room. Once he was certain they had left, he opened his eyes, searching the room to make sure he was alone. He then spotted an item that was out of place.
A walker.
“What the fuck is that doing in here?” Nick questioned outloud. It couldn’t be for him! They must have made a mistake. His usual day nurse came into the room, carrying a clear IV bag.
“Good morning Nick, how are you feeling?”
“Like shit......Gretta, why did someone leave that thing in here?”
The red haired nurse looked over to the corner where Nick was pointing.
“The walker? That’s yours.”
“I ain’t no freakin old fart, I can walk without one of those...” Nick protested.
“Dr. Andersen and physical therapy ordered it for you.”
“I don’t need it.”
The young nurse quickly changed the subject, not wanting to argue with Nick. “So you said you feel like shit? Didn’t breakfast set well on your tummy?”
Nick rolled his eyes. ‘Why do they always insist on speaking about his anatomy like he was a two year old?’ “Stomach,” he corrected, “and no it didn’t sit good.”
Gretta nodded as she listened to her patient. Hanging the IV up on the pole, she reached for an alcohol prep pad to wash off the port on Nick’s chest. “Well hopefully this stuff will help you to feel a bit better.”
“What is it?”
“The new chemo med doctor ordered.”
Nick eyed the bag warily. “Great, I’ll never get up to walk being tethered to that crap now.”
“It’s only going to take probably an hour to drip, so don’t get all antsy,” Gretta sympathized. “Besides, I hear you’re going to have some company in a little bit.”
Nick’s mind raced with the thought of visitors coming to his room. “Do you know who?”
“Angie from PT.”
“Peachy,” Nick groaned.
“I’ll be back in awhile to check on how you’re doing with the meds, need anything?”
Nick shook his head, sighing. He looked over toward the walker, he absolutely hated the idea of having to use something to help him get around. Tears welled up into his eyes. There was no way he would be caught dead using that! Only old people use walkers and canes. Not him! He wasn’t old....he was sick with cancer!
Cancer that didn’t seem to be getting better for him......
”Unless you start eating and walking, you won’t be able to get better and go home Nickolas.” Dr. Andersen’s words echoed in his mind as he stared at the steel walker.
Sighing heavily, Nick resigned himself to using the device.
”I have to get better...and I’ll do what I have to so I can leave here on my own two feet and not in a body bag.”
