of telling you this. The surgery was somewhat of a success. We did stop a great deal of internal bleeding, and Matt will survive after recovering. Thank god your husband is B positive. It’s easy for us to get B blood here on this side of the state. However, there is some bad news I have to share with you though.”
Christina listened intently to the doctor.
“While we were in surgery, we observed that a portion of the nerve fibers in the lower spinal column, in the L3 and L2 vertebrae, are damaged beyond medical repair. The nerves were severed from the accident as well.”
“What does that mean?” asked Christina.
“Christina, it means that your husband is going to experience lower extremities paralysis for the rest of his life.”
“What?”
“Your husband is not going to be able to walk again for the rest of his life.”
The news hit Christina like a ton of bricks. Emotions set in, hitting her all at one moment. Christina began to tear up.
“No, that’s not possible! That’s not possible!” said Christina. Burying her face into her hands, she began to sob uncontrollably. Dr. Kilbowski, with nothing more to say, wrapped his arm around Christina’s shoulders and gave her a hug. Christina continued to sob into her hands.
“Christina, when you are ready, Matt is in room 309 on the third floor. He’s sleeping and still under the effects of the anesthesia. But you are certainly welcome to go to his room and visit him now.”
After that, Dr. Kilbowski stood up and walked away, back through the doors leading through to the emergency room and back into the hospital. Christina was devastated from the news. What was she to do now? Christina gathered herself and stood up from her chair. Wiping tears from her face and her eyes, she stooped over and picked up her purse from the chair. She checked to see if her phone was in her purse. Finding her phone, she slung her purse over her shoulder and began to walk but felt faint. She sat back down in the chair and took some deep breaths. Never before had she felt so helpless and isolated. After gathering her wits about her, she stood up and walked out of the waiting room area, toward the elevator that led up to the hospital rooms. Christina pushed the arrow-up button to get the elevator to come down and pick her up. The elevator came to life and came down to the first floor. The doors opened, and a man in a wheelchair exited the elevator with a nurse pushing him from behind. Christina stopped in her tracks and watched the man for a moment, wheel out of the elevator and down the first-floor hallway toward the cafeteria area of the hospital. Christina watched the man and nurse for a moment until they disappeared around the corner of the hallway and out of sight. Christina then walked into the elevator. Pushing the third floor button, the doors squeaked closed and lifted Christina up two levels to the third floor.
Chapter 4
Ms. Charolette Jenkins
When the elevator reached the surgical recovery floor of the hospital, the doors squeaked open to a dimly lit, quiet third floor of the hospital, with a nurses’ station centrally located by the elevator and nurses all around the hallways of the floor. The nurses however weren’t communicating with one another and quietly going about their business. Christina stepped out of the elevator and looked for signs pointing her to room 309. Christina looked by the nurses’ station and found a placard that read rooms 301 to 315 were to her left, with an arrow pointing to her left. Christina took a left and walked down a long hallway, counting off the room numbers as she walked by until she reached room 309. Christina took a deep breath and slowly opened the door and walked into the room. The room was dark, the only light coming from the light of the hospital hallway. Christina slowly walked in, shutting the door behind her, and noticed two beds in the room. The first bed, closest to the bathroom and the hallway door, was empty. A sheet divider was pulled, separating both the beds in the middle of the room. Her husband, Matt, was on the other side of the divider. Christina could hear the sounds of a machine beeping, monitoring Matt’s heart rate by the side of his bed. Christina drew close to the divider, lifted her hand, and pulled the sheet to the side. Matt was there, lying in bed, asleep on his back. An oxygen machine was hooked to his face supplying a steady supply of oxygen. Christina walked up to the bed and walked around the side of the bed, closest to the window, and up toward Matt’s head of the bed. She bent over, caressed Matt’s face with her hand, and gave him a kiss on the forehead. Matt laid still, motionless and asleep from the effects of the anesthesia from the surgery. Christina stood up and began to start crying again when the room door opened, spilling hallway light into the room. A nurse came into the room a few moments later—an African American woman in her late fifties. She was short and pudgy, but she appeared to know her work very well and carried a smile on her face.
“Oh, hello. I’m sorry, I didn’t know there were any visitors here on the floor anymore. Visiting hours end in five minutes at 9:00 p.m. tonight, suga’,” said the nurse out loud.
“This is my husband, if it’s possible I would like to stay the night with him,” whispered Christina.
“We can’t have that, ma’am,” replied the nurse. “Visiting hour rules are very strict. Especially in the evenin’ hours.”
“Can you please just ask your supervisor? At least try. This has been an absolute day from hell. My husband is paralyzed, and I really just want to be here with him. He just got out of surgery a little while ago.”
The nurse took a step back and said, “All right, I will go ask the head nurse on NOC shift. Stay right here for now.”
The nurse turned and left the room for a moment. Christina set her purse down on the bed stand next to Matt’s bed. Then she leaned over and grabbed his hand and held onto it; with her other hand she stroked his hair back from his forehead, giving him a kiss on the forehead again. Christina was in fear of how life was going to be like now when Matt would eventually wake up. How was he going to respond to the news of being paralyzed from the waist down? What was she going to say to him? Does he already know? Christina had a thought come into her mind too; could she stay married to Matt now, or not? Would she be willing to sacrifice her life and her dreams of raising a family if Matt wasn’t able to have children now? The hard work involved of caring for someone who was paralyzed now—could she do it on her own? Without even the slightest hesitation in her mind she knew that she was going to stay married to Matt. She wasn’t going to leave him now. That’s not what a marriage is all about to Christina. Just when times get difficult, to run away? Never.
The room door opened, spilling light into the hospital room again, and the nurse came back into the room.
“Ma’am, I spoke with my head NOC on the third floor, and she gave permission for you to stay the night this evening. I’m going to grab you a couple blankets, and you can sleep here in this bed if you’d like,” said the nurse.
Christina smiled back and said, “Thank you so much for asking.”
The nurse smiled and turned around and walked out of the room, on her way to go get extra blankets for Christina. Even after taking a nap in the afternoon, Christina was exhausted. Her emotions drained her of energy. Seeing Matt asleep she couldn’t figure out what else she could do for him now other than be there for him when he woke up. Christina walked around the foot of her husband’s bed and toward the other bed on the other side of the curtain. Christina pulled the curtain back to keep an eye on Matt as he slept in the adjacent bed. The nurse returned to the room with extra blankets for her while she was sitting on the edge of her bed.
“Here you are. By the way, my name is Charolette. Charolette Jenkins,” said the nurse.
“Charolette.
