Post by Mimi on Aug 18, 2006 10:34:51 GMT -5
“Doc, did you just say Rachel?” John asked, wondering if he was imagining things. He lowered his head so his ear was next to her lips. He heard the faint sound of her breathing but little else.
“John,” Roman said, breaking the silence. He stood in the doorway, intently watching John, afraid to intrude. “Is she?”
“No,” John said simply, knowing what Roman was asking. “She’s still with us.”
“Thank god,” Roman said as he breathed a sigh of relief. “Let me stay with Doc. You need to go down stairs and be with Rachel…she’s not doing to well…I don’t think she has much longer.”
“Oh god,” John said as he looked up at the ceiling, willing his tears not to start.
“She’s still hanging on, but her breathing is really labored…I just thought you’d like to know and to be there if, you know….” Roman looked down at the stained carpet
“Thank you Roman,” John said, trying to control his tears. “I think Doc’s going to be okay…If you could just sit with her and monitor her pulse and breathing.” John got up from the bed and adjusted the covers over Marlena, making sure that she was warm. He kissed her briefly on the forehead before walking over to Roman.
“Please take care of Doc for me…If anything changes I want to know immediately,” John said as he left the room and went down the staircase to his den. As he stood outside the door to the room he tried to summon all the courage he had before entering. “Okay I can do this…I can do this…I need to be strong.”
He slowly peeked his head around the door hoping that Rachel was still with them. He was relieved to find Rachel and Noah in the comfort of Matrona’s arms.
“Mr. Black,” Matrona said as she looked up at John with tears in her large brown eyes. “This one here’s not doing to well…I don’t know what else I can do for her…she won’t eat or cry or do anything…I’m so sorry.” Matrona started crying softly as she clutched both babies closer to her chest.
“It’s okay Matrona,” John said as he placed his hand on her shoulder and looked down at his children.
“I’m just so sorry that there’s not more that I can do…may God be with her now.”
“How long has she been like this?” John asked as he stroked Rachel’s small cheek with his forefinger.
“She’s been fighting for a breath like this for the last hour.”
John moved around the chair and knelt on the floor in front of Matrona. He strained to hear the faint breathing sound that Rachel made, not sure if the sound was coming from her or Noah.
“How is he doing?” John asked as he stroked Noah’s little cheek with the forefinger of his other hand.
“He appears to be doing fine. I got him to drink a little of the sugar water earlier. I think he’ll be okay.” One out of two wasn’t bad, right? Not when it came to your children. John needed them both to live.
“Let me take her,” John said as he reached out and slowly removed Rachel from Matrona’s arms. Holding her close to his chest, he walked over to the large picture window. Matrona wiped her face on her sleeve. She needed to be strong for Mr. Black.
“Princess, its so beautiful outside right now…almost as beautiful as you. I can’t wait until you are a couple of years older…We’re going to come back here as a family and go cross country skiing…For you, I’d even go ice skating.” John blankly stared out the window at the winter wonderland before him, imaging all the fun that they could have as a family if Rachel would just hold on. He wiped the tears from his eyes before turning around and facing Matrona. He didn’t want her to see him cry.
John lifted Rachel’s tiny frame closer to his face and bent down and kissed her cheek before walking over to the leather ottoman and sitting down. “Could you bring me Noah please?”
Matrona slowly got up from the chair and carefully handed Noah to John.
“Mr. Black, do you think I could take a picture?” she asked as she spotted a digital camera on his desk.
“Sure…I’d like that.” Matrona took her time taking several pictures of John and his twins. She also used the cameras’ capabilities to take some video. Matrona wanted John to have these pictures and videos in case anything happened to the children.
“Matrona, I appreciate all that you’ve done for me and my family…you can never know how grateful I am to you and Alexie. I don’t know what we would have done without you…But, would you mind going upstairs and helping Roman with Marlena…I’d like to spend a little time alone with my children.”
“Sure, would you like for me to get you a blanket? It’s kind of chilly in here.”
“Yes,” John replied as he cuddled with his children, trying to keep them warm. Matrona returned a few minutes later with a plaid comforter in hand. “Do you want me to help?” She asked as she noticed that John had laid both kids down on the oversized leather footstool and was in the process of undressing them.
“Make sure that they don’t fall,” he said as he quickly removed his shirt. John then sat down in the chair and motioned for Matrona to hand him the children. Noah instantly snuggled his little body in between the crook of John’s arm and his chest. Rachel was stiff and unresponsive, not seeming to know that she was being held. Still, Marlena had always touted the healing benefits of skin to skin contact and he welcomed this closeness to his children. Matrona covered them up with the comforter before she went to the door.
“Before you leave, please find Alexie and let me know the ETA on that medevac flight.” John watched her leave before looking down at his children. He was trying so hard to keep it together.
“Hi little girl,” John said as he bent down and kissed Rachel, a tear running down his cheek. He could barely feel her breathing as opposed to Noah. “You gotta hang in there for your daddy. Who’s going to take care of me in my old age? Your bothers aren’t going to do it….you should see your brothers and sisters. They are going to be so happy to see you. Besides Noah, you have two older brothers named Eric and Brady who are going to spoil you rotten. Believe it or not you have three older sisters; Carrie who is the oldest, Samantha or Sami as we call her and Isabella or Belle. You have all kinds of grandparents and aunts and uncles…you just have no idea how lucky you are and how much love you are going to receive. If you think I’m bad, wait till your older sisters get a hold of you…but you’ve gotta be strong little girl…Hang on for me.”
“Good news Mr. Black,” Matrona said interrupting the tender moment between father and daughter. “The plane is on its way…Alexie is putting on his snow suit and is preparing to go and plow the run way. The medevac should be here in 30 minutes or so.”
“Thank god,” John exclaimed then looked down at his daughter, “Did you hear that baby Rachel? The plane should be here soon…please hold on…Another 30 minutes and help will be here. You’re a Black…Blacks are strong and don’t give up.”
John held his baby as she gasped for air, her breathing becoming more and more shallow. Every minute seemed like an eternity as John waited patiently for the sound of the plane or snowmobiles letting him know that help had arrived.
After what seemed like forever, John heard the roar of the snow machines in front of the house, followed by the door to the mudroom opening and closing. Seconds later the cavalry arrived, equipment in tow.
“Mr. Black, I’m Doctor Baines and this is Dr. Anderson…Alexie filled us in on the VHF as to what we would be facing,” Dr. Baines said as John lowered the blanket, giving the doctors a view of the children. John watched as both doctors put on gloves. “We’ve got two flight nurses on the plane waiting for us…is that the girl,” Dr. Baines said as he reached out and took Rachel from John.
“Yes, her name is Rachel…she’s been having a hard time breathing.” John said as he held onto his daughter’s tiny hand.
He slowly let go as the doctor moved away from John and toward the equipment he brought with him. Dr. Anderson took Noah out of the comfort of his arms and laid him gently down on the desk, where he started working on him.
John watched as Dr. Baines laid Rachel down on a small transport board and strapped her to it, then proceeded to check her heart and lungs. He then quickly covered her mouth and nose with a facemask that administered badly needed oxygen. John watched while it seemed to take forever to find a vein large enough to insert the catheter needed for an IV. He then wrapped her in plastic and covered her with blankets. “Mr. Black, do you know how far along your wife was?”
“Maybe seven months, I don’t know,” John said as he looked at the doctor noticing his confusion. “It’s complicated.”
“Based on the size of the boy, they appear to be to be 28 to 29 weeks along…As you are probably aware, their lungs aren’t fully developed which is why they are having difficulty breathing, particularly the girl.”
“Her name is Rachel,” John said softly, not willing to let them see her as anything less than a person.
“Right...I do have some questions that I need to ask regarding the babies…the hospital will probably have a lot more. Were any drugs administered to either child?” The doctor asked as he listened to her chest with a stethoscope.
“No.” John looked back and forth between the doctors, hoping that they could save his family.
“Did their mother drink, smoke or take drugs during the pregnancy.”
John closed his eyes before responding, “Maybe.”
Dr. Baines looked over at John. “Which one?”
“Look I don’t know…I wasn’t with her all the time. Drinking and drugs maybe…She doesn’t smoke.”
“Okay,” the doctor said calmly as he wrote the information down on a clipboard.
“Any other issues that we need to be aware of?”
“Yeah, I didn’t know that Rachel was in Marlena after I delivered Noah…I don’t know how much time she went without oxygen.”
The doctor showed no reaction as he wrote down this information. “What was the approximate time of birth?”
“Nine p.m. last night.”
“Are either you or your wife allergic to any drugs?”
“Not that I know of.”
“Okay Mr. Black, as I said the hospital will have lot more questions for you. I’m more concerned in getting these babies to the plane. Dr. Anderson will go and check on your wife and prepare her to be taken to the plane as well. The plane has incubators and a mobile life support system on board that we need to hook the girl up to.”
“Life support,” John whispered, “I thought she was doing better.”
“I’m doing it as a precautionary measure. The flight to Anchorage as you are aware is two hours. Right now she is holding her own, but I’d rather not take any chances and have her arrest mid flight.”
John nodded his head and kissed his daughter and son goodbye and then watched out the window as Alexie and Dr. Baines strapped the babies to a special carrier that was attached to the snowmobile and drove away through the woods.
“Where’s your wife?” Dr. Anderson asked.
“Follow me,” John said as he grabbed his shirt and put it on.
“Woah,” the doctor said noticing that John’s entire shirt was covered with dried blood.
John laughed nervously. “Things were a little messy last night…I’ll leave this here and get a clean shirt upstairs,” John said as he took off the shirt and set it down on the desk.
John led Dr. Anderson up the stairs and to the room at the end of the hall. John walked into the room and smiled in relief when he saw that Marlena was still hanging on.
“How is she?” John asked Roman who was sitting on the bed next to Marlena, hand on her neck checking for a pulse.
“Still beating steadily at seventy-five…How are the babies?” Roman was relieved to see what appeared to be a doctor standing next to John with a transport board and case of supplies.
“Still hanging on and on their way to the plane…let me switch places with you,” John said as he went around the bed to where Roman was.
“What’s the matter with you?” Matrona asked the doctor, as he stood in the doorway, mouth open. “You’re a doctor, surely you seen blood before?”
“Oh,” Dr. Anderson said as he was shaken out of his reverie. He was beyond amazed at what most likely went on in this small room the night before and that half of the occupants survived. The mobile army surgical hospitals where he served as a field surgeon in Vietnam were much cleaner.
“This is the mother?” he asked. Matrona looked at the doctor in frustration. Of course Marlena was the mother, what a dumb question.
“I need to work on her…please give me some space.” The doctor set his case of supplies down on the nightstand, noticing the bloody soldering iron, and then quickly glancing away.
John and Roman moved back from the bed. Matrona walked over the window where she saw Alexie return with both snowmobiles.
“Matrona could you please find Roman and I some clean clothes?”
“Sure Mr. Black,” Matrona said, grateful to be leaving the room.
John and Roman watched as the doctor climbed on the bloody bed next to Marlena and listened to her heart and lungs.
“Not great, but okay,” the doctor said. He grabbed some supplies out of his case and inserted a catheter into her arm in which he attached an IV containing fluids.
“Her name is Marlena,” John said.
“Right, I’m going to stabilize her for the ride to the plane. Once we get her on the plane, we’ll administer medication.” John wondered who the doctor was trying to reassure, them or himself.
“Mr. Black, I’m going to lower the sheet now…I need to see the extent of her injuries and figure out the safest way to transport her is.…If you don’t want this man here, now would be a good time for him to leave,” Dr. Anderson said gesturing toward Roman.
John laughed, “Dr. Anderson, I appreciate you asking, but Roman has every right to be here.”
“Okay.” Slowly the doctor lowered the sheet, stopping at Marlena’s knees. Her color was absolutely awful, torso caked with dried blood. “Not good.” He grabbed a flashlight from his case and shined it on the incision. “Not good.” Although Mr. Black had actually done a good job with the incision and the sewing, it was still a mess and would most likely need to be reopened and properly closed in a sterile environment. The use of the bloody soldering iron was barbaric and he hoped that this woman wouldn’t suffer any long-standing complications.
“Where the placenta?” He asked hoping that they hadn’t left it in the patient.
Roman walked over to the bed and lifted up a towel that was laying next to Marlena’s right knee. John looked at him in disgust. He’d lain in bed with Marlena last night. Disgusting.
The doctor grabbed a large ziploc baggie and placed the placenta in it. Roman looked away in disgust, feeling like he was going to vomit.
“She looks relatively stable right now…due to the blood loss she is going to need a transfusion of a couple pints at least…The suturing seems to be holding for now…I think if we move her carefully it should hold…I need both of you to help me lift her onto the transport board.” John was amazed at how detached the doctor was to the scene before him. The way he looked at and studied Marlena pissed John off. This was his fucking wife, a living breathing person, not a research rat.
“We gotta hurray,” Alexie said as he ran into the room out of breath. “The pilot told me that we have to leave now. The forecast is awful….more snow and wind gusts up to 75 mph…We need to get the hell out of here now or be prepared to ride out the storm.”
“How much time do we have?” Dr. Anderson asked Alexie, assessing the amount of time he needed to properly prepare Marlena.
“Pilot said ten minutes and he’s leaving.”
“No fucking way,” John said as he walked over to Marlena. “We’re all getting out of here.”
“We don’t have enough time Mr. Black…both of your children need to be in a hospital especially the girl…time is of the essence…they both will die without medical intervention.”
“And my wife will die if we stay here.” John knew that she wouldn’t last another night up at the lodge. She had lost too much blood and was barely hanging on.
“You need to chose Mr. Black…don’t be selfish or they’ll all die,” the doctor harshly told John, frustrated that he was wasting precious time.
“No one is dying…We’re leaving.” John replied harshly to Dr. Anderson. “Roman, I need your help, get some blankets for me…we’re leaving.” Roman ran to the closet and grabbed some blankets and threw them at John.
John covered Marlena with the blankets and bent down and carefully picked her.
“Mr. Black, it’s too dangerous to pick her up like that.”
“And letting her die isn’t?” John asked sarcastically as he walked to the door with Marlena in his arms. “Alexie, start up the snowmobile, we’re making that plane.”
“John,” Roman said, breaking the silence. He stood in the doorway, intently watching John, afraid to intrude. “Is she?”
“No,” John said simply, knowing what Roman was asking. “She’s still with us.”
“Thank god,” Roman said as he breathed a sigh of relief. “Let me stay with Doc. You need to go down stairs and be with Rachel…she’s not doing to well…I don’t think she has much longer.”
“Oh god,” John said as he looked up at the ceiling, willing his tears not to start.
“She’s still hanging on, but her breathing is really labored…I just thought you’d like to know and to be there if, you know….” Roman looked down at the stained carpet
“Thank you Roman,” John said, trying to control his tears. “I think Doc’s going to be okay…If you could just sit with her and monitor her pulse and breathing.” John got up from the bed and adjusted the covers over Marlena, making sure that she was warm. He kissed her briefly on the forehead before walking over to Roman.
“Please take care of Doc for me…If anything changes I want to know immediately,” John said as he left the room and went down the staircase to his den. As he stood outside the door to the room he tried to summon all the courage he had before entering. “Okay I can do this…I can do this…I need to be strong.”
He slowly peeked his head around the door hoping that Rachel was still with them. He was relieved to find Rachel and Noah in the comfort of Matrona’s arms.
“Mr. Black,” Matrona said as she looked up at John with tears in her large brown eyes. “This one here’s not doing to well…I don’t know what else I can do for her…she won’t eat or cry or do anything…I’m so sorry.” Matrona started crying softly as she clutched both babies closer to her chest.
“It’s okay Matrona,” John said as he placed his hand on her shoulder and looked down at his children.
“I’m just so sorry that there’s not more that I can do…may God be with her now.”
“How long has she been like this?” John asked as he stroked Rachel’s small cheek with his forefinger.
“She’s been fighting for a breath like this for the last hour.”
John moved around the chair and knelt on the floor in front of Matrona. He strained to hear the faint breathing sound that Rachel made, not sure if the sound was coming from her or Noah.
“How is he doing?” John asked as he stroked Noah’s little cheek with the forefinger of his other hand.
“He appears to be doing fine. I got him to drink a little of the sugar water earlier. I think he’ll be okay.” One out of two wasn’t bad, right? Not when it came to your children. John needed them both to live.
“Let me take her,” John said as he reached out and slowly removed Rachel from Matrona’s arms. Holding her close to his chest, he walked over to the large picture window. Matrona wiped her face on her sleeve. She needed to be strong for Mr. Black.
“Princess, its so beautiful outside right now…almost as beautiful as you. I can’t wait until you are a couple of years older…We’re going to come back here as a family and go cross country skiing…For you, I’d even go ice skating.” John blankly stared out the window at the winter wonderland before him, imaging all the fun that they could have as a family if Rachel would just hold on. He wiped the tears from his eyes before turning around and facing Matrona. He didn’t want her to see him cry.
John lifted Rachel’s tiny frame closer to his face and bent down and kissed her cheek before walking over to the leather ottoman and sitting down. “Could you bring me Noah please?”
Matrona slowly got up from the chair and carefully handed Noah to John.
“Mr. Black, do you think I could take a picture?” she asked as she spotted a digital camera on his desk.
“Sure…I’d like that.” Matrona took her time taking several pictures of John and his twins. She also used the cameras’ capabilities to take some video. Matrona wanted John to have these pictures and videos in case anything happened to the children.
“Matrona, I appreciate all that you’ve done for me and my family…you can never know how grateful I am to you and Alexie. I don’t know what we would have done without you…But, would you mind going upstairs and helping Roman with Marlena…I’d like to spend a little time alone with my children.”
“Sure, would you like for me to get you a blanket? It’s kind of chilly in here.”
“Yes,” John replied as he cuddled with his children, trying to keep them warm. Matrona returned a few minutes later with a plaid comforter in hand. “Do you want me to help?” She asked as she noticed that John had laid both kids down on the oversized leather footstool and was in the process of undressing them.
“Make sure that they don’t fall,” he said as he quickly removed his shirt. John then sat down in the chair and motioned for Matrona to hand him the children. Noah instantly snuggled his little body in between the crook of John’s arm and his chest. Rachel was stiff and unresponsive, not seeming to know that she was being held. Still, Marlena had always touted the healing benefits of skin to skin contact and he welcomed this closeness to his children. Matrona covered them up with the comforter before she went to the door.
“Before you leave, please find Alexie and let me know the ETA on that medevac flight.” John watched her leave before looking down at his children. He was trying so hard to keep it together.
“Hi little girl,” John said as he bent down and kissed Rachel, a tear running down his cheek. He could barely feel her breathing as opposed to Noah. “You gotta hang in there for your daddy. Who’s going to take care of me in my old age? Your bothers aren’t going to do it….you should see your brothers and sisters. They are going to be so happy to see you. Besides Noah, you have two older brothers named Eric and Brady who are going to spoil you rotten. Believe it or not you have three older sisters; Carrie who is the oldest, Samantha or Sami as we call her and Isabella or Belle. You have all kinds of grandparents and aunts and uncles…you just have no idea how lucky you are and how much love you are going to receive. If you think I’m bad, wait till your older sisters get a hold of you…but you’ve gotta be strong little girl…Hang on for me.”
“Good news Mr. Black,” Matrona said interrupting the tender moment between father and daughter. “The plane is on its way…Alexie is putting on his snow suit and is preparing to go and plow the run way. The medevac should be here in 30 minutes or so.”
“Thank god,” John exclaimed then looked down at his daughter, “Did you hear that baby Rachel? The plane should be here soon…please hold on…Another 30 minutes and help will be here. You’re a Black…Blacks are strong and don’t give up.”
John held his baby as she gasped for air, her breathing becoming more and more shallow. Every minute seemed like an eternity as John waited patiently for the sound of the plane or snowmobiles letting him know that help had arrived.
After what seemed like forever, John heard the roar of the snow machines in front of the house, followed by the door to the mudroom opening and closing. Seconds later the cavalry arrived, equipment in tow.
“Mr. Black, I’m Doctor Baines and this is Dr. Anderson…Alexie filled us in on the VHF as to what we would be facing,” Dr. Baines said as John lowered the blanket, giving the doctors a view of the children. John watched as both doctors put on gloves. “We’ve got two flight nurses on the plane waiting for us…is that the girl,” Dr. Baines said as he reached out and took Rachel from John.
“Yes, her name is Rachel…she’s been having a hard time breathing.” John said as he held onto his daughter’s tiny hand.
He slowly let go as the doctor moved away from John and toward the equipment he brought with him. Dr. Anderson took Noah out of the comfort of his arms and laid him gently down on the desk, where he started working on him.
John watched as Dr. Baines laid Rachel down on a small transport board and strapped her to it, then proceeded to check her heart and lungs. He then quickly covered her mouth and nose with a facemask that administered badly needed oxygen. John watched while it seemed to take forever to find a vein large enough to insert the catheter needed for an IV. He then wrapped her in plastic and covered her with blankets. “Mr. Black, do you know how far along your wife was?”
“Maybe seven months, I don’t know,” John said as he looked at the doctor noticing his confusion. “It’s complicated.”
“Based on the size of the boy, they appear to be to be 28 to 29 weeks along…As you are probably aware, their lungs aren’t fully developed which is why they are having difficulty breathing, particularly the girl.”
“Her name is Rachel,” John said softly, not willing to let them see her as anything less than a person.
“Right...I do have some questions that I need to ask regarding the babies…the hospital will probably have a lot more. Were any drugs administered to either child?” The doctor asked as he listened to her chest with a stethoscope.
“No.” John looked back and forth between the doctors, hoping that they could save his family.
“Did their mother drink, smoke or take drugs during the pregnancy.”
John closed his eyes before responding, “Maybe.”
Dr. Baines looked over at John. “Which one?”
“Look I don’t know…I wasn’t with her all the time. Drinking and drugs maybe…She doesn’t smoke.”
“Okay,” the doctor said calmly as he wrote the information down on a clipboard.
“Any other issues that we need to be aware of?”
“Yeah, I didn’t know that Rachel was in Marlena after I delivered Noah…I don’t know how much time she went without oxygen.”
The doctor showed no reaction as he wrote down this information. “What was the approximate time of birth?”
“Nine p.m. last night.”
“Are either you or your wife allergic to any drugs?”
“Not that I know of.”
“Okay Mr. Black, as I said the hospital will have lot more questions for you. I’m more concerned in getting these babies to the plane. Dr. Anderson will go and check on your wife and prepare her to be taken to the plane as well. The plane has incubators and a mobile life support system on board that we need to hook the girl up to.”
“Life support,” John whispered, “I thought she was doing better.”
“I’m doing it as a precautionary measure. The flight to Anchorage as you are aware is two hours. Right now she is holding her own, but I’d rather not take any chances and have her arrest mid flight.”
John nodded his head and kissed his daughter and son goodbye and then watched out the window as Alexie and Dr. Baines strapped the babies to a special carrier that was attached to the snowmobile and drove away through the woods.
“Where’s your wife?” Dr. Anderson asked.
“Follow me,” John said as he grabbed his shirt and put it on.
“Woah,” the doctor said noticing that John’s entire shirt was covered with dried blood.
John laughed nervously. “Things were a little messy last night…I’ll leave this here and get a clean shirt upstairs,” John said as he took off the shirt and set it down on the desk.
John led Dr. Anderson up the stairs and to the room at the end of the hall. John walked into the room and smiled in relief when he saw that Marlena was still hanging on.
“How is she?” John asked Roman who was sitting on the bed next to Marlena, hand on her neck checking for a pulse.
“Still beating steadily at seventy-five…How are the babies?” Roman was relieved to see what appeared to be a doctor standing next to John with a transport board and case of supplies.
“Still hanging on and on their way to the plane…let me switch places with you,” John said as he went around the bed to where Roman was.
“What’s the matter with you?” Matrona asked the doctor, as he stood in the doorway, mouth open. “You’re a doctor, surely you seen blood before?”
“Oh,” Dr. Anderson said as he was shaken out of his reverie. He was beyond amazed at what most likely went on in this small room the night before and that half of the occupants survived. The mobile army surgical hospitals where he served as a field surgeon in Vietnam were much cleaner.
“This is the mother?” he asked. Matrona looked at the doctor in frustration. Of course Marlena was the mother, what a dumb question.
“I need to work on her…please give me some space.” The doctor set his case of supplies down on the nightstand, noticing the bloody soldering iron, and then quickly glancing away.
John and Roman moved back from the bed. Matrona walked over the window where she saw Alexie return with both snowmobiles.
“Matrona could you please find Roman and I some clean clothes?”
“Sure Mr. Black,” Matrona said, grateful to be leaving the room.
John and Roman watched as the doctor climbed on the bloody bed next to Marlena and listened to her heart and lungs.
“Not great, but okay,” the doctor said. He grabbed some supplies out of his case and inserted a catheter into her arm in which he attached an IV containing fluids.
“Her name is Marlena,” John said.
“Right, I’m going to stabilize her for the ride to the plane. Once we get her on the plane, we’ll administer medication.” John wondered who the doctor was trying to reassure, them or himself.
“Mr. Black, I’m going to lower the sheet now…I need to see the extent of her injuries and figure out the safest way to transport her is.…If you don’t want this man here, now would be a good time for him to leave,” Dr. Anderson said gesturing toward Roman.
John laughed, “Dr. Anderson, I appreciate you asking, but Roman has every right to be here.”
“Okay.” Slowly the doctor lowered the sheet, stopping at Marlena’s knees. Her color was absolutely awful, torso caked with dried blood. “Not good.” He grabbed a flashlight from his case and shined it on the incision. “Not good.” Although Mr. Black had actually done a good job with the incision and the sewing, it was still a mess and would most likely need to be reopened and properly closed in a sterile environment. The use of the bloody soldering iron was barbaric and he hoped that this woman wouldn’t suffer any long-standing complications.
“Where the placenta?” He asked hoping that they hadn’t left it in the patient.
Roman walked over to the bed and lifted up a towel that was laying next to Marlena’s right knee. John looked at him in disgust. He’d lain in bed with Marlena last night. Disgusting.
The doctor grabbed a large ziploc baggie and placed the placenta in it. Roman looked away in disgust, feeling like he was going to vomit.
“She looks relatively stable right now…due to the blood loss she is going to need a transfusion of a couple pints at least…The suturing seems to be holding for now…I think if we move her carefully it should hold…I need both of you to help me lift her onto the transport board.” John was amazed at how detached the doctor was to the scene before him. The way he looked at and studied Marlena pissed John off. This was his fucking wife, a living breathing person, not a research rat.
“We gotta hurray,” Alexie said as he ran into the room out of breath. “The pilot told me that we have to leave now. The forecast is awful….more snow and wind gusts up to 75 mph…We need to get the hell out of here now or be prepared to ride out the storm.”
“How much time do we have?” Dr. Anderson asked Alexie, assessing the amount of time he needed to properly prepare Marlena.
“Pilot said ten minutes and he’s leaving.”
“No fucking way,” John said as he walked over to Marlena. “We’re all getting out of here.”
“We don’t have enough time Mr. Black…both of your children need to be in a hospital especially the girl…time is of the essence…they both will die without medical intervention.”
“And my wife will die if we stay here.” John knew that she wouldn’t last another night up at the lodge. She had lost too much blood and was barely hanging on.
“You need to chose Mr. Black…don’t be selfish or they’ll all die,” the doctor harshly told John, frustrated that he was wasting precious time.
“No one is dying…We’re leaving.” John replied harshly to Dr. Anderson. “Roman, I need your help, get some blankets for me…we’re leaving.” Roman ran to the closet and grabbed some blankets and threw them at John.
John covered Marlena with the blankets and bent down and carefully picked her.
“Mr. Black, it’s too dangerous to pick her up like that.”
“And letting her die isn’t?” John asked sarcastically as he walked to the door with Marlena in his arms. “Alexie, start up the snowmobile, we’re making that plane.”
