Helen's Condition

 

Helen’s Condition

 

Kevin was not happy when he saw Helen's condition. She appeared worse than she did that day on the roof with Stacy holding pressure on her lacerated subclavian artery. She looked at least ten years older as well. Stacy and Kimberly decided to sit with their mother. Kevin recognized this was very possibly the last few hours she would be alive. Sepsis was spreading rapidly through her body.

            “She collapsed before she could get to the clinic. She is in the first stage of heart failure due to endocarditis. Sepsis set in quickly and she is one sick lady.”

            “She had some damage to her vagina from a sexual assault. She was bruised very badly in the labia and the vagina. Is it possible that contributed to the ectopic pregnancy?”

            “I would say it may have played a role in her continued female problems and her weakened state. She came in slightly underweight also. Do you know if she started some fad diet? You've been separated from her for a while?”

            “I know she wanted to get back into shape and maybe lose a little weight in the process. She can become very focused on things like that.  We’ve been separated for something like three months. She was very driven by her success and she didn't want to stay far from her news station. She moved into a condo right around the corner from her station.”

            “Your tests all came back clean from the notes I have here. You are both A+ blood type. The fetus she was carrying was going to have some major problems with AB- blood. Either way, you understand you were not the one who had sex with her and put her in the hospital.”

            “That's not going to be a lot of comfort to the girls. At least they are here to tell her goodbye if it comes to that.”

            “We don’t have to let them know the exact cause of this unless you feel it necessary. When and if it comes to that. We can't do anything else. Her body is shutting down. I'm going to back off the sedatives slightly and see if she will wake up enough to talk. I'm not holding much hope in that. She had major surgeries less than six months ago and she went into DIC then from what we understand. Four units of blood in less than one hour and two more units over the next twenty four hours doesn't come close to what she had gotten here today. We replaced three times her normal blood volume in eight hours.”

            “Let's let the girls say goodbye to her then. If she wakes up enough to understand they are here, they will feel better about their relationship with their mother. At least now they can have some closure.”

            “We can hope for a miracle through the night, but it is not very favorable.”

            “Greg, I think the girls will need to get to the hotel and get some rest once they tell Helen goodbye. I think I should stay here until morning at least. If anything happens through the night, I'll call.”

            “Partner, I've got the kids covered. You do what you need to do. We'll be fine.”

            “Mr. Wright, I believe they have her awake enough for you and your daughters to speak with her. She's not breathing well at all; her sats are dropping and the only thing we can do for her to stabilize her at this time is place her on the ventilator. You understand that is as far as she will permit us to proceed with heroic measures, am I right?” 

“Yes, I understood that from the time we got on the plane in Houston. She let herself get into very bad shape before she considered help this time didn't she?” 

“Yes she did. They are due any minute to place her on the ventilator, so make your visit quick.   I don't think her girls will want to see them hook her up to the ventilator.”

           

Kevin joined Stacy and Kimberly at Helen’s bedside. This was so different from the last time they had held this vigil over her. She had all the appearances of a person who was at the end of life. There were more tubes, more medications, and bags of blood hanging. 

            Kimberly was the first to speak and her tones were soft enough yet firm enough to let her mother know she was all business.

            “Mom, we came because we love you. No matter what happened, we love you. We didn’t get to say goodbye when you left, but we came here to tell you goodbye. I don’t know if you are going to live or die. Dad doesn’t know and your nurse doesn’t know. Whatever happens tonight or tomorrow or even the next day, this is goodbye. We love you.”

            “I’m so……. sorry. I was …..just so ….selfish.”

            “Mom, I didn’t want to come, but I’m glad I did. It’s hard to tell someone you love goodbye and I wanted to think that’s why you didn’t stay around long enough to say goodbye. I came because I want to say goodbye to you. Like Kim said, I came because we need to say goodbye to you. I love you Mom. I love you so much and I’m going to miss you. I’ve missed you so much already.”

            “Stacy, …….. Kimberly……….Kevin,   ……….. please. I love you all. I made …….. some ………. mistakes and …now……I'm paying ……..for them.”

            Helen was using all the strength she could muster to try to tell her family goodbye, but the words would not come for her. Speaking was a struggle and Kevin could tell pain was beginning to take its toll on her. The next few hours would tell, but he had seen many patients in this condition that did not make it through the night to see another day. 

            “I …. was very…..selfish and I …… didn't understand….what I had. Family…..is ……..everything.”

            “Helen, you fought this very hard. I'm not sure how or what took place but that doesn't matter. We came here because you needed the girls and they needed closure. We decided this as a family.”

            “Thank you.......I'm honestly very ….sorry.”

            “We want you to rest for now. If this turns out for the worst, we love you and we all wanted to come say goodbye.”

            “It's all I … could ask for. I'm going …to rest some.”

            Helen closed her eyes as her oxygen sat rate started to rise slightly. It hovered in the lower 90% range when she was trying to stay awake and dropped to the upper 80% as she talked.  Her lungs were noisy and her color seemed worse now than it was when they first saw her.

            Kevin, Stacy and Kimberly returned to the nurse's station. The nurse was paging respiratory therapy to Helen's room so they could place her on the ventilator. It was a struggle for her to breathe and the effort was taking too much of the strength she needed to fight the infection which was running rampant through her body.

            “We're going to place her on the ventilator. She's laboring much too hard to breathe. Her doctor will be in to talk to you all shortly. She directed me  to give this to you Mr. Wright. She said there are two keys to two safe deposit boxes. She wants you to take the contents of each.   She told me one of the boxes is here and the other is in Houston. She understands what we can and can't do for her. I believe she will be at peace with everything if she can't pull through.”

            “Has she requested a minister or was she awake enough to request one?”

            “We had one in for her earlier. She was barely able to speak, but she met with the minister for over an hour. He said she made a confession of her sins and made her peace with God.”

            “I am glad she cleared her conscience. Maybe that will make it easier for her to pull through this. Dealing with a lot of guilt drags you down,” Kevin said.

            “She did seem to improve slightly after he left, but that could just be my way of thinking.” 

Reviews

[Demi Rose]

this was a good chapter. i am not familiar with the story but now i must check it out.