Matt Sturniolo: Stay By My Side

Chapter 3

Nate's POV

I've slowly been getting better, I got a concussion, broken nose and a few bruised ribs from the car wreck. After a few hours of gaining consciousness from the wreck, I started to remember it more and more. Now I couldn't stop thinking of it. The car suddenly moving into our lane, me not having enough time to react, Matt screaming my name. Matt... I hope he's okay. The doctor's haven't let me get up to go see him, and I really wanted to. After a few minutes I heard a knock on my door, I said to come in and it was Nick and Chris. "Hey guys." They smiled a little and walked in. "How are you feeling?" Chris asked as they moved by the bed to sit down in the chair. "I'm feeling better! My mom's gone to get lunch." They nodded and I continued, "How's Matt?" They looked at each other, before Nick answered. "Not great, but he's getting better slowly. They're taking him off the sedatives right now and the doctors are trying to wake him up."

I nodded, "And? I feel like there's a 'but' in there." Chris pursed his lips and Nick continued. "... He can't talk. During the wreck, a shard of glass pierced his throat and went deep in his Trachea, it nearly missed his Larynx. It's going to take a while for his throat to heal." I nodded and we continued our conversation, before they had to head back to Matt. "Can you please tell him I'm sorry." They nodded and left.

Jimmy's POV

It's been three days and the doctor said that he thinks it's time to take Matt off the sedatives and wake him up. I watched as he had a few muscle spasms, Marylou took Nick and Chris out of the room, which was good idea. They are already tore up about all of this, they didn't need to witness Matt struggling to wake up either. Justin stayed in the room. He started to talk to Matt and I joined in, hoping that we could wake him up faster.

"Matty, if you can hear me, please wake up. We miss you." Justin said as Matt started to spasm, "Come on son, just wake up. We're here for you." After a few minutes, he jerked awake and started coughing. He start tugging at his tubes in his throat, Justin acted fast and grabbed his wrists, so he wouldn't pull anything out, I went to get the nurse and doctor. When we came back in the room, they moved Justin and I in the corner of the room, as they unhooked him from the ventilator, and put a nasal cannula on him. He still had one tube around his throat.

Matt's POV

"Matt don't try to speak." That was the first thing I heard and I woke up to feeling something in my throat, I started coughing on it. I wanted to pull whatever this was in my mouth out, but someone was holding me down. I groaned out, and felt more hands on me, trying to get me to calm down as someone unhooked whatever was in my mouth and pulled it out. I still felt something in my throat, as I felt a nasal cannula being place in my nose. I reached up again at my throat, feeling something around and in my throat. One of the nurses pulled my hand away again, as I opened my eyes. "Don't pull on that. It's a tube connected to your throat, it's helping you breathe while your throat heals."  She stepped away and then then the nurse left the room. I looked over and seen Justin on my right and my dad on my left.

The doctor walked over and introduced himself, then checked on me. He started shining a light in my throat and told me that I couldn't talk. Then after he looked me over, he left the room. He came back after a minute with a small white board and an expo pen, he told me to write on this until I was able to talk again. I started feeling frustrated that I couldn't talk on my own, and it was hard not to try. I felt the tube in my throat, and that after a few days, they said they would remove it, but I would have a scar on my throat. Nick, Chris and my mom walked into the room and I waved at them. I popped the cap off the expo pen and wrote down my question, 'Is Nate okay?' My dad was the one to answer. "He's okay. He should be getting discharged later this afternoon. He had a concussion, broken nose and a few bruised ribs." I nodded, and wrote down my next question. 'Am I okay? What all is wrong with me?' I seen Nick and Chris purse their lips and Justin answered this time. "You're okay, you had a concussion, and you have a cracked bone in your right leg. The worse from the wreck was your throat. You had a decent sized piece of glass from the windshield get lodged in your Trachea."

I nodded, 'What about my voice? Will I ever be able to fully talk again?' Justin shrugged and then dad went back to answering, "The doctor said the glass was mere inches from your Larynx, but that you should have no issues making a fully recovery. As long as you listen to what they tell you." I nodded. With shaky hands I started writing again, this time I felt the tears building in my eyes. Why do I have to cry. 'I'm sorry I scared you guys. I'm sorry for the wreck.' Justin and Nick were the first ones to react, as they wrapped their arms around me and pulled me into a hug. "It's okay, it's not your fault, Sweetheart." Nick whispered in my ear. Chris hugged me after Nick, "We talked to Nate earlier. He said he's sorry for the wreck." I nodded and wiped the tears away from my eyes. They talked to me for a few minutes, until I started getting tired. "Sleep well Matty." I heard Justin say as I fell asleep.