Samantha's eyes rolled back in her head as she came off the witness stand, and she dropped like a stone.
"Sam!" I cried out and ran to her side. I patted her cheek as Jenna and Carol came rushing over. Sam was out cold. I heard someone say 911 had been called, and the courtroom was cleared out.
"Come on, Sam. Come on, honey. Open your eyes for me. Open up. Sam, come on," I pleaded with her. Her breathing was shallow, and her complexion was pale. Jenna was holding her hand and also patting her face.
"Sam, honey? Open your eyes for me, sweetheart," Jenna was saying.
Paramedics came into the courtroom and began assessing Samantha. They put an oxygen mask on her face, took her temperature while they hooked her up to a heart monitor, and checked her blood sugar, which our CGM app told us was a little high, but she'd just had lunch. Her temperature was up, though. We hadn't even felt a fever, but her temperature was suddenly 103 degrees. Another infection? Where? How?
The paramedics loaded Samantha on their stretcher and started out of the courtroom. The police and court staff had cleared the hallway of press, so we did our best to keep Samantha shielded from view. Jenna went with Samantha in the ambulance, and I grabbed our belongings. Mr. Kravitz drove me to the hospital behind the ambulance.
When I arrived, Jenna was standing in the waiting room, chewing on her thumbnail and pacing.
"What's happening? Has anyone said anything?"
"She has another infection on her stump. Tyler, it's really red and splotchy. There are all these marks all over her stump," Jenna said.
"Is she cutting again?" I wondered. She'd been cutting when she was at her worst after the shooting.
"No. They look like tiny scratches, nothing like when she was cutting. But she's also been scratching at it. We could see scratch marks on her thigh. And one spot where she broke the skin a little. That's where it looks like the infection started. But they're not sure why."
"So what are you doing out here?" I asked worried things were bad and they'd made Jenna wait out here.
"I came to wait for you. They took her straight back and so I came back out here for you."
"Oh. So, what's happening? Can we go back and see her?"
"Oh, of course. Come. I'll take you to where they are right now."
I followed Jenna. We got to where Samantha was. She had been changed into a gown already, and I saw her stump exposed and out from under the blanket. It looked a very angry-looking red, and I saw small scratches, red lines, and small red dots around the bottom. I didn't see any blood, but I did see the deeper scratch where, presumably, Sam had been regularly scratching. She was still unconscious and still had an oxygen mask on. I touched her forehead and felt the heat of her fever. I kissed her forehead and saw her frown. It made me smile because it meant she was at least minimally aware.
Blood was taken, and Sam was sent for an x-ray. Some imaging was done on her stump, and some cultures were taken from her stump. A dermatologist was called to look at her stump, and he took a small sample of Sam's stump. A tiny scraping that Sam wouldn't even notice.
I knew we were in for a fight again. I hoped Sam had the strength. She'd been doing so well, and we could not understand what had happened. Sam hadn't said anything about not feeling well beyond saying she was tired. And we had no reason to think anything more about it, considering we all were exhausted from sitting in a courtroom every day.
Samantha was eventually admitted to a medical floor because even if everything came back with nothing but an infection, she was going to need the big guns, the heavy antibiotics.
Samantha slept on. I knew she needed the rest. She'd testified. The defence may still want her testimony, but this would push her testimony back. I'd speak to Mr. Kravitz later. Once I knew Sam was on the mend.
Jenna and I sat beside Sam into the evening. I texted Josh and let him know what had happened. It had been in the news that paramedics had been called to the courthouse, and it was already in the news that we were there for Mark's trial.
Kravitz had called into the court to let them know what was happening. The trial would continue without Samantha's cross-examination. We were recessed for the next day. Back to court Friday. Whether Samantha was conscious or not, the trial had to go on.
Around eight o'clock at night, Samantha started to stir. Jenna and I jumped to her side.
"Mama?" Her small voice asked. It was how she always woke up.
"Hi, baby," Jenna said.
"I'm cold," Samantha whined.
"You have a fever my sweet darling," Jenna said to her. "You have an infection."
"Again?" Samantha asked.
"Again," I said.
"Okay," she said and drifted off again. Jenna looked sadly at her.
"This fever," Jenna whispered to me. "She didn't have a fever this morning. She seemed tired but she didn't seem this sick, did she? Did I miss something?"
"No. You didn't miss anything. She seemed okay this morning. She didn't have a fever this morning. I don't think she even had it at lunch. It came on suddenly."
"What if it's like Karen?" Jenna asked. This was a fear that had plagued her since last year when Samantha's teammate in her adapted basketball team - they were a wheelchair team - had gotten a cold that within two days was pneumonia and within three had caused the girl to pass away. However she'd struggled with her health for years. Her whole life. That didn't make her loss any less painful.
"Sam's strong. Once they figure out what caused this infection, we'll get to the bottom of this," I said. "And Sam will recover."
"What do we do about court?" Jenna asked.
"We don't have to be there but we should. How about we trade off. There shouldn't be much more. Kravitz said he'd be resting his case by Friday afternoon."
"Okay. Let's go day by day. One of us here, one of us there."
"Okay. I'll make arrangements with Josh to take Junie and Rosie to their place. That way they can get out from time to time. There's press at the driveway again."
Jenna's features clouded over.
Josh and Debby said they'd spend the night at our house with the girls tonight and pack them up for a few days in the morning. I couldn't thank them enough for everything they had done to help us whenever Samantha was in the hospital.
Around midnight, Samantha woke up drenched in sweat.
"What? Where? Why am I wet?" She asked looking around.
"Hi there," I said, leaning over her in her bed.
"Hi, Dad. What happened?"
"You spiked a fever of 103 at court this morning. You've got an infection in your stump. They're trying to figure out what it is."
"Oh," Sam said, frowning. "It's really itchy."
She tried to reach to scratch it, but I caught her hand.
"That's how you spread the infection. Let me call a nurse."
I pressed the call button while Samantha writhed in discomfort. Jenna was awake by now and said that when the nurse came she'd help Sam change into a dry and clean gown.
The nurse came in and smiled. I told her about Samantha's stump being itchy and Jenna mentioned about her fever breaking.
"Okay. Let me grab a few things, Samantha, I'll be right back. I know you're uncomfortable. I won't be a minute."
"Okay," Sam said, making fists and trying to convince herself not to scratch her stump.
"Sam, any clue how this happened?" I asked.
"Maybe. When I went to the party on the beach, I got some sand under my sock. The next day, when I was doing all the chores Uncle Brendon gave me I just put the same sock on forgetting about the sand."
"Sam," I said. "You know you need to be more careful than that."
I did notice that she'd used Uncle when talking about Brendon. She hadn't called him that since the party.
"Wasn't exactly my best day, Dad. We've already gone over that and I'd like to not rehash it."
"I get that. But I'm still saying that you know you need to be more careful. Anyway. What else?"
"Nothing. I guess the sand irritated my stump and even though it'd been washed and dried and everything, something got in when I was scratching. It was so itchy."
"You've got what looks like a whole bunch of little scrapes on your stump," Jenna said.
"Probably from the sand," Samantha guessed.
I nodded. That did make sense.
"So, Sam," I said as we waited for the nurse. "Are you lucid enough to discuss court?"
"What happened? Did I get to tell my side?"
"You did. You were just starting the cross examination when you started looking sick. The judge thought it could be your blood sugar, so he called a recess. You got off the witness stand and then just collapsed."
"Oh. I'm sorry."
"Don't be. You're sick. It's alright. They're going to move forward without your cross examination. We'll see what happens when you're better. But for now, Mom and I are going to switch off while you're here, okay? One of us will go to court one of us will stay here."
"Okay," Sam yawned.
"Your fever finally broke, so I'm going to step out so your nurse and your mom can help you change into something dry. I'll be back in a little while. You want anything?"
"Can you get me a tea?" She asked. "With milk and sweetener? I'm still cold."
I nodded, kissed her sweaty forehead and went to find a cup of tea for my daughter. And a coffee for myself. Jenna asked for a bottle of water.
When I returned, Jenna and Sam were chatting relatively happily. Sam was curled up on the bed, covers pulled up around her and an extra blanket on top.
"The tea you requested," I said, bringing her tray table closer.
"Thanks, Dad," she smiled.
My phone dinged with a text. I looked at it and smiled a little."
"Your aunt and uncle are concerned about you. They heard you were taken by ambulance from the court and want to know what happened and if you're okay," I said.
"Which ones?" Sam asked. Fair.
"Brendon and Sarah," I said.
"Oh. I don't have my phone," Sam said.
I went over to Sam's backpack where I had hastily shoved her stuff as I'd run out of the courtroom. I pulled out her phone and handed it to her.
"Oh, thanks," she said.
I saw her start and stop a text over and over.
"What's up?" I asked her as she stared at her phone, frowning.
"I wasn't very nice to them before I came home. I was still mad about the grounding and everything. And convinced they were, or you were, going to make me stay home.
I went and sat on Samantha's bed with her.
"I can tell you that Brendon and Sarah fully understand. They were worried about you."
"I know! Dad. My god. I know they were worried. How many times do I have to apologize?"
"Well, if you'd let me finish my sentence," I frowned at her.
"Sorry."
"It's alright. Anyway. They were worried about you before you came home and then hearing you were in the hospital again, they were even more worried about you."
Sam contemplated that and I watched as she typed a text to both Brendon and Sarah.
"Hi, Uncle B and Aunt Sarah.
Dad told me you heard that I'm in the hospital and that I passed out in court. Just letting you know that I'm okay. Another infection. I think it's from sand that got into my sock. But I'll be okay.
I want to say I'm really sorry for my behavior before I left to come home. I'll apologize in person when I come back. If I'm still welcome?
Again, I'm sorry.
Sam."
I smiled at her.
"Very nice. Get some rest," I said. She smiled at me and curled up under her blankets, sipping on her tea.