Columbia Presbyterian Hospital
New York City, New York
May 31, 2017
"Mr. and Mrs. Mariano, your test results should be in shortly." a nurse said, as she came into Jess' hospital room.
"I'm not his wife." Rory spoke up.
"We are just really close friends." Jess added.
"I am so sorry, I just saw the ring, and thought the two of you were married. You look like a very happy couple." the nurse apologized.
"She's MY wife." a loud voice said from the doorway, causing everyone to look up, and the nurse to turn around.
"Doctor Huntzberger! What are you doing here? I thought you no longer worked in this building."
"Mikayla, would you mind giving me access to this patient's chart, please?"
"No problem, Doctor Huntzberger." the nurse answered, hurrying across the room, toward the computer.
"Logan, what are you doing here?" Rory asked, standing from her chair nex tto Jess' bed, and moving toward her husband as he approached the computer in the corner of the room.
"What do you think I'm doing?" Logan muttered under his breath as the nurse quickly logged into the computer, then stepped aside to allow Logan to take over.
"I thought that you were in the office today."
"I was. But then I got a text from your Dad, asking how his nephew was doing."
"Hey, can we go talk for a minute?" Rory asked, her voice soft as she reached out to touch Logan's arm.
"Doctor Huntzberger, we are still waiting on MRI results." nurse Mikayla told him.
"Jess, where is your pain?" Logan asked.
"My stomach." Jess answered.
"Where? Center? Right side? Left side?"
"Right."
"Severity?"
"It was a 9 when I called Rory."
"We gave him morphine when he got here." Mikayla commented.
"Did anyone do an ultrasound?" Logan asked.
"He went for an MRI about an hour ago."
"Why didn't you do an ultrasound first? Stomach pain on the right side can indicate a ruptured appendix, and not ruling that out first, before ordering longer testing, endangers the patient's life! Get me a portable ultrasound. Who is the attending?"
"Doctor Wildomar." Mikayla answered as she hurried out of the room.
"Logan. . ." Rory said softly as Logan reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone.
"Not now." he mumbled as he quickly pushed buttons, then put the phone to his ear. "Doctor Schultz, I need you in the ER. Room 25 . . .Thank you."
"Logan. . ."
"You think it's my appendix?" Jess asked, as Logan slid his phone back into his pocket.
"90% of the time, when you have severe stomach pain on the right side, it's either an inflamed or ruptured appendix. Either way, you could go septic very quickly. When is the last time you ate or drank anything?" Logan asked.
"Around 8am."
"When did the pain start?"
"I woke up with it this morning. I thought it was just old age catching up to me."
"How long have you been here?"
"About two hours." Rory answered.
"Damn it, Rory! Why didn't you call me?!" Logan finally burst, slamming his hands down on the computer's keyboard tray.
"You had a schedule full of patients today. I didn't want to pull you away from the office, and I thought that the doctors here could handle everything. They are supposed to be just as good as you are, right?"
"You didn't tell Logan that you were bringing me to the hospital?" Jess asked.
"You should have called me, Rory." Logan said as he stepped away from the computer, and moved toward the hospital bed that Jess was laying in. "Tell me when you feel pain."
"AAAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!" Jess screeched as soon as Logan touched his stomach.
"Jess, you are going in for emergency surgery." Logan told him as the nurse walked back in the door with the portable ultrasound machine.
""Here you go, Doctor Huntzberger." Mikayla said, as she pushed the machine toward Logan.
"Call the OR, tell them I need an emergency Appendectomy, and find out who the on call doctor is."
"Yes doctor Huntzberger."
"Jess, this is going to be a little cold, and it will probably hurt." Logan said as he laid a towel over Jess' legs and pushed his hospital gown to the side, then reached for the bottle of gel next to the ultrasound machine, and squirted a blob onto Jess' stomach.
"Doctor Huntzberger, what is going on?" Doctor Schultz asked as he walked in the door a couple minutes later.
"This patient needs an emergency appendectomy. He presented with severe stomach pain on the right side, two hours ago. No one bothered to do an ultrasound, and instead ordered an MRI."
"Are the results in yet?"
"No, but this appendix is ruptured." Logan answered, pointing to the screen in front of him.
"Your wife is here. I take it you know this patient?"
"He's my wife's cousin."
"Alright, prep the patient for surgery. Who is the attending doctor?"
"Wildomar."
"Get this patient to surgery, and meet me in my office in an hour."
"Will do." Logan answered as she powered the machine off, and quickly wiped the gel from Jess' stomach.
"Thank you Doctor Schultz." Rory smiled as the man stepped away from Logan.
"It's nice to see you again, Mrs. Huntzberger. You look well." Doctor Schultz said as he moved toward the door. "Don't worry, we will treat your cousin well."
Logan silently followed Doctor Schultz out of the room with the ultrasound machine.
"Who was that?" Jess asked.
"Doctor Schultz is the chief of staff. Logan probably just got someone fired."
"Why didn't you tell Logan that you brought me in?"
"Because he had appointments at the office. I didn't want to pull him away and make all of those patients reschedule."
"He looks upset."
"He'll get over it. You're my friend. And you're family. I wasn't about to not help you, or leave you here all alone."
"Was he this upset that I was at April's party?"
"No. Logan knew that you would be there. He's in a mood because of his parents. You didn't do anything wrong. Don't worry about it." Rory said as the door opened again, and Logan stuck his head in the door.
"Rory."
"Hey, I'll be right back." Rory smiled, reaching to squeeze Jess' hand, then heading for the door. "What's up?" Logan just pointed down the hall, beckoning Rory to follow him. "Logan . . ."
"Shhh." Logan shushed her as they continued down a long hallway until they reached an open door that Logan stepped through, waiting for Rory to enter before closing the door behind them.
"Logan, please. You can't be upset that I brought Jess to the hospital."
"Why didn't you call me, Rory?" Logan asked, finally turning to face her.
"I didn't want to pull you away from your patients."
"All your text message said, was that you were going to help a friend with an emergency. You should have told me, Rory."
"I WAS going to help with an emergency. Jess called asking if I could give him a ride."
"You didn't tell me that it was Jess."
"Is that what you are upset over?"
"I'm upset because you didn't tell me."
"Because I didn't tell you that I was helping Jess."
"Or that it was a medical emergency. I'm a doctor, Rory!"
"I know that! But you were busy, and I knew that you would get like this! I didn't tell you because you had patients to see, and I didn't want to piss you off, or pull you away. I could have taken Jess to a different hospital, but I know that this one is the best in the city, and that you would have been upset had I gone anywhere else. Plus, I signed a contract when we started making plans for your clinic, saying that I would exclusively utilize Columbia for all personal and employee medical needs."
"Jess could have died Rory!"
"Are you seriously blaming me for that?!"
"You should have called me! I would have at least made sure that Jess was being seen by a competent doctor!"
"Logan, you were busy!"
"I'm your husband, Rory! You should have called me."
"I'm sorry, Logan. I didn't want to upset you while you were seeing patients. You don't like Jess, I get it. But Logan, he's my cousin. He's family, and he needed help."
"You should have been honest with me."
"I promise I was going to call you. I was waiting for the test results to come in."
"You know the dangers of a ruptured appendix, Rory."
"We didn't even know that was what was wrong."
"Because doctor Wildomar is an idiot and didn't even bother to check! Jess could have died. Had you called me, I could have prevented all of this mess! Now, I have to go have a sit down with Doctor Schultz, and explain what I'm doing here, and why I stepped in."
"Doctor Schultz loves you. He didn't look upset."
"But now he has to go place someone on disciplinary action, and open an investigation into what happened. All of this could have been avoided if you had just picked up the phone!"
"Logan ,I'm sorry!"
"Where is Ayribella?"
"She's at home, with my Grandma."
"Don't be surprised if the media suddenly decides to go announcing our daughter's birth, because you were seen at the hospital not looking pregnant."
"I didn't even think of that . . ." Rory sighed; her voice soft.
"Obviously. . ."
"Logan! You don't get to be a jerk to me! I've been bending over backwards for you lately, trying to be sensitive to what you are going through with your parents, but you really need to get over yourself right now! Your parents are complete jerks! We both know that! Everyone who knows them, knows that! But it doesn't give you the right to be a jerk to me! I'm sorry that your parents were horrible to you, but it's time for you to stop moping around being angry, and start acting like my husband again. I'm not the person that hurt you, and it's time that you stopped acting like it!"
"What are you talking about?! I've never taken my anger out on you, Rory!"
"No, but you've been acting like a selfish pain in the butt lately! It's time for you to knock it off! I'm going back to Jess. Let me know when you've changed your attitude." Rory said as she stepped past Logan, opened the door, and stepped through it, making sure to close the door securely behind her, before she headed down the hallway, back toward Jess' room.
"Hey, is everything ok?" Jess asked when he saw Rory walk back through the door.
"Yeah, of course!" she smiled. "Has anyone come in since we left?"
"Not yet. How mad is Logan?"
"He's fine."
"Rory. . ."
"How are you feeling? The pain isn't coming back, is it?"
"Not since your husband finished the ultrasound."
"I'm sorry he's being a jerk. His parents set him off the other day, and he hasn't gotten over it yet. He's not usually like this."
"His parents have a habit of doing that."
"Tigers don't change their stripes."
"Can I ask you something?"
"Of course. You know that you can."
"You swear that you will give me an honest answer?"
"Haven't I always?"
"Are you happy?"
"What do you mean am I happy?"
"Are you happy with Logan? Does he treat you ok?"
"Jess. . ." Rory sighed as she sat down in the chair she had occupied earlier.
"You can tell me Rory. If you aren't happy with him, you don't have to stay. I'll help you get out of there. You shouldn't be in a marriage that you aren't happy with. You and I may not be together, but I still care about you, Ror. You're one of my closest friends. And we're family. I might be in the hospital in a lot of pain right now, but I'll kick his ass when I get out, if you need me to."
"Thanks Jess, but that is really not necessary. Everything with Logan isfine."
"Rory. . . Are you happy?"
"I promise you, I am. I wouldn't be with him if I wasn't. Everything is good between us. Logan is just going through something right now, and I'm sorry that you are stuck dealing with him while he is trying to work through it. It honestly has nothing to do with you. He's just trying to process the crap that his parents pulled before we left for The Hollow."
"What did they do?"
"They're just being themselves. Logan's sister just had a baby, and they are acting like Logan and I don't exist."
"You just had a baby too, Ror."
"I know. But Honor is their favorite. They've never liked me."
"I thought that things had gotten better with them."
"Like I said, tigers don't change their stripes."
"I'm sorry Rory. I should have been there for you more."
"Hey, don't even worry about it. I am doing great, and you will be too, soon enough."
"Will you do me a big favor?"
"Anything."
"If I die during surgery . . ."
"Jess, don't be ridiculous. You aren't going to die."
"Rory. . . If something happens to me, I want you to take over Truncheon."
"Jess. . ."
"And I don't mean take it over with your company. I want you to run it independently."
"Jess, I don't know if I can do that. It would be a conflict of interest."
"Then have April take it over and you can advise her on how to run things. I just don't want it taken over by someone that I don't trust, or getting swallowed up by a big machine."
"Jess, you are going to be just fine. I promise. Complications from an appendectomy are rare."
"Rory, please. I need you to promise me."
"Ok. . . I promise. But you are going to be just fine."
"Thank you. And one more thing . . ."
"Name it."
"If things change between you and Mr. Crabby patty, you will call me."
"I promise. But really Jess, we're good. I swear."
"Good. Because I'll seriously mess him up for you, if you need me to."
"Thanks Jess. It means a lot that you've got my back."
"Hey, that's what cousins are for, right?"
"I have no idea. You're the only one that I've got."
"You really don't have any other cousins?"
"My parents are both only children."
"Wow, that's just sad."
"Maybe, but I don't know any different."
"It's not so bad having cousins. April is pretty cool."
"You know that she lives with me, right?"
"I heard that. How is all of that going?"
"It's great, actually! She works here, in this hospital."
"She does?"
"Yeah, she works in the lab. I believe she's here right now. I can text her to come see you, if you want me to. She may know that you're here by now though. She's probably the one running your blood tests."
"I knew that she was working in a hospital lab, but I didn't know that it was this hospital."
"Logan put in a good word from her. They don't usually hire people straight out of school."
"That's awesome. If she sees my name come up, I'm sure that she'll come say hi when she gets a chance."
"That's true. They're pretty busy today."
"What's it like being a Mom? Are you doing ok?"
"I'm alright. It's been a big adjustment, but I'm doing alright."
"You've got your own little Lorelai now."
"Yeah, I definitely do." Rory smiled.
"Your Mom and Luke talk about her non-stop."
"I know. They're crazy obsessed."
"It's still hard to picture your Mom as a Grandma."
"Make sure to not ever say the G word around her."
"Luke already warned me." Jess chuckled as the door opened again, and the nurse walked in with Logan behind her.
"Mr. Mariano, I've got some paperwork for you to sign." Mikayla said as she moved toward the bed, and held the paperwork out toward Jess.
"What is all this?" Jess asked, looking at the paperwork in his hand, then toward Rory as she got up and moved toward her husband, threading her arms around his waist.
"It's a consent for your surgery."
"I can go over it if you want me to." Logan spoke up.
"You've already gone over it?" Jess asked, looking toward Logan.
"Yeah. I looked over it before giving it to Mikayla. It just says that you consent to anesthesia and the removal of your ruptured appendix."
"Alright. I trust your judgment." Jess agreed as the nurse handed him a pen.
"You should probably at least read over the paperwork."
"It looks standard. I'm not too worried about paperwork. If you say it's safe and that I should sign it, then I'm ok with that. I'm more concerned about getting this appendix out of me before I turn septic."
"At least you know the risks." Logan told him.
"I try to stay informed. I thought it was my appendix, but I figured the doctors here know what they are doing, and I didn't want to interfere. No one here seemed worried, so I just went along with whatever they said."
"You guys should have called me. You could have been out of surgery by now."
"Well I know that for next time."
"Hopefully, there won't be a next time." Logan told him.
"That's true. I guess it's good that I was still in town when this happened. I could have been on the road back to Philly."
"You are staying with us when you get released." Rory spoke up, causing Logan to immediately look at her, his eyebrows raised. "I won't let you go back to Philadelphia alone. You are going to need help while you recover from surgery."
"That's ok, I'll be fine. I don't want to intrude on your family. You guys already have April, and a brand new baby. You don't need me in the way. I'll be fine in Philadelphia. Or I can always go stay with my Mom in The Hollow."
"Jess, don't be stupid. You aren't leaving the state until you are recovered. You are staying with us for the next week." Rory told him, as she dug her nails into Logan's side, keeping him from protesting.
"I don't think that Logan wants me around."
"Logan is fine with it, aren't you, Logan?" Rory asked, digging her nails in deeper.
"Whatever Rory wants." Logan answered, causing Rory to remove her nails.
"You are staying with us. You will have both Logan and April there to check on you and make sure that you are healing ok, and not developing an infection or ripping your stitches."
"You're going to make April be my personal nurse?" Jess chuckled.
"I'm not too great at it. But my Grandparents have an apartment attached to our house, and they are great about helping out, so you'll have them there too. And our housekeeper Rosalinda is an amazing nurse."
"Rory, you have a brand new baby. You have your hands full enough. You don't need to be taking care of me too."
"Too bad, this isn't up for discussion. You are staying with us."
"Jess won't be leaving the hospital right away. He will be here for at least a day or two afterward. We'll see how things go." Logan told them.
"You sure that you don't want to kick me out right away?" Jess chuckled.
"Are you giving me a reason to."
"Nope."
"You're family Jess. As soon as you are released, you are staying with us for at least a week, right Logan?" Rory asked, giving her husband a stern look.
"Sure."
"Alright then." Jess finally relented as the door opened again, and another doctor entered the room.
"Doctor Choi." Logan greeted.
"Doctor Huntzberger, Mrs. Huntzberger." Doctor Choi said as he closed the door behind him, then moved to stand at the foot of Jess' bed.
"Hey Doctor Choi. It's nice to see you again." Rory told him.
"Is this Mr. Jessie Mariano's room?"
"It is." Logan told him.
"Ah, I take it you guys are friends?"
"He's my wife's cousin."
"Oh, wow! Well, I'll be sure to take great care of him for you, Mrs. Huntzberger."
"Thank you, I appreciate it." Rory told him.
"Jess, this is Doctor Choi. He's part of the anesthesia team." Logan said, introducing the two men.
"You go by Jess?" Doctor Choi asked, holding his hand out toward Jess.
"I do." Jess confirmed as he shook the doctor's hand.
"I'm doctor Choi. I will be your Anesthesiologist this afternoon. I will be with you throughout your surgery."
"Awesome."
"How do you like being related to the Huntzbergers?"
"Rory and I go way back. My uncle is married to her Mom."
"You must have some stories then."
"Some."
"Any good ones about Doctor Huntzberger?"
"Not a one."
"Bummer! We could use some embarrassing stories around here, to make him loosen up a little bit."
"Sorry, I keep my home life private." Logan told him.
"That's no fun though!"
"Yeah Logan, let's hear some stories." Jess commented.
"Would you like a story about what happens if you don't get your appendectomy?" Logan asked.
"Yeah, let's skip that one."
"Anything that you need to know about me, you can find on Google."
"We've tried that. There isn't anything good." Doctor Choi chuckled.
"The only thing that I know about Logan, was that he was the blonde dick at Yale." Jess told them.
"So nothing has changed then."
"Hey, none of that." Rory spoke up, interrupting the banter.
"Alright, alright." Doctor Choi agreed. "Jess, have you ever had any reactions to anesthesia?"
"I've never had surgery before."
"Ok. Do you have any allergies to any medication that you know of, or to latex?"
"Not a one."
"Alright. Well we are going to be taking you back in just a couple of minutes .We'll give you some medicine to help you sleep, and then when you wake back up, you will be in recovery. We usually keep appendectomy patients for observation for 24-48 hours post-surgery. We'll get you out of bed, and back to moving around, and eating solid food."
"Will I need to go on a special diet?"
"Not at all. Just limit your grease, fat and sugar intake. Especially for the first few weeks. You'll need to rest as much as you can during the first few weeks post-surgery, but after about 6 weeks you will be able to restart any fitness routine that you might have."
"No gym for 6 weeks. Got it." Jess agreed.
Sorry it took me a few days to get this posted. I got into a bad road rage incident on the highway Monday afternoon, with my kids. It's been pretty traumatic, and I've been trying to take it easy, and help everyone recover and feel safe again. My car is really messed up, but my husband is able to fix it. Unfortunately, we have a high deductible on our insurance, and since the police aren't doing anything to catch the guy, and the damages total isn't as much as our deductible, the cost is all on us. The biggest expense is the smashed windshield, so it's not too bad. It's just a car. The most important part is that the kids and I are safe and alive. My car can and will be fixed. Some people just really suck, and drugs are a very bad thing.