Liz arrived at the hospital in the ambulance with Timmy. During the ride, she sat mute on Timmy's right side, holding his limp hand in hers. She used her other hand to trace lazy patterns on the top of his hand. The EMT sat on Timmy's left side, monitoring his vitals, hanging a bag of IV fluid, and injecting medicine into his IV line. She felt the tears rolling down her cheeks, and she would at times wipe them, but she was more intent on watching Timmy, waiting to see him open his eyes. She felt herself becoming numb to the emotional pain she was feeling, and fought the numbing of her emotions.
She knew they arrived at the hospital because the door to the ambulance swung open, and the ambulance was swarmed by hospital workers that started shooting question after question at the EMT. She listened to them exchanging information with what seemed like no emotion. They had Timmy out of the ambulance and in an emergency room within a minute of arriving at the hospital.
The ER doctor came in, saw Timmy in the bed and Liz beside him and said hello, then asked the nursing staff for an update as he examined Timmy. He completed his exam, spoke to the nurses in quick, coded, doctor speak, then looked at her. He smiled and said, "Ma'am, I'll do my very best to help your son. We need to get him into surgery quick to work on the bleeding he's having. I will have a nurse bring you the forms to sign. I need to scrub in, time is critical. My basic plan is to remove a portion of his scalp, because his brain is swelling due to the trauma. I suspect he has some internal bleeding in the abdominal area, and want to explore that area and correct any issues I find. I'll have my nurse practitioner check in with you often during surgery so you know the status. Do you have any questions? May I proceed?"
"Sure, Doctor. Please, save my son, he has to be OK, and I don't have questions." She broke down, and started crying with the fierce emotion she felt, and found it was hard for her to catch a breath.
As Dr. Lieberman grabbed her hands and held them between his two hands, he said, "Mr.s Lewis, I promise you, I'll do everything I can do to help your son." Then he rushed out of the room.
Another nurse entered the room a moment later. "Hello Mrs. Lewis. I'm sorry, we need to take Timmy to the OR now, to get him prepared for surgery. The nurse practitioner will be in to see you in a minute, she's gathering the necessary documents for you to authorize the surgery, and she will go over everything with you. For now, say bye to Timmy."
Standing, and with tears pouring down her face, she leaned over, and whispered, "Bye, Sweet Timmy. I love you, and I'll be here waiting for you to come out of surgery. Please, baby, please be ok and come back to mommy. I love you, and need you. Bye sweetheart."
The nurse pushed Timmy out the room and started to run to get Timmy to the operating room. She was left alone in the empty emergency room. She felt awkward, as she hadn't been in an ER for years, and they still made her feel uncomfortable. She saw a mirror over the sink, saw her face was tear stained and dirty, so ran the water and began to wipe her face, when she heard Jack walk in.
"Where is Timmy?"
"They needed to rush him to surgery. A nurse will be here in a moment to go over everything and have us sign the documents authorizing his surgery."
"You let him go without an explanation? Dammit Liz!"
Before she could answer, the nurse walked in. "Hello Mr and Mrs Lewis, my name is Carole, and I am a Nurse Practitioner. I'll be working with your doctor, Timmy, and updating you on Timmy's condition while he's in surgery. I have the authorization forms, and I just spoke with Dr. Lieberman, and he's given me the latest info on Timmy. Let's start with his condition, and the plan we'd like you to authorize.
As Nurse Carole began to explain Timmy's current condition, the reason for surgery and the current treatment plan, Liz closed her eyes, and flew away, into her imaginary world.