Danny and Elise Ch. 12

Their honeymoon hiking trip in the backcountry of British Columbia was just as spectacular and breath-taking as they had both imagined. They had chosen a destination about 3 hours north of Vancouver, along what is known as the Stein Valley Traverse. Their honeymoon consisted of 8 days and 7 nights of the best terrain Canada had to offer along the 55-mile route Danny and Elise took. From temperate forests to alpine lakes, there was never a moment where either of them were bored and not totally awestruck the entire way. Elise took lots of pictures.

Initially, she had been nervous about flying for the first time, though she had always wanted to, but their flight from Indianapolis International to Vancouver International had been a breeze. She couldn't believe she hadn't traveled by plane sooner in her life and made a vow to herself to travel more.

Elise had also been worried about bears, especially the grizzlies, as she wasn't accustomed to camping and hiking where they lived. All she knew was that they are usually much more dangerous than the black bears that inhabited a few of the neighboring places they had backpacked at home. Fortunately, they didn't run into any of those and Danny did his best to help lighten the mood and ease her apprehensions, making jokes and telling funny stories. Elise was fairly certain he was just making up half of them for her benefit, so she added that to the running list in her head of reasons she loved him.

The weather had been exceedingly pleasant for their trip too. Albeit a bit chilly in the low 50's and high 40's most days, they had luckily avoided rain, for the most part, save a night on their sixth day and some sprinkles on their second afternoon. Unfortunately, the rain and ice melt on the mountains was evident in the swell of their last creek crossing. They had read online that it was normally a bit tricky to cross over in ideal conditions, not having many spots nearby that were much better, but the torrent they came across on their final day was even worse.

"This doesn't look good," Danny said plainly as they came to the rushing stream, a fallen tree the only obvious means across.

"I don't like this, Danny," Elise replied once she got a closer look at the situation before them.

"Why don't we search around for a better place to cross?" he suggested, turning towards her for affirmation. She nodded her head in agreement, but knew from all of the research they had done online beforehand that there would be no better crossing spots than the fallen log. Still, she went along with him, buying herself some time to psyche herself up to cross.

They searched up and down the bank for a good 15 minutes to no avail. Danny finally sighed, rubbing his hands down his face.

"We're going to have to cross over that log," he said, resigned.

"I know," Elise spoke quieter.

"It's the only way," he reiterated.

"I know, Danny. It's ok."

Judging by the look he gave her next, he knew she wasn't really ok with it, but continued anyway, out of options.

"I'll go first. You hold my hand, ok? We'll cross together," he slowly made his way, sidestepping, onto the log. Afraid to lose his grip, Elise followed.

"You're doing great, sweetheart," Danny insisted as they neared the halfway point. She had forced him to succumb to taking baby steps. She felt bad, knowing he could already be on the other side if it weren't for her, but Elise was petrified of heights, even if they weren't all that big. The creek raged a mere 5ft below them. Maybe it wasn't the height, in this case, she told herself. Maybe it was the fear of falling into the turbulent current below and getting swept away. It wasn't that big of a stream, but big enough, under its swollen conditions. She continued inching along the log sideways, keeping a death grip on Danny's hand. Elise willed herself not to look down. 3/4 of the way across.

She had no clue why she did it. (Did anyone in circumstances where they could fall and injure themselves?) She looked down. She was so close to being across the log, only 3 feet of water or so between where she stood and where the bank started it. It was a mistake and she knew it. The world around her began to spin. Elise was vaguely aware of her grip loosening from Danny's. Everything suddenly became slow motion. She turned to him as she fell, mouth formed in an "oh!" of surprise as she tumbled over the side.

"Danny!" she screamed out. Suddenly everything returned to normal speed, including her fall. Her hip jolted hard against a large rock below, the creek bank was lined with them. Pain instantly seared from the site of impact, but she had more important things to be concerned with. Elise was in the raging stream now, backpack and all. Would she be able to clamber onto one of the slippery boulders she passed as the current swept her farther downstream?

"Elise!" she turned towards Danny's voice behind her. He was farther away than she expected. She tried hard to grab any branch or rock that she could, trying to kick her way towards shore the whole time to no avail. Her leg wasn't working right. Her kicks a pitiful display, lopsided. Another thought to worry her.

Ultimately, a large branch sticking halfway out into the creek snagged her backpack and didn't let go.

"Elise!" she turned to find Danny running toward her along the uneven bank. She was disturbed by how far the stream had carried her in the short amount of time. The log they had been crossing over looked so far away.

"Hold on, sweetheart!" Danny called again, almost to her. She tried to reach to him as he climbed precariously out onto the branch that was snagging her in place.

"Grab my hand!" he yelled. He was so near. Since her legs were no good, she mustered all of the upper body strength she had to push herself off with one hand and reach with the other...But she didn't find contact with Danny's hand. The waterlogged backpack made things infinitely more difficult than they should have been.

Elise felt a jolt and realized she had somehow managed to push herself free of the log, momentarily, but Danny caught her wrist just in time. His grip hurt a little, but she knew better than to complain as he pulled her slowly towards the rocky embankment. With the weird currents and eddies near shore created by the flooding, Danny struggled to pull her in in a timely manner, but eventually managed to do so without losing hold of her again.

"Baby, are you ok?" he looked down at her, hands resting on his thighs, seemingly catching his breath, finally letting go of her hand now that he knew she was safe.

"Mostly," Elise floundered, trying to wrap her head around what had just happened

"Can you walk?" he grimaced. "Seems like you took a pretty nasty fall on that rock." She tried to stand, make her way on her feet as she always did when rising from the ground, but fumbled about, and she couldn't blame it on the rocks.

"It's your hip, isn't it?" Danny looked at her with extreme concern as she continued trying to stand up. Elise felt like a marionette with someone who didn't know how to control it. New pain coursed through her left side as she tried to stand, a simple enough task, right?

"Sit down, sweetheart," Danny gently pushed her shoulders, not taking much effort to make her sit.

"Don't make it worse. You can't stand up, can you?"

"Maybe if you helped me..."

"Elise, even if you could with help, something is still majorly wrong," he interrupted. She suddenly began to grow scared.

"I'm cold," Elise mumbled at the same time the fear she may have broken something set in.

"Let me get my spare jacket from my pack. Right back," he announced. She watched him run off, toward the end of the log he made it to but she hadn't, to his pack a mere 6ft away. He pulled the rain jacket from his bag and ran back to her, wrapping it around her as best he could. He didn't stop there, though, as he wrapped his arms around her in a bear hug.

"What are you doing?" Elise managed to ask amongst all of the other questions in her head.

"You're shivering. I don't know whether it's from shock or your core body temperature going down from the cold water and cool air. Either way, I"m not taking my chances," Danny answered expertly.

The weather was deceivingly chilly. The sky was bright with sunshine with only a few small clouds passing overhead occasionally, but the temperature was in the low 40's. Just her luck.

The warmth from his body felt good. That thought alone made her lean toward the latter of his reasonings. Great. Hypothermia on top of a hip injury. That was the last coherent thought Elise had before she began to feel very sleepy, the likes of which she had never known. She needed to close her eyes...

"Stay with me, Elise," Danny commanded. She was vaguely aware of him looking at her, even with her eyes shut.

"I just need to close my eyes for a minute," she conceded, attempting to fall asleep because she felt so tired that she felt there was no other option.

"Goddamn it, Elise. Stay with me!" he shook her gently, still holding her tight, trying to warm her with his own body heat.

Reality became fuzzy. Elise was vaguely aware of Danny cursing at his phone, trying to get a signal. Why would he be making a phone call right now? She was having a hard time making sense of things that should have been apparent. He was talking to someone, but she didn't think it was her, though she couldn't really focus on what he was saying. His voice sounded urgent, whoever he was speaking to. The talking stopped. She was moving slowly back and forth. After a minute she realized it was Danny who was rocking her. Sniffles from above her head.

"Please stay awake, baby," were the last words she remembered.

The curtains were drawn shut, but the light that peeked through the cracks was blinding. Elise squinted her eyes, trying to make out her surroundings. It didn't feel familiar. It took her brain a few seconds to catch up. Of course. She was in the hospital.

"Danny?" she looked around, eyes still trying to adjust.

"Elise," he popped up to her right, causing her to jump.

"Sorry," he apologized before leaning over to kiss her forehead.

"How are you feeling?"

"Disoriented," she laughed quietly. "How long was I out for?"

"About an hour, I'd guess. They got your body temperature back up pretty quickly after we got here. You woke up for a little bit then. You don't remember?"

Elise shook her head.

"That's alright. You fell asleep again, so they brought you up here to let you rest," Danny paused. "How's that hip feeling?"

She hadn't even paid attention to it until he brought it up.

"Surprisingly good," Elise was a bit baffled. She definitely remembered that part and was surprised it didn't really hurt at all.

"Pain medicine," Danny pointed to one of the IV bags hanging next to her bed.

"Oh...So I'm guessing that's not going to last forever?" she referred to her painlessness.

"Probably not," he shook his head slightly and laughed. Danny sighed.

"I'm glad you're awake," he stroked her hair. "And alive, for that matter."

"Me too. Thanks for saving me, my knight in shining hiking clothes," she smiled up at him.

Danny laughed.

"You must be feeling better to make jokes."

"So what now?" Elise asked.

"Well, I should probably go tell the nurse you're awake. The doctor wanted to talk to you as soon as you woke up."

Elise nodded.

"Have they told you anything?"

"No. They took your x-rays while you were out, but the doctor hasn't been in yet," he paused. "Hey. Whatever happens, it'll be alright," Danny took her hand and squeezed it.

"It's not good, is it?"

"Honestly? Probably not if the doctor wants to speak with you right away."

A knock came at the door 15 minutes later.

"Hello. I'm Dr.Johansen," a man in his 40's with brown hair and brown eyes entered the room.

"It's nice to meet you, Elise," he immediately crossed to her bed and shook her hand.

"Mr.Mortenson?" he looked to Danny, hand still outstretched.

"Yes. Danny. Nice to meet you."

The doctor didn't really smile, but he wasn't unpleasant either.

"I had a chance to look at your x-rays and, unfortunately, it's not just bruising and swelling like we had hoped. Though that's certainly not helping matters," a brief glimpse of apology crossed his face before he pulled out one of the x-rays in question from the manila folder he had brought with him.

"See this right here?" Dr.Johansen held the picture up and pointed. "That's a definite fracture. Fortunately, it's just one. From the sounds of it, you're lucky you didn't crush the entire joint or, at the very least, have several fracture points."

"So what do we need to do?" Danny asked.

"Well, the good news is Elise won't need a complete hip replacement."

She should have been happy, but she was slightly irritated by the other two suddenly talking as if she weren't sitting right there.

"But," Dr.Johansen looked at her and won points back, "we will need to put a pin in it to get it to heal correctly."

Elise wasn't sure what to say or how to feel. The whole day had been surreal so far. Had it really just been that morning that she had woke up to a beautiful day in the woods? Now she was literally stuck in a hospital bed? It didn't seem possible or make any sense.

"So what are the logistics? How long is the surgery? How long is it going to take for her to recover?" Danny continued asking all the questions.

"The surgery itself will take about 2 hours, no more than 3. I'm not expecting any complications. As far as recovery time, I'm guessing 4-6 weeks since you're young and in good health otherwise," the doctor finally gave a small smile.

"What about flying?" Danny wasn't letting up. Elise was glad he, at least, was clear-headed enough to think of pertinent questions.

"We were on our honeymoon here. We live in the states." he gestured with his thumb towards the window. "We were supposed to be heading home tomorrow. Obviously that's not going to happen now, of course, but how long will she need to be in the hospital after the surgery?"

"Generally, we have hip fracture patients in here between 3 and 7 days. We'll help Elise get walking again, make sure everything looks ok on x-rays and she's not in an excessive amount of pain, and start her with the physical therapist here to come up with a plan for once she does go home. That being said, depending on how the surgery goes and Elise's recovery here, I'm afraid I can't in good conscience clear her for flying for at least 2 weeks. And even that's pushing it. We generally recommend 4-6 weeks, depending on the patient. The biggest issue with flying and long car trips we worry about is blood clots," the doctor finished and let this information sink in with them for a moment.

Elise's mind reeled.

"So when is surgery?" Danny continued shooting off questions. Elise was almost to the point that he wished he would stop. She wasn't sure how much more bad news she could handle. Her anxiety began to kick in in a big way.

"I'm afraid all of the ORs are on their last patients for the day now, so we'll get Elise in first thing in the morning. It won't do any harm in waiting," Dr.Johansen answered preemptively. "Just be sure to not move around much and if you need help getting comfortable or changing positions, don't be afraid to call a nurse and he or she will be happy to help. I also highly recommend keeping that pillow between your legs as well. It will help and you don't want to exacerbate things," he paused. Elise assumed he was waiting for her partner to ask more questions, which he surprisingly didn't.

"Do you guys have any further questions right now?"

They each shook their head somberly.

"If you think of anything else, just ask the nurse and if they don't know, they can contact me. Ok?"

Danny and Elise both nodded.

"Elise, Danny, it was nice to meet you. I'll see you bright and early tomorrow," he gave a small smile again and let himself out.

Elise was already fighting hard against the tears pooling in the corners of her eyes.

"Danny, what are we going to do?" she wiped the back of her hand across her nose as it began to run.

"Two weeks?! How on Earth are we going to be able to afford staying here that long? Where are we going to stay?"

"I'll figure it out, ok? That should be the least of your concerns right now. Don't worry about the money. Seriously."

Danny had added her to his bank account months ago and she knew he had quite a bit saved up, but would it be enough to cover the extended stay and the outrageous hospital bill she was sure to accrue?

"What the hell are we going to do about work?" tears slid down her cheeks, but she refused to break down in sobs, though she very much wanted to. Elise figured she had caused enough drama for the day, though.

"Don't worry about it," he emphasized each word, holding her hand again. "We'll figure it out. Everything will work out. I promise," Danny lifted her hand and kissed the back of it tenderly.

"Are you going to be ok?" he asked, referring to her mental state. "Do you need anything? I thought I would run out and get us something to eat and make some phone calls."

Elise shook her head emphatically.

"Just order room service. I know it's silly, but I don't want you far," Elise offered no further explanation. As well as he knew her, she wouldn't need to.

"Ok," his voice grew softer. It was all the indication she needed that he understood. She didn't want to be alone. She was scared. She felt vulnerable. She needed his presence. She just didn't feel like admitting it in so many words aloud at the moment.

"Here," Danny handed over the room service menu to her. "Why don't you decide what sounds good while I call Joe?" Joe was both of their boss at work, even over the heads of their respective departments.

"Danny?"

"What, sweetheart?"

"I kinda just want to call my mom right now."

"Yah, of course," he handed his phone over to her. "I'm afraid your phone's no good. Too bad we don't have some rice to try out that trick," he joked, trying to make Elise laugh. It worked.

"Let's see if we can order some for dinner then," she stuck out her tongue.

"Pretty sure cooked rice would just make it worse," he chuckled. Danny looked to her holding the phone in her hands, she looking back at him expectantly.

"I'll go get a drink or something from the vending machine downstairs. You want anything?"

"No thank you," she smiled weakly.

"Oh! By the way, I did call your mom and talked to her some while you were asleep," Danny added as he was about to walk out the door."

"Oh...Thank you," she was surprised, but not sure why. He was always thoughtful. Why should now be any different?

However, it made Elise even more nervous about talking to her mother. She would probably be hysterical and Elise's emotions were already charged. It wouldn't take much to start her own breakdown again. Maybe she just needed to get it out of her system.

She took a deep breath and hit the call button after Danny left the room.

Elise felt helpless. Other than having her appendix removed when she was 8, she had never been in the hospital for anything major. She didn't care for everyone having to do everything for her. She had become accustomed to taking care of herself over the years. It felt silly to call a nurse just to help her reposition herself in bed. Hell, even peeing wasn't up to her. Elise had been hooked up to a catheter from the time she arrived at the hospital the day before.

And the pain. Oh. My. God. The pain. Never so much had she experienced in her entire life. The sad part was that she was still hooked up to the pain meds when the evil medical henchmen made her get out of bed the morning after her surgery. And still her hip throbbed. No. More than that. The pain was searing, like her flesh was on fire and trying to rip itself apart from the inside out. She tried to give herself some credit. It wasn't as if hip surgery were anything to sneeze at, but she was young. She was in good shape. She thought she had a fairly high pain tolerance. It made her question these things about herself, which pissed Elise off even more.