Half the Man Ch. 01

"Honey slow down, slow down, easy," soothed her mother as she dabbed her daughter's wet face. "I have my purse right here. I'll drive us there and together we'll find out what's going on. Okay?"

"Yeah—sure," her daughter said. All was quiet when they left for the hospital. Mari stared out the passenger window and wondered about her husband.

'What am I supposed to do? What will I find when I see him? What's going to happen?' Then softly murmured, "We've been married just five months, and I've known him only for seven." She slumped into the seat and sobbed.

*

Sylvia with Mari on her arm walked briskly through the emergency room doors and headed to the triage station. She spoke with the charge nurse and was directed to a set of chairs.

Ten minutes passed when a deep voice rumbled, "Mrs. Hunt?"

A dazed Mari turned and looked up at the giant.

He saw the blank stare knelt down and rephrased the question, "Umm ma'am, are you Mrs. Dylan Hunt? Ma'am?" Unsure of what to do he glanced at the person next to the almost comatose woman.

Mari's mom looked at the immense human being and answered his unasked question. "Yes, she is Mrs. Hunt I am her mother, Sylvia Anderson, what's going..."

Before she could continue the massive man interjected and stood back up, "Mrs. Anderson, I'm Dr. Cassidy. Dr. Connor's resident. Would you both please follow me."

She got up and went with the colossal doctor to the elevator. She turned to her daughter, and was surprised. Mari was not there. She looked back and saw her still in the chair hands folded on her lap staring at the wall.

"Mariette!! Come on, we need to go."

"Oh, sorry Mom," was the meek reply. She slowly rose and fell in behind her mother and the towering doctor.

Sylvia looked at Mariette anxiously as they waited for their ride, but the young nervous wife just fidgeted with her hair, eyes fixed on the floor at her feet. The elevator door opened and they all got in. Floor six was pressed the doors closed, and the elevator lurched upward. Sylvia nudged her daughter with no response, and once more took matters into her own hands.

"Dr. Cassidy, what is the condition of my daughter's husband? Dr. Connor said he was critical. What are his injuries? Can you tell us please?"

"Ms. Anderson, Mrs. Hunt. Mr. Hunt suffered trauma to his lower abdomen, left leg, and has numerous contusions and lacerations. I would prefer Dr. Connor explain these injuries and discuss options concerning the welfare of your ..." At that moment the doctor's cell phone buzzed. "Yes, sir? ... Yes, they are with me." The elevator arrived on six and they stepped out. "We are on the floor, and will be there shortly."

Dr. Cassidy opened the door to the consultation room, and motioned for the two women to go in. Dr. Connor rose from the round table and gestured to the chairs. Sylvia introduced herself and Mariette to the doctor as they sat down.

Before they were settled, Dr. Conner started to talk, "Mrs. Hunt, your husband was involved in a bad traffic accident. He was brought in with a ruptured spleen, comminuted fracture of the left femur, and his pelvis is compromised which I will explain in a bit. We performed an emergency splenectomy, and inserted a rod with nails to stabilize his femur. The pelvic damage is actually several small bilateral cracks of the Ischium, and Pubis bones that appear superficial in nature. He has a through and through cut of the left cheek and other facial lacerations that will require extensive plastic surgery at a later date." The doctor took a sip of water.

"Fortunately nothing showed up on the spinal or head x-rays, and he passed every neuro-assesment test. Luckily your husband is in excellent shape, but in all likelihood will have mild to moderate difficulty walking because of the injury to the femur. The procedure we did should have him up in a few days provided there are no other complications. I mentioned a rod earlier. We did an Intramedullary Nailing where a specially designed metal shaft..."

Mari stared at the person talking, she heard fracture, surgery, rod, and—nothing. Her mind rewound the idyllic life she had with Dylan, the sex, the love, the marriage, the sex.

"Mariette! Snap out of it! Did you hear anything the doctor said?"

"What? Oh, sorry Mom, I—must have zoned out."

"Would you excuse us doctor?" Dr. Connor looked at the young woman then nodded at Sylvia and left the room with his tall resident. Sylvia heard whispers but could not make out what was said.

Once the door closed, "What is wrong with you young lady? Do you have any idea the severity of the situation? Mariette you have to focus. Come on honey, pull yourself together."

Tears fell from blue eyes, "M...m...mom I don't know what to do, I'm scared. Dylan is the strong one; I haven't a clue how to handle this. He would know what to ask and do. I don't, I...I don't. I mean when we eloped, it was my idea. Out of the blue I asked, 'Hey stud, you want to get married?' I was happily surprised when he said, 'Sounds like a plan to me, when?' We didn't know each other that long but I felt alive with him. I chuckled and answered, 'Yesterday.' He let loose with a big belly laugh pulled me into his arms and said, 'Mari Hunt does have a nice ring to it. What say we tell our parents the good news?'"

'I knew it, I knew it. That asshole did manipulate her, God how I hate that steroid using freak. Sylvia thought and gently put her arm around her grieving daughter, "Mariette, its okay. But..."

Mari jerked away, "NO IT'S NOT, okay." The disoriented woman was replaced by a flamethrower as she ripped into her mother. "I was floating on air until we told you and his mom and dad. Did we get any support, hell no! All we heard was: we were too young, we hardly knew each other, and we should wait. Well, I didn't want to wait and neither did he. After the backlash we got, he told me he would handle it, and he did. We flew to Vegas the next week and got married. When we got back he set both you and his parents down and explained in no uncertain terms what we did. Do you know that his parents haven't talked to him since that day?"

"Oh yes, I certainly do remember." Sylvia knew her daughter and pretended to be conciliatory. Inside she stifled a snigger then gently said, "Honey, I understand you're upset but now isn't..."

Mari scowled and pointed an accusatory finger, "AND you Mother, constantly making snide remarks about him being a health nut, and always pumping up. I was so embarrassed when you sent him that 'Hans and Franz' birthday card 'I'm going to pump you up.' HOW could you Mother?" She put her head down on the table and cried. "How could you?"

'If I could tell you I would.' was her mother's silent answer. Although initially startled by her daughter's outburst, Sylvia realized it had run its course and knew exactly what to do. She placed her arm around her and soothed the sobbing girl. "Mariette, I'm sorry, I umm, didn't think. But you need to focus on now, not the past. I will help you honey. We'll get through this together, okay?"

"Yeah, okay mom."

Sylvia got up kissed her daughter on top of her head, and with a small smirk opened the consultation room door.

*

'Was that a beep? Why is it cold?' Darkness and strange sounds filled the void as dim memories collided with reality. 'Boy this sure is a long light. There's that beep again, what happened to the radio station?'

"Marg, I think he's beginning to stir."

'Marg? Who is Marg and what's she doing in my car? Was that the clerk from the craft store? Did I forget the bag? What is taking this light so long to change? It's dark outside, is there a storm coming? I thought the weather was supposed to be clear. My throat is so dry and why is my leg hurting? Where is that damn beep coming from?'

"It's still too soon he needs another day, he is a strong one. Inject another 5 mg intravenously."

'Who's that? Another day? Intra what? Oh good the light changed, let's get home, what's that screeching? Oh no, NO!' Dylan silently screamed as the void claimed him once more.

*

"Three days off is not enough." Nurse Muldaur said quietly as she entered the ICU to start her first night back. She yawned in the dim light and checked the nurses' station to see tonight's assignments. 'Only two beds that is a pleasant surprise, last week it was five. Hmmm, one is a male accident victim, and the other a male drug overdose.' The nurse rolled up the sleeves on her blue sweater picked the tablet up and walked to the accident victim's room first.

Even though the patient was unconscious she entered with a cheery, "Well, who do we have here?"

The generously proportioned nurse set the tablet down and tapped the portable computer's keyboard to look at the last shift's data entries. The first few sentences told her all she needed. The patient had been sedated for three days, and should wake up soon. She checked the numbers on the different machines typed in the information and then placed a sterile cup on the ear thermometer. She looked at the patient's features and immediately set the thermometer down. Back at the computer with a few keystrokes, she read what happened to this young man.

"Oh my goodness," Nurse Muldaur gasped and put a hand to her mouth, "Several lacerations from just above the ear extending to the chin. Incised wound to left cheek, Maxilla along with the first and second molar of the mandible were exposed. Inconclusive test results on possible buccal nerve damage. Nasal cavities intact — thank goodness for small favors there. One hundred twenty-one stitches externally, forty-eight internal. With this damage, the swelling will take weeks to go down and the discoloration could last a month or two. Those stitches inside will be very uncomfortable. I hope plastic surgery will minimize the scarring."

Nurse Diana Muldaur sadly shook her head when she finished examining the heavily bandaged face. Gently she lowered the blanket and though a professional, admired the patients chiseled form. 'Look at those arms and Pecs, he must do a lot of weight training to get those beauties.'

She lowered the blanket further to check the surgical site and what she could see of his six packs gave her heart a palpitation. Satisfied that the area was fine, she took a breath and revealed the catheter and more importantly what it was inserted into. Diana grunted at his smallness did a quick check and moved quickly to her final stop, his surgically repaired femur. A few moments later she was convinced it too was doing well, and after another long look at that fine abdomen, she covered him back up. She made a few more entries, verified the computer updated the tablet and started to walk away when she heard him stir. She turned the main light on and hurriedly returned to his bed.

"Dylan, Dylan Hunt? Can you hear me?"

Eyelids fluttered at the sound, shadows moved. He tried to speak but couldn't.

"Don't try to talk, when I tell you I want you to cough. Do you understand?"

He looked up at the feminine sound. She was very blurry he could see the shape of a stethoscope, and she was asking him to what? 'Cough, she wants me to cough.'

"That's it, cough." Diana said, and quickly pulled out the airway followed by the gastro tube.

A raspy voice asked for water. "Here are some ice chips hon." She spooned a tiny amount into his parched mouth. "Not too much, not too much. Do you know where you are?"

He winced at the cold looked around the area then back at her and croaked, "A hospital I think."

She patted his hand, "Yes, that's right. What do you remember?"

"The last thing I recall—I was sitting in my car. Could I have some more ice?" She spooned another small mouthful in. "Thank you, I was at a light. It changed, I started to drive and then I woke up here. That's all, nothing else. What happened?" he hoarsely implored.

Remembering what she just read Nurse Muldaur answered, "According to the paramedic report, you were involved in a serious auto accident, and they had to cut you out of the car. You suffered several injuries. Dylan, how are you feeling?"

"I was in an auto accident? I—don't remember. I umm, feel tired, sore. My leg and side hurt, and the left side of my face feels—tight. It's like I was in a fight and lost—badly. Could I have some more ice please?"

"Yeah, a fight about sums it up," she snickered, and spooned ice chips into her patient's parched mouth. She picked a small light off the table, "Dylan can you open your mouth for me, I need to look inside."

He complied, "No bleeding, stitches look good. Thank you. To answer your question, you were in an accident three days ago you have been kept asleep to help your body recover from the trauma, and subsequent surgeries." Seeing his worried look she calmly added, "Don't fret we'll have you up in no time."

He lay silently and tried to remember. His mind focused on the room sounds. Abruptly Dylan's golden eyes snapped open when he heard the monitor beep.

She saw the increased pulse rate, and knew what to do. Diana opened the drawer removed a syringe, "Here this will help you relax and give you a more normal sleep." She popped the cap and administered the sedative through his IV.

"Wow, can I have a bottle of that stuff?" he asked sluggishly as the medication coursed through his veins.

"Ha ha ha; you aren't the first to make such a request and I doubt the last," she chortled.

Drowsily he inquired, "Three days? My wife, where is...my wife?"

"I imagine your wife is home asleep. It's after 3:00 A.M. We'll let her know that you're awake later this morning. Now try to get some more rest," she replied and increased the IV drip.

"Why does my—penis feel—so weird?" Dylan groggily inquired.

"Oh, that's nothing to worry about; there is a catheter inserted into your bladder. We can't have you pee the bed!" Diana laughed and rubbed his arm. She dimmed the lights and stepped out of the room.

"Ohh...I guess...that explains...it." He whispered as sleep claimed him again.

End of Chapter 1

To be continued...