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“Um… I guess they found some internal damage and had to take her back to surgery. The nurse at the front desk wasn’t able to find out anything else though.”
“Oh god.” Kathrine’s hand covers her mouth as tears gather in her eyes.
I run my hands through my hair. I’ve never felt so helpless in all of my life.
We continue waiting, none of us wanting to leave in case the doctor comes in with an update.
I look out the window of the waiting room and realize the sun has come up already. I don’t know when it happened or how I didn’t notice until now, but it’s a bright and sunny morning as if my world isn’t crashing down around me.
After what feels like forever, a doctor walks into the room looking exhausted, and we all stand up.
“Family of Natalie Carlisle?” he asks, looking at all of us.
“We’re all her family,” Kathrine says since I’m not able to get any words to come out.
“First off, Natalie is stable.” I hear someone say thank God but don’t take my eyes off the doctor. “We rushed her into emergency surgery due to internal bleeding and ultimately had to remove her spleen. She also has second and third-degree burns over her arms, legs, and parts of her abdomen. We’re monitoring those for infection, but they should heal well over time.” He pauses.
“What are you not telling us, Doc?” I ask, finally finding my voice.
“She also had a severe head injury which caused some swelling in her brain. We’ve put her into a medically induced coma to allow her body to heal.”
“How long does she need to be under?” Sam asks from my right.
“We’re not sure. We’ll have to monitor her progress and hope the swelling decreases. If it does, we’ll be able to pull her out of the coma.”
“Can we see her?” Kathrine asks.
“Yeah, but just a couple of you at a time, please.”
Kathrine looks at me, and I walk up next to her and wrap my arm around her. We follow the doctor to the elevators and through the hospital until we get to the ICU.
Walking into her room just about brings me to my knees. She has a breathing tube in her mouth and machines surrounding her. Bandages cover her arms, and her skin is so pale, it looks almost blue.
“Oh, my baby girl,” Kathrine whispers. I can’t take my eyes off of Natalie. I mentally implore her to wake up, despite what the doctor said. I just need to see those green eyes… to know she’s okay.
“How long before you can wake her up?” I ask the doctor who’s still standing in the room with us.
“Like I said before, it'll depend on how well she heals and how long it takes for the swelling to go down.”
“There isn’t like a medication you can give her to stop the swelling?” Any medical training I have went out the window the minute I walked into her room. There has to be something they can do. I can’t just sit here and wait. What if she doesn’t get better?
The doctor just looks at me and shakes his head before walking out of the room to give us time with her.
I don’t know what I’m going to do if she doesn’t wake up. She’s the happiness I’ve always needed in my life. The sunshine to my thundercloud. Without her, all I can see is darkness ahead.
How will I survive this?
