Live Love Lacrosse (10 page)

Chapter 17

You Die!

ADDIE COUGHED AND pushed the acrid odor away from her face. It was
obnoxious.

“Ahh, you’re back,” a voice said.

It was Coach Cairns’ voice. What was Coach
doing in her room? All she wanted to do was go back to sleep. And what was that
burning smell? She opened her eyes and saw blue sky. And faces. A million faces
hovered over her. Was she dead?

“How are you feeling?” the voice said again.

Addie focused on Coach Cairns face. “Fine. What’s happening?” She
heard the weakness in her own voice and struggled to sit up.

“No, no,” Coach Cairns said. “Lay back down. You’re okay right
where you are, Addie. The ambulance will be here in a minute.”

“What happened? Is Kimi okay?” Did Kimi get hurt?

A nervous twitter of laughter erupted around her, making her jump.

“Girls, back off a little,” Coach Cairns directed in a calm but
stern voice.

“I’m right here, Addie.” Kimi kneeled next to her. “I’m okay. How
are you feeling?”

“Tired.” Addie closed her eyes against the bright sun and the
faces. All those faces needed to leave her alone.

Someone grabbed her hand and gently rubbed the back of it. That
was nice. “You’ll be okay, Addie.” That was Kimi’s voice. Why was Kimi in her
room? Did they have a sleepover? “Hear that?” Kimi’s faraway voice said. “The
ambulance will be here any second, and then they’re going to take you to the
hospital to find out why you collapsed.”

Addie heard Kimi’s voice break up as if she was crying. She wanted
to open her eyes and console her friend, but the only thing she could find
energy to do was squeeze Kimi’s hand. Addie felt better when Kimi squeezed
back.

Addie barely registered the ambulance ride. Too bad. It was her
first time in one, but she was too tired to notice. The next time Kimi squeezed
her hand Addie had enough strength to open her eyes. She was amazed to find
that she was in a bed with bars on the sides and had some kind of tube sticking
out of her arm. She was in a hospital room.

Addie heard her mother talking. “Mom?” Her voice cracked. And she
was thirsty, so thirsty.

“Addie. Honey.” Her mother came running over. “How are you
feeling? You gave us quite a scare. Your coach said you collapsed again. What
happened?”

“I don’t remember.” And that was the truth. She remembered almost
scoring a goal, but that was it. “Was I in an ambulance?”

“Yeah.” Kimi squeezed her hand again. “They wouldn’t let me go
with you, but my mom and dad drove right behind the ambulance so I could stay
with you.”

“Water? Can I have water?”

“Here.” Kimi handed her a bottle of water.

“Thanks.” Addie struggled to unscrew the cap, and gave up. Kimi
unscrewed the cap for her and Addie drank and drank. She never knew water could
taste so good.

“Why am I here?” Addie said to Kimi and then looked at her mother.

Coach Cairns walked into the room at that moment. “I suspect you
were dehydrated.” She pointed to the tube in her arm. “That is an IV drip to
help rehydrate you, just in case that’s what’s going on. They took some blood—”

“My blood? They took it?”

Everyone in the room laughed.

“Yes, honey,” her mother said. “They only took a little.” She
pinched her index finger and thumb together and separated them about a half
inch. “We have to find out what’s going on.”

“I have a theory,” Kimi said. Her expression was grim. Kimi gave
Addie’s hand a good squeeze and stood up. “Can I talk to you guys? In the
hallway?”

“Sure,” Addie’s mother said. “We’ll be right outside the door if
you need anything, Addie. Okay?”

“Okay.”

“We’ll be right back,” Coach Cairns said.

Addie heard them talking outside the little room, but couldn’t
make out what they were saying. She looked around the room instead. It was
scary and weird. It was all white, except for the blue curtain. Was there
another patient on the other side of that closed curtain? And the rubber gloves
by the door. They were blue, too. There were three boxes. Why did they need so
many? It didn’t matter. She was too tired to care about gloves or whatever they
might be saying about her on the other side of the door.

All at once there was a flurry of activity in her room. A doctor
and a nurse came in followed by Addie’s mother, Coach Cairns, and Kimi.

“So, you’ve given everyone quite a scare, young lady,” the pretty,
dark-skinned doctor said. Her long doctor’s coat and stethoscope and
all-business expression scared Addie a little.

“Sorry.” Addie struggled to sit up, and the nurse in bright yellow
scrubs scurried around the doctor to help her scoot up. Addie hadn’t noticed
before, but she was wearing a light blue gown thingy. Where was her team shirt
and, yikes, where were her shorts? And how and when and who pulled them off?
She felt her face flush warm. A quick glance showed her clothes folded neatly
on a side table. But now that she thought of it, she kind of remembered her
mother and the nurse helping her get changed. Why were things so fuzzy?

“My name is Dr. Robinson.” She gestured toward the nurse. “This is
Beth, and together we’re going to take care of you. I’m going to give you a
quick exam, okay?” The doctor turned to Addie’s mother. “Let’s have mom stay.
Everyone else, go to the waiting room. I hear there’s an entire lacrosse team
out there?”

Coach Cairns laughed. “We couldn’t convince them to go home.”

“You can tell them all to go home. Addie is stable, and I’m pretty
sure she’s going to be okay.”

“Thank you, doctor,” Coach Cairns said. “C’mon, Kimi. Let’s tell
everybody that Addie’s going to be okay.”

“Okay, but I’m going to hang out in the waiting room until they
let her go home.” Kimi leaned over to Addie and whispered in her ear. “Be
honest with the doctor, okay? That’s the only way to get better.”

Addie looked at the serious message Kimi was sending with her dark
eyes. She wasn’t exactly sure what Kimi meant, but she nodded.

“You’d better,” Kimi said in full voice. “We have a game on
Thursday. And . . . I need my friend back.” Her voice caught in her throat. It
sounded like she was going to cry.

“Okay,” Addie called back as they left the room.

Dr. Robinson poked and prodded, asked if anything hurt—nothing
did, and interpreted the blood test they had taken when she first arrived.
After scribbling something on an official-looking chart, she pulled up a
wheeled stool alongside Addie in the hospital bed.

“You, my dear, are a very lucky young lady.”

“I am?”

“Why did she collapse, Dr. Robinson?” her mother asked. She moved
closer and held Addie’s hand.

“She’s a little dehydrated. She’s also anemic which means her body
doesn’t quite have enough healthy robust blood cells to carry oxygen throughout
the body. Her color was not that good when she came in here, and she was a
little low on potassium and magnesium. Those IV fluids will help with that.”
She pointed to the clear bag of fluids that were attached to the tube in
Addie’s arm. “I’m sure she’s been fatigued lately.”

“I think so. She’s been going upstairs to sleep a lot. I thought
it was from all that lacrosse.”

“Partly, I’m sure. But I have a feeling we can address all of
these issues with a change in diet.”

Her mother nodded.

Addie didn’t understand. She didn’t want to start a different
diet. The one she was on seemed to be working just fine. She’d already lost
sixteen pounds and counting.

“Now, young lady.” Dr. Robinson’s eyes bored
into Addie’s soul. Addie swallowed. Hard. “Why do
you
think you collapsed?”

“I don’t know.”

“Mm hmm. Did you eat breakfast before your
lacrosse game?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“What did you have?”

Addie looked down at her hands. “An orange. I think.”

“That’s about ninety or so calories. You need a lot more calories
than that to see you through the rigors of a lacrosse game. My niece plays
lacrosse, and I’ve seen the energy she and her teammates expend.” She smiled at
Addie’s mother. “To me lacrosse looks like a two hour game of keep-away.” She
looked back at Addie. “The notes here say that you recently asked a friend
about purging?”

Addie wasn’t sure what that meant.

“Purging means throwing up after eating.” The doctor’s eyes were
intense.

“Addie, honey, you’re not doing that, are you?” The expression on
her mother’s face made Addie’s heart hurt. That’s what Kimi must have told them
in the hallway.

“No, Mom. I couldn’t do it.”

“But you thought about it? Why, Addie?” Her mother looked like she
was about to cry.

“I only tried once, Mom, but I couldn’t even do it.”

“I think she’s telling the truth, Mrs. Coleburn. There are no
signs of bulimia. No mouth sores or indications of acid burning the enamel off
her teeth. No puffy cheeks from frequent vomiting. No signs of esophageal
issues. She does have other signs of malnutrition, however. Addie, what did you
eat yesterday?”

Addie heard Kimi’s whispered words about telling the truth echo in
her mind, so she told the doctor about the apple for breakfast and a salad for
dinner with dressing on the side, but she’d never actually dipped into the dressing.
She knew her mother and grandmother would look at her funny if all she ate was
a bowl of lettuce. She admitted that she was on a diet and that she’d gotten
her information straight from a book on Grandma’s shelf.

Addie said, “The book said, ‘Calories in should be less than
calories out.’ And it said it was okay to be hungry.”

“Ahh,” the doctor nodded knowingly. “It
is
okay to feel a
little hunger, but it should almost be an anticipatory or a rousing hunger, if
that makes sense. It’s a signal that it’s time to eat, that your body needs
nourishment. A ravenous hunger is not what that book was talking about. Your
body is an amazing machine. Think of it like a car. If you only give it a
teaspoon of fuel, you’re not going to get very far, are you? But if you fill up
the gas tank then you’ve got enough fuel for a long car trip. Do you know what
I mean?”

Addie hadn’t really thought about food that way. Food had become
the enemy. It had become something to be denied.

“Addie, you haven’t been giving your body the nourishment it
needs. Your hair looks dull and dry. Those are signs of malnourishment. Your
fingernails, too. The skin around them is peeling. That’s another clear sign.”

The skin peeling up around her nails had become really annoying
lately and biting them off made them red and sore.

“You’re lucky we’ve caught this in time. Malnourishment can cause
heart failure. And heart failure means . . . you die.”

Addie gasped. Die? Being on a diet can make you die?

Dr. Robinson turned to Addie’s mother. “We’ve hydrated your
daughter with the IV fluids and made sure she doesn’t have any other
life-threatening physical issues. Her heart and blood pressure are good, but
this is an emergency facility, and we’ve determined that Addie is out of
immediate danger.”

“Thank, God,” Addie’s mother said. She
blinked back tears.

“She needs help, though,” Dr. Robinson continued. “Anorexia is
basically the refusal to eat and nourish the body. Girls as young as six years
old can start down the road to eating disorders like anorexia.”

Addie frowned. This was serious, wasn’t it?

Dr. Robinson wheeled herself to a counter, picked up a pamphlet,
and handed it to Addie’s mother. The cover read
Syracuse Family Counseling
on the front. “I highly recommend that you give these folks a call and get
Addie in to see someone immediately. First thing tomorrow morning if possible.”

Counseling? Like a psychiatrist or something?

“This counseling center has an excellent reputation,” Dr. Robinson
said. “And, I believe, they’ll be able to help her. They’ll help identify
triggers, stresses in her life, like a move or divorce, a new school, or even a
new baby in the family.”

Her mother looked sheepish. “My husband and I are, uh, going
through a rough spot right now.”

The doctor expression was sympathetic. “Addie is heading down a
dangerous road toward an eating disorder. Anorexics deny themselves food as a
way of staying in control.” She pointed toward the pamphlet in Addie’s mother’s
hand. “Call them. I think we may have caught this in time, but Miss Addie here
needs to learn how to deal with stress
and
learn how to eat in a healthy
manner that nourishes her body.”

Her mother nodded. Her expression was one of concern mixed with
relief. “Yes, we will. Thank you so much, doctor.”

“I recommend no strenuous exercise for at
least a couple of weeks, but check in with your own family doctor about that.”

“Absolutely,” her mother said. “Right away. Our family doctor is
in Watertown, but we’ll figure something out.”