Loving David (32 page)

“Charlotte? Charlotte honey, wake up.”

Charlotte bolted up when she realized William was tapping her foot. She looked around, disoriented for a minute as she tried to figure out where she was before it all came flooding back to her. David. Hospital. Surgery. She looked down and realized William had wedged his suit jacket under her head and was dismayed to see a puddle of drool soaking into the expensive silk.

“Damn.” She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “I’m sorry, William.”

“No worries, sweetheart. I got thirty more just like it hanging in my closet. Just flashed on the screen that David’s out of surgery, so Dr. Curtis should be out in a few minutes.”

Charlotte stood to try to work the knots out of her muscles as well as to burn off her nervous energy. About twenty minutes later, Dr. Curtis emerged, her eyes red with exhaustion. Charlotte tried to read her face.

“Mrs. King, your husband did great,” Dr. Curtis smiled. Charlotte’s shoulders slouched in relief as William put his arm around her and squeezed. “It did take a bit longer than we had anticipated, but overall I’m very pleased with how he did.”

“Can we see him?”

“In a little while. He’s in post-op now, and later we’ll move him to a private room. After that you can absolutely see him.” Dr. Curtis gestured to the couch. “May we sit for a moment?”

Charlotte bit her lip and nodded, scared at what the woman was about to tell her. The three sat on the couch, and Dr. Curtis was quiet a moment before she spoke.

“Relatively speaking, the surgery was the easy part. Now comes the hard part, which is his recovery. I’m not going to parse my words---- David has a lot of work ahead of him both physically and emotionally. Because of his age and because he’s a man, he’s going to think he’ll just bounce back from this like nothing ever happened. He’s going to find the simplest tasks will take Herculean effort. Walking across the room will wipe him out. Eating will be exhausting. He’ll probably cry. Loud noises will frighten him. Taking a shower will be traumatic. You’re both going to experience a wide range of emotions, and I want you to be prepared for them.”

“Whatever it takes, doctor. I’ll do it, no matter what. As long as he’s okay.”

“You might consider hiring a nurse to help you. I just want you to be aware of the work that’s on the horizon. It won’t be easy.”

“Like I said, whatever it takes.”

Dr. Curtis patted Charlotte on the hand. “Good. I’ll have a nurse take you to his room once he’s settled in. I’ll be going off duty soon, but my colleague, Dr. Anderson, will be monitoring David throughout the day, and I’ll check on him when I’m back this afternoon.”

“When can he go home?” Charlotte asked.

“Let’s see how he does this week. We need to take it day by day.”

Charlotte touched Dr. Curtis’ arm. “Dr. Curtis, I can’t tell you how grateful I am…” She couldn’t finish the sentence, tears gobbling up her words.

The doctor smiled. “It was my pleasure. After you’ve seen your husband, why don’t you go home and get some sleep, pick up a few things he might need. You’re going to need every ounce of strength you have. Even some you didn’t know you had.”

Charlotte shook her head, adamant. “Oh no. I’m not leaving.”

“Well, maybe your friend can grab a few things for you.” She smiled again. “See you later.”

The doctor went back toward the OR, and Charlotte leaned against the couch cushions. “She just said something completely logical, and I’m acting totally illogical. Of course David will need some things from home!” Charlotte shook her head.

“Don’t worry about it. You got only two hours of sleep. I’ll call my assistant and have her run up here, grab your keys, and get whatever you guys need from the house. Oh, and I can call Karen.”

“Oh, God. Karen. I hadn’t even thought about that. If you could, that would be great.” Charlotte went to grab her phone out of her purse. “Here…. Let me get her number.”

“Oh, I’ve got it. We’d exchanged numbers for some wedding stuff.”

Charlotte tried to keep from smiling. “Ah. Okay.” Charlotte handed over her keys

“Let me make some calls, get some things in motion. I’ll run home and grab a shower; we’ll get you taken care of.” William winked. “Don’t worry about a thing. And if one word about ‘movies’ slips out of his mouth, you tell him I said to shut up. He’s not to worry about anything but getting better.”

“Deal.”

“He’s gonna be okay, Char. He’s a strong one.”

“I know.” William gave Charlotte a kiss on the cheek before he picked up his now-rumpled, spittled jacket and started to walk out.

“Wait! William!” Charlotte ran after him and threw her arms around him.

“I couldn’t have made it through this awful thing if you hadn’t been by my side. David and I are both so lucky to have you.”

William returned her embrace. “Let’s just say that luck is a two-way street.”

#

Charlotte paced. David still hadn’t been brought down from surgery. What was taking so long? Charlotte poked her head outside the door and looked down the hall. Nothing but nurses and doctors milling around, and none of them were bringing David to her. She let the door swish shut before she flopped down on the oversized chair next to the bed. The door swung open, and Charlotte jumped up. Two orderlies backed David’s gurney into the room and eased him over to the bed. A tube jutted from his mouth, and he was sleeping. Charlotte placed a hand over her chest, forcing herself to stay calm.

“He dozed off again post-op, but he should be coming around soon,” one of the orderlies informed Charlotte. “The doctor will be in shortly.”

Charlotte nodded, her eyes glued to David’s chalky face. “Thanks,” she murmured. She sat back down in the chair and took David’s hand, limp inside her own. She grasped it, brushing her lips against his ring finger, which was bare. She remembered the nurse had pulled his wedding band from his finger and had handed it to her right before he had gone into surgery. Charlotte reached into her pocket and slipped it back on him. She closed her eyes and leaned against the bed rail, never releasing David’s hand. She flinched when the door opened again and burly black man in blue scrubs came in. A nurse trailed after him and busied herself checking vitals and changing banana bags. The doctor held out his hand to Charlotte.

“Mrs. King? I’m Dr. Anderson.”

“Oh, yes. Hi. Dr. Curtis said you’d be looking after David.”

The doctor looked at the nurse, who rattled off a bunch of stats. The doctor noted them all, nodding his head as he wrote them in a chart, pleased with what he was hearing. It sounded like alphabet soup to Charlotte.

“Why’s he still asleep?”

The doctor had moved over to examine the bandage plastered across David’s incision. Charlotte started at the thick wad of gauze, mesmerized.

“Perfectly normal. He’s just gone through a fairly traumatic event and is tired. The good news is his vitals are strong, and we expect his incision to heal nicely.”

Charlotte chewed her thumb nail and looked at David, not convinced he shouldn’t be awake.

As though he could hear Charlotte, David’s eyes flicked open. The doctor smiled, and the nurse took a whole new set of vitals.

“Mr. King? Hello!” Dr. Anderson boomed. “How are you feeling?”

David held up shaky hand and formed an “okay” sign. He patted his throat, agitated to find that a tube prevented him from speaking.

“Hold on, Mr. King. You’re intubated--- don’t try to speak.” Dr. Anderson whipped his stethoscope from around his neck to listen to David’s heartbeat. Charlotte was rooted to her position and David’s eyes darted around the room, impatient. Dr. Anderson nodded, obviously happy with the beats thumping through the stethoscope.

“Mr. King, we’re going to go ahead and extubate you. I’ll count to three and pull the tube out, and I want you to cough, alright? You ready?”

David nodded, and the doctor pulled the tube out. David’s lungs expelled a waterlogged cough. Charlotte instinctively went for the pitcher of water on the nightstand, but the nurse stopped her.

“He needs to get this out first, and then we can get him some water.”

Charlotte shoved her hands into her pockets and watched in agony as David continued to hack and grimace. Finally, the nurse poured a bit of water into a cup and threw a straw in before handing it to Charlotte. David sipped greedily for several minutes. Finally he cleared his throat and collapsed against the mountainous white pillows, drained.

“My God. I feel like I’ve just run around the block ten times.” David’s voice was thin and raspy. “When can I go home?”

“Mr. King, we need you to take it easy for the next few days. All goes well; you can go home at the end of the week. You try to push it and you’ll be calling this place home.”

“Well, don’t want that.” David looked to Charlotte. “I have a feeling someone will be keeping me in line.”

Charlotte glanced down, embarrassed as David gave her a languid smile. Dr. Anderson patted David on the shoulder. “Alright. You get some rest, and I’ll be back to check on you later.”

Charlotte murmured her thanks as the nurse and doctor exited the room. She sat down in the chair next to the bed.

“How are you? Really?”

David gulped and closed his eyes. “Thankful,” he whispered.

“Me too.”

They sat in silence, both in contemplative thought.

“I’m sorry,” David finally said.

“For what?”

“For being so stubborn. Probably could’ve avoided all this if I’d gone to the doctor when you wanted me to.”

Charlotte pressed her fingers against David’s cracked, peeling lips. “
Shhh
. Don’t talk like that. The main thing is we made it over the first hurdle. We’ll make it over all of them.”

“You really do have nerves of steel, don’t you?”

Charlotte stroked David’s damp hair. “Only sometimes.”

“There’s something else I’m thankful for.”

“What’s that?”

“That we got the honeymoon over first.”

“You really do have a one-track mind, don’t you?”

“Says the woman who jumps my bones every chance she gets.”

Charlotte chuckled. “Guilty.”

“It’s going to be a long road, isn’t it?”

“Yes… yes it is.”

David sighed and reached for Charlotte’s hand. Tears stained his eyes. “Well, we did say for better or for worse.”

#

Fatigue knotted Charlotte’s shoulders, and she felt a pinch in her neck as she picked up her tea. The hospital had arranged to move a cot into David’s room, and for the past few nights sleep had proven to be a futile quest. Worry kept Charlotte alert and staring at the ceiling. She’d grown accustomed to the hum of the machines and David’s still-labored breathing. She still railed against fluorescent rays from the hallway that snuck underneath the door and flooded the room as did the cascading rainbow of lights splashed across the various machines plugged into David. Nurses were in and out at all hours to check David’s vitals and monitor his condition. Charlotte was exhausted.

She took another sip of tea and searched among the sea of white coats and green scrubs for Karen, who had gone through the cafeteria line for a full-fledged breakfast. Charlotte spotted her and waved her over to the table. Karen slid into the chair across from Charlotte and dug into a plate piled high with gooey pastries.

“You sure you don’t want one? For a hospital these are pretty damn tasty.”

“Uh huh. I haven’t had much of an appetite lately.”

“Is that why you’re drinking tea all of a sudden?”

“Coffee smelled a little suspect.”

“Well, other than not digging the coffee, how are you holding up?”

Charlotte raked her hands across her face. “Totally and completely wiped out.”

“That’s no surprise. You haven’t been home in days.”

“My place is here. Still, it is starting to take a toll.”

“You know, no one would think you’re a bad wife if you went home and took a nap in your own bed for a few hours. You don’t have to be the martyr.”

Charlotte shrank back, hurt. “Is that what you think?”

Karen shoved a finger into a pile of red raspberry filling and spooned it into her mouth. “Let me rephrase that. If you fall apart, you’re not going to be any help to David. All I’m saying is it would do you some good to go home, get some sleep, recharge your battery. You’ve got a long haul ahead of you.”

Charlotte ran the tip of her finger around the rim of her teacup. “David was napping yesterday afternoon, and as I was watching him, I was struck by how ironic this all is. I spent---- no,
wasted
so much time worrying about how I was going to be seventy-four when he was sixty, that he’d have to be the one to push me around in a wheelchair and watch me dribble oatmeal down my chin and …” Charlotte’s tears surged forth, the dam demolished.

“And now you’ll be taking care of him,” Karen finished as she handed Charlotte a wad of stiff white napkins.

“It just never occurred to me it would be me in this position. It was natural to assume it would be the other way around.”

“That’s life. We can’t predict the curveballs. We’ve either got to hit them or get the hell out of the way.”

“It’s really hard, Karen.”

“Well honey, that’s marriage. The bitter and the sweet. The good, the bad and the ugly. Can’t all be rockin’ sex.”

Charlotte laughed in spite of herself and blew her nose again. “No, no--- I guess not.”

“Go home. You’re fried. Take a shower, get some sleep, and watch a few hours of really bad TV.”

“Don’t ever change.”

Karen shoved the last of a cheese Danish into her mouth. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”

#

Dr. Curtis nodded to herself as she listened to David’s heartbeat. She smiled and eased David back against the pillows.

“You’ve made amazing progress this week, David. Barring any complications, I don’t see any reason why you shouldn’t go home tomorrow.”

“Seriously?” Charlotte asked.

“Yes, but he’s still very weak, and he must follow my instructions to the letter. Overdoing it, even in the slightest, can sabotage your progress and cause a relapse. That’s not the result we’re going for.”

“Scout’s honor, I’ll stay in bed. However, would it be alright if Charlotte climbed in with me?” David winked. Charlotte slapped his arm, embarrassed.