Meghan’s evening featured a chest x-ray and another visit from Respiratory Therapy. She received the breathing treatment as ordered, and found out that the sputum sample she was supposed to produce wound up being as simple as spitting in a specimen cup some of the mucus she was starting to hack up.

Kelsey and Mitch had gone out for dinner right before the therapist came in, so Meghan was glad to not have to be gross in front of them.

They had been back in her room for about 15 minutes when her overnight nurse showed up. “Kelsey! When did you sneak in here?” Lauren, Meghan’s nurse, was Kelsey’s supervisor. “You can’t work unpaid overtime, you know.” She winked.

“Only if it’s a special patient,” Kelsey quipped. “Lauren, your patient tonight is my sister, Meghan.”

“Ah! Well, I’ll take extra special care of her tonight. And I’m going to start by hanging your new antibiotic. I’ll be right back.” Lauren left the room for a few moments before returning with a mini bag of IV fluids, the antibiotic mixed into the solution. She hung the bag from the IV pole and hooked the tubing up to the pump, which she set for the correct rate of infusion and started it running. Lauren then asked questions about pain, nausea, how Meghan was eating… Finished with her assessment, she peeked at Meghan’s incisions and checked that her catheter was flowing okay.

“Any idea when I’ll be able to get rid of this catheter?” Meghan asked, shooting a sidelong glance at Mitch.

“I think they are planning to remove it sometime tomorrow afternoon,” Lauren responded, giving her a sympathetic look. “Not the most comfortable, are they?”

“Nope!”

“Well, let me know if you need anything. Don’t want Kelsey to think I did a bad job!” With another wink, Lauren exited the room.

**********

Meghan’s night was uneventful, aside from the usual disturbances of staff doing vital signs or changing out IV bags. She was becoming more adept at waking up just enough to interact as she needed to and falling right back to sleep.

When Respiratory Therapy came in the next morning for the first breathing treatment of the day, Meghan was pretty much awake. “Good morning,” she greeted, stretching, yawning, and rubbing some on her belly.

“Good morning to you! Tummy bothering you?” the therapist, Michael, asked as he set about to set up her nebulizer.

“No, just a bit itchy. I know I’m not supposed to scratch at healing sutures.” She coughed, and he focused on that, dropping the itch.

“That still doesn’t sound good. I saw notes that Dr. Cooper was by yesterday. How did that go?”

“He changed the antibiotic, did a chest x-ray, did a sputum sample, and bumped up the breathing treatments to three times a day.” She started coughing again.

Michael nodded as he frowned at the cough. He slipped his stethoscope into his ears. “Deep breaths, Meghan.” He listened intently to her breathe. “Well,” he said, removing the scope from his ears and slipping it back into his pocket, “The wheezing seems maybe a bit worse, but the crackles are the same as yesterday. It might take a couple of days for that to improve on the antibiotics. Let’s get your treatment going here.” He hooked up the nebulizer to the oxygen and mist started coming out. Meghan put the mouthpiece in her mouth and started taking deep breaths to get the medication as deep in her lungs as possible.

Once the treatment was done, Michael broke down the nebulizer and stored it away. “I’ll see you this afternoon, Meghan. Don’t forget your spirometer.”

“I will. See you later, Michael.”

After he left, Meghan closed her eyes, and sleep soon came. She wasn’t asleep very long before the doctors rounded. Not a whole lot of new information came from it, aside from a promise to write orders to get the catheter out later that day. This bit of good news was followed by the warning that she might need to stay in the hospital a couple of days longer than her anticipated discharge date on Monday, due to the lung infection. She wasn’t thrilled by that information but knew that they were doing their best to get her back on her feet and ready to head home safely.

Mitch and Kelsey arrived to visit around 11 am. Meghan was glad to see them but also wished that they didn’t need to keep making a trip to the hospital just for her, and told them as much. “Sis, I’m glad that you want to come to visit me every day, but if you need to take a day or two to be home and rest, don’t feel obligated to come to visit. We’ll be in each other’s hair soon enough, and you need to be resting as much as you need to so that arm will heal.”

Kelsey waved away Meghan’s concerns. “I’m resting here just as well as I can at home, sis. Besides, you’re spending time knitting and I’m working on my book,” she held up the novel she was reading. “Aside from home having a much more comfortable chair, we’re doing here what we would be doing at home.”

Mitch’s phone rang, and he excused himself out into the hall to answer it.

Meghan looked at her sister. “Blame it on my stubborn, independent streak, then. I hate the feeling that I’ve been putting you guys out since the accident. But I do appreciate everything that you and Mitch have done for me.”

Kelsey smiled, stood, and reached over the bedrails to hug her sister. “Meghan, you have never been a bother to us. We are just glad that we are in a position to help you out when you needed us. You have more than reciprocated.” Kelsey held up her bandaged arm.

Meghan nodded, feeling the emotions wash over her. Desperate to change the subject, she took the first topic that presented itself. “So what’s the latest on your arm?”

Kelsey caught the change of topic but went with it. “Dr. Rothman is pleased with how it is healing so far. They are planning to remove some of the external wiring Tuesday, and transition me to a splint when I report to Occupational Therapy on Wednesday. I’ll be doing therapy three times a week for who knows how long until I’ve gotten back as much function as possible.”

Mitch re-entered the room.

“Who was that, hon?” Kelsey asked.

“I was asked to come back to work tomorrow – they are short-staffed at the moment. I told them that I would, barring any unforeseen circumstances.”

Kelsey smiled. “I’ll come in with you and keep Meghan company while you work.”

Mitch glanced at the clock. “Almost time for lunch. Would you like anything from the cafeteria, Meghan? We can bring it up when we get back.” He motioned for Kelsey to join him.

“I’m wishing for a burger, but not sure I’m allowed one yet. I would love a Dr. Pepper, though,” Meghan replied.

“What? No coffee?” he teased.

“Coffee later,” she responded, winking.

Mitch laughed and escorted his wife out of the room.

**********

When they returned Meghan was surprised to see Dr. Brant with them. “Guess who we found?” Mitch chuckled. “He looked lonely, sitting by himself in the cafeteria, so we rescued him and drug him up here with us to chat.” Dr. Brant looked a little uneasy about visiting.

“You’re a family friend, Dr. Rick, and more than welcome to come in. If nothing else, you’ll come up with some more topics for conversation: we’re running out of things to talk about.” Meghan reached out her hand for him to shake, and he took it, looking relieved that he wasn’t interloping.

He chuckled. “Maybe you need to get one of those books of conversation topics and questions.”

“There’s an idea,” she laughed as well until it turned into a coughing fit. Rick retrieved her water jug and held it while she took a few sips through the straw. “Thanks.” She paused for a moment for her body to calm down. “Not working today?”

He glanced down at his attire. “Nope, off today, but back at it in the morning.” He was casually dressed in jeans and a button-down shirt, not the scrubs he usually wore at work.

“And you’re spending free time at the hospital? Maybe you’re the one who needs to be examined.” She winked.

“What can I say? I have no life.” He winked back. “No, I was hoping to run into Mitch and Kelsey, see how Kelsey’s hand is doing. I found them!” He found a seat and settled down.

They chatted for a while before a nurse came in to hang another bag of IV antibiotics and change out the bag of saline. Kelsey excused herself to find a bathroom, leaving the men in the room with Meghan.

The antibiotics had only been running a few minutes before Meghan sat up straight in the bed. “I can’t breathe!” Her hands went to grasp her chest, and the sounds of stridor were loud in the room.