The Paramedic's Brother-In-Law

Chapter Fifty-Seven

Meghan’s Sunday morning started off with the last of the stimulation testing. Compared to the prior day’s insulin test, which made her blood sugar drop and her symptoms to worsen, this one didn’t seem to provoke anything. And after all of the blood draws that had occurred over the last three days, Meghan was extremely grateful to have had the central line put in!

Rick Brant showed up just as the phlebotomist drew the last blood sample of the testing. “Hey there, Meghan! Are they playing vampire again?”

“Yes, but I think this is the last sample for the last study. I should know definitively either today or tomorrow the results of everything, and then they’ll give me cortisone!” Meghan rubbed her hands together in anticipation.

Rick laughed. “Some people get excited for cake; you get excited for cortisone.”

Meghan chuckled. “You don’t realize what you’re missing until you don’t have enough of it.”

“That’s true,” Rick said, soberly. “I’m just glad that you’re here and stabilized until then. That being said, I can’t wait until you’re able to leave the hospital. I want to take you out for a full day of fun and sun and not share you with anyone else!”

Meghan smiled but wasn’t sure what to say. “I’d like that,” she finally replied.

“Sorry if that came out too strong. I know you’ve been going on a few dates with other men, and I understand wanting to have options. But I do hope that you’d be interested in a date once you’re out of the hospital and feeling better.”

Meghan smiled. “I appreciate your understanding, Rick, I really do. You’re nice and charming and I enjoy being with you, but I didn’t want to ‘bet everything’ on one person just to have it all fall through and have to start over again.”

He nodded. “Yes, I totally understand.” He paused for a moment, and the silence hung in the air. “So, what do you plan to do when you get out of the hospital? I mean, is there something you want to do, something you want to eat?”

“I’m wanting a good donut,” she confessed.

Rick laughed. “Do you have a favorite, or would any donut work?”

“I don’t like the cake donuts, and I’m not much for the chocolate glazes. I usually go for either the plain glazed ones, or sometimes a lemon or custard-filled one.” Meghan sighed. “Now you’ve got me hungry!”

“Well, I’d bring you one, but the nurses would have my head. What’s permissible on a regular ward is a big no-no in the ICU,” Rick said. “But I’d be happy to take you for a donut at the shop of your choosing after you get discharged.”

“I just might take you up on that,” Meghan agreed. “A donut and a large hazelnut latte. Sounds like a match made in heaven!”

Rick laughed. “Sounds like a trip to Dunkin’ Donuts, then! What else would you want to do when you get out of the hospital?”

“Well, a real shower instead of a bed bath would be heavenly. I’ll do that on my own,” Meghan deadpanned.

“Of course! What else?”

“I don’t know. Maybe go to the mall, look at clothes, browse through a bookstore, get my hair done…” Meghan trailed off.

“What would you have them do to your hair?” Rick asked.

“Probably just a trim and shampoo, although I’ve thought about dying it again,” she replied.

“Dying it? Do you go blonde?”

“No,” she laughed. “I did that once and it was a disaster! I tend to go for a medium auburn.”

“Mmmm. A redhead!”

Meghan laughed.

Dr. Anderson knocked on the door. “Hey, mind if I interrupt?”

“C’mon in.”

Dr. Anderson shook Rick’s hand. “How are you, Rick? Don’t see you up here very much. Is Meghan a friend of yours?”

“Yes,” he replied. “And as such, she gets all the suture follow-ups she could desire,” he laughed. “Do you need me to scoot?”

“No, no. I just wanted to see how Meghan was doing and give her an update.” Dr. Anderson turned his attention to Meghan. “So how are you feeling?”

“Tired and still lightheaded,” she replied. “Any news on the last tests yet?”

“It’s still a bit early,” he chuckled. “Dr. Woodruff will most likely be by this afternoon to give you the whole rundown. However, I have hydrocortisone ordered at the pharmacy for you, and so we’re just waiting for that to arrive. Dr. Woodruff wants us to give a bolus and then hook you up to a drip.”

“How long will I be receiving the drip?” Meghan asked.

“That I’m not sure,” Dr. Anderson confessed. “My guess is for a day or two, but we’ll defer to Dr. Woodruff on that.”

“Okay. Is it crazy to say that I’m eagerly anticipating it?”

“No, it’s not,” Dr. Anderson assured her. “I would feel the same way if I knew that a medication would make me feel a ton better.” Meghan smiled, and Dr. Anderson held out his hand to her. “Well, I need to be checking on a couple of other patients. I’ll come back by when pharmacy sends up the medication, just to be sure you’re doing okay when the infusion starts.”

“Okay, Dr. Anderson. Thanks,” Meghan replied.

“See you in a bit!” He left the room.

Meghan closed her eyes and settled her head back against the pillow.

“Tired?” Rick asked.

“Excited. Relieved. Looking forward to feeling decent again.” She opened her eyes and looked at Rick. “This has been like when I was getting over the pneumonia and allergic reaction. Feeling absolutely horrible and nothing I could really do about it but wait.”

“I understand,” Rick said, nodding. “Sometimes the hardest parts of life are when we can’t do anything about a situation but wait. But oh, it feels so good when the waiting is over!”

“Yes, exactly. And I’m so ready for the waiting to be over.”

Rick smiled kindly and held her hand. “Very soon, Meghan, very soon.”

“You two look like you’re nice and cozy,” a voice said from the doorway. Rick jumped, and Meghan jerked her hand away.

Mitch smirked as he entered the room, Kelsey trailing behind. Rick, seeing who it was, just shook his head in amusement as his best friend clapped a hand on his shoulder.

“Hi there, Kelsey and Mitch. How’s it going?” Rick asked.

“Oh, we’re doing fine. Looks like you’re also doing well,” Mitch teased.

“Mitch!” Kelsey chided. She turned to her sister, leaning over the bed rail to give Meghan a hug. “How are you feeling, Sis?”

“Right this moment? Lousy. But Dr. Anderson said they’re just waiting for the pharmacy to send up hydrocortisone.” Meghan smiled.

“Awesome! I’m excited for you – that should make you feel a lot better, quickly.” Mitch leaned over the side rail and whispered loudly. “And if that doesn’t do the trick, maybe Rick has an idea or two that’d work.”

Meghan blushed, and Rick reddened.

“Mitch!” Kelsey chided again.

“Coming through, people, coming through,” Dr. Anderson announced, followed by a couple of nurses. “Wow, you’ve got the crowd in here, Meghan! I’d kick them all out, but since they work here, I’ll just herd them into the corner.”

“Yeah, a few of my fans,” she said.”

“Well, we have your new favorite medication, fresh from the pharmacy. Are you ready for us to hook you up?”

“Am I ever!”

Everyone laughed. One of the nurses hung the bag from the IV pole and connected the tubing to a port on the central line before connecting the tubing to an IV pump. “Here we go!” The pump was started, and everyone waited for the medication to start interacting with Meghan’s system.

Meghan’s blood pressure cuff pumped up automatically and hissed, showing an elevated blood pressure. Dr. Anderson noticed the reading and smiled. “I think something is starting to work. Let’s decrease that Levophed drip by two-tenths and see how you do,” he directed.

True to form, Meghan’s blood pressure tried to plummet with the decrease of dosage, but stopped in the 80s systolic. They gave her a few minutes, and it slowly started climbing, resting finally around 106/82.

“Looking good! We’ll leave the Levophed drip at that dosage for a while and see how you do. If it’s still hanging on, we’ll try to go down some more either tonight or in the morning. Okay, I’m going to get out of your hair, Meghan. I’ll check on you later. Good to see everyone,” Dr. Anderson finished, shaking hands all around before heading out of the door.

“So how are you feeling now?” Mitch asked.

“A little better, although it almost felt like a roller-coaster ride when he decreased the Levophed,” Meghan replied. I’m guessing it’ll take some time before I really can say I feel better. I think it was at least an hour Wednesday night.”

Mitch nodded. “Yeah, somewhere around that, I think.”

Meghan yawned. “I hate to say it, but I think I need a nap. My energy reserves deplete easily.”

Rick nodded. “Of course. I’ll head on out and let you rest. If you need anything, just let me know.”

“Will do.” Meghan smiled.

“We’ll head out too, sis. You get some rest, and keep us informed. Call if you need anything.” Kelsey gave her sister another hug.

The trio walked out of Meghan’s room together and headed down the hall.

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