I woke up when Doctor McFadden came into my room.

“Brian, you have a Foley catheter in your urethra. I’m going to remove that now.”

“What’s a fol... uh, what’s that? And what’s my uh... uree... thing.”

“The urethra is the tube in your penis that you urinate through. Because you were in a coma, we inserted a thin tube through your urethra into your bladder. It’s called a Foley catheter, named after the doctor who invented it. The tube is connected to a collection bag, and your urine has been expelled through the tube into that bag. We need to remove the catheter. It’s simple to do, and it might feel strange but there won’t be any pain.”

Doctor McFadden came around to the right side of my bed and pulled the covers down. I didn’t look, but it was SO strange having someone messing around with me down there. In a few seconds it felt even stranger, then Doctor McFadden pulled the covers back over me.

“All done. We’ll send the bag down to the lab to test for infection.

“We’re going to change the bandage on your head, and I want to check how the healing is coming along. Later this afternoon you’ll be taken down to X-Ray because we need to track how the skull fractures you received are healing.”

An orderly came in and took away a bag from the right side of my bed that was filled with dark yellow-orange liquid. I guessed that must be the urine collection bag. A nurse with a tag that read “Carmelita” came in, checked my blood pressure, took my temperature, checked my eyes, my throat, and my reflexes, and started changing the bandage on my head.

 “Can I see what my head looks like? Like with a mirror?”

She gave me a sort of strange look. “I guess, but it’s not going to be very pretty. The first thing you’ll see is that part of your head has been shaved.”

I was stunned. “You shaved my hair off?”

Doctor McFadden was looking at the side of my head. “We couldn’t operate on you without shaving the area. You’ll also see the staples where we had to provide an access to your skull on that side.”

I started to feel a little queasy. “Uh, maybe I shouldn’t look at it yet. It sounds sorta gross.”

Doctor McFadden chuckled. “It’s a good thing that the staff at this hospital, at every hospital, doesn’t gross out when they’re working on patients and see those kinds of things.”

“How long will it be before I... uh, I look normal? Until I am normal?”

“It will depend on how you’re healing, and how the bone is knitting, and how the pins we inserted in your skull are holding the bone in place. Based on the nature of your fracture it will take two or three years...”

I interrupted him, shouting, “Two or three years?”

“Brian, it’s a miracle that you survived the beating you received. You don’t want to see yourself right now, which I think is best, but if we brought in a mirror you’d see that the left side of your head and your face are badly bruised and there are a lot of cuts and scrapes. There’s still a lot of trauma and swelling, and that will take time to heal and begin looking normal. You had several radial skull fractures, with misalignment of the pieces. You’re very lucky that you didn’t have any fragments pressing against your brain. There was some internal bleeding as well, as a result of blood vessels that were broken due to the blunt force trauma. You’re going to have to be under close observation in a hospital for at least two more weeks. You’re going to have x-rays and checkups by a trauma surgeon on a regular basis to make sure there’s no swelling or any aneurisms in your brain, and that the bone is healing properly and that there’s no infection. The stitches will be removed in a couple of weeks. The cast on your arm can be removed in about four or five weeks.”

“When can I go home? When can I go back to school?”

“I’d like to have you stay here at Campbell Memorial for at least three or four days. If your condition is stable you can be transferred to a hospital in Edmond so you’ll be close to home. My recommendation is going to be that you stay home and be tutored the rest of this school year, and return to school in the fall. My primary concern would be if you fell, or were hit, on the left side of your head, it could be fatal. My secondary concern is infection. The skin over your fractures was broken and there was a lot of bleeding. Since you were in a chicken hatchery there would be the potential for picking up E.coli or staph or some other virulent infection agents. When you were driven from Oklahoma to Texas and dumped in that gully, your injuries picked up a lot of dirt. Those are all sources for infection, and an infection inside your skull is a very serious situation. Your temperature needs to be checked several times a day for the next month. Assuming your temperature remains in the normal range you’ll be on antibiotics for about six weeks, and daily pain medication for another week or so and thereafter on an as-needed basis for several weeks. Which reminds me, tomorrow we’re going to take you off the morphine drip and switch you over to oral pain medication. We’re also going to have you start eating, we’ll transition you starting with a liquid diet and move to solid food over the next 48 hours.”

This was almost too much for me to take in at one time. “It’s really bad, isn’t it.”

“Yes, Brian, what’s happened to you is really bad. As I’ve already told you, you’re lucky to be alive. You must have a very good guardian angel to have all of the good things happen so you could be rescued.”

“Where the hell was my guardian angel when Quin was beating me?”

“That’s something I can’t answer. I think it’s a good idea for you to focus on the lucky things that happened to save your life. You have a lot of work ahead of you to get back to normal. Not to mention talking to the Edmond police and the FBI and perhaps being a witness at a trial for those boys who did this to you.

 “Now I think you need to rest for a while. Your parents should be here in about three hours, and that’s going to be very emotional for you and for them.”

He turned to the nurse then back to me. “Carmelita will be your nurse on this shift. Just push your call button it if you need anything, or if your pain gets worse, and Carmelita or one of the other nurses will come right away.

“Brian, how is your pain right now? Can you describe each place where you have pain on a scale of zero to ten; zero meaning no pain and ten meaning you-can’t-stand-it pain?”

“My left side of my head still hurts, but it’s like sort of a fuzzy pain, maybe a three or four. My left arm and shoulder hurt a lot more, maybe a six or seven. My butt gets sort of a sharp pain every once in a while, maybe a four or five, but then after a minute it goes back to zero. My right arm hurts partly because it’s strapped to the side of the bed and the rail is pushing into it, that’s about a two. I have a toothache on the top of the left side, that’s about a five. All around my left eye hurts, that’s about a five. I have sort of a general pain everywhere around my chest, that’s about a three or four. My stomach, actually my abdomen ‘cause it’s what’s on the outside, hurts, and that’s about a five. My mouth is very dry. Can I have some more water?”

Carmelita took one of the swabs out of the glass of water and I sucked on it. “Oh, my God, that was so wonderful. Can I have more?”

She looked at Doctor McFadden. “Can he drink water?”

“Yes, but not too much all at once. I’ve asked for a progressive liquid diet starting now and continuing for the next two days as we transition him to solid foods.”

He turned to me. “They’ll bring you your lunch in a few minutes. It’s called a liquid diet but there are some things that you might consider solid food, like flavored gelatin and pudding. We also want you to get up and start walking. You need the exercise, and you’ll have to go to the bathroom to urinate. Once you start on solid foods you’ll also have to eliminate solid waste, and that might be painful due to the injury your rectum and anal canal suffered because of the rape. Carmelita will start your exercise program by having you sit up on the side of the bed. If you feel confident enough, you can stand. Then we want you to walk, first around your room, then up and down the corridor.”

“What about all this IV stuff?”

“The IV stand has wheels so you can take it with you. Carmelita will help you, and will stay with you the first few times you walk to make sure you’re stable. That means you’re maintaining your equilibrium. By tomorrow afternoon I’d expect that you’ll be able to walk by yourself.

 “I think your pain levels are about what we’d expect, except for the skull injury. I’m surprised you’re saying it’s only a... what was that,” he checked his note pad, “a three or a four. Are you sure about that?”

“Uh, yeah. It feels strange more than it hurts.”

“What do you mean by ‘strange’, Brian?”

“It almost feels like I have something big pushing on the left side of my head. It feels like I’d have to stretch my arm way out to touch that side.”

Doctor McFadden used one of those little flashlight things that doctors use to peer into your eyes. He peered into my eyes, especially my left eye.

“Brian, I think some of the pain receptors on the left side of your skull have shut down. Sometimes the body will do that when it’s suffered a serious injury. That keeps you from feeling the pain, which lets you heal faster because your injury isn’t hurting you so much. But this effect will fade in a while, and your head is going to start hurting you a lot more. We’re taking you off of the morphine drip, and I’ve ordered a pain medication that you’ll take by mouth. It should be here in about ten or fifteen minutes, and Carmelita will be back to give it to you. Your antibiotic is still being administered by IV drip, and you’re getting saline solution, so we won’t take you off the IV for another 24 hours or so.

“Do you feel nauseous?”

“No. Just sore and headachy.”

“Brian, do you have any questions about what I’ve told you?”

I thought about all the things he’d told me. “My head’s going to hurt more? A lot more? How much more?”

“I don’t know how much more. It depends on many factors, including how you’re healing, how much swelling there is from the injury and the surgery, and how effective the pain medication is and how your body tolerates it. But it might be quite a bit higher than a three or four.”

“Oh. That’s not cool. Can I get something if it starts hurting?”

“Yes, we’ll start you on oral pain medication after you eat. If that is ineffective, we’ll switch to a different pain medication through your IV.”

“Morphine? I heard you say morphine a while ago.”

“We won’t put you on morphine unless it’s absolutely necessary. Morphine is a very powerful but addictive drug. We have other pain medications that are effective and that don’t have the same risk of addiction. Any other questions?”

“You said I should try sitting up, and walking around the hospital. When was it you want me to do that? I’m hungry. When did you say I’ll get my lunch? Will I get dinner too? And water, can I have water when I’m thirsty now?”

“You’ll be getting your lunch in a few minutes, and dinner later.” He grinned. “Don’t worry, you’ll get your three meals a day. And snacks in between. I’ll give approval for you to have water. If you get nauseous, there’s a tray here for you to use if you need to vomit.” For some reason that made me grin. “Your pain medication should be taken with food so you won’t get nauseous, so you should finish your lunch then Carmelita will give you your pain pills. Then about an hour after that she’ll help you walk a bit, and I want you to try urinating.”

“Okay. The food part sounds good.”

Doctor McFadden chuckled. “Remember, this is hospital food, Brian. It’s not going to be anything like what you eat at home. Or even in the cafeteria at your school. It’s going to be pretty basic, even after you’re off the liquid diet, and it’s not going to have as much salt or spices as you might be used to.”

Now I chuckled. “The food’s worse than the food in the cafeteria? Oh. My. God! Get me outta here!”

Just then an orderly came in with a tray. “Doctor, is...” he looked down at the tray, “Brian Anderson ready for his lunch, or should I come back later?”

“Now is fine.”

Doctor McFadden and Carmelita got up and moved the chairs back from the bed. The orderly set the tray down on the foot of my bed and walked around to the back of the bed where he pulled out a tray table thing on wheels, adjusted the height, and pushed it so the top was over the bed in front of me. His badge had his name, Randall. He turned to Doctor McFadden.

“Can he be raised up to eat? Will he need assistance?”

“Yes, you can raise him to a sitting position. Brian, do you think you can eat by yourself?”

“I can’t use my left arm because of the cast. And I can’t use my right hand the way my arm’s attached to the bed.”

“I can take care of that.” Carmelita walked around the foot of the bed and disconnected the strap that had been holding my arm to the side rail. Then Randall must have pushed a button on the bed because the head of the mattress began to rise up until I was in sort of a slouchy sitting position. He moved the tray closer to me.

I moved my right arm around. “God, that feels so good, to be able to move my arm around.” I opened and closed my fist a few times. “I think I can hold a fork or a spoon. But I won’t be able to use a knife.”

The orderly laughed. “Ah, the joys of a liquid diet! No cutting, no knives, no forks. Just a spoon. Life is simple. Life is good.”

I sneered at him. “Yeah, easy for you to say! You don’t have to eat... no, that should be drink, whatever this is.”

He came right back with his own sneer that was more of a grin. “Humph! No respect for the serving class, especially in a hospital. I suppose there won’t be a tip, either.”

“Don’t count on it, Randall.”

We both laughed.

Randall removed the cover from a bowl of soup, which looked like chicken noodle soup without the chicken or the noodles, but it smelled wonderful and my mouth started to water. He peeled back the foil lid on a plastic cup of apple juice, took the top off of a cup that looked like hot tea, and removed the plastic wrap off of a dish that looked like red and green Jell-O cubes.

I grinned at Randall. “That’s it? That’s all there is? That’s not lunch, that’s a snack, and a pretty tiny one if you ask me.”

“Complaints, all I ever get is complaints. And after I’ve worked my fingers to the bone preparing this sumptuous feast.” I started laughing again.

“Ow! Damn, I’m gonna have to be careful. Laughing makes my face hurt.”

Carmelita grabbed Randall’s arm. “Out! Enough of this joking around. Let the patient eat in peace. Come back and pick up the tray when he’s asleep so he won’t be able to hear your silly jokes.”

Randall turned to me and winked. “See what I have to endure, Brian? That’s the curse of the working class, no respect from our peers!” I decided that I liked Randall.

Just as he left my room a nurse came in with a shallow paper cup with three white pills in it. After looking at the clipboard hooked at the foot of my bed and writing something on it, she scanned a white band that was around my right wrist. I hadn’t even noticed it was there. I saw that it had my name and a bar code and some other stuff on it. They must have put the band on after I ‘woke up’ and while I was asleep.

Then she asked me, “Are you Brian Anderson?”

“Yes.”

She gave the cup of pills to Carmelita. That’s when I noticed that Doctor McFadden had left, and I hadn’t even seen him go. Then the nurse left, and I turned to look at Carmelita.

“Brian, this pill is your pain medication, and these two are Tylenol for your headache. I’ll come back in about fifteen minutes to give them to you. Now, let’s see how you do when you’re eating.”

I grabbed the spoon and tried the soup. It was only sort of lukewarm, but God, did it taste good! There was a little package with two crackers in it, but it wasn’t going to be easy for me to open. I held it up.

“Carmelita, would you open this please?”

“Certainly.” She struggled with the cellophane wrapper until one end finally tore off and she put the package back on my tray. She looked at me and grinned. “Someday they’ll make these packages so they’re easy to open. When you’re finished with lunch, press your call button and I’ll be back.”

“Uh,wait. Would you please crush up the crackers into my soup? That way it won’t seem so... so liquid.”

She grinned at me. “That’s a great idea, Brian.” She crushed the crackers in their cellophane wrapper and emptied the chunks and crumbs in my bowl of soup. That made it look less like colored water. With that I guess she decided that I was able to eat without any other assistance, so she smiled at me, waved, and left.

I finished my lunch, even the tea which I didn’t like very much because it didn’t have any flavor. The best part was the Jell-O. The red cubes tasted like cherry and the green ones like lime. I tried to push the tray table away from my bed, but I could only move it about halfway off me with my right arm, and when I tried moving it with my left arm it hurt. I was tired, and even though the crackers were soft my face was sore from chewing them and from opening and closing my mouth and swallowing. I found the call button and pressed it.

After about two minutes Carmelita came in. “I see you finished all of your lunch. That’s very good. Now it’s time for your medications.”

She filled a cup with water from a pitcher and handed it to me. It had a straw which would make it easier for me to drink. She put the cup with the pills on my tray so I could see inside. “Do you want to take them one at a time, or all three at once?”

“Maybe I’d better take them one at a time.” I picked up one of the pills, put it in my mouth, drank some water through the straw and swallowed it. Trouble was, it got caught in my throat and I sort of gagged until I drank some more water and got it down.

“Brian, here’s a tip. Make some saliva in your mouth, then put in a pill, roll it around so it gets coated, then drink some water and swallow. You won’t choke on it and the pill will go down easier.”

I tried her tip with the next pill, and she was right.

“Hey! That works! Very cool. I’m gonna have to remember that.”

She chuckled. “You’re going to get a lot of practice. You’re scheduled to take one of these Hydrocodone tablets every three hours and two Tylenol every four hours as needed for pain. Did Doctor McFadden tell you about Hydrocodone?”

“No. What about it.”

“Some people have reactions to it. You might feel very tired and sleepy, or you might feel nauseous, or dizzy, or all of those together, or you might not have any reaction at all. If you have any reactions, let Doctor McFadden or me or one of the other nurses know. He may have to adjust your dosage or switch you to something different for pain.”

She pulled the tray table back and moved it around the bed so it was along the right side of the bed and pushed against the wall, then she lowered it a little. She moved my tray to the top of the cabinet, then filled the cup with water and put it on the tray table so I could reach it when I was thirsty. She lowered the mattress and adjusted my pillow.

“Is that okay, Brian? How do you feel?”

“Yeah it’s okay. Thanks, Carmelita. I’m sort of exhausted. I think I’m going to take a nap.”

I closed my eyes and fell asleep.