chapter FIFTY-EIGHT
Three days later
Thursday, April 21
“Mrs. Walker, it’s me, Jeannie. How’re you feeling this morning?”
Lorrie forced her eyes open and looked at the sweet nurse who’d been by her bedside most mornings since she’d arrived however many days ago. She tried to smile, but her body was too weak. As was usual, that didn’t deter Jeannie from continuing on. Lorrie liked the fact that she spent time with her, chatting about her family and the things she did outside of the hospital. It was a nice reprieve from all of the sad faces she’d been seeing lately.
The last few days had been especially hard. The doctor had given them all the grim news, and Lorrie had watched the devastated faces of her family as they’d streamed in and out of her room for the past few days. Things didn’t look good, and the worst part about it, she couldn’t do anything to heal their hearts. She wasn’t ready to die; she wasn’t ready to leave her boys or Curtis or her grandbabies. She was still fighting with every ounce of strength she had, and she would until her dying breath.
“I was talking to my mom last night,” Jeannie continued. “I was telling her about you and all your kids. I’ve got three sisters, so my mother couldn’t comprehend how you could’ve raised seven boys.” Jeanie took Lorrie’s wrist, placing her fingers over her pulse. “Then we got to talking about kidney stones. She was telling me that she had one removed a few years ago. It sounded a lot like what happened to you. They had sent her home wearing a Foley, too. She didn’t remember how long she had it, but she remembered how happy she was when the doctor had finally removed it.”
Something niggled at the back of Lorrie’s mind, something related to this conversation. Perhaps something important.
“My mom said she still remembers leaving the doctor’s office that day feeling a heck of a lot better.”
“He nicked my bladder,” Lorrie blurted, looking up at Jeannie.
Jeannie paused from listening to her lungs with the stethoscope. “What’s that?”
She took a deep breath and explained. “When I went in to get the stent removed, the doctor nicked my bladder. Said it was only a small tear but it wasn’t anything to worry about.”
At that moment, Curtis walked into the room carrying a cup of coffee. He smiled back at her as soon as their eyes met. “There’s my beautiful girl,” he said tenderly. Despite the tone of his voice, she could see the sadness in his eyes.
“Mr. Walker,” Jeannie greeted him. “Lorrie was just telling me that when she had the stent removed after the kidney stone procedure that the doctor caused a small tear in her bladder. I don’t recall seeing anything about that in the chart.”
Curtis had moved closer to the bed, his big hand resting over hers. “I didn’t know anything about that. Baby?”
She nodded, trying to recall what the doctor had said. Her brain was so foggy. “He said it was an accidental nick and I shouldn’t be worried.”
Jeannie finished checking her, finally taking Lorrie’s temperature, but then she excused herself. “I’m going to call the doctor really quick. I think this is information he might need to know.”
Curtis nodded at the nurse, but then his attention returned to her. “Why didn’t you tell me about that?”
She smiled weakly. “I actually didn’t think anything of it until just now.” She nodded toward the door. “Jeannie was telling me about her mother having a kidney stone removed, and it just hit me, I guess.”
Curtis leaned down and kissed her forehead, whispering for her to get some sleep as once again she drifted off.
As soon as Lorrie was sleeping soundly, Curtis slipped out into the hall to talk to the nurse.
“Did you call the doctor?” he asked.
Jeannie smiled, and this didn’t seem like one of those forced ones that he’d seen on far too many faces as of late. “I did. And he’s looking into it.”
“What does that mean?”
She pivoted to face him. “It means that there’s a possibility that the wound on her bladder is actually the site of the infection. If that’s the case, it’s no longer like looking for a needle in a haystack.”
Curtis was getting the gist of it, but just barely. “So they can fight it?”
Jeannie nodded. “That’s correct. If that’s what’s causing it, we can pinpoint the site of the infection.” Her smile slid from her face. “But, Mr. Walker, that doesn’t mean she’s out of the woods yet. We have to confirm that this is the issue first. And we don’t have a lot of time, because her kidneys are weak.”
He nodded. “When will the doctor be in?”
“He’ll make his usual rounds, but if he finds something before then, I’m sure he’ll send instruction on what we need to do.”
As soon as she finished her sentence, the phone on her desk rang. She turned to answer it, her smile returning as she turned to look at him, speaking into the phone. “Yes, sir. Right on it.”
The way she was looking at him gave Curtis hope.
“That was the doctor. This might be the break we’ve been hoping for. He’s ordered an ultrasound so we can see if this is, in fact, the site of the infection.”
“And if it is?”
“Then he’ll start a treatment plan immediately.”
The band around his chest loosened a little. Not completely, but enough to let him breathe. This was the best news—even if it wasn’t definitive—that they’d heard in all the time they’d been there.
“I’m gonna go talk to my boys,” he told her as she started typing something into the computer.
“We’ll be right here when you get back,” she assured him.
Not wanting to keep the boys waiting when the last thing they’d heard was the devastating news from the doctor a few days ago, Curtis headed down the hall and out into the waiting area.
As soon as the door closed behind him, heads lifted, bodies shifted so that they were sitting or standing.
“Any news?” Sawyer asked, moving toward him.
Taking a deep breath, Curtis relayed everything that had just happened to the dozens of faces staring back at him. He made sure he told them that they didn’t know for sure if this would work, but for the first time in three weeks, at least they had some sort of hope.
And for now, that was exactly what they all needed.