by Anthology
“Treatment was deemed a success.” Melony was correct at the sound of the male voice, a deep tenor filled with confidence. “But the patient continues to be in a persistent state of unconsciousness with a Glasgow Coma Scale score of three.”
Well that didn’t sound at all good to Melony.
“Anyone else has anything to report?”
A new voice answered. “Mrs. Copenhagen was transferred from the ICU at the local Trauma Center to Leisure Haven after her condition stabilized and it was determined that her coma was of unknown duration as part of a pilot program. This program was initiated by Dr. Sinclair after reading about the success of long-term ventilator patient receiving equivalent or better care in a long-term setting at a lower cost than they would at the higher cost in the ICU. Mrs. Copenhagen case is deemed to be a success of the pilot program as she continues to maintain status quo without any developing any chronic health issues from being ventilated long-term.”
“Very good, Dr. Patterson,” The approval in Dr. Sinclair’s voice was easy to hear by everyone in the room.
Someone was brown nosing.
Hmmm, Melony guessed that was boring medical-speak for saying there is no change in her condition. At least now she knew how long she had been in a coma and frankly she was ready for a change.
“Anything else?”
“Patient has a subclavian port-a-cath in which she receives her sedation medication for the vent and from which blood is drawn.” A separate voice answered.
So far Melony was able to determine that there were three males and one female. The last one to speak must be Dr. Mitchell, who had a faint twang, indicating that he was from the south.
Wow, the levels she stooped to entertain herself. She really did need to find a way to throw off the hold her brain had on her muscles.
She wanted to be free to move at will.
To get up out of this hospital bed and run naked down the hall. The image caused endless amusement.
She really was losing what little grip she had on reality.
“So which one of you geniuses is going to wake my wife up from her coma?” The room got so quiet at Royce’s question that Melony was able to hear the nurses laughing at the nurse station out in the hall.
Dr. Sinclair gave an aggravated sigh before responding. By the tone of her voice when she did speak it was obvious this wasn’t the first time that Royce had asked this question.
“Mr. Copenhagen, your wife will wake up when her mind has healed from whatever trauma caused the coma in the first place.”
“Which you still don’t know?”
“Correct. We are going on the assumption that it was a combination of the head trauma from the car accident and the Oligodendroglioma….”
Royce interrupted the Dr.’s medical spiel, “…blah…blah…blah…doc. Heard it all before.”
Wow Royce. You get the gold star for rudeness. Melony grinned on the inside at her husband. She missed his rude, sarcastic, no manners-having ass.
“Anyway,” Dr. Sinclair must have decided to take the high road and ignore Royce as she continued to address her students. “As stated by Dr. Patterson, Mrs. Copenhagen case has been deemed a success of the pilot program. We will continue with her current regime as it seems to be working for her. If there are any changes in her condition either way the nursing staff will notify us immediately.”
There was a loud rustle of clothes and the persistent tapping as the students took notes on their tablets. “Are there any questions?”
Their echoing ‘no’s reminded her of the quacking of ducks before the door opened and closed as they left the room.
“Mr. Copenhagen, do you mind if I give your wife a quick exam?” A new female voice reached Melony’s ears.
“Jory, you and Stephanie can call me Royce.” So the elusive Jory was a female. Good, that kind of evened the score with the med students.
“Mr. Copenhagen you have been around Dr. Sinclair long enough.” The female gave a faint laugh. Melony assumed that she started her examination, she couldn’t feel anything to tell.
“Yeah, I had the same conversation with Stephanie. Giant stick. Skinny Ass. Horrible bedside manner.”
God, she loved this man.
She heard the sound of the door opening again. “Time for your medicine,” Stephanie announced.
“What are you giving her today, Nurse Stephanie?” Royce asked. Melony didn’t know why he asked every time. When she had been awake the other times that the nurses brought in her medication he asked what they were giving her. The answer was always the same. Just as Stephanie answered it the same way this time.
“It’s her vitamins,” Stephanie answered him. The machine beeped and whined as she checked the settings.
“Dr. Sinclair still has them ordered for around the clock?” Jory asked Stephanie, confused.
“Um hum.” Melony wondered what had Stephanie so distracted that she gave such an absent-minded answer.
Royce twisted up his question this time. “Why do you give it to her through her subclavian port-a-cath instead of her G-tube?”
“Dr. Sinclair believes that the medication would be better absorbed by her if introduced directly into her bloodstream instead of having to be digested and losing part of their effectiveness,” Stephanie cheerfully answered his question.
Before Royce could question her any further the sound of an alarm went off. An overhead announcement of a code blue and a room number had Stephanie and Jory rushing out of the room.
“Well, well, well. Look at what our lovely nurse left behind?” This was a new side of Royce. Melony had never heard such maniacal glee in his voice before. She wanted to know what made him so happy.
As if he was reading her mind he answered her question. “Stephanie left behind your so-called medication.” She heard rustling and then the crinkling of plastic. “The guys in research needed a new sample to test to confirm their previous test results.”
Melony wanted to know what they were testing for. She really wanted to know what the hell was going on. It was frustrating being trapped in her body without any way to communicate.
No way to ask questions.
Thank God for her mindreading husband. “I know you would consider me to be a Petty Betty because I haven’t been able to prove that Dr. Sinclair is the evil provider who is purposely keeping you in a coma for some nefarious unknown reason, but I truly believe that you should be awake. I’m just going to have these so-called vitamins tested at an independent lab to verify the results that my guys at Copenhagen Conglomerate found. Just to make sure that vitamins are exactly what they are giving you.”
So, note to self. Husband has become a little paranoid in the last six years. Melony knew that everybody handled stress differently. Never would she have guessed that her husband would have gone off the deep end and was seeing a conspiracy where there wasn’t one. She really needed to get out this coma before he did something crazy.
Like accuse Dr. Sinclair.
She felt the brush of Royce’s lips against her forehead. Not some illusion of touch this time, but the real thing. “Okay baby, I’m sorry to leave you so quickly, but I need to get this liquid over to lab and get it tested. I love you. I will be back at the usual time tomorrow.”
Melony was so caught in the fact that she felt his touch that she didn’t even realize that she didn’t know what the usual time he visited was. She concentrated hard on trying to move any part of her body that she didn’t even hear him leave until the door closed behind him.
CHAPTER THREE
Melony woke with a start.
The sound of her door opening snapped her out of the sleep first peaceful sleep she had had, a relief from the pressing darkness. She had spent so much time trying to move her body part without being successful that she had mentally exhausted herself and fallen into a natural sleep.
Now the sound of someone entering her room disturbed that sleep.
She heard rustling.
Then surpris
ingly she saw light. Not the bright light of day, but the light you saw when your eyes were closed and you could see it behind your eyelids. This was a new development.
Ow. There was a pinch of pain as she felt someone touch her body.
Pain.
She could feel pain. She got so caught up in the new experiences that she didn’t even realize that she could smell the faint scent of blood. She guessed it was true that when you were not able to use your eyes your other senses were heightened.
“You my beauty are a great find,” an unknown male voice spoke into the quiet of the room as rustling sound continued.
Her eyes involuntarily popped open.
It was dark in the room except for a faint light coming from the breathing equipment that was keeping her alive. She could make out a tall figure standing next to her bed. By the sound of his voice and the breadth of his shoulders she was assuming it was a male.
It wasn’t someone she recognized. But then again, she hadn’t seen anything in over six years, so she wasn’t even sure she would recognize herself.
“Yes, a rare find, that nobody in this godforsaken place has the intelligence to take advantage of except for me.” He continued to mumble to himself as he worked on something that Melony couldn’t identify.
“But they fired me for trying to make a little extra money on the side. It’s not like you’re missing it.”
Melony flinched at the sudden flare of pain as he pinched her nipple. This was degrading. The feeling was returning to her body, but she still didn’t have control of her limbs, fear coursed through her.
“Well, well, well.” Melony guessed it wasn’t dark enough to hide the involuntary movement of her body at the pain he caused.
A pen light shined in her face, causing her to blink at the brightness. “Guess who is awake? You must have missed a dose of your special medicine or someone finally wised up and changed the order.” A smirk danced in the shadows cast by his light.
A menacing laugh came from the shadowy man standing above her. The light moved away from her face allowing her to open her eyes again.
In the light of the penlight she could see a collection bag hanging low, her blood flowing into it.
This man was stealing from her. He was taking her blood like he had the right to drain her. And there was nothing that she could do.
“Enjoy your wakefulness while it lasts,” he cackled as he adjusted the tubing that was attached to something in her chest. The bag quickly filled up only to be switched out by the man for another bag.
Why wasn’t anyone coming to check on her? Why didn’t they catch him? He was hurting her, and nobody was there to protect her.
Help me Royce. She screamed in her mind to the one person that had always been her protector. Silent tears trickled down her face. She couldn’t even reach up and brush them away.
The second bag filled just as quickly as the first. Melony could only watch helplessly as he placed both bags into an insulated bag.
“Thanks for the cash lady,” the man said before picking up the bag and sauntering out of her room leaving her there to lay helpless.
Melony looked around the shadows of the room waiting for someone to come to help her. She had been violated. She kept her eyes open staring at the wall across from her. It was the only thing in her view since she still couldn’t move her head.
She now knew that whatever had been causing her paralysis wasn’t natural. It wasn’t her body keeping her in the coma. No, someone else was behind her unnatural state. The man had done this. Something about one of the medications they gave her was what caused her to go unconscious and she bet it was also the cause of her frozen state.
She wished Royce was here. He would see that her eyes were open and would insist on further testing. Hopefully he would insist they stop all medication and she could come out of whatever it was that kept her drugged, but he wasn’t. He was probably at home getting rest for the coming day like most people were in the dark of night.
She didn’t know how much time had passed when the doors opened again. It was a female this time. She came into the room not even looking at Melony. Melony tried to open her mouth to say something, but her lips refused to obey.
She blinked rapidly hoping the nurse would notice this new development and investigate further, but all the nurse did was check the machinery to see if it was performing as it should. Once she was satisfied with that she pulled out a short syringe. This must be some the vitamins that Royce, Stephanie, and Jory had been discussing earlier.
Melony kept blinking. The nurse would need to turn on a light so that she could administer the medication. Then she would see that Melony was awake. Hope filled Melony only to be dashed as the nurse pulled out her cellphone and turned on the flashlight.
She propped it up on a pump using a little button on the back of it so that the light shown at Melony’s chest and not her face. Melony still couldn’t turn her head to see what the nurse was doing.
All she could hear was the rustle of clothing, a light breeze brush against her skin as the snaps of her gown at the shoulders were undone.
The soft pop as the lid of the syringe was removed.
The swish of the fluid as it left the syringe to enter her body.
Then the gown was snapped closed with a painful finality.
Not at any point did the nurse look at Melony’s rapidly blinking eyes. More tears ran down Melony’s face at the frustration of being trapped and nobody paying any attention to her.
Melony gave up hope. Her eyes drifted closed as the sound of her door opened. She didn’t even have the energy to open them again as someone new entered her room.
“Mr. Copenhagen,” the nurse sounded surprised to see Royce, “what are you doing here at this time of night?”
“I got a feeling that something was wrong with Melony.” Melony smiled at the comforting sound of Royce’s deep voice. He had heard her mental cry of help and came to her rescue.
Royce was here. He would save her from the thief.
“No, nothing is wrong.” The nurse spoke in a soothing voice. “As you can see Mrs. Copenhagen is resting quietly. As a matter of fact I just finished giving her a dose of vitamins.”
“How can you see anything in the dark?”
That’s it Royce. You get her. Melony drifted on the clouds of sleep. The darkness behind her eyelids brightened. Someone had turned on the light.
Finally.
Melony heard the nurse gasp.
“Fuck.” Exploded from Royce. She felt a flitting touch on her skin before the sensation faded away to no feeling at all.
As usual her hearing was the last thing to leave her as the darkness overwhelmed her.
“Nothing is wrong,” Royce demanded. “If nothing is wrong then why is she crying?”
That’s my man. Demand answers. Melony drifted off to the darkness.
CHAPTER FOUR
“I don’t care if those are the same vitamins she has been receiving for all of these years. You’re not giving them to her today.” Melony gradually surfaced to the sound of Royce getting loud with someone.
“Mr. Copenhagen.” It was Nurse Stephanie. “Please calm down.” Melony could tell by the agitation in her voice that she didn’t know how to handle a pissed off Royce.
That was one thing about her husband. He didn’t lose his temper often, but when he did he tended to blow sky high. There was no bringing him down until he was ready to calm down.
If she could talk she would have told Nurse Stephanie that she was wasting her time and would be better off finding a seat and getting comfortable. It would be a while until he calmed down by the sounds of it.
“I will not calm down and don’t tell me what to do. I am a grown ass man who just had it confirmed that the shit you claim to be vitamins and feeding my wife are not vitamins.” Royce growled.
By the sounds that were reaching Melony’s ears, Royce was pacing the room. “When was the last time she was given this shit?” he demanded.
“She is due for her next dose now. Her last dose was six hours ago.” Stephanie answered.
“Well as her husband and medical power of attorney I have the right to refuse medications on her behalf and I am refusing those so-called vitamins,” Royce informed her, voice harsh. She wondered if he was getting up in the nurse’s face.
“Mr. Copenhagen as your wife’s nurse it is my duty to tell you the possible side effects of us not medicating her properly.”
“Listen Stephanie. They are supposed to be only vitamins. A few missed doses of vitamins are not going to harm my wife.” Melony could tell that Royce had his stubborn voice going.
He wasn’t giving in.
“Hell, I will even do you one better. Get the pill equivalent of the vitamins and give it to her through her G-tube.”
“Well I would do that, but one of the vitamins doesn’t come in a pill form. It only comes in a liquid form and it must be administered through her port.”
“What the hell vitamin is that?”
Ditto. Melony have never heard of a vitamin only being offered in a liquid form. Granted she wasn’t in the medical field, but she knew that Royce had studied up on different vitamins prior to finding the best one for them.
“It is a mixture of vitamins especially designed to work with your wife’s metabolism and provide any deficiencies occurred from her being on a prolong G-tube feed.” Stephanie explained.
“That still doesn’t tell me the vitamin that has to be a liquid.”
“I’m not exactly sure what vitamin it is,” Stephanie admitted, “I just know that it was ordered by Dr. Sinclair.”
“Well she is not getting it from this point forward until I know exactly what you folks have been giving her. So if there nothing further that you need to do at this moment then I will bid you adieu.”
Melony heard Stephanie give a sigh of disgust as she stormed out of the room. If she could have moved she would have jumped at the force of the door closing.
“Well baby, I guess I still haven’t learned to play nice with the other kids.” Royce ruefully admitted to her.
