“Hello, Isaac,” Shelly said while checking his blood pressure. “I’m Shelly, and I’m going to be your nurse tonight. I work with Max here,” she said looking up at me. “But you’ll find I’m the better nurse, so I promise you’re in good hands,” she teased, but it got a small smile out of Isaac.
“Do you feel dizzy or have a headache?” Shelly asked, and Isaac shook his head.
“Does your chest hurt when you breathe?”
Isaac nodded at that question.
“You’re doing great,” she reassured. “I don’t think there’s anything to worry about, but I’m going to recommend a couple of tests to the doctor just to make sure there’s no injury to your lungs, okay? Then I’ll connect you to some oxygen to help your breathing and make sure your O2 levels stay up. I’m going to speak to Dr. Adrian and will be right back.”
Isaac nodded once again. I pulled a chair closer to the bed and sat down and looked at the clock on the wall. It was almost nine o’clock, only four hours since I’d left the hospital to attend the conference, but it felt like a lifetime ago.
“I work here at this hospital, Isaac. I promise you’re in good hands.” I tried to reassure him, and he gave me a small, tired smile in return.
Dr. Adrian came in shortly after the nurse left, did a thorough assessment, and fortunately, agreed with Shelly. He put the orders in at the bedside computer for the required testing, treatment, and blood draws.
“Isaac, I’m confident there’s nothing to worry about and that you’ll be discharged as soon as the results come back,” Dr. Adrian said. “I’ll leave you in the capable hands of my nurses and wish you a speedy recovery.”
Isaac nodded his understanding before Dr. Adrian left to see his next patient.
A few minutes later, Shelly came back with a respiratory therapist who was going to draw an arterial blood gas to test for CO levels, which would then be followed by a pulmonary function test (PFT). Isaac was very patient despite his clear discomfort from the needle stick and the struggle to breathe, particularly after the PFT.
When she was done, Shelly put Isaac back on the oxygen, reattached the cables to the electrodes for the heart monitor, and left us.
Possibly due to a combination of exhaustion and the crash from the adrenaline, Isaac fell asleep within a few minutes. He looked fine, and his vital signs were stable. Knowing he was now safe and under observation, I relaxed a bit and looked at him properly for the first time.
Isaac was almost as tall as me, but he was slimmer, toned, and tanned. I had seen that much earlier, even if ever so briefly. I scanned over his soft features again, remembering how his eyes completely transformed his face giving it depth and contrast.
What would he look like when he laughed out loud, when he was angry or frustrated, when he was in bed losing himself in someone?Shit, I couldn’t allow my thoughts to go in that direction. This man was in the hospital for god’s sake.
I couldn’t tell what it was, but despite barely exchanging a word with the man, I could feel a strange pull toward him. It was something I’d never felt so quickly before, and it left me confused.
Needing some distance, I decided to call Dorian to check up on things at the center.
I left the room in the direction of the nurse’s station, heading into the break room and over to my locker, and dialed Dorian’s number.
“Hey Dorian, how are things at the center?” I asked when he picked up.
“Shit man, I don’t know. Everybody was evacuated, and the fire was put out. It looks like it’s only affected one floor on the office side. The firemen are still working on it.”
“How are the kids? Did everybody make it out okay?”
“Yeah, they’re all safe, and Jean-Paul is talking to another shelter to see if we can get the kids a roof for the night. How’s Isaac? Please tell me he’s okay, Max.” Dorian sounded as though the weight of the world was on his shoulders, which tonight, it was. With twenty-five teenagers on the street and an unknown bill to fix the shelter, both Dorian and Jean-Paul would be quite busy this Christmas.
“Isaac is fine. We’re running some tests just to rule out any damage to his lungs, but he’s on oxygen and resting for the moment.”
I heard Dorian’s long sigh on the other side of the line.
“Dorian, I’m going to stay here with him until he’s discharged.” He sounded so overwhelmed; I could take this worry off of him.
“Thanks, Max, you’re a good friend.” Dorian sounded relieved as he explained that Isaac was staying at a hotel in the Village and would be leaving the day after tomorrow.
I grabbed a shirt and a sweater from my locker and walked back to the room where the man that had me transfixed without barely saying a word was lying in bed, still asleep. I put the clothes on a spare chair and walked back out to find Shelly and check when we could see the results from the tests.
