Chapter Two:

  “It’s the pizza.” Meredith told Derek as she got up to the front door. “Don’t eat it before I do.” Derek joked. The camera paused onto Meredith as she stood frozen with a big grin. Derek gets up confused and asked his wife what’s the matter. “Is that our baby?” Meredith asks joyfully. The camera turns around to the front door and you see Zola and the adoption lady. “That’s our baby!” Derek replies and rushes to open the door and takes Zola into his arms. The adoption lady just stands on their porch and admires the reunion of a true family. You can see Meredith and Derek welcome Zola with kisses, hugs, and baby talk as they hold onto their daughter. The camera zooms up on the three and you can hear the narrator tell of surprises and the title of “Grey’s Anatomy” appears.

  “Cute. Sweet.” I say to myself in a mono-tone as I turn off the T.V. I plop my head back upon the pillow and stare at the blank ceiling. A month has passed since Kyle died. Just the thought of him being somewhere else and not besides me just wants me to puke. Over and over again I repeatedly tell myself that he went to Australia, and won’t come back because he found someone. It’s actually a great scenario that keeps me on my feet.

  “He’s in Australia strolling through the streets hand-in-hand with a beautiful girl. He wants to write me, but he’s so distracted with his new love he just can’t keep up.” I told myself for the third time since I woke up this morning.

  My crippled body drags itself out of the bed. It slowly drags it legs out of the room. I go up to a male nurse with the name of Jim. I ask him if he could roll me around for a change of scenery. Nurse Jim agrees and gets me a wheelchair and we start towards the trauma section. Nurse Jim asked me how I felt and I told him the usual; awful.

  He turns us around a corner and I see the trauma center filled with many amazing disastrous cases. This is the place my dreams will come true. This field is where I’ll be the Queen. No one will compete with me. Someone calls out Code Blue and a group of medical people roll out a bed with a young teenage boy. Damn, he was injured to the bone. Man, I wish I could be in this case.

  “Can we follow them, Nurse Jim?” I asked using my cancer puppy eyes as a weapon.

  Jim looked at me knowing he can’t take me, but I do of course work here as a student. “Fine. Although, we’re not going into the OR.”

  “Can we at least sit in the gallery?”

  “Only legal medical people can go-“

   “Don’t make me page Chief.” I said in a deep voice with a hint of “I will kill you.”

  Nurse Jim stared at me with such bewilderment. He nodded and pushed me off to this amazing case I will be witnessing. I held a smile so wide you wouldn’t believe I was in mourning for a month. We entered an elevator up to Level 3 (ORs) and entered the gallery with just minutes away from the First Act beginning.

  “Oliver Papke, age twenty-two, sever injuries in his spinal cords, harsh splinters in both of his legs, jaw cracked in three, brain swelling, and his lungs are crushed under pressure.” The fifth year resident read off to the Neuro, Plastics, Cardio, and Ortho. Each surgeon went to their area and set off to work saving this Oliver’s life. What I do to be them and cracking his chest, opening his skull, healing bones, and making a new jaw. I’m so jealous I could become insane!

  “Isn’t this just a beautiful sight, Nurse Jim?” I asked with excitement in my voice.

  “Would rather be watching babies be born than seeing a guy being opened at every aspect.”

  I scowled at him with a sarcastic huff, “And why are you in the medical field then?”

  “Just here for the bill payment.” Nurse Jim said jokingly, “No, I like taking care of people.”

  “And the farthest in caring for people is not seeing their insides.”

  “Not true! I’ve seen loads of insides.”

  “Name three. It should be easy for you.” I retorted back at him with a sly smile. To be honest I’ve seen more than Nurse Jim has in his lifetime.

9- Dylan 1-Nurse Jim

  He looked at me defeated. I laughed in his face and cheered in un-defeat. I did a little dance swaying my hands while snapping my fingers. Oh, it’s great rubbing things in people’s faces. Not that I’m saying I’m arrogant and cocky. All I’m saying is that I rule!

  Each attending tend to the injuries they were destined. The mending of his broken bones being renew with new cartilage and skin from the Ortho and Plastics were started first. By the head you can see Neuro putting a tube inside the brain tending to the swelling, then tending to the damaged spinal cords after the other attendings. Where the heart is, Cardio fixes the crushed lungs and checks the heart for no damage. As the surgery on Oliver Papke came to a close I noticed Chief Andris come into the gallery and send out Nurse Jim. I looked to him confused.

  “Oliver Papke, age twenty-two, got into a major car accident with three cars. He was the passenger in the front seat with his father. Everyone died in the accident, but him and his father. Although his father might not live after this severe crash he was a part of.” Chief told me. “And that father was my best friend since I was child.”

  I gasped and reached out my hand from my wheelchair. He sat next to me and held my hand. “Oliver, he’s my godson.”

  “Godson? So, that’s why I didn’t see you in there.” I spoke.

  “Yeah. Families can’t operate on each other.”

  “I’m sorry, sir. I wish I could go down there and make everything flawless for you.”

  Chief Andris chuckled, “Always find a way to cheer someone up do ya?”

  “Can’t help it sir?” I responded with a grin.

  We sat together holding each other hands watching the rest of the surgery go by well. The results were greater than I expected and I was proud. After four hours of mending the patient Oliver, his surgery was a success. I was actually thankful nothing went wrong with the Chief’s godson. That would be a disastrous ending no one would want to be a part of.

  “Great surgery Doctor Dewy, Penner, Lopez, and Lawrence! You did amazing!” I shouted into the intercom. The doctors smiled and gave me the thumbs up in response.

  Chief Andris rolled me back to my room grabbing Nurse Jen on the way. He stopped at the door of my room after dropping me off and gave me a smile. Jen looked confused, but I told her what happened in the OR. She actually got a little teary when she found out “Boxtosser” was Chief’s godson.

  “Boxtosser?” I asked laughing.

  “Yeah!” Jen yelled. “When he was in the accident he was tossed all over. So, yeah…”

  “Who made this up?”

  “Doctor Lopez.”

  “The head of Neuro?” I asked shocked.

  “Yeah, he was all like, ‘So, you give patients nicknames? I’ve got a good one for Oliver Papke.’” She told me.

  “But, Doctor Lopez always was kind. He would never come up with that.”

  “I would expect Doctor Penner or Lawrence to comment like that!”

  “Totally! Lopez always had a pure mouth!”

  “I know right!” Jen exclaimed back.

  “This is so weird. Did he get a girlfriend?” I asked confused.

  “He hasn’t been hooking up since Dewy, remember?”

  “Yeah, but that’s been over eight months now.” I responded.

  “Eight months? No way?”

  “Way!” We looked at each other and exploded in cackles. More specific, we bellowed with all our hearts.

  Oliver Papke was in a medical coma until further notice. Chief Andris gave me the permission to evaluate patient Papke under supervision. Two residents in their fifth year surveyed me from the hall in case I couldn’t handle coding of the patient. Over all, I really didn’t need babysitters.

  I sat next to Oliver’s side scribbling down observations and filling out charts and college/work applications. Every five minutes I would look up at Oliver and checked his SATs and monitors. He was fine at most times unless he felt his pain from the surgery he came out from. Funny thing is when I put my hand over his he calms down. When I first tried it came to a shock. I never had a patient react this way towards me.

  Oliver’s body went into shock again and this time I couldn’t handle it. I held onto his hand and squeezed to get him to relax, but he just wouldn’t stop accelerating his heart’s beats. The residents came into the room and had to use the defibrillator. They had to go for a 300, twice. His heart’s beat rate went back to normal and his hand started to grasp thin air looking for something. The residents looked to me as if I were the object Oliver was looking for. I made my way over to his hand and held it close. He held his hand tight in mine.

  Oliver was still in a medical coma, so it was abnormal to notice his mind and hand conscious. A normal patient wouldn’t be able to move their hand first. They would flutter their eyes open after a slight movement in their fingers, not a whole hand grasping thin air. I changed his nickname from “Boxtosser” to “Miracle Boy.”

  Oliver Papke, age twenty-two, tossed all over his car accident with three cars, had four surgeons attending his injuries, in a medical coma, and finally likes being around me.

  “Hi, Oliver Papke, my name is Dylan D’Imperrizler. I have a brain tumor in my brain that will one day cause me to have Alzheimer’s. My lungs, both of them actually, have dropped in the past four years.” I told him as I sat near him. “My hair is purple, I’m 5’7, green eyes, and I have this red dot on my right wrist that I’ve had since I was a little child.”

  I stroked his dark black hair as I spoke of medical research I did today. It was soothing for him and actually for me also. Oliver has been a coma for two and half weeks and this is the first time I introduced myself. I felt kind of guilty that I never told him earlier, but I didn’t think it was the right time.

  I still held his hand as I rested my head upon the open space on his bed. In one hand I wrote the answers in for my homework from school. I was solving answers for my class of government. It was a bore. I don’t care what President Obama did with the Prime Minister of London. All I care about is whether America is going to pay their debts. That should be their prime problem to solve.

  “How he’s doing?” Someone said from the door. I looked up to see Doctor Penner standing with his arms crossed.

  “Same usual.”

  “You seem to be in here more than in your room Dylan.”

  “If I leave he goes into cardio arrest. He needs me.” I told him.

  “He never met you before,” Doctor Penner explained while sitting in the seat across from me. “How can something like this happen?”

  “Sir, I ask this myself every day. I’m still just as confused as you are.”

  “Brilliant.” He said and walked out like nothing ever happened.

  I turned to Oliver’s healing face and his eyes closed like he was a sleeping angel, “Brilliant it is.”

  My chemo radiation today went so well today! I could feel my body healing faster than I expected. I swear I could just get out this wheelchair and dance all over the room. It would be such a great idea, but my legs are weak. They haven’t walked in ages. I pushed myself to Oliver’s room and decided to try walking with someone I feel comfortable around.

  “Hello Oliver!” I said as I enter his room. I rolled up to his bed and stroked his cheek for him to know I was here. His fingers twitched in response. “I’m going to try walking today in here for you.” I told him.

  I pushed the wheelchair far from his bed but not too far to not catch something. I stretched my legs feeling them crack in response. My arms pushed themselves out of the chair and my feet felt the cold surface of the ground below them. I stand up straight holding onto Oliver’s sheets as help. My right foot took a small step forwards and slipped. I caught myself and restarted over again with my left foot this time.

  I repeated the process of trying to walk over and over again until my body was shaking and I sat next to Oliver’s legs. My breathing was ragged and irregular. Walking was harder than I expected. Like I know it’s a very challenging task, but I was only in a chair for four and half months.

  I brushed my fingers over Oliver’s and played with them as I regained my confidence. I could feel his fingers trying to intertwine with mine. His eyebrows were scrunched up as if he was trying his hardest to do this simple task. I was going to wrap my fingers with his, but I realized he was trying to do it himself. After a few tries within the minutes that passed by Oliver accomplished tangling his fingers with mine.

  “Congratulations.” I told him.

  Oliver squeezed my hand and for some reason I felt as if he were trying to tell me to try again like he did. As if he was saying that he would be there if I fall and fail. In return I squeezed his hand and pushed myself up once again and tried to take baby steps around his bed.

  One foot in front of the other and soon I realized I could be walking straight out the door. I placed my hand upon the bed railing for support and trailed around. I came around to the right of his bed and I was smiling in complete, but then I had to trip and fall forward. I didn’t save myself. In fact it wasn’t me who caught me. I looked to the arm wrapped around my arm and noticed a wide awake Oliver.

  “Told you I would be there to catch you,” The dreamy and silky voice of Oliver’s told me. I started blankly at him in shock.

  Oliver was hanging over his bed with one arm around me as he caught me from falling. We looked at each other without any breaking eye contact. I noticed for the first time the golden eyes he had. They shimmered like champagne and sparkled with brown specks. His eyes looked like he was an adventurous person. I gulped embarrassed and pushed myself back up and brushed his arm off. He looked hurt, but it soon replaced with a grin.

  “Dylan D’Imperrizler.”

  “That is I.”

  “You’re more beautiful then what I was expecting.” He told me sitting up straight.

  “Well, what can you expect? I got the looks of a cancerous Victoria’s Secret Model.” I responded sarcastically.

  “Nope. You look like an angel that has saved my life.”

  “That wasn’t me, it was Doctor Penner, Dewy-“

  “No, it was you. Who saved me when I started having a cardio arrest?”

  “Me. But, that doesn’t even count though.”

  “It counts to me, Dylan.” He said.

  I looked to him, “Oliver.”

  “What? Did I say something offensive?”

  “N-no. Don’t you just think this is just too much for our first meeting?” I just asked.

  “Why this isn’t our first meeting. I’ve met you the day you came after my surgery.”

  I looked to Oliver shocked that he even knew of that day. I know that when people in a coma they can sometimes know their surroundings without even knowing or having their eyes open. But, Oliver knowing the first day of his coma just seemed unusual for him or any patient I knew of.

  “That’s rare for a patient.” I said to Oliver.

  “Well, I guess the new nickname you gave me spread around the hospital, because I remember during one of my check ups,” He started. “Someone not you called me ‘Miracle Boy.’”

I gasped and he chuckle softly, “Oh…my…gosh! Oliver you’re like the weirdest patient to ever walk the planet!”