FG 3 - The Wedding Blitz Read online

  “Well he’s been throwing up a lot lately,” Hawkins’ mom began to explain. “And then today, he just passed out upstairs.”

  “On my way to the shitter,” Jack added thoughtfully.

  “Yes, on his way to the shitter,” Hawkins’ mom rolled her eyes in embarrassment.

  “And how long has he been experiencing these symptoms?”

  “About a little over a week ago?” Hawkins’ mom checked with her husband.

  “Have you been experiencing any other symptoms other than vomiting and nausea like fever or abdominal pain?” the doctor asked as he pulled out a stethoscope from his pocket.

  “No fever,” Hawkins’ dad shook his head.

  After checking Hawkins’ dad’s chest the doctor went around to listen to his lungs from the back. “Take a deep breath,” the doctor placed a stethoscope up to Hawkins’ dad’s chest to listen to his lungs. He then felt around his lower back where Hawkins’ dad had complained about having pain.

  “Well—” he pulled the stethoscope down around his neck and then picked up his iPad to review his chart. “Your blood pressure is elevated but that could be explained by the pain you’re feeling in your lower back. I do want to run some tests to make sure your heart’s okay. Plus we’ll get some blood and urine samples to check to make sure your kidneys are okay and then we’ll go from there.”

  “Thank you doctor,” Hawkins’ mom said graciously as he turned to leave. A nurse in her early twenties with a brown ponytail walked in after the doctor left and did a double take in Hawkins’ direction. I instantly knew, that she knew, who he was. She blushed nervously when she couldn’t find a vein at first but by the third prick, Hawkins’ mom asked, “I sincerely hope this isn’t your first day as a nurse, dear.”

  “No ma’am,” the smile quickly faded from her face when she finally miraculously found a vein which I attributed to a sudden bout of concentration. Once the nurse was done drawing blood, she smiled in Hawkins’ direction like she might ask him for his autograph but then decided against it when Hawkins’ mom cleared her throat dramatically.

  “Let the girl say hello to him for peats sake,” Hawkins’ dad huffed after the nurse had left. “No offense Joie,” he held up a hand.

  “None taken,” I smiled. “I’m used to it by now.”

  “I’m just saying if anyone should be annoyed it’s me, the one who got pricked in the arm repeatedly.”

  “How can I be sure that it wasn’t you Jack, she was trying to say hello to?” Hawkins’ mom hummed with amusement.

  “Yes, I often cause young women to become so star struck they can’t do their jobs properly,” he chuckled and then grimaced as he went to sit up in his hospital bed.

  “Now take it easy, Jack,” Hawkins’ mom instinctively moved in closer to him. “The doctor still doesn’t know what’s wrong with you yet.”

  “What’s wrong is that I don’t have a shot of tequila to take the edge off,” he groaned clearly in pain.

  “Let’s see if they get South Park on this blasted tablet Joshua sent me in the mail,” Hawkins’ mom reached for the thin tablet from her purse and I couldn’t help but smile over at Hawkins at the mention of the show. I could see Jack watching the show but definitely not his mother.

  “South Park?” I mouthed while his mom was busily fussing over the ‘damn technology these days’ and watched Hawkins’ eyes light up with laughter before he shrugged as if to say, whatever makes them happy.

  Before ‘Jack’ could watch his show though, another nurse came in with a contraption that looked like a lie detector sitting on a cart. “Hi, I’m going to do your EKG today,” the nurse started preparing the machine.

  “It’s dinner time, why don’t you kids go get something to eat,” Hawkins’ dad offered. “I’m sure whatever they find out can wait until you get back.”

  Not wanting to make his dad feel any more uncomfortable than he already did, I went out of the room and waited for Hawkins to follow.

  “If you want to stay, I’d understand,” I told Hawkins when he came out. “I just got the feeling he felt like there were too many people watching him.”

  “No, you’re right. I don’t think he wanted me to watch him have all those wires attached to his body. Plus we need to see if we can find you,” he raised his eyebrows while looking down at my stomach. “Something to eat; other than saltines,” he snickered as he put his arm around me and we went in search of the cafeteria.

  The cafeteria was a spacious area that reminded me of IKEA’s in store restaurant except with round tables that comfortably seated five people. There was even a children’s area where kids could play while their parents ate. It was funny how I noticed these kinds of things now that they pertained to me. Hawkins must have guessed what I was thinking because he also stopped to take in the children playing with the make believe kitchen before we got in line to order.

  Once there however, I couldn’t decide what I wanted to eat. I really didn’t want to get sick but it had been several hours since I had last eaten. I decided to play it safe and asked for a small plate of cream cheese mashed potatoes and a carton of milk. Hawkins grabbed a plate of chicken fingers and fries and went to grab me a plate of it too when he saw me glance down at it ravenously. I quickly stopped him by telling him we shouldn’t push it, not here anyway.

  We found an open table by a wall of windows overlooking a landscaped garden area. It really was a nice hospital. The first bite of potatoes had my stomach rolling so I was thankful when Hawkins was paged to his dad’s room but with one look at him, I knew something was terribly wrong.

  Without even clearing our table we took off for the elevator and made it back to his dad’s room as quickly as my short legs would allow. His mother was obviously waiting for Hawkins but the fear we were feeling only intensified when we realized Hawkins’ dad’s bed was empty.

  “What’s wrong, what happened?” Hawkins went to his mother.

  “Your father . . . he had to go. . .” she started to tell us but was sobbing so hard that we had to give her a minute to pull herself together. Once she thought she could stop for a second, she told us. “Your father’s kidneys shut down, they took him to dialysis. I told him that I would get you and be right back down but I need to stop crying before I go. He needs me to be strong. They don’t know why his kidneys stopped working. They said he has an overload of Potassium in his blood; he has an elevated white blood cell count, and blood and protein in his urine. It’s acute renal failure so if they can figure out what’s causing this and fix it, his kidneys might be okay. I can’t believe this is happening to my Jack,” she started to lose it again but when Hawkins went to console her she shook him off and wiped away her tears.

  “No, your father needs me. I’ve got to get it together,” she smiled at me weakly. “You’ll learn soon enough that women are the real strong ones in a marriage, men may portray themselves as tough but they depend on us in times like these,” she said before straightening her shoulders and leading us out of the room.

  It was the first time she had spoken to me like a person that mattered. If I knew how short lived it was going to be I would have soaked it in but I was on autopilot as I followed Hawkins’ mom down to the elevator and then onto the third floor where they had a room with several dialysis machines being occupied. We headed over to Hawkins’ dad, who looked so pitiful in a chair with a blanket wrapped around him as the machines churned away, taking his blood out to clean it before returning it to his body. Hawkins’ mom completely changed her tone as she pulled up a seat next to him.

  “Maybe there’s a bright side to this Jack. If you don’t get your kidneys working again we won’t have to stop so much on our road trips,” Hawkins’ mom said, trying to make light of the subject.

  “Well maybe we can get your kidneys to stop too and the four hour trip to the ocean will then actually only take four hours,” Hawkins’ dad smiled up at his wife.

  “Always a smartass,” she shook her head just as another doctor dr
essed in pale blue scrubs approached us. He was a man in his late forties with dark hair and hazel colored eyes. And although he’d be considered short for a guy, he exuded confidence.

  “Hi, I’m Dr. Willett, the nephrologist,” he sat down on the edge of a nearby chair. “How are you feeling Mr. Hawkins?”

  “Amazingly positive for someone who’s hooked up to a machine,” Hawkins’ dad grunted.

  “Well that’s good to hear,” the doctor smiled. “Now it’s only natural for patients who have never been on dialysis before to be nervous about the process.” The nephrologist made sure to include everyone in his consultation by making eye contact with all of us as he explained how the dialysis machine worked, and how Hawkins’ dad would be on it every other day for about three hours.

  “Now you’re going to have to watch your fluid intake,” the doctor was in the middle of explaining when he noticed that Hawkins’ dad wasn’t paying attention because he was too busy digging at his arm. “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah sorry, I’ve got poison ivy and it’s driving me up the wall,” Hawkins’ dad continued to scratch at his arm under the blanket. “I know that I’m not supposed to touch it but I can’t leave it alone.”

  The doctor pulled the blanket down and leaned in closer to get a better look at it. I thought it was strange that Hawkins’s dad and I both had poison ivy but then again a lot of people are allergic to it.

  “That isn’t poison ivy,” the doctor murmured as he continued to stare, “See how there are tiny purple lines between the pustules?”

  I felt a cold sliver race down to the pit of my stomach as I looked at the pink patch of blistered skin. “I have that same rash,” I whispered in astonishment. “I thought it was poison ivy too.” I pulled up the hem of my summer dress to show him the pink patch of blistered skin on the side of my leg.

  “That’s weird your rash has the same purple lines,” he murmured as he examined it more closely. “To be honest, I’ve never seen anything like this before.”

  “What is it?” Hawkins mom looked alarmed. “Could the rash be the reason why Jack’s kidneys stopped working?”

  “Like I said, I don’t know what it is. I’m not even absolutely certain that it isn’t poison ivy, I’m not a dermatologist, but it doesn’t look like it to me. As for his kidneys, I highly doubt that a rash caused them to stop working but it’s another symptom we’ll need to closely monitor,” he examined the patch of skin on Hawkins’ dad’s arm again. “And run some tests to try to figure out what’s causing it.”

  Chapter Seven

  “Have you also been experiencing the same flu like symptoms such as vomiting and nausea?” Dr. Pohren asked me once they had decided to admit me into the hospital to run the same kind of blood and urine tests that they were performing on Hawkins’ father.

  “Yes, but we thought that was because—” I turned to Hawkins for help though I knew there wasn’t any chance of his parents overhearing us with his dad still getting treatment.

  “Because of the baby,” he answered for me.

  The doctor paused for a second as if this was a surprise to him before proceeding on to ask, “How long have you been pregnant?”

  “About twelve weeks.”

  “Have you experienced any other symptoms like lower back pain…bleeding or contractions?”

  “No, I would have known if I’d had a miscarriage.”

  “Okay, I’m going to send you to obstetrics to get an ultrasound done and to make sure the baby’s vitals are stable.”

  “Doctor if you don’t mind,” Hawkins interjected. “We already have an Ob/Gyn doctor we trust, Dr. Cross from the Good Samaritan Hospital in Cincinnati. I can have her flown in by tomorrow.”

  “If you can get her here that soon,” he nodded. “I could use someone who has already been following your pregnancy and has a thorough medical history on you. Maybe she can help shed some light on whatever this is.”

  “Dr. Pohren,” I stopped him before he could leave because it suddenly dawned on me. “My friend Riley, he also has the rash.”

  The silence that followed spoke volumes about what the doctor might have been thinking as he looked from Hawkins to me. “Has your friend also been experiencing the same flu like symptoms?”

  “Yes, at first I thought it was just because Riley had a weak stomach but…now I know he must be sick too.”

  “You need to have him come in right away to get tested,” the doctor stressed. “In the meantime, I’ll have a nurse take you to get an ultrasound tonight just to be safe. Dr. Cross can look over the results or order another test tomorrow when she gets here. Now excuse me, I need to talk to my staff.”

  “Can you hand me my cell? I need to call Riley,” I nodded for the small purse that was laying on top of the folded up summer dress I had been wearing before I had exchanged it for a hospital gown.

  “I could always have someone from the crew drive him in,” Hawkins offered as he retrieved my cell for me.

  “Thank you, you’re wonderful. I can’t believe I didn’t know he was sick this entire time when it was just staring me right in the face,” I mumbled as I dialed his contact number and listened to it ring several times before I was sent through to his voicemail.

  “Riley, hey it’s me Joie. I know this is going to sound crazy but Hawkins’ dad was admitted into the hospital earlier today for acute renal failure and we still don’t know what triggered it but he has the same rash as I do and the doctors don’t think its poison ivy. I told them that you have the same rash and they want you to come in as soon as you can. Hawkins said he’d get someone from the crew to drive you in. We’re at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. Call me back when you get this, love you, bye.”

  “No luck?” Hawkins asked as I ended the call. “No but something just isn’t sitting well with me,” I mumbled under my breath and found myself calling him again.

  “Alright, alright,” I was surprised when I heard Lizzie’s voice instead of Riley’s. “You’ve reached Riley’s cell,” she groaned like I had woken her up from an afternoon nap. “He’s in bed sleeping like how I wished I was still doing right now. What’s so important that you had to call instead of text, Joie?”

  “You need to wake him up, Lizzie,” I insisted. “The rash on his leg isn’t poison ivy. Hawkins and I are at the hospital because his dad has acute renal failure—

  “Do I even want to know what that is?”

  “His kidneys stopped working and they’re not sure what caused it but he has the rash too.”

  “Well if it’s not poison ivy then what is it?” she instantly dropped her sarcastic tone.

  “They don’t know, why? Do you have it too?” I was almost too afraid to ask.

  “I got it this morning,” she sighed. “Warren has it too.”

  “Okay, well this is good. We caught whatever this is early on. Now tell Warren to get someone to drive you guys to the Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.”

  “Wait hold on, I need to get a pen to write the name down,” Lizzie explained. While she was looking for a pen and something to write on I heard her faintly call out Riley’s name a few times in the background. “Riley, get up already!” she finally hissed followed by an eerie silence. “Wake up Riley, oh my god, wake up. Warren!” she cried. “Warren, get out of bed! I don’t know what to do, he’s passed out.”

  Tears welled up in my eyes as I listened in utter helplessness and shock. I heard a muffled conversation before Lizzie’s voice suddenly boomed on the other line, “Joie, I got to go. I need dial 911.”

  “Take him to the Harborview Medical Center!” I shouted in a rush of words before the call was disconnected. I slowly dropped my cell from my ear and stared down at it; too horrified to even move.

  “Joie, what is it?”

  “It’s Riley,” I murmured in a voice that didn’t sound like my own, like the world had shifted and I was looking in on the small ER room instead of out. “They found him passed out like your dad but I don’t know for how lo
ng. It could have been since this morning, he never got up for breakfast and that’s not like him,” I finally turned to look at Hawkins. “My god,” I cried, “what if he…?”

  “Hey, hey,” Hawkins pulled me in close against his chest as I continued to cry. “Don’t think like that. He’s going to get help, that’s all that matters now.”

  I wanted to believe him but if something happened to Riley I would never get over it especially since I was already blaming myself for giving him this deadly rash.

  “Move over,” Hawkins nudged me.

  “No,” I stopped him a bit abruptly. “I don’t want to give this to you.”

  “I’d already have it by now, if I was going to get it, Joie. We share a bed remember?” his eyes twinkled with amusement.

  “Oh yeah…right,” I mumbled.

  It wasn’t long after that Hawkins and I were tucked in together in the same hospital bed. I could hear his heart pumping through his chest and I concentrated on the slow but strong sound to help calm me down enough to breathe evenly again. We both turned to look when a nurse ripped back the curtain divider that separated us from the rest of the emergency room. “Joie?”

  “Yes?” I sniffed as I tried to wipe my messy face clean again.

  “I’m here to take you to your ultrasound.”

  I looked at Hawkins with a renewed sense of fear, “The baby.” I couldn’t help but wonder how he or she was doing when everyone else was getting so sick and I’d already had the rash and the other symptoms for so long.

  “Let’s worry about one thing at a time, okay?” Hawkins put on a brave face for me and then kissed my forehead.

  I was so nervous that my hands were literally shaking when they escorted me down the hallway and into a small waiting room. Hawkins must have noticed because he took my hand in his and squeezed it as he walked beside me. When I wasn’t thinking about the baby my thoughts turned to Riley. All I could think about was how strong Riley was. He sometimes seemed larger than life to me, and yet he had also gotten sick. And then there was Hawkins’ dad who was now hooked up to a machine he couldn’t survive without. It made me wonder how something so small as our child could ever survive this.