Chapter 24, 25, 26

Chapter 24

Tina walks into Cole’s room and is so stunned by the sight, she almost faints.  Michael tried to prepare her for what she would see but it’s much different when she actually saw him lying there.  Pastor James stands and embraces Ellen.  Then he and Michael stand outside the door and talk.

Tina gently takes Cole’s hand in hers as Ellen stands beside her.  “This is harder than I thought.  I can hardly look at him.”  Tina sighs as Ellen puts her arm around her.

“It’s ok sweetie.  Just take your time.  It’s never easy seeing the man you love like this.  It was hard for me all those years ago.  Just picture him in your mind as you last saw him,” Ellen tells her.

Tina kisses Cole’s hand and breaks down falling into Ellen’s arms.  Ellen embraces her.  “It’s ok dear.  Let it out.”  James walks in and embraces them both as he prays over them and Cole.  When he finishes, they all walk to the hallway where Michael is talking to the doctor. 

He introduces the doctor to Tina.  “Tina, this is Doctor Harold Armstrong.  He’s our best doctor.  Doctor Armstrong, this is Doctor Tina Carpenter, Cole’s fiancé.”

Tina smiled as she greeted Doctor Armstrong.  That was the first time she had been referred to as Cole’s fiancé.  “Ok Doctor Armstrong, give it to me straight.  What’s the prognosis?”

“Well Doctor Carpenter, as I am sure Michael has told you, last night he had about a 30% chance of any recovery.  Today I’d say getting in the neighborhood of 50/50.”

Tina turns and follows the doctor into the room as they all surround the bed.  Tina speaks.  “Doctor, tell me the issues we are looking at.  And please call me Tina.”

Doctor Armstrong pulls back the cover.  “Tina, as you can see, both legs have extensive damage.  Right now he is in danger of losing the left.  We are positive we have saved the right.  Also the left arm needs several skin grafts and has a shattered wrist.  His shoulder here has damage from what seems to be a previous but to too long before on the fly surgery.”

Tina smiles as Ellen when he says this.  “Ok but all of this he can live through,” Tina says. “What’s the big issues?”

“Here’s the hard part,” Doctor Armstrong Continues.  “He has several bullets in his abdomen and chest.  He has severe internal damage.  Almost all the organs have some sort of damage.  The first surgery was to repair the heart, lungs, intestines, and kidneys along with any other life threatening injuries.  In the morning, I hope to begin to clean up and repair the rest.  We will also work on his left arm and leg.  If we other things are so bad that I can.  He does have head injuries but I don’t see them as life threatening.  There is some swelling of the brain but it has gone down.  Right now his come is induced until we feel confident he can function on his own.  As you see from the machines, he is on just about every type to keep his body functioning.  I hope to start to slowly weaning him off those about 24-36 hours after tomorrow’s surgery if it all goes well.  That will be the true test.  That’s about it.  Any questions?”

Tina takes a deep breath, “Wow!  How is he even alive?”

Doctor Armstrong laughs, “The man upstairs is looking out for him.  That’s the only explanation I have.  By all medical standards, he never should have made it.  Now if you don’t have anything else, I am going to get things set up for his tests this afternoon.

Tina shakes his hand, “Thank you doctor.  I appreciate your honesty.  Thank you for taking care of him.”

“You’re welcome,” he says as he leaves.

Tina plops down in the chair next to Cole’s bed.  “Ellen, how do it do this?  I feel even more helpless here than at home.  I can’t do it!”

Ellen puts her hand on Tina’s shoulder, “Yes you can dear.  Just lean on the Lord.  Let’s pray for strength.  Lord, we come to you now thanking you for sparing Cole’s life to this point.  We ask that you continue to heal him.  Father, right now I pray for my beloved sister Tina.  Give her strength to endure.  When her strength fades, I ask that you carry her through.  Allow her to rest in your arms as long as she needs to get through this time.  I pray she would be even stronger on the other side.  Walk with her, help her, carry her, whatever she needs.  I thank you in advance for the endurance you will provide.  Amen.”

Tina stands and gives Ellen a hug.  “Thank you.  I don’t know what I would do if you weren’t here.”

Ellen hugs her, “You are welcome, sweetie.  Now how about we go get something to eat?  Not much we can do here.”

James speaks up, “Good idea, I am starved.  Michael will call if there is any change.  Right Michael?”

Michael laughs, startled at the question, “Yes of course.  As long as you bring me back something.”

“Will do.  Thanks Michael, you are a good man,” Tina says with a hug.

“Wow, now I know I’ve hit the big time.  You are welcome.  Cole has become like a son to me.  I have seen him through everything these last few years and I don’t intend to stop now.”

After lunch, they head back to the hospital for Cole’s round of tests.  Dr. Armstrong comes in to explain what they are going to do and about how long it should take.  He then helps the transport team with all of Cole’s machines.  “Be back in a bit,” he says as they leave the room.  Pastor James just sits and waits as Ellen and Tina go for a walk and chat.

After about forty five minutes, they see them wheeling Cole back into the room.  As they round the corner, Tina asks Dr. Armstrong, “How’d it go?”

“Pretty well,” he answers.  “We will be able to do the surgery tomorrow.  If all goes well, I don’t expect any more to be done on the organs but a few more on the arm and leg.”

Tina gets excited.  “Wow, that’s good.  What time will you start?”

“I am going to get started about 6AM.  I expect it to be about four hours but you never know.  You haven’t heard the best part yet.  Both lungs are fully inflated and I am decreasing his Oxygen.  I am going to have them decrease if by five about every two hours.  I want to do it slowly to make sure they can handle it.  My hope is that by tomorrow evening, he will be off the vent completely and using a little through the nose.”

Tina starts to cry as she hugs Ellen, “He’s gonna make it.”

Dr. Armstrong quickly speaks up, “Whoa! Not too fast.  Yes his chances are improving but he still has a long long way to go.  Let’s get him through this surgery first.  Then we can hopefully celebrate.”

Tina turns and takes a deep breath.  “Yes you are right.  Sorry.  That’s just really good news.  You just gave us some hope in all of this.”

Dr. Armstrong puts his hand on her shoulder.  “Glad I could help.  Now visit for a bit and then I am going to ask that you let him rest.  Come back in the morning.  I’ll be around about 5:30 or so.”

“Thank you Dr. Armstrong,” Tina says as he leaves.  She takes Cole by the hand.  “Cole, did you hear that?  You are going to be just fine.  You will be holding Isaac and Laura before long.  Then we will be married and be one happy family.  You got this!”  Tina feels a slight squeeze on her hand.  Her doctor instincts tell her its just a normal muscle flex.  Her heart tells her it’s Cole agreeing with her.  She smiles and holds to the latter as she leans in a kisses him on the cheek.  They leave for the evening knowing the next day will be long and tiring. 

After dinner, she sits in Ellen and James’ living room and calls Cole’s parents, her parents, and Pam and gives them an update.  She then talks to Isaac for a bit before heading off to bed still feeling Cole squeeze her hand.

Chapter 25

Noon rolls around and still no word.  “It was supposed to be over two hours ago,” Tina says and she frantically paces the floor.  Finally about 30 minutes later, a nurse comes out with an update.  “Sorry for the delay,” she begins.  “We ran into some complications.  Dr. Armstrong is working to correct some unforeseen issues.  He wanted me to tell you that it will be about another two hours.”  With that she turns and walks away.

Tina sighs as she plops into the nearest chair.  “I knew this was going too well.  Lord, please don’t let him die!  Not like this, not here, not yet.  Please Lord, just let him live!”  Tina starts to cry as Ellen comforts her.

“It’s ok dear.  The Lord has a plan for that man and you and those 2 precious kids.  Hold on to that.  Lean on Him, trust Him.”

After a few minutes, Tina finally stands up, “I need some fresh air.  I’ll be back in a bit.”

Ellen stands to follow but James catches her arm.  “Let her go Ellen.  She needs some time.  She’ll be fine.”  Ellen sits down next to James and snuggles in close.

Almost two hours later, Dr. Armstrong appears form the OR.  “Sorry about the delay folks.  We ran into some issues,” he says as he looks around for Tina.  “Where’s Dr. Carpenter?”

“Here I am,” Tina says charging up the hall, smiling.  “So Dr. Armstrong, when can I take him home?”

“Whoa there Tina!  One baby step at a time.  We need to talk about what just happened in there.  Please let’s sit.”  They all sit and he continues.  “I am just gonna give it to you straight.  Things did not go as well as I hoped.  Cole arrested twice on the table.  The first time we were able to get his heart started pretty quickly.  The second time took several minutes.  I almost called it.  I finally got him back and had to go in and repair some more heart damage and then replace a valve.  He is currently getting a transfusion. Also we had to remove his left kidney and his spleen.  I also had to remove part of his intestine.  He can live a fairly normal life without these.  Now the left wrist has been reconstructed and we put several pins in it.  The plastic surgeon will work on the skin grafts for the left arm later.  Any questions so far?”

Tina shakes her head no and he continues. “The lungs look great and still working well.  However, the issue is the left lower leg.  There was so much damage.  We have worked hard to repair it but the leg is not responding.  The team had to amputate below the knee.  The good news is the right leg is looking great.  At this point, I’d say he is mostly out of the woods and has about 70% full recovery. The true tell will really be after we slowly take him off of all the machines.  That’s about it.  Questions?”

Tina sits back in her chair and tries to comprehend everything she has heard.  She finally speaks.  “Doctor, I know you think I am jumping the gun here but I assure you he will be fine.  I will take my Cole home to live that long happy life.  So my question is what support is he still on and what Is the time line of everything?”

Dr. Armstrong half chuckles as Tina’s comment until he looks at her and realizes how serious she is.  “Tina, I appreciate your confidence.  He is on three main supports right now. First is the renal machine.  He should only be on that till the morning until his body gets use to functioning on one kidney.  Second is the blood machine for the transfusion.  That should be gone in a few hours when the transfusion is complete.  Third is the ventilator.  After what happened on the table, I want to be 100% sure before we take him off.  He is still very weak and I don’t want to put him in any more stress.  Hopefully that will be gone tomorrow as well.  I also of course have him on a heart monitor and regulator.  I want to make sure the valve does well and we have not more heart issues.  I want to keep him on that for a few days just to make sure.  That’s it.”

Tina stands as she answers, “no offense to you doctor but my confidence is not in you but in God.  He will heal Cole.  The left arm, how much function will he have?  Has the left leg already been taken?”

He replies, “Yes the left leg was amputate here, just below the knee.  We were able to repair the knee which will make things easier for him to lean to walk with a prosthetic.  As for the left arm, he should have pretty good function.  I’d say at least 75%.  The hand and fingers may not go all the way out or all the way in but should have some grip ability.  I am optimistic for things.  If there is nothing else, I will let you go.  He should be out of recovery soon and we will take him to his room.”  He stands and begins to leave.

“One more thing,” Ellen says.  “When do you hope to bring him out of the coma?”

“We will see how things go tomorrow and then begin that process.  Right now his body just needs to rest and recover so I am going to give him time.  Now, I’ve got another surgery to prepare for if you will excuse me.  I’ll be in this evening to check on him and give you an update.” 

Tina turns to Ellen and James, “Thank you both for being here.  How about we grab lunch.  My treat.  Getting out of these walls will do us all some good.”

James agrees,” Sounds good to me.  Let’s go.”  They all head to lunch.

Walking to the café just down from the hospital, Tina has a new spring in her step.  Finally Ellen speaks up, “Tina girl, what has gotten in to you?  It’s like you are a different person from this morning.”

Tina smiles as the sit at a table.  “Ellen, I went on that walk and God spoke to me and showed me things.  He showed me Cole living a full life and raising our family and serving God by answering a new call in his life.  Both of us actually.  He spoke directly to me and said ‘Tina, Cole is mine.  You are mine.  Your family is mine.  I have wonderful plans for all of you.  Trust in me.  Leave Cole in My hands and I will get everyone through this.  I am here and this is all part of My plan.  Trust in Me!’  So I did.  I gave it all to Him right there and answered His call in my life.  I’ve never felt better.”  She smiles as Ellen squeezes her hand.

“I am so happy dear.  I know God has great things in store for you.  Wherever He leads you.”

Tina just smiles.  They chat over lunch and enjoy their time together.  Before long they realize they have been talking over two hours and decided they better head back to the hospital.  James and Ellen walk Tina back to the hospital lobby before leaving to head home to do a few things.  Michael catches the elevator door just before it closes.  “Sorry I couldn’t be here this morning.  I had a meeting I could not miss.  How did it go?”

Tina proceeds to tell him everything Dr. Armstrong told them. She finishes just as the get to Cole’s room.  “Wow,” she says.  “He just looks so much better.  His color is really coming back.  I think he’ll be back to himself before too long.  Speaking of which Michael, now that it’s just us, I need to ask you something.  Is Cole finished with the agency?  Please tell me it’s all over now.”

Michael takes a deep breath as they sit, “Tina, I really wish I could answer that.  Unfortunately, it’s not my decision.  As long as he recovers, he still belongs to the agency.  Cole has a very special set of skills that is extremely hard to find.  They aren’t just going to give that up.”

Tina stands up and pulls back the sheet to expose Cole’ legs.  “Michael, look!  What good can he do on missions like this?  He can’t keep doing all of this, even with the best prosthetic.  They can’t ask that!”  She covers him back up and takes Cole’s hand.  “No Michael, he is done.  It’s my time now!”

Michael stands up beside her.  “I wish that were true but they will find a way.  It may not be in the field.  He could be in communications, intelligence, or even training.  They just won’t let him go even like this.  I wish it were that easy.  Look, it’s even the same for me.  In a few weeks I will be officially retired but I am still theirs and if the need arises, they call me back.  That’s the way they work.  No one knows that going in but once you are in, it’s for LIFE!”

Tina gently runs her hands through Cole’s hair.  “We will find a way Michael.”  She kisses Cole’s lips softly and just looks as him as she holds his hand.  “We will find a way,” she mumbles over and over again.

Chapter 26

Michael is reading the paper and Tina is asleep leaning on Cole’s bed when Dr. Armstrong comes by for his evening rounds.  He gentle wakes Tina.  “Tina, Tina.  I have some good news for you.”

Tina squints her eyes open.  “Oh, Dr. Armstrong.  Thank you.  What’s the news?”  Tina stands up and tries to get the cobwebs out as he begins to speak.

“All his latest test look good.  He is getting stronger.  I am going to go ahead and remove the vent and just give him some oxygen through the nose.  I will be on the flood for the next several hours to monitor him.  If he does well with that, then first thing tomorrow we will remove the rest of the machines.  If that all goes well, we can hopefully start the process of taking him out of the induced coma later tomorrow.”

Tina almost jumps for joy, “Thank you doctor!  Thank you!”

“You’re welcome,” he says as Tina hugs him.  “Let me go get the nurse and we will get the vent out.”

He leaves and shortly returns with the respiratory nurse.  “Now Tina, as you know this isn’t pretty so if you need to turn away or leave, you may.”

Tina laughs, “Thanks but I think I’ll be ok.”  She moves to the foot of the bed and watches as the nurse puts the nose piece on and turns on the oxygen flow. 

“Not too much now,” Dr. Armstrong reminds her.  “We want to make sure he can do most of it on his own.”  He then reaches over and turns off the vent.  “Ok here he go.”  He flips the switch and the once loud machine goes silent.  “I am going to monitor breathing for a bit before we remove it just to make sure.”

Dr. Armstrong listens to Cole’s lungs.  “A little raspy but that’s to be expected.  Should clear up in a bit.”  He continues to listen.  “There, getting better.  Nice and strong.  Tina would you care to listen?”  He smiles as he hands her his stethoscope.

Tina listens and smiles. “Best thing I have heard in days.  Nice and clear.  Big and strong.”  She hands it back to Dr. Armstrong and steps back.

“Ok, nurse,” Dr. Armstrong continues.  “Let’s do this on my count.  Ready, 1, 2, 3, and out.”

Tina almost cries as they pull the vent tube out.  She’s not sure if it is from joy, fear, or something else.  She watches with baited breath as Dr. Armstrong listens to Cole’s lungs again.  “Beautiful!” He smiles.  “Tina, it sounds good.  I will be around checking on other patients but will be back in a couple of hours for a recheck.  Call if you need me.  They both sound strong!”  He leaves the room.

Just as he leaves, Cole’s heart monitor starts to beep as his heart rate drops.  Michael steps into the hall and calls for Dr. Armstrong.

“Don’t panic,” he says as he rushes back in.  He listens to Cole’s lungs and heart.  This sometimes happens as the heart readjust to the oxygen levels.  He is not in a danger zone yet.  Let’s monitor and see if it comes back up.  If after about a minute it’s still dropping then we have and issue.  It should rebound.”  He listens.  “Lungs sound normal.  Heart a little slow a little skip.  There should be coming back up.”  He turns to the monitor.  The number slowly comes up and soon the beeping stops.  “There, back in normal range.  As I said just a readjustment.  He should be fine now.  Just monitor and if it drops again have them page me.”  He leaves to finish his rounds.

Michael walks over to Tina.  “Tina, I know this isn’t the best time to tell you this but I talked to the agency while you are asleep.”  Tina gives him a glare.

“Michael, please don’t say what I think you are going to say.  They can’t do this!”

Michael puts his hand on Tina’s shoulder, “Tina, I am sorry.  There is no other way.  They said as soon as he is awake and able to travel, he has to report to headquarters.  He has no choice.”

Tina turns away, “Don’t they realize he will need months of intense therapy?  They just can’t take him away.”

Michael puts his arm around her, “Tina, they will do his therapy.  He has NO CHOICE, nor do I.  I am sorry.”

“They can’t!  They can’t!”  Tina continues to sob as she leans over on Cole.  Michael decided to leave her be and leaves the room.

Just after 6pm, Dr. Armstrong comes back to check on Cole.  “Tina everything looks and sounds good.  Listen, you go to Ellen and James’ and get some rest and we will start the process in the morning.  I promise to call you with any changes and I won’t start without you in the morning.  I’ll be in around 7AM to get started.”

“Thank you Dr. Armstrong,” she replies.  “I really could use some time away.  Promise to call me?”

“You have my word,” He replies with a smile.

“Great see you at 7 AM.”  Tina kisses Cole and leaves.  On her way down the hall, she sees Michael sitting alone in the lobby.  As she goes over to him, she realizes he is crying.  “Michael, are you ok?  Look, I didn’t mean to get upset earlier.  I am sorry.  It’s not your fault.”

Michael stands up and hugs her.  “It’s not you Tina.  I’ve just been sitting here praying for Cole and asking God for a way out.  I know how much he wants out of the agency.  I know that it can’t really happen.  So I just pray!”

Tina motions for him to sit, “Michael, over the years that I have followed the Lord, I have learned a lot of things.  The most important one being that if God wants something to happen, NOTHING or NO ONE can stop it.  I know God wants me to marry Cole.  I also know that he has to be out of the agency for that to happen.  So, I know that God will make it happen.  I don’t know how but He will.  I let me emotions get the best of me earlier and I forgot that.  So, I just have to trust that He will do it.  It may not happen when I want but it WILL happen when God sees fit.  Let’s go get a nice home cooked meal and Ellen and James’ and relax.  I told her we’d be there.”

Michael stands and hugs Tina wiping tears from his eyes, “Tina, you are one strong lady.  I can see why Cole loves you so much.  You are really something else.”

Tina smiles as they walk to the elevator.