"How's our girl?" Ned sat down next to Brett.
"No one will tell us anything," Brett's eyes were rimmed in red, "I can't lose her Uncle Ned."
"You won't, lad," Ned said firmly, "That girl is a fighter, she'll come through this. Anna said you've been here for five hours straight after a work day, you need a shower but at least I can give you a clean shirt and tell you go stretch your legs. I'll be right here if they come out." He assured when Brett looked to argue. "You need to clean up, you don't want her seeing you like you are. I'll watch after your bag, don't you worry." Brett watched the old man sneak some beef jerky into the bag and finally nodded his head, "That's my boy, off you go."
"Tony," Ned called to his other nephew, "Stop pretending to sleep, take Lucas and the two of you head to my place and grab some sleep, we'll call you if there's any changes. I'd tell you to take Anna but I have a feeling she'll be as impossible to convince as Brett would." Tony accepted keys and an address from Ned, Lucas carried the bag with Henry out with them.
Anna came back from the nurses station, "Nothing new, they're still in surgery."
"I sent them for some sleep," He told Anna when Brett came back, "and to take that young pup for a walk and a piss. I'd send the two of you, but I know better."
"What if it's one trauma too many? What if they can't fix it? What if...." Brett sat down.
"Stop it," Ned ordered, "Don't you think I asked all those same questions when Lizzy was sick? God will take them when it's their time and not a minute sooner, and not for a minute do I think that woman is done her time here."
Anna took Brett's hand, "She's pulled out of it before, remember how she traveled all that way wouldn't having her stabbing wound stitched? She'll pull through this or I'll go in there bring her back myself. They're not going to win, she's going to be okay."
Brett paced and starred out the window at the concrete wall of another section of the hospital. All he could think of was how he'd failed to protect her again. He crushed his cowboy hat in his hands fretting and Ned took it and smoothed it. Anna disappeared behind the door that said "doctors and nurses only" to see have she could learn and Brett continued to stare at the door and pace.
He wanted to find her ex-husband and throttle him. he wanted to see Luke's extended family punished for her trauma. He hated that she was suffering again because of the damage they'd done.
"Mr Franks? Nurse Tucker?" A tired doctor called them over after ten hours of surgery, "We're done. There was a tear caused by one of the broken ribs. I had to position the rib and close the tear, but the more concerning part was the bruising to her liver, and kidney, as well as her uterus and the small lesions in her intestine, we removed about five feet of the small intestine and cleared a clot that was getting close to her heart. You're lucky you brought her in when you did."
"Can I see her?" Brett asked.
"She's in recovery, the nurse will get you when she wakes up."
"Doctor," Anna stopped him from turning, "The traumas she's recovering from occurred to her in a hospital, there's concern that if she wakes up without a familiar face that she'll have a panic attack, previous attacks have caused seizures."
The doctor looked at them both, "Very well, I'll give instruction that Mr Franks and yourself can have full access." He paused, "Mr Franks, I suggest that you encourage your wife to participate in very low impact activities for a while. Her body has undergone a significant amount of trauma and injury and many of it poorly cared for. She will need to be careful."
"Thank you doctor," Brett said and followed the nurse who was showing him where to find Maisey.
Anna spoke to the nurses about the care orders and offered to assist since she would be there anyway. Ned was not allowed to come into recovery so went home to tell Tony and Lucas the news and to get some rest. Anna called Andy before she joined Brett in Maisey's room. She checked the equipment and verified Maisey's condition herself. Brett pulled his chair as close to the bed as he could, laid his head on the bed and touched her hand.
When he woke up Maisey was stroking his hair, "Afternoon," she said groggily, "Why are we in a hospital?"
He touched her fingers, "Have you been awake long?" She shook her head slowly, "You had to have surgery," he told her, "Anna told them we're married so they would let me be here. You could have died."
"Anna was here?"
"Anna and Lucas and Tony and Henry and Ned." he told her, "How do you feel?"
"Thirsty."
"A very normal feeling after you've had ten hours of surgery, and three hours of post op recovery time, " Anna smiled from the doorway, "I was catnapping at the nurses station when they told me your monitors were showing you had woken up. They're getting you some water and pain meds."
"Ten hours?" Maisey questioned, "It was just a broken rib!"
"Apparently your broken rib tore something inside, it caused internal bleeding and then after they fixed that they dealt with a few other things that were a result of your recent traumas. If it hadn't been for the internal bleeding a blood clot might have killed you next week." Anna was checking her pulse when the doctor came in, "BP is 130 over 82, doctor."
"Thank you Nurse Tucker," the doctor who did the surgery came to check her over, making Brett move out of the way. "Good responsiveness," he said after checking her eyes and a few other things, "Mrs Franks, let me be completely blunt with you," he said, "I have read your charts: all of them. You'll heal from this as you have healed from your other injuries, but let me be as clear with you as I was with your husband. Pregnancy would have killed you. Another blow to the head, may kill you. Another severe trauma of any sort may either debilitate you or kill you. You're lucky to be alive at all. It would be my recommendation to admit you, keep you supervised here while you undergo therapy. But I come to understand from Doctor Tucker, that normally you're a well behaved patient and listen to his advice and that hospitals are not a good place for you. " He snorted, "I've known Doctor Tucker for a long time and I know that his idea of well behaved and mine are very different, so hear this: when we release you later today--as I have assured Doctor Tucker I will--you will be on complete bedrest for the next three weeks. The risk of infection after surgery is high, Doctor and Nurse Tucker will check you daily and will be monitoring your overall health. Do not make me regret this decision."
Maisey had groaned when he said bedrest, "Could you at least knock me out for the next three weeks?" she asked.
"A sense of humor, great." the Doctor said flatly. "We're going to keep you here in recovery for another few hours just to make sure there's nothing we missed and no complications, and then we'll arrange a proper transport back to Blindloss. Doctor Tucker assures me he's already making arrangements for a hospital bed in your home," he told her, "You need to know, at some point the trauma to your uterus was severe, I doubt you would ever have been able to carry to term."
"Thank you doctor." Brett shook the man's hand and was back at Maisey's side.
The doctor nodded and left the room. The pain medication they gave her put Maisey back to sleep but Brett insisted on staying close so he took up his vigil next to her bed.
He texted Addie, 'Looks like we're going to be needing help longer term, you intrested?'
'In cooking?' she responded, 'Sure.'
'I heard you guys had to rush her to the hospital, everything ok?'
'She's on bedrest for 3 weeks,' he typed, 'she's not happy about it.'
'I imagine not.'
"Tony's going to have to give Henry back to the breeder," Maisey croaked, "I can't train a dog on bedrest."
Brett grinned, "How you feeling?"
"Sweaty and gross," she responded, "I want a shower and clean clothes, then food. Lots of food."
Brett stood by her bed, and pressed the button on the call bell, "One thing at a time," he told her.
"And let's check things out, " a nurse came into the room followed by Anna with towels and clothes.
"Brett, go get a drink from the vending machine and take a walk while we get Maisey up and cleaned up," Anna directed, he offered to stay and help but Maisey glared at him until he left.
"Anna, how invasive is a hysterectomy," Maisey asked as soon as the door closed.
The other nurse finished taking her vitals, "It was done as part of your surgery last night," she looked confused, "didn't the doctor review with you and your husband the extend of the damage?" Maisey shook her head, "I'm so sorry, it must have slipped his mind." She flipped open the chart, "evidence of severe trauma, multiple miscarriages and damage to the uterus walls. Extreme risk."
Anna grabbed the chart and read through it, "I'm sorry Maisey, I missed that when I read through," she hugged her friend, "oh honey, I'm so sorry."
"No," Maisey told her, "It's a good thing. Luke used to beat me when he'd find out I was pregnant, knocked me down the stairs the last time and he didn't even know yet." Fat tears rolled down her cheeks, "Andy removed that one when I first arrived." she reminded Anna, "This is better."