Jacob Finding His Way - 6. Chapter 6

Marie, Ms. Hernandez, and I just sat in the cold, very bright, quiet waiting room on the surgical floor, not speaking a word to one another. Ms. Hernandez finally stopped crying but her face was blank; drained of not only all color but emotion as well. It just seemed as if one of the reasons she was on this earth was being taken away from her.

For the first time since we had been on the fifth floor, I saw the television. It was on a news channel, the volume was turned down, I couldn’t hear what they were reporting, but they had the front of our high school. “Scene Of A Gang Battle” scrolled across the bottom of the screen. To tell you the truth, I just felt as if the whole world came crashing down on me.

When Dr. Mitchell first came out to brief us on Jake’s condition, he was already in surgery for over five hours. It was almost nine then, now we are approaching midnight, and I can’t believe it has been this long already; almost eight hours already into the surgery.

Finally around two in the morning, Dr. Mitchell came back out to let us know what is happening with Jake.

“Ms. Hernandez, I know it has been a long day for you. I have kids of my own. I surely don’t ever want to be in any parents’ shoes, waiting for news of their kids. That’s why, no matter what the news is I will report it to you.”

“Dr. Mitchell, please let us know how my son is doing.” Jacob’s mom implored.

“Again Ms. Hernandez, I still don’t have good news for you. We are not even near half way in the surgery. It seems as we fix one thing in your son’s chest, another problem arises.

We have fixed several of the arteries the bullet damaged; the lung damage has been repaired. Now we are working on the heart. We haven’t even begun looking at spinal cord yet. The heart is the most important organ at this time that needs to fixed.

If no other problems come up, we will be going after the bullet in the spinal cord next.”

“Dr. Mitchell, how could one individual bullet do this much damage to so many different organs in the body?”

“Ms. Hernandez, at first we thought your son was shot only twice. I can tell you we have already removed two other bullets from your son. This tells us, the shooter or shooters that shot at your son’s school used an automatic weapon of some short. That’s the only way in such a short period of time that your son could have been shot this many times.”

“Now knowing that, what are my son’s chances?”

“Well first, we don’t like to keep anyone in surgery for a long period of time. The reason for that is, the body can’t take that much pressure. Your son went into surgery at four ten yesterday afternoon and now it’s already after two.

Second, your son lost a lot of blood before he got to us, as we said earlier. During surgery, we put blood into the patient, but it makes it harder when the patient comes in already with a loss of blood.

Third, if we are successful with fixing the arteries that were damaged, lung, and the heart, we still have to tackle the spinal cord. That’s one area of the body we don’t really like messing with. It has all the nerves of the body, if we don’t do it right, your son might not walk again or even worse, die.

So as you can see, we still have a lot of hurdles to overcome. I want you to know, your son is still very critical, and his chances of living are slim; maybe twenty percent.”

“Dr. Mitchell, please bring me my son through this. Do all you can to keep him alive.”

“We are doing our best Ms. Hernandez. I will be back in a couple of hours.”

Dr. Mitchell left us, and we just sat there quietly. I wonder if Jake knew what was going on. I truly hope he wasn’t feeling a thing in there.

I tried to get some sleep, but couldn’t. Looking at the clock, it was almost nine in the morning. I went over to Ms. Hernandez; “ma’am, do you want me to go and grab you something to drink or eat?”

“No Joey, but thanks for asking.”

“Ok, just let me know if you want anything.”

“Thank you Joey. But you guys haven’t had anything to eat yet. Why don’t you guys go down to the cafeteria and grab something to eat? You guys didn’t eat dinner last night.”

“That’s ok Ms. Hernandez, I don’t feel like eating. I want to stay here and wait anyway.”

“You and my son have become very close friends?”

“Yes ma’am. Jake has been there for me through some tough times already. He even stood up for me a couple of times at school.”

“That’s what close friends are supposed to do for one another.”

As we were talking, Andy came running off the elevator. He looked over at me and Marie, then his mom.

“Mom, what has happen to Jake?”

“Andy, your brother has been shot at least three times.”

“Why? He is going to be ok isn’t he?” Andy said with total panic in his voice.

For the first time since I have known Andy, I have never seen him cry, now he just broke down crying at his mother’s side.

“Andy, he got shot just being at the wrong place at the wrong time, that’s all. He has been in surgery since yesterday.”

Andy got up and sat by his mother. Then Jason, Jeff, and Chase came off the elevator. Everyone came over, greeted Jake’s mom and asked what was going on with Jake. Ms. Hernandez repeated what she said to Andy just moments ago. They sat down in silence.

We all sat there numbly, waiting for any news. At close to twelve, Dr. Mitchell and several other doctors came walking out. I had a very uneasy feeling at this point, with all the doctors coming out together. I was worried to say the least.

“Ms. Hernandez, we have done all that we can do for your son at this time. We had to close him up already. He has been in surgery for almost twenty hours. We were successful fixing the lung, arties, even his heart. The heart took us the longest.

We decided to leave the bullet in your son’s spinal cord alone. It is in way too deep, and if we start digging in there, we could do more damage than good.

Again Ms. Hernandez, your son really wants to live. He is in critical condition in the ICU. His vitals are weak, but there, as well as heart, lung, kidney and brain functions are all intact.

When you go into the ICU, he is connected to several machines. He needs them right now. Don’t let the appearance of things upset you.

“Are you planning to go back in at a later time and take out the bullet from my sons spinal cord?”

“No Ms. Hernandez we are not. It doesn’t look like it broke the spinal cord, but it did rip through nerves of the spinal cord. We are worried about that. Right now, if he wakes up, and that’s what we are hoping for at this moment, then we can see if he can walk, talk, and eat by himself. He was very low on blood for a long time.

Ms. Hernandez, please understand; he isn’t out of the woods by a long shot. He is alive, barely. We have machines doing the work of breathing, cleaning his blood, assisting his heart and mainly keeping him alive. Now we are at the wait and see stage.”

“Thank you Dr. Mitchell. When might we know more either way?

“The next twenty four hours are critical” the Doctor said wearily.

“Ok then, we will wait and see. Where’s the ICU located?”

“It’s on this floor, down the hall to your right. Only two at a time can see him. Please be quiet for the others in the ward.”

“Thanks again Dr. Mitchell.”

We all headed down the hall, all pretty worried, but wanting to see him. Ms. Hernandez, Andy and Marie went in first to see Jake. The rest of us stayed in the ICU waiting room. I sat there quietly, wanting to cry, but holding it back. Then Marie and Andy came out, and I went in.

I walked into a room no larger than a walk-in closet. Jake was in a bed in the middle of the room, there were tubes coming out of his mouth into some kind of machines. There were wires connected all over Jakes body going into different machines. There were two seats in the room, one on each side of the bed. I took the seat on the Jakes right side.

Looking over to Jake’s face, what I saw didn’t look like Jake at all. There was no life in him. He always is laughing, no matter what the situation is. He talks all the time. At times it bothers me, but today all I wanted was Jake to talk. I didn’t care what he talked about, but just talk.

I started to cry, I couldn’t hold it in any longer. Jakes mother looked over to me, reached for my hand, that I had on top of Jake’s. She held my hand until I stopped crying and it felt good.

I got up, went over to Jake’s mom, bent down and kissed her on her forehead, and left. I went back into the waiting room, then Chase and the other guys went in one at a time. About four that afternoon Chase, Jason, and Jeff had to leave. They said their goodbyes, and left. Marie, Andy, and I went in to sit with Jake and his mother, we all taking turns.

Andy took off, came back with tacos and sodas from Taco Bell. We sat there eating, and chatting about the stupid things Jake does. Man has Jake done some stupid things.

Sunday rolled around, we did the same routine. About eight in the evening, Ms. Hernandez decided that Marie and I had to go. Andy wanted to stay with Jake, and if anything happens, he will call Ms. Hernandez right away.

On the drive home, it was quiet; nothing was said. Ms. Hernandez dropped me off in front of my apartment, and went home. I got in, Fran, my mom and father were there, and asked me if I was ok, and what happened.

I told them the whole story, and what has happened to Jake. I went back to my room, took off the bloody clothes and took a shower. As soon as I laid down on my bed, and I was out like a light and didn’t wake up again until morning.

Monday morning I got up and got ready for school. Since Jake wasn’t around, my mom drove me to school. On the way, we picked up Chase. When we got to school, other students were looking at us. We went down for breakfast. Students Jake and I didn’t even know came up asking me to give their best wishes to Jake and asking if they could do anything for him or his family.

We came to find out Jake was not the only one that got shot last Friday. Other students got scrapes, but three other students got shot. The shots were mostly flesh wounds. Only one of the other students had a through and though in the arm.

Those who were thought to be the targets were not evening in front of the school last Friday.

When I was rushing to the nurse’s office, Brian and a couple of the football players stopped me asking how Jake was, and if they could do anything for him. I told them, and right now nothing can be done, but wait and see, that’s all.

Irene was sitting at the desk when I entered the office, she got up and hugged me. It looked like she was crying.

“I wanted to go and see how Jake was doing, but I didn’t want to be in the way.”

“No worries Irene. He is no way near out of the woods yet. He would love it if you visit him though”

“I will stop by today and see how he is doing.”

At that moment the monitors turned on, and the principal appeared on the television.

“Hello Panthers. Last Friday our school saw for the first time the ugly, violent side that has gripped our inner city schools around the nation. The feeling of being safe in our own school as we are so used to was broken last week and now it is no longer. We are no longer safe in our own school when gangs of kids get a hold of automatic weapons and start shooting up their fellow students. One of our students is in critical condition and might not make it. He was minding his own business, heading home. He never did any wrong to these people, but got shot anyway. Some of you might know this student, his name is Jacob Hernandez. He is not just a good student, but a good man. I ask that we bow our heads at this moment in silence for Jacob and his family.

Until the shooters are caught, there will be uniform police officers at the school during school hours and events. I will not have this happen again at this school. The students of this school should be able to come to school and be safe and not walk out and get shot in front of the building.

If anyone that has information about the shooters and/or who they were after, please let me or my staff know. Thank you.”

The day went by fast, but I felt all alone. I wanted my Jake back, but he wasn’t here. I really wanted to go and see him, but my parents wouldn’t let me until the weekend.

So every evening I would stop by Jake’s house, and ask how Jake was doing. Nothing has changed. At least nothing bad has happened.

I went to school during the week and I spent the weekends with Jake in the ICU. I did this for three weeks. Then on the fourth Monday of Jake being in the hospital, I was called out of math class. I went down to the front office, and there was Andy standing there. My heart sank the moment I saw him. Fear coursed through my entire body as I looked at him trying to figure out what is going on.

“Andy is everything ok?” I asked, barely able to get my voice.

“Joey, everything is good! Jake woke up about an hour ago!”

I was so happy that I nearly leaped over and hugged Andy!

“Wait there, Joey! Your parents called and gave permission for me to take you up and see Jake. So grab what you need.”

“Ok, I will be right back!” I said with my voice fully back and functioning normally.

I went running back to class, grabbed my books, went to my locker, and threw them in. Then grabbed my backpack with my homework, I decided not to take it. I bolted back to the office where Andy was waiting. I got into the car with him, and we headed to the hospital.

I was excited and nervous at the same time the whole ride over to the hospital. He woke up! He woke up! That is all I could think at that moment. Man, did I really want to see him.

(FROM JACOB’S POINT OF VIEW)

My eye won’t open but I can hear voices around me, I could feel something stuck in my throat, but I can’t open my eyes. Keep trying! The voices are coming clearer now but I don’t recognize any of them. My eye lids cracked open, I can see figures, blurry figures around me but I don’t know who they are.

One of them grabbed my wrist, held it, and rattled off some numbers. Who are these people? Why are they in my home? Why can’t I open my eyes even more or even talk?

Finally my eyes opened, and began to focus on the figures in front of me. An older gentleman was standing at the foot of the bed, blocking my view of the others. It looks like there’s maybe four other people in white coats.

Wait! This isn’t my room! Where am I? I look to my left and see machines and tubes connected, coming somewhere from my body looking to my right, more machines, more wires and tubes. The room is white and not that very large.

I’m trying to move my hands; but no luck. The people that are standing in front of me, started to walk out, when one of them finally saw my eyes open.

“Dr. Mitchell look, the young man’s eyes! They are open!”

The older man turned around, looked and instantly came to the bed. He grabbed a flashlight out of his jacket, turned it on, and flashed it in my eyes. He grabbed my wrist again and rattled some more numbers out.

“Jacob can you hear me son? Just nod your head up and down.”

I nodded my head up and down.

“Jacob you’re at Providence Hospital. You were hurt. Do you understand what I am saying?”

I nodded again.

“My name is Dr. Mitchell, I am your main doctor. The other doctors you see here are students.”

I just looked, not responding to what he was telling me.

“Your mother isn’t here; she is at work. Your brother Andy went down to get something to eat.”

The doctor looked over at the monitors where several wires and tubes were connected. He kept pushing buttons and then turned back to me.

“Your oxygen readings are looking good. I would like to see if I could pull the tube that’s down your throat right now. Would you like that?”

I nodded my head. Thinking, of course I want this thing out of my throat! It hurts and I can’t swallow!

“Ok Jacob, I am going to do a couple of things to prepare for the removal of the tube. When I count to three, I want you to breathe in and hold it. When I start to pull on the tube, you are to breathe out slowly as I am doing it. Do you understand?

I nodded my head.

“Ready, one, two, and three…..”

As the doctor was pulling out the tube from my throat, it hurt like hell and I felt like I was choking on it. I did as he told me, but it hurt. When the tube finally was out, I coughed a lot, grasping and rubbing my throat. At first it was hard to breathe, but as I relaxed, the breathing became easier.

“Jacob I need you to relax, lay back, and don’t try to talk. You throat is dry and it’s going to take awhile for you to get used to breathing on your own. Here are some ice chips; chew on them for the mean time.”

At that moment my brother Andy came in, running to my bed happy as can be.

“Jacob you’re awake! Thank God! You are awake!”

Tears started streaming down his face, but he had a huge smile across it. He looked over at the doctor.

“Dr. Mitchell, what does this mean? Is Jake ok? Can he talk?”

“Andy, first things first. It’s is a positive thing that your brother woke up and we were able to remove the tubes that helped him breathe. Jacob is breathing on his own now. His throat is sore, and it will be a few minutes before he can start to talk. That will be at a whisper.”

“But the rest Dr. Mitchell; what about that?”

“We are going to have to wait and see. We need to run more tests, then look at many other items before we can begin to say anything either way.”

At that point, I was able to talk, with a scratchy whisper, but talk none the less.

“Dr. why can’t I move my arms, legs or feet?” I asked.

“Jacob, it’s good to hear you speak, son. Right now we can only wait and see. One of the injuries you got was to your spine. We don’t know how bad it is.”

“When do you think we will know?” I asked.

“You will know before we do” Dr. Mitchell said with a wry smile.

I looked away, and just laid there. The doctor told my brother that in a few minutes I will be taken for several tests. He should take this time and inform our family. The doctor left, Andy turned to me.

“Bro it is good to have you back! I need to call mom and let her know. I will be here for sure when you get back ok. Please don’t go and do anything stupid now that we have you back!”

“I won’t, I promise. I can’t move a thing, so where am I going, and how will I do anything stupid?” I asked sarcastically.

We both laughed then Andy left. A few minutes later nurses came in, and rolled me down to x-ray. Man was this room cold! I couldn’t believe how cold it was. Several tech’s kept picking me up, putting me on the table and moving me different positions, like I was a piece of meat.

They finally put me back in the bed, and moved me into another room, with a big machine. They put me on a bed, and it moved into the machine. I heard was humming sounds. I must have fallen asleep while I was in the machine. The next thing I knew I was back in my bed.

I dozed off again. I started to hear voices far away then they started coming in louder and clearer. I knew it was my family, I recognized the voices. It was my mom, sister, and brother. I didn’t want to open my eyes, then I heard the voice I longed to hear; it was Joey!

I opened my eyes and my sister saw, and yelled, he is awake. They hovered around the bed, just looking, and finally my mom spoke up.

“Jake, how are you feeling son?”

“I feel good mom, I just don’t know why I am here.”

“There was a shooting at the school, and you got shot.” My sister replied.

“How bad is it?”

“The doctors didn’t think you were going to live, and here you are, talking to us” my mother said, breaking down crying. I felt so bad I was putting her through this pain.

“Mom I am sorry! Please don’t cry!” I said still with a raspy voice.

“Jake, why are you sorry? You didn’t shoot yourself! Those sons of bitches shot you!”

That was the first time I heard my mother use curse words in my life. She stopped crying, and grabbed my hand.

We started talking, but stayed away from the subject of me being where I was. I then noticed I wasn’t in the same room. They had moved me. It looked like a regular room, with two beds although the bed next to me was empty.

As we were talking, Joey came up to me, and grabbed my arm. He had tears in his eyes, I so much wanted to kiss him and tell him I loved him so much, but couldn’t. I just stared at him, hoping my expression on my face was enough to let him know. It looked like it was. Joey smiled at me, then winked.

The arm Joey was holding onto, I started to move it. It was slow, but I moved my arm and hand to grab Joey’s, and hold onto. Joey started to tear up again.

“Look Ms. Hernandez! Jake is moving his arm and hand.”

Everyone looked down, and saw I indeed was moving my arm and hand.

“Andy, go get the doctor. Let him know what is going on” my mother instructed my brother. A few minutes later, my brother returned, with a weird look on his face.

“Mom Dr. Mitchell is in a meeting, but will be here as soon as the meeting is over.”

“Ok then, we will wait for him.”

We started talking again, there were several different topics being talked about, in different groups. Joey and I were discussing school, classes, and what the principal said.

An hour later Dr. Mitchell came in, but this time he didn’t have his students with him; he had other doctors.

“Good to see the whole family here enjoying themselves!” he said by way of greeting.

We all just laughed and agreed.

“Can I have just the immediate family for a few minutes, please?”

“Doctor whatever you have to say, you can say to all of us” my mom said surprisingly.

“Ms. Hernandez, I can’t. I need to speak to the family first, and then you all can talk with the others.”

“Ok then, Dr. Mitchell. For right now, Andy and Marie stay, and the rest please step out, and we will call you back in shortly” mom agreed.

At this point I was getting nervous. I didn’t understand why Dr. Mitchell wanted just the family in the room. Pretty much everyone that was in the room knew about my injuries. It was confusing to me.

“Jacob, I know it has been a long and trying day for you. You just woke up after three weeks, and you don’t even know if you can move anything from the neck down. I heard that you got some movement in your arm and hand. We will be looking at that. I need to know, before you were shot, did you have and pains on your sides, stomach, or chest?”

“No Dr. Mitchell. The only problem I had is throwing up my breakfast in PE class, that’s all” I answered honestly.

“What do you mean throwing up? Did you eat and then immediately then go to class? When you were throwing up, did you throw up blood or was it dry heaves?”

“I don’t think I throw up blood, but yes the last time I couldn’t stop throwing up, even when my stomach was empty, it kept going. The answer is no on the eating. I got to the point of not eating breakfast before PE class. I thought my stomach didn’t digest the food before I had to run the bleachers.”

“Ms. Hernandez, Jake, Andy, and Marie, the reason I am asking these questions, is that something has come up in the testing we did earlier today. I called in the experts in the field to look at what we are seeing to either confirm or deny it. I would like to let Dr. Whitmore speak to you all about what we are seeing.”

Now I am getting scared! What the hell is going on here, and why can’t Dr. Mitchell just come out and tell us? The new doctor, Dr. Whitmore introduced himself, and started to tell us what was going on.

“Son, you have had a hard three weeks. There’s still an injury you have that we have not decided what to do with at this point. In several of your scans Jacob, spots appeared on your chest and several other organs. We took a piece of each organ we found the spots on and sent them in to get examined. We also took more detail scans and x-rays of your chest and other parts of your stomach.

I went back and looked at the surgery. One thing that kept popping out at me is the blood count. Dr. Mitchell wasn’t looking for anymore problems, so he thought it was due to the loss of blood you experienced. But it wasn’t that. Your body just couldn’t produce a white blood count to help out in the surgery. That’s a red flag for me.

On top of the surgery notes, the x-rays and other tests we ran, which came back positive, you have cancer.”

You could feel the oxygen go right out of the room when the doctor said that. My mother fell into the chair and there were stunned looks on my brother and sister’s faces.

“Look, we are in trouble here. The cancer isn’t in just one part of the body. It has gone to many different organs. The only way on stopping the spread is surgery. We will cut away the cancerous cells and, in some cases, depending how bad it may be, we might have to remove the organ. Then, after surgery there will be chemo therapy and lots of it.”

“I know this might sound like a stupid question, but I need to ask. We don’t have insurance. We don’t even know who’s paying for the bill up to now. We can’t pay it, so how can we pay for this?” My mother asked, with a worried look on her face.

“I can’t say. I don’t know who is footing the bill as up to this point but I can find out. I can tell you this Ms. Hernandez, if we don’t start treatment on this now, your son may not live to see next year. The cancer has spread, and we need to get in there. The good that has come out of this bad situation of the shooting, is that we found the cancer.”

“Please Dr. Whitmore and Mitchell, just give us time, let me think, let us all think, please. There is too much happening.”

“Ms. Hernandez we will leave and let you think about what’s been said. Please don’t take long, and I will see about the bill in question.”

The doctors left the room, we just looked at each other. I can say this much, if it wasn’t for bad luck, I wouldn’t have any luck at all. My mom started crying along with my sister. My brother went over to console them.

For me, I was shocked and numb. I really don’t know what to think anymore. The cost of this is going to be way too high, I will be a burden, and I might not even survive the surgeries anyway.

“Mom, let’s not think about this right now” I said.

“Jake, we have to. You heard the doctors” mom replied.

“Even if we don’t have to pay for the bill up to now, for sure we have to pay for the treatment. That will run into a lot of money. I must have had this for awhile, because it has spread, and I am alive still. Let me get well on this, walk out of this hospital, and if I am not to see the next year, then that’s what’s in the cards for me” I stated.

“Jake! Don’t say that! Never say that again! We will take things one day at a time” mother ordered.

“Andy, could you call in the Dr. Whitmore for me, please?” I asked.

My brother went out, came right back with the doctors.

“Dr. Whitmore, we don’t have the insurance to pay for this, or the money. Let’s just get me well enough to get out of this hospital. The other thing, well I will deal with it, that’s how it has to be played out” I stated.

“Jake, do you understand, if you don’t have the surgeries or the chemo, you will more than likely die within the next several months? You may not even leave this hospital as you say it. Don’t do this son” Dr. Whitmore implored.

“I have no choice in the matter. I want to leave this hospital, so if you think I have only months, please let me go home now, I don’t want to stay here in the hospital” I restated my convictions.

“Son, give me a couple of days please. Let me see what I can put together for you. In the mean time, Dr. Mitchell will continue to work with you on your injuries. Ok?

“Ok Dr. Whitmore, a few days” I agreed.

The doctors left the room, and Joey, Chase and Fran came back in. They looked at us, we just said it was about my spine, and left it at that. It was getting late, so everyone said goodbye, and left.

As I lay there on my bed, alone in the dim lights, I started thinking. I really don’t want to die, but I need to be strong for my mom. I can’t put this burden on her. The cost alone would bankrupt her and my family. By the sounds of it, the cancer has spread and I heard once that has happened there’s no way coming back from it.

I just don’t want to die, why is this happening to me? Why did I get shot? Why am I sick? I just wish it was all over and none of this ever happened. I couldn’t believe it. I started crying, sobbing louder and louder. I couldn’t move, I couldn’t grab a pillow to cover my face, or turn over onto the pillow. I couldn’t stop crying like a kid. I cried myself to sleep that night.

I was awake by nine, and Dr. Mitchell and his students already came by. I didn’t eat any breakfast. They are giving me nothing but clear fluids to eat, so what’s the point? Most of the day I laid in my bed and dozed on and off.

It was already six, still no visitors. I dozed off again, when I awoke, it was after ten. I started thinking again, wishing the doctors would just shoot me up with meds to sleep. I couldn’t stop thinking, and once again I cried myself to sleep that night.

Wednesday rolled around, I got a visit from my brother in the morning, but we didn’t talk about much of anything. That evening, my mom and sister stopped by for a couple of hours. As they left, my told me they won’t be able to get down until Saturday again.

As the nights before, I cried myself to sleep. Thursday went by in a blur, Friday morning I was visited again by my brother, as before we didn’t talk much. Dr. Whitmore came in soon after.

“Jake I have good news for you! Sorry it took me more than a couple of days.!”

“What’s going on Dr. Whitmore?”

“I was able to talk the hospital in to allowing me to do the surgery and the recovery here at no charge to you. Further, I will be doing the work at no charge. Bottom line Jacob, we can start the surgery this afternoon, with no worries about costs. How does that sound to you?”

“Are you sure Dr. Whitmore?” I asked with more than just a hint of disbelief.

“Positive! It took some doing and some serious begging, but I got it done for you.”

“Let’s do it, since you went through all the trouble to get it done” I agreed.

“Jake I am not going to lie to you; it’s going to be hard. You will be sicker than you have ever been in your life. It will get worse before it gets better. What I do promise you right now is that I will do everything in my power to see that you walk out the door of this hospital.”

“Thank you Dr. Whitmore, I believe in you, sir.”

“Ok then, in a couple of hours some of my nurses will be up here to get you. Let’s beat this thing son!” Dr. Whitmore said as he clasped my hand.

“Yes sir!” I replied with enthusiasm and daring to hope.

I was so happy, I wanted to call my family and let them know. Even more, I really wanted to talk to Joey; I wanted him with me.

True to his word, Dr. Whitmore’s nurses were at my bedside a couple of hours later. They rolled me out, into the elevator then into a surgery room. I was out like a light moments later.

A sharp pain was shooting up from my stomach, that jolted me awake. I could stain the pain it was so bad. I kept hitting the call button for the nurses, finally a nurse came in.

“What’s wrong sir?”

“The pain, I can’t stand the pain, please give me something for the pain!” I nearly screamed.

“Here you go sir, whenever the pain gets out of control, all you have to do is touch this button and it will send the pain meds right into your body.”

“Thank you ma’am, thank you!’

I touched the button several times, and in moments I was out again. When I woke up, it was morning, I couldn’t see clearly yet, but I knew someone was in my room. Within a few minutes I was able to focus and saw it was Joey standing at my bedside!

He came over to me and put his hand on my forehead, brushing my hair back. Then leaned in and kissed me, first on my forehead, then on my lips. I felt bad. My breath and the taste in my mouth had to be awful, but Joey still kept kissing me. We broke the kiss.

“Jake, I love you so much I can’t tell you how much I do in words. I love you more then the air that I breathe, more than life itself. I love you Jake, PLEASE, don’t leave me now.”

“I love you to Joey, more than anything….”

The pain started shooting up again so I hit the button to give me meds for the pain. I was out once again.

(FROM JOEY’S POINT OF VIEW)

I was sitting there in Jakes room, more confused than before. They changed his room to a single, plus he looked worse off now than he did when I saw him on Monday. They now have him on some kind of pain medicine, and for what?

As I was sitting there, the door opened and Jake’s mom and sister came in. They looked down at Jake, then over to me.

“Joey when did you get here? And how?”

“Ms. Hernandez, my mom brought me. I got here around seven this morning. I thought something was wrong when I didn’t find Jake in his room, then I found out they moved him. Ms. Hernandez, what is going on? Please tell me, he looks a lot worse than he did on Monday.”

“Joey, we didn’t tell you the truth on Monday. You remember when the doctors where here?”

“Yes I do!”

“Well it wasn’t for his spine. Joey, he is a lot sicker then we let on.”

“How bad is it Ms. Hernandez?”

“They found that Jake has cancer, and it has spread to many of his organs. That’s why he was having stomach problems earlier in the year.”

To say the least, I was stunned. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I walked out of the room and went down to the stairway, and started crying. Why did this happen to Jake? WHY? He is a good guy, he stands up for people that are wronged. He doesn’t hurt anyone. I sat down on the stairs, and just cried.

(JAKE’S POINT OF VIEW)

The next time I woke up, my mom and sister were in the room along with Joey. I looked up to them, and tried to smile, my mom smiled back at me, with tears rolling down her face. Marie just stood there, with a long face.

The pain was getting bad, but I didn’t want to use the meds yet, but at the same time, I couldn’t hear what they were talking to me about. The alarms went off, the nurses came running in.

“Jake your heart rate is way too high, please use the pain medicine” the nurse said.

The nurse grabbed the button from my hand, pushed it, and I was gone. When I woke up again, Joey was asleep with his hand in mine, his head on my leg. With the glare that was coming in from the window, I saw that Joey must have fallen asleep crying, there were streams of tear drops from his eyes down his face.

I really wanted to touch and feel Joey so bad, with all the will power I had, I was able to move my right arm, slowly towards Joey’s head. When I reached, my hand kind of just fell on top of his head.

It woke him up. He looked up at me, and smiled.

“Joey please lay with me for a little while” I asked.

“I don’t want to hurt you, Jake.”

“You can’t hurt me anymore then I am. You will have to scoot me over a little where you can fit.”

“Ok, just promise me if I hurt you in anyway, you will tell me.”

“I promise; scout’s honor!”

Joey got up, gently moved me more to my left. That’s where the machines were, mainly the med machine. Joey took off his shoes and laid down beside me on my right side. He put his arm around my upper body, then leaned in and started to kiss my neck. He made his way to my lips and we kissed as if there wasn’t anything else. I started moaning in pain. Joey broke the kiss, laid back down, and hugged me.

I pressed the button for the meds, went to sleep happier then I have been for a very long while. Joey, the love of my life is with me, moreover, he’s asleep at my side.

The next couple of days were the worst, I went through four more surgeries and then started the chemo. When I was awake, I was throwing up, and in pain. It was even harder for me because I really couldn’t move.

Somehow I got through it. On the weekends, from Friday night till Sunday night, Joey was with me. He held my head as I was throwing up and would then cleaned me up. When the nurses were too busy, he gave me a sponge bath. We both enjoyed those moments. During the week, I was depending on the nurses to help me out. That wasn’t fun.

My family visited me as much as they could. I did understand that my mom has to work the next day and my sister has to go to school. So the couple of days during the week when they did visit, they only spent a couple of hours. It was mostly the same on the weekends.

Andy became more scarce than before. I was lucky I saw him once a week, if at all.

Irene came down a lot to visit me. It made me really happy to see her, to see that she likes me enough to visit me in the hospital. Chase would come down when he could and when he was able to get a ride.

I had a tutor come in twice a week with my assignments, that way I didn’t fall behind in my courses. The principal and the district set that up for me. They felt bad I was in the hospital.

During the weekend, Joey and I took every chance we had to steal a kiss, to cuddle and to just to be with one another. As the weeks wore on we got as close as any two people can get.

Finally on the fourth week from the first surgery, Dr. Whitmore ran a battery of tests. Once they were done, I waited in my room with my family, Joey, Chase, and Fran for the results. Dr. Whitmore came in shortly before five.

“Jacob, after five major surgeries, either taking out a organ or cutting away at them, and the weeks of chemo, I am delighted to tell you that yesterdays dose will be your last. As of now, we got it all.”

Everyone in the room was jumping up in joy, shaking Dr. Whitmore’s hand and thanking him. I was so happy, I couldn’t believe it. Everyone came over to me and hugged me.

“Jake we are still not out of the woods yet. You will need to stay for awhile, where we can make sure you are healing properly from the surgeries you had. Your body went under a lot of stress and you will have pain for a long time to come. We need to move you to pain pills from the machine, and make sure we have the right dosages.

You need to get used to the one lung you have remaining. You will be prone to get sicker faster. With only one lung, you really can’t afford to get even a cold. Your blood count is low, due to the chemo, so we need to get that up.

At the same time, you need to be on Dr. Mitchell’s service as well. The spinal cord injury must be looked at. We must make sure you walk out of this hospital, not be wheeled, as I promised you.

Do you understand everything I have told you Jake?”

“Yes sir I do and I will follow whatever you doctors tell me to do,”

“I know you will. You’re a strong boy, with a huge will to live. Never lose that; never give up. I am so proud of you Jake. You did it; you’ve made it to the other side.”

“Thanks to you Dr. Whitmore; thank you. If you didn’t do what you did, I wouldn’t have gotten the help I needed. Thanks and I will never forget you or what you did for me.”

Dr. Whitmore came over to my bedside, and held my hand; the hand that I can now move and grasp things with. I shook his hand, and the doctor left. Shortly after he left, my family and friends went home as well. I watched a littler television and then went to sleep.

I started physical therapy the very next week. Dr. Mitchell decided it was best to leave the bullet in my spine. It would do more harm to go in after it than to just leave it there. It’s encased in the muscle around my spine and he believes it won’t move at all.

By the second week, I was able to move both my arms and hands. Words can’t begin to tell you how great that felt. I was able to feed myself again, button my clothes, turn the channel, just do things we take for granted each day. It was nice to be able to scratch an itch when I got one rather than having to ask someone to do it for me.

As before, Joey stayed the entire weekend with me. I don’t know if people were catching on about us, but I don’t give a damn if they are. Joey has been with me since the beginning, I will never give him up. I want to spend the rest of my life with him.

By the time I was released from the hospital, two weeks later, I was able to walk out of there like Dr. Whitmore said. I wobbled like a duck, but it was able to walk out. The day I was released, all the doctors, Mitchell and his students, Whitmore and his team, as well as all the nurses on staff, were there to see me off.

I was a miracle they said. From the gun shots I came in with, I shouldn’t have survived the surgery that day, to the cancer, and the five surgeries to take care of it. Many times, I should have not made it, but I did. They clapped for me, giving me get well cards and balloons; patting me on my shoulder as I went by.

When I reached the elevator, Dr. Whitmore was there holding out his hand to shake it. I turned and asked the nurse to stop, I got up from the wheel chair, walked over to Dr. Whitmore, and hugged him.

I was crying, I didn’t want to let him go. I whispered in his ear: “Thank you, I owe my life to you Dr. Whitmore. I will never forget what you have done for me, NEVER!”

“Jake you owe me nothing. All you need to do is pass it on down. Whenever a chance comes up; when you run across a person in need, give that person the helping hand he or she needs. That is the only pay I want.”

I sat back down wiping the tears from my eyes and face. I was wheeled into the elevator, my family and friends came in, and the door shut. Now I am going home alive and well. For that reason, I am a happy man.

I knew I am far from being done. I still have a long road ahead of me. Like I said before, I can move my arms, hands, and legs but I can’t stand for a long period of time, or walk without the assistance of a walker. Even with the walker, I can’t walk that long.

In after a one week period, I am going to return to school. I surely don’t want to walk in there with a walker or using a wheelchair.

At this point I’d better work my butt off to get to a point that I won’t need to use the walker or wheelchair.

When I woke up the next morning, the house was quiet; no one was home. It felt so good to be back home in my bed and not having the nurses come in every thirty minutes checking on me and waking me up.

I went to the bathroom. It was hard to get my walker through the door. Knowing I was still too weak to stand up and use the toilet so I decided to sit down. When I was done, I tried to get myself up. I didn’t have the strength in my arms and legs to make it. Then I reached for my walker, the bathroom was so small, I couldn’t get the walker in right. So I figured it was in enough, grabbed onto it. As I tried to put my entire weight on it, it fell forward taking me with it.

When I hit the ground, I hit it hard nad my face hit the cabinet of the sink as I went down. Man, was I in pain, and to top it off, no one was home, and my shorts were down, I was bare butt mooning the world!

I tried to get the walker to stand it up, I couldn’t get it. I didn’t have the strength to push myself off the floor, on top of all that, there wasn’t anything for me to grab onto. So I just laid there in pain and the embarrassment I caused myself.

There was noise at the front door, I didn’t know who it was, or how long I was on the floor. I actually fell asleep on the floor. Then I heard the front door open then shut. Someone was in the apartment, I yelled out; “Who’s here?”

“It’s me Jake, where are you at?”

“Joey! My man! I am on the floor in the bathroom!”

“What happened? Why are you on the floor?”

“Please help me up, and I will tell you everything.”

Joey wrapped his arms around me, and picked me up and sat me back on the toilet. Boy was I so totally embarrassed. I pulled up my shorts and Joey helped me out of the bathroom, to my walker. We then walked to the living room.

“Man I have been laying on the floor since I got up. I thought I was going to be there all day.”

“You fell in the bathroom?”

“Yes, I was trying to get to my walker. It didn’t fit into the bathroom all the way so when I put my weight on it, it fell forward.”

“Jake! Don’t keep doing this to yourself. If you saw that the walker didn’t fit in the door of the bathroom, you should have just not gone in.”

“I know, sorry, but I had to go!”

“No need to be sorry. I bet you are hungry.”

“Yes I am, very hungry.”

Joey got up and went to the kitchen. He made us sandwiches, grabbed the bag of chips, and a soda each. We sat there and ate together, enjoying each other’s company. After when finished eating, Joey cleaned the mess, came back to the sofa, and kneeled between my legs looking up to me.

I leaned down, our lips touched, it was electrifying, a feeling passing through my body I can’t explain, while we kissed. Joey grabbed onto my neck, and we just went into full make out session. He was touching up and down my chest and I was doing the same with him. I popped a boner, and you could notice it. I was horny! It has been a while, and boy do I want Joey to go down on me. We kept kissing then Joey broke the kiss.

“Jake I got to get going back to school, I wish I could stay and be with you.”

He looked down to my lap, smiled at me.

“And that, mister; save it for later, I will take care of it.”

Joey laughed, I know I turned red. When he got up I saw he was as well sporting a woody. He was wearing snug Levis as usual, and I do love him in them. I got up, and kissed Joey, first on the forehead, then his lips. After we kissed for another couple of minutes, Joey left to school.

The week went by fast. The therapist spent several hours a day with me, getting me used to walking and depending on assistance from others. In the evening Joey would come over, and we would spend time in my room. Oh, just for the record, we were NOT practicing on my walking!

By the time Friday rolled around, I was walking mainly with cane. At times when I was tired, I would still use the walker, but I mainly used the cane.

I spent the entire weekend with Joey and most of the time we were in my room. I wish we were going at it, but no such luck. We made out, and cuddled the whole time. Joey was afraid it was still too soon to do anything more than that. I think so too. As long as I had Joey with me, that’s all I wanted.

Monday arrived and I was nervous and I was scared at the same time. I got up, and got ready for my return to school. I ate breakfast and headed out to Joey’s. When I got there, Joey and his mother were already in the car waiting for me.

I greeted Mrs. Alvarez and Joey. We went and picked up Chase. Man did I miss my friend. We talked all the way to school, mostly playing around. As we drove up to the school, there was a huge crowd in front of the building. It looked like the entire student body was out there!

As I got at of the car, everyone at the same time clapped as I was making my way through the students to the front door. As I reached the front door the principal was standing there opening the door to greet me.

I felt like a movie star or something like that. It was embarrassing, but it felt good. As I walked through the door, more students lined the hallway, giving me the same greeting. I wonder what the day is to bring me.

TO BE CONTINUED………….

{Hey guys, I hope you liked the sixth installment of the story and I hope you are enjoying the story. I am having fun writing the story about what I went through. It is bringing back very good memories.

I have been getting very good feedback on the story so far. If you want me the send you an email when I post the next chapter, let me know, and I will add you to the list of emails, and send out a general email when I post. Be assured your e-mail address will be kept confidential.

I hope you keep reading the future installments. It is based on my life in high school, just the names were changed, but the location is pretty much the same. So remember, this story is more about finding true love, than anything else. Keep reading the future chapters, and enjoy. Please email me and let me know how I am doing at jacobmillertex@aol.com, Thanks! I have a home page for you to see what the characters look like or what the places look like. If you want to walk in their shoes, please go to: http://jacobmillertex.com/}

EDITOR’S CORNER:

I’m so glad Jacob came out from the shooting and the cancer and is on the mend. It seems that the trials of the medical issues has brought focus to both Jacob and Joey about their feelings for each other.

I’m still waiting to see how Andy’s behaviors and his being a bad boy is going to play out.

Chase….straight or gay? I wonder….

Something tells me that Dr. Whitmore is going to play an ongoing role in Jake’s life. What do you think?

Let Jacob and me hear from you. Your feedback does make a difference. We love hearing your reactions, thoughts and suggestions. As is customary, flames will be politely ignored.
Until next time, be safe and love those around you.

“Daddy” Rick