2015 Prompt Responses - 10. Prompt 397 - The Accident

The sun was warm on my face as I sipped a tall glass of iced tea. Beads of cold sweat trickled down the glass, landing on my golden tan thigh. It was a delightful contrast to the sweltering heat of the beach I lay on. I listened to the roar of the ocean as the waves crested and broke across the tropical white sand. It was hypnotic and I found myself drifting off to sleep.

I frowned as the calming white noise of the beach morphed into an annoying beeping sound. My face hurt, but not the burning sensation that was the result of sunburn. I felt like I’d gone a round with Mike Tyson. I tried to lift my hand, but found I was unable to move it. I tried the other hand – same result. I opened my eyes, but they refused to focus on my surroundings. My attempt to sit up was as fruitful as my attempts to raise my hands. What the hell was going on?

“Seth?”

I turned toward the voice. The movement caused a wave of pain to wash over me.

“Doctor! He’s awake!”

A light touch drifted across my face.

“Seth? Baby?”

I opened my mouth, but couldn’t speak. My throat felt full and it felt like there was a tube in my mouth.

“What’s going on?”

“He’s awake. He opened his eyes.”

“Seth? This is Dr. Gordon. Can you open your eyes for me?”

I tried to obey. My eyes opened, but all I saw was a blinding blur. I closed them again immediately. A bright light assaulted my senses as my eyelids were opened involuntarily. I squirmed away, which resulted in more pain.

“His pupils are sluggish, but reactive. Seth, wiggle your fingers.”

The effort it took to move my fingers was staggering.

“Well it’s an improvement. Recovering from injuries this severe takes time. These are all positive signs so…”

The doctor’s voice trailed off as I lapsed back into oblivion.

Soft crying slowly pervaded my senses. I moved my head in the direction of the sound. It hurt less than last time, but still enough to produce a moan.

“Seth? Are you awake? Baby, please open your eyes.”

My eyes flitted briefly open. The light didn’t hurt as much this time, but my surroundings were still a shapeless blur.

“Go get the doctor. He’s awake again.”

The speaker brushed my hair to the side and ran his fingers down my face. “Come back to me, baby. I miss you.”

I knew this person. I desperately tried to remember his name, but failed. All I could remember was an emotion. I loved this man, whoever he was.

“Seth, can you open your eyes for me?”

A different voice this time. My eyes opened for a second before my eyelids slammed shut again. “Good. Can you leave them open longer?”

No.

“Move your fingers for me. Now your toes.”

A sharp pain pierced my foot and I groaned, trying to shrink away from it.

“He’s responsive to pain. Babinski is positive.”

Bright light stabbed through my brain as my eyelids were forced open again. “Pupils still sluggish, but reactive.”

“Would you like to repeat any of the tests, doctor?” A female voice this time.

“Let’s get a repeat head CT. I’d like to see if the swelling has gone down. He’s showing some positive signs. The fact that we were able to wean him off the ventilator so quickly is encouraging.”

“What about permanent damage?”

“It’s too early to tell. Keep talking to him. I think he’s in there and trying to get back to us. Talking to him should help.”

“Thanks, doc.”

I lapsed back into unconsciousness.

“…love you so much, Seth. Grady won the adult amateur class yesterday. You’d be so proud. He had a clear round. He dedicated the win to you, sweetheart. He didn’t want to compete, but I told him you’d want him to. He gave me the ribbon. It’s hanging by all the flowers people have sent.”

The voice was soothing. I didn’t know who Grady was, but I remembered this voice. The words it spoke didn’t matter. I just wanted to hear more. Opening my eyes was much less painful this time. I turned my head in the direction of the voice and this time my surroundings came into clearer focus. They were still blurry, but instead of being formless shapes, they morphed into recognizable objects. A bedside table. A curtain. Vases full of flowers with teddy bears sitting next to them. A brown-haired man with bright green eyes looking at me with a mixture of hope and fear on his face.

“Seth? Baby? Can you hear me?”

I nodded. The man gasped in relief, bending down to kiss my forehead. “Can you talk?”

I opened my mouth, but all that came out was a strangled squeak.

“I’ll get the doctor.”

I didn’t want him to go, but the man left the room, returning almost immediately with a doctor and a team of nurses.

“It’s nice to see you awake. Can you tell me your name?”

I shook my head and tried to speak. Nothing came out.

“Do you know your name?”

I nodded.

“Do you know where you are?”

A hospital. I nodded.

“Do you know why you’re here?”

I shook my head. I didn’t remember anything before the dream about the beach.

“Do you recognize this man?” He indicated the brown-haired man standing next to him.

I shook my head, then nodded.

“You recognize him, but don’t know who he is?”

I nodded.

The man looked stricken. “Oh, Seth,” he whispered.

“Memory loss is common with injuries such as these. They may come back with time. We’ll just have to wait and see. It’s a good sign that he recognizes you.”

I closed my eyes and drifted off as they continued to discuss my medical condition. The brief exchange had exhausted me.

My throat was parched. I tried talking, but ended up coughing. Pain exploded through my chest with each cough. I moaned and gasped in agony.

“Seth!” The brown-haired man was by my side instantly. He frantically pressed a button on the side of my bed.

A nurse came into the room almost immediately.

“He coughed and now he’s in pain.”

“Those ribs will take some time to heal.”

I tried to make a drinking motion with my hand, but I still couldn’t move them. Now that my sight was clearer, I could see that both my arms and my legs were encased in plaster casts. No wonder I couldn’t move.

“Wa…” I tried speaking.

The brown-haired man was right by my side.

“Wa…”

“I think he wants water.”

“He’ll have to be assessed by our speech therapist before we can give him anything orally. I’ll contact her now and get the doctor’s order.” The nurse left the room.

The effort of trying to communicate with the man and nurse left me exhausted, and I drifted back into sleep.

“Seth. Sweetheart, wake up. Can you open your eyes for me?”

I opened my eyes groggily. The brown-haired man smiled and smoothed my hair back. “The speech therapist is here to check out your swallowing. We’ll see if you can have your water, baby.”

I nodded. The therapist pressed a button and the head of the bed rose until I was sitting up.

“Can you smile for me?” she asked.

I attempted all the directions she gave me. I have no idea how successful I was at performing the movements with my mouth and tongue.

She gave me a small sip of water and I immediately choked, gasping in pain with each cough. Once the fit subsided, she offered me another sip of liquid. I looked at her warily. I didn’t want to choke again.

“I thickened the water this time. It slows down the time it takes to reach your throat and gives your anatomy time to react.”

I took another sip of water and this time I didn’t choke. The liquid felt good on my parched throat.

“Tha…” I tried to thank her. “Than…”

She smiled. “You’re welcome. You’ll probably be seeing a lot of me since we’ll do therapy to help with both your speech and swallowing. Right now you can have small sips of thickened water. Anything more will have to wait until you get stronger and can have an x-ray of your swallowing function completed. We want to make sure that everything’s going where it’s supposed to be.”

I nodded. I was feeling better. I wasn’t in as much pain and I could see and think more clearly. The brown-haired man smiled at me.

“You’re getting better, Seth. I’m so proud of you, sweetheart. You’ve come so far. I know you’ll just continue to get better.” He squeezed my fingers.

I nodded. Tristan. The brown-haired man’s name was Tristan. I looked at him in wonderment. Tristan was my partner. We’d been together for eight years.

“You remember something don’t you?”

I nodded, continuing to stare at him.

“Me?” he asked hopefully.

I nodded.

“Oh, sweetheart…” He embraced me gently, tears falling on the plaster cast covering my arm. “It’s all my fault…I’m so sorry, Seth.” He started crying harder.

“Wha…” I wanted to know what had happened to me.

Tristan sat up and wiped his cheeks.

“Wha…ha…” I couldn’t seem to formulate complete words.

“What happened?”

I nodded.

Tristan took a deep breath. “It was that horse I wanted you to try. We knew he liked to refuse to jump, but they never told us about his other nasty habit. You were doing great with him until you approached a large oxer. He refused to jump it, then started backing up. You did everything possible to get him to go forward, but he flipped over backwards, landing right on top of you. One of his hooves hit your head when he scrambled to his feet.” Tristan took a deep breath, composing himself. “If you hadn’t been wearing your helmet, you would have died. Your foot got hung up in the stirrup. It took us five minutes to catch him.” He wiped the tears that were now running down his cheeks with shaky hands.

“You suffered a skull fracture, even with the helmet on. There’s a lot of swelling in your brain, which is why you are having so much trouble speaking and swallowing. Both of your arms and legs were broken along with several ribs. You had a lot of internal injuries, too. By some miracle your neck and spine were both spared. You’ve made remarkable progress, given your injuries. The doctor thinks you’re just going to continue to get better.”

I nodded. I didn’t remember anything about the accident. I decided that was a good thing.

“That was three weeks ago, sweetheart.”

Three weeks? Tristan took my hand. “It will be a long road, but I’ll be by your side every step of the way.”

I poured every ounce of love I held for this man in the look I gave him.

“I know, baby. I love you, too.”