“I know we’re required to have enough fuel for at least ninety-six hours. Beyond that, I’m not sure,” said Dani, as she changed his IV bag.
Ninety-six hours, Nick thought with a frown, doing the math in his head. “So that’s, what, four days?”
Dani nodded, fiddling with the roller clamp on his line to adjust the flow rate. “Let’s hope the power won’t be out that long!”
What if it is? Nick wondered, but he didn’t ask, not wanting to add any more stress to an already tense situation. Instead, he said, “How much longer are you working?” It was hard for him to keep track of time inside the ICU, but it seemed like Dani’s shift had lasted days instead of hours. He would doze off for a while, but whenever he woke, there she was at his bedside. Nick didn’t mind; he much preferred her to his night nurse, Patrick, but poor Dani looked exhausted. There were dark circles under her eyes, like she hadn’t slept in a week.
She shrugged. “As long as I have to. Technically, my shift ended last night, but since most of the hospital has been evacuated, there aren’t many of us left to take care of the patients who are still here.”
Nick raised his eyebrows. “Girl, you better be getting paid overtime.”
She smiled as she stripped off her gloves. “We’ll see. I don’t mind, really,” she said, tossing them into the trash bin. “I’ve got everything I need here - food, shelter, plenty of fuel, and my husband. This is probably the safest place for us to be right now.”
Nick nodded. He would never want to put his wife and son in harm’s way, but a part of him wished they were with him. Or rather, he wished he was with them, far away from the hospital and the hurricane. “Where does the rest of your family live?” he asked Dani, wondering about her parents and other relatives.
“My mom’s still in Fort Myers, but she went to stay with my grandparents in Gainesville. My dad hasn’t been in the picture for years - last I heard, he was living somewhere in Mississippi. My siblings are spread all across the country: I’ve got a sister in South Carolina, a brother in California, another brother in Texas, and my little sister lives in Tennessee.”
Having kept a running count of the siblings he’d heard her mention, Nick smiled. “Wow, so you’re from a family of five kids, too. Where do you fall in the age order?”
“Right smack dab in the middle,” Dani replied, flashing him a tight-lipped smile in return. “Lucky me.”
He laughed. “I can’t really relate there. I went from being the oldest in my family to the youngest in the group. I’ve never been a middle child.”
“In some ways, it’s the best of both worlds… but also the worst of both worlds. It was always harder to get my parents’ attention, but that also allowed me to fly under the radar and get away with more than some of my siblings,” she said with a grin.
“Ah, so you weren’t always such a good girl,” he teased, winking.
Dani crossed her arms over her chest and arched an eyebrow. “Who ever said I was a good girl?”
“Oh c’mon, you’d have to have a heart of gold to be an ICU nurse,” Nick said, thinking about all the unpleasant jobs he’d seen her do just for Brian and himself. “Bathing people, emptying bedpans, changing catheter bags… As far as I’m concerned, that qualifies you for freaking sainthood.”
She laughed. “It’s not that bad. I told you, I like taking care of people.”
“See? You just proved my point. You’re a saint.”
Dani just smiled and shook her head.
“Why don’t you sit down for a while?” he suggested, patting an empty spot on one side of his mattress. “You look dead on your feet.”
“Well, aren’t you sweet?” she said, beaming at him. But she had barely perched on the edge of the bed when everything went dark again. The lights and all of the machines abruptly shut off, leaving the room around them pitch black and eerily silent.
Before Nick’s eyes could adjust to the sudden darkness, he felt Dani spring back up again. “What the hell?” he asked her. “Why did the power go out again?”
“I don’t know for sure, but I think the generator just failed.” He heard her fumbling in the dark, her footsteps getting farther from him as she felt her way blindly across the room.
“But how could that happen? I thought you said you had enough fuel for four days. It’s only been, like, four hours!”
“Don’t ask me! I have no idea.” Her voice sounded shaky.
His heart had started to pound. “What about Brian? How’s he gonna breathe without the ventilator?”
“I’m working on it!” she shouted. He could hear her rummaging around on the other side of the room, slamming cabinet doors and drawers. A second later, Nick was nearly blinded by a bright light shining directly into his eyes from the far corner. Squinting, he could just make out Dani’s silhouette behind it. The beam of light bounced up and down as she ran back to his bed. “Hold this up for me, please,” she said breathlessly, handing him the flashlight she had found. “I have to bag him.”
Nick focused the beam on her as she hurried to the head of Brian’s bed. She unhooked the ventilator hose from his breathing tube and grabbed the bag valve mask from the wall behind the bed. After attaching the bag to the tube, she began to squeeze it, forcing air from the bag through Brian’s trachea to reinflate his lungs. Nick sighed with relief when he saw his friend’s chest rise. “Will he be okay now?” he asked her.
Dani nodded. “Yeah, as long as someone squeezes this Ambu bag every five seconds.”
He watched what she was doing. It did look just as simple as she made it sound - no real skill required except a sense of rhythm, which was one of Nick’s strengths. “I can take over when you get tired,” he offered.
She smiled. “Thanks, but I don’t want you putting any extra stress on your heart right now, not when we have no way to monitor it.” She tipped her head toward the blank monitor mounted on the wall behind him. “I’ll take care of Brian. You just take it easy,” she told Nick firmly.
Swallowing hard, he nodded. He hadn’t noticed right away, but now he realized that for the first time in a week, he couldn’t hear the constant beep… beep… beep of his heartbeat being measured by the bedside monitor. A week ago, he would have been relieved not to have to listen to it anymore, but now he found the silence unsettling. As annoying as the endless beeping had been at first, it had become like white noise to Nick. There was something reassuring about being able to hear his heart’s rhythm, to know it was still beating regularly behind his rib cage. Now he was at the mercy of his new pacemaker to recognize an abnormal rhythm and correct it before his heart started racing out of control again. The last thing he needed was to have another arrhythmia. But just imagining the worst-case scenario - an episode of cardiac arrest while the hospital was without electricity - was enough to make his heart skip a beat. Knowing he needed to keep himself calm and relaxed, Nick remembered what Dani had told him: You just take it easy. Resting his hand on his chest, he repeated her words in his head for only his heart to hear. Take it easy now.
It seemed to help. He could feel the vibration of his heart beating steadily beneath his palm. He gave it a reassuring pat, wincing at the shockwaves of pain that shot through the pocket of skin under which the pacemaker had been implanted.
“You doing all right over there?”
Dani must have heard his hiss of pain. Nick turned his head to see her watching him with concern. “Yeah,” he said, exhaling slowly as the throbbing subsided. “You?”
She smiled as she squeezed another breath of air into Brian’s lungs. “Living the dream.”
Dr. Elizabeth came bursting into the room a second later, carrying a lantern. “Oh, thank goodness!” she said breathlessly when she saw Dani bagging Brian. “I knew I could count on you to keep things under control.”
“We’re okay in here,” replied Dani, cool as a cucumber. “What happened to the generator?”
“I wish I knew.” The loss of power seemed to have put Elizabeth on edge. She paced back and forth at the foot of Brian’s bed, fumbling with her stethoscope for a few seconds before finally managing to put it in her ears. It was a far cry from her usually calm demeanor. “The guys went to see if they can figure out what’s wrong with it.”
Dani raised her eyebrows. “Rob and Patrick think they’re going to find the problem and fix it themselves?” she said skeptically. “Good luck with that.”
“It’s worth a shot, isn’t it?” said Elizabeth, as she went to Brian’s bedside, setting the lantern down on his tray. “We’re screwed if they don’t.”
Nick’s heart skipped another beat. How long could Brian be kept alive like this? How long could they continue pumping air into his breathing tube before it became impractical, even impossible?
Elizabeth pressed the end of her stethoscope to Brian’s chest, pausing to listen to both sides of it. “Good breath sounds bilaterally,” she said after a few seconds. “He has a strong heartbeat.”
Nick felt slightly better after hearing that. “Doing great, Bri. Hang in there,” he muttered.
“Do you want me to take over bagging for a while?” Elizabeth asked, but Dani shook her head.
“No, I’m fine for now. Why don’t you see how Nick’s doing?”
“I’m fine, too,” Nick echoed, but Elizabeth insisted on listening to his chest and checking his pulse and blood pressure anyway. He held the flashlight for her so she could read the numbers on the gauge attached to the blood pressure cuff.
“Everything seems to be okay,” said Elizabeth when she finished examining him. “Any pain, dizziness, or shortness of breath?”
Nick shook his head. “No, I told you I’m fine. Please, just take care of Brian.”
“We’re doing everything we can for Brian,” Elizabeth assured him, “but we want to make sure you’re being taken care of, too. Tell us if you start to feel unwell.”
“I will,” Nick said, but he wasn’t worried about himself.
It was hard to keep track of time without a working clock to watch, but the seconds kept on ticking away, the minutes turning into one hour, then two. Eventually, Elizabeth traded places with Dani, taking on the task of ventilating Brian when Dani’s hands began to cramp. Between the two of them, they never stopped bagging. Together, they kept him breathing.
Nick watched them work from his bed, feeling helpless. With his arm in a sling and his heart so weak, there wasn’t much he could do for Brian or the women, yet he wanted to contribute in some way.
“Keep talking to him,” Dani encouraged Nick. “Let him know he’s not alone.”
Nick swallowed hard. “Brian, I’m right here,” he called across to the other bed. “I love you, bro. Stay strong, all right?” He studied Brian’s face, hoping for some sign his friend could hear him, but of course, there were none. In the ghostly light of the lantern, Brian had a gray pallor, but at least he seemed peaceful. His features were relaxed into a blank expression. He didn’t appear to be in any pain. Although Nick wanted to believe Brian could hear him, a part of him hoped his friend had no idea what was happening - and that when he woke up, he would have no memory of that night.
At some point, Rob and Patrick turned up with enough food to feed a small army. Watching them spread their smorgasbord across the counter next to the sink on Brian’s side of the room, Dani raised her eyebrows. “What did you do, raid the refrigerator?” she asked, while Elizabeth frowned in disapproval.
Rob shrugged. “It’s gonna spoil if we don’t get the power back on soon. We couldn’t let good food go to waste.”
“I thought you were working on the generator.”
“We were, but neither of us really knew what we were doing, so we recruited a couple of guys from the ED to take a look at it. Can I make you a sandwich?” he offered.
“No, thanks. You can give Elizabeth a break and bag Brian for a while, if you’d like to be helpful,” replied Dani, hardly missing a beat. “We’ve only been in here trying to keep him alive for the last two hours.”
Rob smirked. “Touche.” He took over for Elizabeth, who flexed her tired fingers gratefully as she stepped back from Brian’s bed.
“Do you want a sandwich or something?” Dani asked Nick. “You haven’t eaten anything in hours.”
Nick shook his head. “I’m not really hungry.” For some reason, the thought of food made him feel nauseous. He hadn’t had much of an appetite lately, but that could have been the result of worrying as much as it was a symptom of heart failure.
“You sure? You really should try to eat something. How about a popsicle?” She held up a box of them. “We better polish off a few of these bad boys before they melt, don’t you think?”
Nick cracked a smile. “Well, in that case… yeah, okay.”
“Cherry, grape, or orange?”
“Cherry,” he replied.
She pulled a red popsicle out of the box and unwrapped it. “Sweet as cherry pi-i-i-i-i-ie…” she sang softly as she brought it over to him, sashaying her hips to the beat of the song.
He smirked appreciatively at her, though he felt too weak to sing along. “Thanks.” He took a lick of the popsicle and had to admit, it tasted pretty good, sweet and refreshing on his tongue. But looking over at Brian made him feel guilty for enjoying it while his friend was fighting for his life.
“Hey, you gonna get one of those for me, too?” Rob asked, as he continued bagging Brian. “Grape, please.”
“Why, of course, dear,” replied Dani sarcastically, peeling the wrapping off a purple popsicle. “Anything else I can do for you?”
Rob grinned. “Nah, I’m good now,” he said, holding the stick in one hand while he squeezed the Ambu bag with his other. “Thanks, babe.”
For Nick, the scene felt surreal. It had only been one week since he’d met them both at the bar on Duval Street, one week since his whole world had been turned upside down. Now here they were, sitting around a dark hospital room, sucking on popsicles, and taking turns pumping air into poor Brian’s lungs, while a hurricane raged outside. It seemed unbelievable, like he was stuck in a nightmare instead of real life.
The room had gotten quiet, as everyone enjoyed their frozen treat. Nick strained his ears, trying to listen to the sounds of the storm, but he still couldn’t hear any wind or rain, only the rush of air through the tube in Brian’s trachea. Their ICU room must have been in the very heart of the hospital, far from any exterior walls and well-insulated from the elements.
He thought about Leighanne and Lauren, watching the news at home and worrying about their husbands. They both had to be distraught by now. Nick wished there was a way to let them know he and Brian were still alive, at least, if not well. But without electricity, phone service, or wi-fi, he was completely cut off from communication with the outside world. Key West had never felt more like an island than it did that day.
“How long do you think it’ll take to get the main power back on?” he asked the others.
Dani looked at Rob. “It only took a few days after Irma - right, babe?”
Rob nodded. “As long as the power lines running from the mainland don’t get knocked down, it shouldn’t take much more than that. I’m more worried about our friggin’ generator,” he said, squeezing the Ambu bag forcefully.
Nick knew what Rob really meant: Even a few days was too long for them to keep Brian alive that way.
Feeling sick to his stomach, he bit the bottom of his popsicle off its stick and chewed it quickly, cringing as the shock of cold made his teeth ache. The last bite tasted bitter and gave him a brain freeze. Rubbing the center of his forehead, he licked the popsicle stick clean before he set it on his bedside tray, glad to be done with it.
“Do you want another one?” Dani offered. She was perched on the end of Brian’s bed, halfway through an orange popsicle.
Nick shook his head. “No, thanks.” His heart was pounding, and he had a fluttery feeling in his chest that could have been from the pacemaker trying to control it or simply from the cold popsicle sliding down his esophagus. He wondered if it was even worth mentioning to Dr. Elizabeth. She was busy checking on Brian, listening to his chest with her stethoscope again, so Nick said nothing. Figuring she would make her way to his bed next, he lay his head back against the pillow and took a deep breath, trying to calm his heart down. But until the power came back on, Nick knew he wouldn’t be able to relax, not with Brian in the next bed, paralyzed and unable to breathe on his own. He couldn’t even close his eyes without feeling guilty and worrying about what might happen while he slept. He would stay awake all night if he had to, just to make sure Brian was still alive.
“You doing okay?” Dani asked him, a frown creasing her forehead. “You look pale.”
Before Nick could answer, a bomb exploded inside his chest - or, at least, that was what it felt like when his defibrillator fired for the first time. His body bucked with the force of the shock, his hands clenching into tight fists, and he heard himself cry out as he fell back onto the bed. The pain was the last thing he remembered before he passed out.
***
