Breathe

“He isn’t breathing!” Brennan’s mother cried. When she rushed him to the hospital, the pale sixteen-year-old, freckled boy was now turning blue. The nurses and doctors were soon all over him. The unresponsive soul just laid lifelessly on the stretcher. His mother was ushered into the waiting room, still not knowing what was going on.

“He isn’t breathing!” A nurse called out.

“Check his ENT.” the approaching doctor called. They checked his ears, nose and throat for any obvious injuries. There was no sign of anything. They just as quickly attached a Ventilator to help him breathe.

“His vital signs are good.”

“Take him up to the CT scan and I’ll go talk to the parent.”

In the waiting room, his mother was pacing back and forth. Perspiration was dripping down her wrinkled slender cheeks. She didn’t know what to think; her worries only got worse when the doctor came in. She jumped like a kangaroo and stared at him with her tired blue eyes; the same colour as her lifeless son’s.

“How is my son?” she asked, her voice was quiet.

“We put him on a ventilator. As for right now we don’t know what is wrong with him.”

“What are you doing to find out?” the frantic woman asked. Her eyebrows were drenched with sweat, her face covered with her salty tears.

“We sent him up for a CT Scan.” he explained. “But meanwhile would you mind answering a few questions?"

“Anything, if it will help my son.”

“Have you noticed anything unusual about him lately?”

“Nothing out of the ordinary.”

“How would you explain his eating habits?”

“He eats pretty well. Meat and Potatoes; what I grew up on.”

The doctor followed up with a few more questions, before going to check on the CT Results. There was nothing showing any reason for him not breathing.

They continued with some more testing. The only thing they found was some drainage in his stomach, but nothing linking to his sudden not breathing and his comatose state. They attached a Gastronomy Tube to clear some of the unneeded drainage from his fragile body.

The clock in the waiting room seemed to drag on. Not a sound was made among the waiting guest. Brennan’s mother waited patiently on some news on her son’s condition. Not a word was said. There was no change in his condition the next few days either.

“We did test after test and we still don’t know what is wrong with him.” the one confused doctor sighed. “This is the weirdest case I had in a long time.”

“Is there any change at all?” the nurse who was traveling down the hall with him asked.

“His skin is no longer blue.” he said, ”Besides that, there is no change.”

“So, has he gotten any worse?”

“No,” he said. “All his test results say he is normal. It just doesn’t make any sense. He doesn’t show any obvious brain damage.”

“I have a child to check up on. Talk to you later.”

“See you in a while.” the still stumped doctor said heading to take one last look at the latest results on Brennan. Nothing.

“Please wake up sweetheart,” his mother called. He laid there not responding. The woman tried to keep a straight smile and remain strong but it was less than five minutes before she was in tears.

A few days turned into a week when finally there was a change. Brennan flickered open his eyes. He felt the ventilator attached to him. He didn’t know what was going on. He wanted to pull the thing off but feared that he wouldn’t be able to breathe.

In less than ten minutes, doctor were gathered around him to see his progress. After he was taken off the ventilator for a few minutes his old symptom were resurfacing. This time they applied an oxygen mask. His symptoms disappeared.

A couple days flew past when he was finally allowed to be discharge. Still unable to breathe fully on his own, he was given an oxygen tank to assist him in his breathing.

“We would like for him to return in a few days with an update on how he is doing. Ultimately we want to make sure his airway remains open.” the doctor explained to them.

“So how long will he need the oxygen mask for?” his mother asked.

“That was the next thing I wanted to discuss. If his breathing doesn’t improve within the next week we will have to explore the option of Tracheotomy.”

“What is that?” she asked

“It’s where a breathing tube is inserted through the neck.”

After a couple hours Brennan was lying at home resting, not keeping his mind off the last thing the doctor said. The last thing he wanted was a tracheotomy. He was determined that he would breathe on his own again. He could only smile.

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