Page 19 of Shattered Lives

The bands around my chest grow tight again. “Everything’s very touch-and-go right now.”

“What else?” Lila asks. “Don’t leave anything out.”

I give her a full head-to-toe clinical report, using medical jargon Tucker won’t understand, knowing she’ll break it down for him when I’m done. I close my eyes against the image of Mark lying helpless, surrounded by tubes and wires. It doesn’t help. “His vitals are borderline. His temp’s around one hundred and his white count’s twenty-seven. He’s tachycardic in the one-twenties with a BP in the nineties, even with norepinephrine. He had multiple rib fractures with floating ribs on the right, fixed with titanium plates and screws.” I tick items off on my fingers as I mentally work my way down his body. “He’s got a right-sided pneumo with a pigtail catheter and blast lung with bilateral chest tubes. He’s intubated and on propofol. He had a large liver laceration and a ruptured spleen, so they operated at the field hospital and stopped the hemorrhaging. His hemoglobin stabilized at ten after eight units of blood here plus however many they gave him before he arrived. He’s got second and third degree flash burns to both thighs with skin grafts on the right. His right femur was fractured. They tried to repair it at the field hospital, but they weren’t successful, so he had surgery for that again when he got here. It’s pinned, plated, and screwed. His right lower leg was partially amputated by the blast. They worked on it at the field hospital, but when he got here, it was infected, so they had to revise it and remove more tissue. He’s got roughly two dozen shrapnel punctures and lacerations, including a large lac that severed the big artery in his right upper arm. He’s septic. His lactic acid was six, but it’s coming down. His creatinine is three, so there’s kidney damage, but that should come down as his sepsis resolves.”

Lila turns to Tucker, who’s waiting impatiently for her interpretation. “Okay. Mark has a systemic infection from all the crap that penetrated his body and got into his wounds. That makes his heart rate and temperature go up and his blood pressure go down. The infection on top of the massive blood loss has injured his kidneys. With antibiotics, IV fluids, and blood transfusions, that should improve. He’s on one infusion to keep his blood pressure up and one to sedate him while he’s intubated. A pneumothorax is when air leaks into the chest cavity. Mark’s was probably caused by a broken rib puncturing his lung. They use a tiny tube to let the air escape from the chest cavity so his lung can re-inflate properly.”

“What’s blast lung?” he asks, his gaze intently shifting from Lila to me and back.

I let Lila field his questions. “Lung tissue is very delicate, like single ply toilet paper. The shock wave from an explosion damages it. White blood cells rush to heal the area, causing a buildup of fluid that makes it harder to breathe. They’ve placed tubes to drain the fluid away.”

I watch as Tucker frowns, processing what we’ve told him. “So he’s got bleeding and swelling in the front and back of his brain, drains to remove fluid and lower the pressure inside his skull, and he may have permanent brain damage,” he says. I nod, my chest tightening at the thought. “He’s got three tubes in his chest and a machine helping him breathe.” I nod again. “He was bleeding into his belly, but they stopped it.” I nod a third time. He takes a deep breath. “And he’s got a broken right thigh and an amputation below his right knee.”

“And burns to both thighs,” Lila adds, “with a skin graft on the deeper one.”

Tucker nods, then glances at me hesitantly. “How does he look?”

My eyes sting as I recall Mark’s swollen face, his features blurred into a shapeless mass of purple bruises and black sutures. “Unrecognizable,” I whisper, barely swallowing over the enormous lump in my throat.

“It’s just the swelling,” Lila reassures me. “It’ll go down, Charlie. Soft tissue can swell without too much damage, and the bruises will start to fade in a few days.”

She doesn’t understand. She hasn’t seen him.

She correctly reads my expression and says, “Send me pictures. I’ll feel better if I can see him.”

My spine stiffens. “I’m not taking pictures of him, Lila.”

“I need to see Mark with my own eyes.”

“Not like this,” I say firmly. “Trust me. This is a memory you don’t want to have.”

“We should close the gym and clinic and fly down,” she says suddenly, glancing at Tucker.

I shake my head. “No. Not now, anyway. There’s nothing you can do. There’s nothing any of us can do right now except wait.”

“You shouldn’t be alone,” Tucker says, his eyebrows pulling together.

“I’m okay,” I lie. “Besides, we don’t know how long he’ll be unconscious. There’s no point in leaving our clients stranded while we sit and stare at him. This could go on for a while.”

“I don’t like you down there by yourself,” Tucker insists, rubbing his hand through his hair.

I see the concern in his eyes. He’s dancing around what he really means: he’s not sure how I’m going to cope with Mark barely clinging to life when I was already struggling with daily life back home. Frankly, neither am I. But closing both our businesses won’t help Mark.

Lila sighs heavily. “Unfortunately, she has a point. Mark could be unconscious for three days or three weeks.” Or three months… or forever. My throat tightens. “The three of us watching him lie there won’t make him heal any faster.”

Tucker frowns. “Mark’s got an entire team of people taking care of him. Charlie’s got no one.”

His protectiveness warms me like a cozy blanket. “I’m not helpless, Tucker,” I say gently.

He blows out a frustrated breath. “I know you’re not, but this isn’t something you should be dealing with alone.”

“I’m not alone. You guys are just a phone call away. If he gets worse or I need you here, I’ll call. I promise. But for now, as lousy as it is, all we can do is wait and see.”

Tucker doesn’t look happy, but he finally sighs. “Fine. We’ll stay here for now, but if anything changes or you need us, we’re on the next plane.”

“Thanks, Tucker.”

“Have you eaten anything today?” Lila asks.

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