Page 26 of Amadeo
I glanced over at the bed. Why I did this I have no clue as it all looked the same as it had in the last ten days. Deacon on machines with the nurse checking her Ipad as she sat in her usual spot. This scene could go on for a longass time. Everyday, the same. Machine’s whooshing and beeping, Deacon in the bed, nurse doing her watching, me doing my so-called guard job.
Then I realized it…But what if it didn’t go on? What if he died or woke up?
Gia would leave.
Damn, I felt crappy at the thought of not seeing her again. Then I let out a long sigh as I sat down in the chair. I needed to face the facts here though. She hated my guts and here I was, worried about never seeing her again. Dumb, dumb, dumb.
The door opened.
I caught her scent so I knew who it was and I didn’t look up. If I did, I would have to ask her. Why? I refused to do that now. If I had a future with this woman, she would have to come around to it. Tell me the truth. Explain to me why she would not date me. Come clean with whatever awful event happened to trigger this dislike she had for me. Considering all of that…Therewas a good chance she wouldn't do anything. That meant we had no chance.
The door closed and I could hear her soft steps heading to the bed. I tapped my phone and kept my gaze on the screen. I willed myself to not look at her. I could do this. After all, I had done it for the last week or longer. I clenched my jaw. That had been before I kissed her though.
“What do you mean?” she asked the nurse as her voice drifted to me.
“His patterns indicate wakeful movement,” Nurse Jocelyn replied to Gia.
Wakeful movement?My head shot up.As in…he is moving around?
Gia raised her own Ipad device and tapped the screen.
“Just look at the tracking,” Nurse Jocelyn suggested. “His EEG is tracing.”
“Yes, I see that,” Gia replied. “And his ICP is showing a descaling dip. The pressure on his brain has been severely reduced.”
“I know and when you see the IOT.” The nurse nodded. “You are gonna be surprised.”
Both women remained silent as they looked at the screens of their devices.
The fuck language were they speaking? I scoffed. I did catch a few abbreviations though. I lowered my head again. It sounded like his condition had changed. Peering down at my phone, I almost smirked. Time toGoogle It. I tapped Google then typed incomatose patients and IOT,whatever that meant. It had been one of the things they said.
A real-time monitoring system called the IoT-Based Healthcare Monitor is intended to provide coma patientswith a safe and secure environment. The system continually monitors the patient's vital signs and movement in the bed using a variety of sensors, including heart rate, blood pressure, temperature, respiration, and PIR sensors. The gathered data is wirelessly transferred to an embedded Raspberry Pi device, which analyzes it and uploads to a cloud server. The patient's data is stored on the cloud, notifying medical personnel of unusual readings or movements.
I understood enough of this to look up at the women and break my silence, “Is he waking up?”
Chapter Ten:Mr. Walker?
Gia
“He’s waking up?” Amadeo’s question was instantly repeated.
I looked over from Amadeo to see Valencia standing in the open doorway. Oh, damn.
Shutting the door behind her, she rushed across the room. Moving to the side of the bed, she took Deacon’s hand in hers. Then she looked up at me. “Is that what he said? Deacon is waking up?”
I slowly shook my head. “We don’t know yet.”
“So what’s happening?” Valencia asked me.
“I need to evaluate some new information first. Then I could possibly give you some answers.”
“Possibly?” Valencia repeated.
“I just came on shift and haven’t had time to review it,” I told her.
“Ok, and do you promise to tell me first?” Valencia asked as she really looked scared now.
There was no way I would allow anyone to hurt my patient. I had promised her several times that she was his next of kin and legally had the right to receive his status information anytime it was warranted. Nodding, I replied, “I absolutely will..”
