Matters of the Heart

Chapter 37

Today was moving day. A day that Abbey swore was a huge and wonderful day for Jesse. It was a sign that Jesse was improving and had healed enough to no longer need the intracite oversight of the ICU but Jesse was less than thrilled to be moving. The very word scared the hell out of him. Moving meant well moving and that he would have to move things. Moving things meant having to use his precious energy to do things other than trying to stay awake, sleeping and just breathing. No-one would ever classify Jesse as a lazy person. He was always extremely active and extremely driven. Waking up at the crack of dawn, mostly even before, hitting the gym for extensive workouts 3 days a week, the alternate days going out for a long run whether it was rain, sun, or snow. Then went to work. And on set, he performed all his stunts as Jay Halstead. He was always on the go and active and actually didn't require a lot of sleep to function. He was good to get a solid 4-5 hours a night. With Abbey usually  working the 7 am - 7 pm Emergency Department shift they were both out of the house by 6 am most days. Other than the occurrence that he had night shoots. But even before surgery, ever since he was brought in by ambulance that day he passed out in his trailer, and was diagnosed with aortic valve disease, and now especially since his AAA Rupture repair surgery he could barely muster up any type of energy. He was tired, drained, exhausted all of the time. He claimed it a victory when he was able to stay awake for an hour at a time. Abbey explained to him that he could expect the fatigue to continue through out his recovery and he would need to listen to his body throughout recovery. If he felt tired, he needed to rest. But Jesse never expected it to be this bad. Part of him figured this was his body getting back at him for the years of poor sleep and always coming and going through years of work, early flights, award shows, interviews. The rest of him not even giving a damn. He had no desire to move, no desire to move from his bed to another. Long story short, he was not looking forward to this move. Ever since Abbey told him they would sit him up on the edge of his bed, and maybe take a couple of steps, he was dreading it. But while he detested it, he knew it needed to be done so he could go on with his recovery and go home and he and Abbey could get on with their lives. In around 7 months they would be welcoming a child together. And he was hellbent and determined he would be back to his old self or his new self by the time Abbey delivered their baby.

"Okay honey you ready for this?"

Jesse looked up at Abbey, broken suddenly from his trance. No way the move was happening now. Not first thing in the morning. Nothing ever happened fast in the hospital unless you were dying and he was pretty sure he was past that the point.

"Jesse we talked about this"

"I like it in the ICU"

"WOW. where are you going with this? "

"Its quiet here"

"Jesse Lee"

" I don't want to lose Leah as my nurse"

"Leah's transferring to the CCU with you"

"What is CCU"

"Cardiac Care Unit. Its a step down from the ICU but strictly cardiac issues"

"So I'm going to be on a unit with nothing but elderly people"

"Jesse. It's not all like elderly people. People just like you. They'res teens waiting on heart transplants, little kids with congenital heart issues. Are you done now coming up with excuses?"

He nodded as he looked up at Dr Tenney, Leah, Lexi, all their medical devices and blankets and it hit him. Today was also the first dressing change. Because today just needed one more unpleasant thing to add.

Abbey nodded at the group at the door. And they all began to file in. They all greeted Jesse and Abbey with pleasant morning remarks, asking the usual about pain, sleep, and other side effects, before diving into what was about to happen.