Adopted

Chapter 76

Brendon's POV

Jessica looked so small under the ventilator and the IVs, all the machinery and tubes. They'd sedated her to get her intubated and place the chest tube, and were keeping her lightly sedated so she wouldn't fight the ventilator. Sarah and I sat by her side.

My parents had gone home and packed a few things for us and brought Jess's backpack with her books and Switch and things.

"For when she wakes up," my dad said. I saw how hard this was on them, too. They really love Jess and had told me before that her diagnosis made her that much more precious.

Both my sisters had come by to visit. They talked to Jess as if she could hear. And we didn't know that she couldn't.

Two days passed and Jess's fever had finally come down. The doctor was less concerned and felt optimistic she would make a full recovery. We started talking about transporting her home to LA.

"The only way would be through either a private company with medical capabilities or LifeFlite, he said.

We made arrangements with LA Children's and Desert Palm and would fly Jess home on Sunday morning.

"One of you can go with," Dr. Cooper said.

"B, you go," Sarah said. "I'll pack up the rest of the stuff at your parents' and fly home on the earliest flight if I can change my ticket."

"Are you sure you don't want to go?" I asked.

"Of course I do. But only one of us can go, and I know how bad you felt when Jess was assaulted at school. And if she wakes up on the flight, I'll bet she'll be happy to see your face," Sarah smiled.

So, the plans were made. Jess and I would leave by LifeFlite at 7 am the next morning.

We told my parents who came to the hospital to visit with us before we left.

"You'll text us or call us when you get settled?" my mom asked.

"Of course," I said.

"Or if anything happens?"

I swallowed, knowing what she meant.

"Yeah," I said.

My dad filled Jess in on the news. They sometimes discussed current events on their phone calls. My dad made sure she stayed informed and made her read at least one news article a day so they could discuss it over text or FaceTime or on their weekly calls.

Kyla and Kara both came once more before we left. They brought drawings the kids had made when they'd woken up and found out Cousin Jess was in the hospital.

After they left, Sarah and I had a light dinner that she'd gone down to the cafeteria to get, and then she went back to my parents' to pack our bags. She was bringing all our luggage home by herself. I'd called Zack and he was going to meet her at the airport. She would text or call him if she got an earlier flight.

I fell into a fitful sleep listening to the machines beeping and whooshing.

At 6 am, I was woken up by noise in the room. At first I thought something was wrong with Jess because there were a bunch of people around her.

"What's happened? What's wrong?" I asked, panicking a bit.

"Nothing's wrong," the nurse said. "We're just getting Jess ready for the flight. They should be here in about a half an hour and they'll want to leave as quickly as possible. So, we're making sure Jess is stable, and strong enough for the transfer."

"And?"

"For a little girl who is so very sick right now, she's incredibly strong. I think she'll be fine. We're going to increase the sedation just a bit, so she shouldn't wake up during the flight. We've copied all the treatment and procedure notes. They're in this envelope," she said, handing me an envelope. "Make sure that gets to her doctor on the other end, although they've been sent electronically, too."

They finished their assessments and I watched the nurse put a needle into Jess's IV with extra sedation, I supposed.

At 6:30, some paramedics in flight suits came in with a stretcher, followed by the nurses who went about unhooking Jess's ventilator and attaching a bag to it, and they undid her heart monitor, which the paramedics hooked up to their own equipment. They transferred over the IV bags and got Jess strapped in to the stretcher.

"Ok, we have a parent coming?" They asked.

"Yeah," I said. "Me."

"Okay. Let's roll."

I grabbed Jess's backpack and the small bag my parents had brought and followed the stretcher to the elevator.

We rode up to the roof and they gave me directions for getting on the helicopter safely.

Once Jess was secured, I got in, took the seat they indicated and did up the straps. Someone handed me a headset so I could hear the paramedics if they needed to ask any questions, or if I had any questions.

We lifted off and I held my daughter's hand.

"Jess, I think this is probably your first helicopter ride and you're totally missing it!" I joked. The paramedics smiled.

They also kept up a banter with me, along with making treatment and vital checks among themselves.

After 75 long minutes, we were landing in the roof of LA Children's. I could see the team waiting in the helipad field for us to land.

I hopped out first and moved away so the paramedics could unhook Jess from the onboard equipment and get her off the helicopter.

Once again, I followed them to the elevator and down to the PICU. Dr. Roberts was waiting for us as they hooked Jess up in her room. Back to the bleeping and beeping and whooshing machines.

Once Jess was settled, I went to her side and spoke soothingly to her, telling her we were back in LA, that we had Doc now to take care of her and how great she was doing. I thought I felt the slightest movement of her fingers in mine. I brushed some hair away from her face and smiled.

"Did you just squeeze my fingers? Can you do that again, Champ?" I asked. Ever so slightly, I felt her fingers move.

Doc came in the room. I handed him the envelope from Desert Palm.

"I think she's waking up. I think she squeezed my hand, just a bit," I said.

"Oh yeah? Let's take a look, shall we?"

Doc read through the treatment notes, plus the notes that the paramedics had given him.

"They gave her just enough sedation to keep her unconscious for the flight, and she hasn't had any otherwise. I'm going to get an x-ray done, to see what the lungs look like. The chest tube looks like it might be nearly ready to remove."

I cringed.

"She did not enjoy that last time," I said.

"While this won't be pleasant if she's conscious when we remove it, it won't be as bad. It's on the opposite side and she doesn't have four broken ribs this time," Doc winked.

Doc checked a few more things, talked to Jess, and said with her fever down, once he had the x-ray results, he would decide if it was necessary to keep her sedated.

The x-ray was done only about 20 minutes later and I waited for Doc to come back with those results.