Street Ties

(23) "Dealing"

Jesse Powell

Ajani lay in bed hooked up to all these machines. Her eyes were barely open and she lay motionless, the occasional rising and falling of her chest let me know that she was breathing on her own but even then she was having a little help from the machine.

"She's very lucky to be alive, so many people mess up with their family or significant other goes into cardiac. She was very lucky to have people to care and administer CPR and breathe for her until help came to shock her, if they hadn't done that there's a possibility she could be brain dead because of the lack of oxygen" the doctor said and that just made me feel worse.

I looked over at Alijah who was gently stroking Ajani's hand and letting her know she was there. It'd been a week and she still wasn't herself, only a few minutes ago did the doctor come in and start taking her off of drugs so she wasn't so heavy medicated and could wake up fully.

She went through another surgery four days ago and they placed something in her heart. Her hospital room was decorated in flowers and balloons, not to mention all the stuffed animals people kept bringing even the nurses.

The doctor unbuttoned the front of Ajani's hospital gown revealing a tube sticking out of the middle of her lower chest.

"What's the healing process like, what can we do at home to assure this doesn't happen again?" I questioned shifting some trying to hold back tears, I didn't cry in front of strangers I liked to be alone around Alijah when I let everything out.

"She needs lots of rest and when she gets a little better maybe go for walks with her. No more fast food, try making healthier alternatives and shop organic" the Doctor said and I nodded.

"Ajani, are you awake? This is going to hurt but I promise you'll feel a lot better when this tube is out so just relax and take a few deep breaths" the doctor warned as two nurses came in.

I glanced at my daughter who was slowly starting to realize what was going on and she slowly shook her head. She attempted to move and Jah stopped her making her lay still.

"You gotta listen to him gyal or it'll hurt worse" I warned taking a hold of her hand. I brushed my thumb over the back of her hand soothing her as two nurses held her down and the doctor instructed her to breathe deeply.

She slowly did as told and the doctor quickly pulled out the tube causing her to attempt to scream but it came out more so sounding like a dying cat.

They cleaned the small amount of blood that came out with it as a nurse pushed down on the area to stop access bleeding.

Ajani's chest began to rise and fall quickly and the heart monitor beeped. "Is she okay?" Alijah panicked and the doctor glanced at the machine.

"Yes that's good, it means she's breathing by herself. It'll go back to normal in a little" he said as he wrote down something on his clipboard.

"I'm thirsty" Ajani said in a small voice as she groaned. It sounded like she couldn't breathe and she was trying to catch her breathe.

"I'll have a nurse bring you some water in a little. Now I'm going to warn you we can only give you liquids right now and you may not be able to taste anything. We removed the catheter and the breathing tube a few minutes before the chest tube. We'll let you rest for a little while before a nurse and physical therapist comes in so you can try and get up and walk" he said looking at her.

"Okay" she wheezed out and I glanced down at her. Not letting go I pulled up a chair and gripped her hand tighter.

"You gotta communicate from now on, why didn't you say you were feeling dizzy earlier?" I questioned as Alijah pushed her hair out of her face.