Rat Race

Part 5

Lisa was waiting patiently in Dec's small room, answering a few emails and browsing a few sites, when the gurney with Dec on it returned, Ant following. It had been a good couple of hours since Ant had last texted, to say Dec was being taken for his scan, and she had been beginning to get a little concerned, while at the same time knowing that procedures often took a while. So she was relieved, at first, to see them both - but that relief vanished as soon as she got a good look at the pair of them. Various leads and lines were being reattached as Dec was put back into position, but he remained utterly still - a very strange state for him. Lisa was used to seeing him in constant motion, always a bundle of energy, and even when he was standing delivering links on TV he was usually tapping his feet or doing something with his hands. Now, completely motionless and with a nasal cannula hooked over his ears, he looked distinctly odd, like a kind of pod-person version of Dec rather than the man she knew.

Ant was little better - he looked flustered, to say the least, a little bit red and shiny and running his hands through his hair in the way he always did when he was nervous or stressed. He sat down next to Lisa and twisted his hands, and she rubbed his back soothingly, alarmed to feel tremors rattling through his tense frame. "God, love, what's happened?" she asked, terrified of the answer.

"He had a seizure," Ant said, sounding hoarse and shrill. He took a shaky breath. "After the scan, he started convulsing, and they had to get a doctor to come and make it stop. It was horrible, Lise - he was jerking and flopping around, and he made these horrible sounds like he was - dying or something!"

"Shhhh, easy, he's not dying," Lisa said immediately. She ignored the thoughts buzzing around her own brain, the ones that had heard the word 'meningitis' earlier and immediately flashed back to those scary sessions they had at school, at least once a year, where they'd learned about the signs of meningitis and how dangerous it was. There had been a poster on the wall of the guidance classroom with cartoons of a child looking hideously unwell, and warning that the disease could often be fatal. Lying in the bed, dwarfed by the machines surrounding him, Dec did look a little childlike. "That must have been so scary," she said. "But they wouldn't have sent him back here if they were that worried; he'd be in the ICU or something!"

Ant took another deep, shivery breath. "Yeah," he said, clearly trying to rally. "Yeah, you're right. And Dr Oyenusi said she'd be back here really soon, to speak to us and check on him. She said he'd be sleepy and woozy for a while, after the seizure." He sat back and blew out air slowly, then ran a finger under the collar of his t-shirt, which Lisa noticed was slightly damp.

She frowned, and moved her hand up from his back to feel his neck, wanting to check his warmth with skin contact rather than through fabric. Just as she did, though, Dr Oyenusi arrived, and Ant sprang to his feet urgently. Lisa followed suit.

"What's the verdict?" Ant asked, clutching at Lisa's hand.

Dr Oyenusi didn't keep them waiting: this was real life, Lisa thought, not some ITV talent show, and she felt nauseous with tension even though she only had to wait a second rather than the endless minutes Ant and Dec dragged announcements out to.

"Declan does have meningitis - I can confirm that," she told them, causing Ant to drop his head and squeeze Lisa's hand even tighter. "That's what caused the seizure, actually, not his temperature, which is high but at a stable level. The lumbar puncture confirmed the diagnosis. Now, there is some good news, too, however."

Ant lifted his head, looking hopeful. "Is he going to be okay?"

"Well, let me just explain the situation. Declan is suffering from viral meningitis, not bacterial - and that's a really good thing, because complications are far less common with viral meningitis and the illness usually clears up on its own, with supportive care only. However, Declan's is an unusual case-"