Charlotte's Battle - Jason's Recovery

Chapter 16

When Charlotte woke up, the environment was different and her head was throbbing. She had no idea what happened. The second she opened her eyes, she had to close them again due to the brightness of the white lights surrounding her. She winced at the pain in her head and tried to sit up, but something or someone pushed her back down. She was confused, not really knowing what happened. When she heard her mother's voice, she became at ease again. "M-mom... w-what happened?" She asked with a weak voice.

Her mother responded with a sweet voice. "it's okay darling, you're okay. Just rest... I've got you. You're okay." She tried to reassure her daughter. Sara was genuinely concerned for her daughter since she seemed to be having more seizures. She was hoping the neurosurgeon or the neurologist would come in soon to run tests on Charlotte.

In fact, the neurologist arrived an hour after, looking at Charlotte's chart and her stats. He rubbed his chin as he read the chart. "So I see.. you're having more seizures Ms. Charlotte..." he trailed off slightly as he moved closer to her, then sat down on a rolling chair next to Charlotte's bedside.

Charlotte looked at her neurologist, Dr. Zeeman, then glanced at her mother. "D-does this mean the tumor is growing?" She asked worriedly.

The doctor held his hand up to quiet her. "Not necessarily, Charlotte.." He said, then flipped a page from her chart. "We will run some scans and do a electroencephalogram to check the brain waves when you have seizures." He told her, then pressed a button on the monitor to inflate the blood pressure cuff. 

Charlotte felt the pressure of the cuff on her left arm, turning to face the doctor on her left. She nodded at the doctor's words and closed her eyes. She hoped it wasn't the tumor causing the increase in seizures. She wished it wasn't happening like it was.

Dr Z. pressed another button on the machine and checked her temperature. "No fever, so that means no infection... which is always a good sign." He said to her, then set her chart down on the table. "I will increase your dose of anticonvulsants to see if that will help with the seizures. If not, then we will do a full testing session like once before."

Charlotte nodded and slowly looked up at the doctor. "I really hope the tumor hasn't grown..." she murmured then looked over at her mother who seemed to be tearing up slightly. She sighed and slowly nodded, closing her eyes.

Dr Z nodded, "That's the goal then, to make sure the tumor doesn't increase in size so the seizures don't increase." He said as he smiled at her, got up from the stool, and headed out the door.

Charlotte collapsed against the pillows again, trying to focus on the positives of the situation. She knew she would be okay, but she had no idea what would happen next.

~~~

When Charlotte woke up from her nap, a few nurses and a doctor was in the room. She slowly looked up at the doctor and noticed it was Dr. Z and his nurses. She could see the machines already by her bed. She glanced at the electroencephalogram machine as well as all the wires. She knew it was time but she was thankful the doctors had let her shower with the assistance of her mother earlier.

The doctor explained the whole ordeal like last time and began preparing the glue and the electrodes to put on her head. Charlotte's mother helped with moving her hair away so the doctor could do what he needed to do. The procedure took around an hour to do, in which Charlotte watched a movie on her mom's iPad. She decided to watch the movie 'The Lion King' as it was one of her favorite movies.

When they were finished putting all the electrodes on, they got her hooked up to the electroencephalogram machine and made sure she was comfortable before leaving the room.

Charlotte didn't really enjoy the EEG testing but it had to be done. Unfortunately, she would be in the hospital the whole time so thankfully she would be taken care of when her mother had to go back to work. She knew her brother was gone on a trip with a friend so maybe she could contact Ashley or another friend to visit her while she was here. She thought maybe she could go visit some other kids on the peds floor of the hospital. Then she realized there was a playroom for all of the pediatric patients which had enough room to fit around a hundred kids. She smiled at the thought then focused on the movie.

Her mother had to leave around two p.m. so she left the iPad with her daughter as well as the charger so she could play games and watch other movies. Doctors and nurses came in and out throughout the day to check her vitals, check the electrodes, and set up her tube feeds. She had watched a total of eight movies within twelve or so hours. She felt herself beginning to fall asleep halfway through another movie, but she let herself fall asleep.

As she fell asleep, she began to seize. It started off mild then began to grow more severe in intensely. The machine caught every bit of the seizures throughout the night. A nurse rushed into the room when she was seizing consistently for five minutes and gave her a dose of Ativan to attempt to calm the seizure. Slowly, Charlotte began to calm down, still asleep though. The nurse placed a mask over her mouth to help her breathe as her oxygen levels were a bit low.

Around two in the morning, she woke up from a nightmare covered in sweat and tears. She glanced around the room and sighed in relief when she realized it was just a dream. She ran a hand through the hair she could grasp. She slowly reached for the iPad and unlocked it. She glanced at the messages and remembered it wasn't connected to the internet. She sighed and slowly sat up, moving the wires a bit. She reached for the remote and pressed the nurse button.

She waited patiently until a nurse walked in, "What's up kiddo?" She tilted her head. Charlotte read the name tag as 'Taylor'.

Charlotte pointed to the bathroom, "They didn't cath me, but I'm not sure if they want me to get up or not." She said to her. The nurse helped assist her to the bathroom, standing by the door in case she needed help. Once Charlotte was finished, she carefully moved towards the bed, the nurse helping her.

Once Charlotte was comfortable back in her bed, she had a visitor. At first, she didn't know who it was. She froze slightly as she sat there, staring at the person. She didn't know what to do or say, other than watch as they walked into her room.