The Boy at My Window

Chapter Ten: The Pain

I awoke hours later in excruciating pain. I shoved my way out of Matthew's arms and started screaming.

Matthew bolted upright in the bed and turned his attention to me. "Shaina?!" He exclaimed hands fluttering over my face. "What's the matter?!"

I just curled in on myself and continued screaming.

"Nurse! Nurse! Someone! Help!" Matthew yelled. "You're gonna be okay, Sweet Pea." He pulled me onto his lap and cuddled me in an attempt to calm me. "Sh." he rocked me. "You're going to be okay. Sh."

My night nurse, Jim, came rushing into the room. "What's going on?"

"I don't know!" Matthew exclaimed. I could hear the fear in his voice. "She just woke up screaming."

Tears started streaming down my face. I was in so much pain it was almost unbearable. "My stomach!" I sobbed.

"Let's get her an MRI." Jim approached the bed. "Here, let me have her, Matthew."

Matthew tried to hand me over but I clutched at his shirt. "Please!" I begged. "I need him."

He nodded. "Follow me."

Matthew climbed out of bed and hurried after Jim. He held me to his chest as I sobbed and screamed.

Jim spoke into an walkie talkie as we went. "I need an emergency MRI for patient Shaina Collins. She has a hernia and has woken up in extreme pain. I believe the hernia has grown and she may need to be rushed into emergency surgery. Someone contact her parents."

We entered the MRI room and Matthew sat on the bed thing with me curled into his side.

"Alright Shaina, you've got to lay down on your back." He told me.

"No!" I sobbed into Matthew's side.

"Shaina," he said softly trying to coax me. "You need to do this."

"But it hurts so much!" I screamed.

"I know, Sweet Pea, I know." he sounded like he was on the verge of tears. "But to make the pain go away they have to know what's causing it."

I continued to sob.

"Please, Sweet Pea." he begged. "Just do this so they can make the pain go away."

Finally, I sniffled and nodded.

Matthew helped me to slowly uncurl. And rested my head in his lap.

A new nurse came into the room, "Hello, Shaina. I'm Liz. So we're going to get an MRI and then we'll take you back to your room and get you some pain killers while we wait for the MRI images to develop. Depending on what we find, that'll determine what happens next." she turned her attention to Matthew. "I'm going to have to ask you to leave. You can go right through that door and stand in that room. You'll be able to see everything so you'll know she's okay."

Matthew stood, placed a gentle kiss on my forehead, whispered in my ear, "You're gonna be okay, Sweet Pea. You'll get through this," and left.

"Alright, Shaina," Liz said getting my attention, "I'm going to pull you too up to your arm pits and then you'll be in the MRI scanner for about ten minutes. Are you claustrophobic?"

"No." I hiccuped.

"Okay. We're gonna go ahead and get started. So I need you to lift your arms above your head." I did as I was told. "Okay I'm going to put a port in your hand because we are going to inject you with a medicine that is going to slow down your bowel movement. I'm warning you now, it's going to make you feel nauseous because it works so quickly. Don't worry, there isn't anything in your stomach for you to throw up."