Can't Run Away

Part Three, Chapter One-Third person point of view

Selina looked at Jasmine's finally peaceful body. A single tear ran down her face. She quickly realizes she should be operating a code, but she can't bring herself to move. Finally, she hits the red button on the wall, drawing her attention back to the fact her family is still in the room, watching her cry over the young girl she has grown close to. A code is operated, Selina in her head the whole time. She's sitting with the family, comforting them gently. A slightly uneven beeping returns as they finally get Jasmine's heart beating again. They're still pumping air into her, so Selina knows this is probably just false reassurance. "She's alive........for now." Selina whispers to the family who is suddenly so interested in poor Jasmine.
Her heart beat begins to change and beat sporadically. "God, no!! Please no." Selina pleas silently. Jasmine's family is pleading with God also, wanting the last wheel of their brother and sister in-law to live. Selina decides shocking her would probably be best to try to get her stable. Selina calls another code and they shock Jasmine four times. "Selina, want to try again?" a nurse asks, her voice slightly wavering. Selina nods even though she knows more than anyone else how hopeless this whole situation is. They shock her again, much to the horror of Jasmine's cousins. "Take them out." Selina instructs. They leave, not wanting to see the true ending. "I don't know how long her heart can handle this sporadic beat. She's going to die any minute now. Selina, you need to let her go. No more shocking, her heart isn't stabilizing, nothing we can do will help at this point." the same nurse that spoke earlier, Cleo, says.
Selina wants to deny the facts laid on the bed in front of her, but she's too well trained and she knows how it's going to end. "Hold on." Selina tells Cleo, trying to examine the heart monitor readout. Cleo interrupts again. "Seriously, hold on." Selina says as firmly as possible as she tries to place the weird pattern. "Look at this. Do you recognize the pattern?" Selina asks, a weird feeling choking her. This is something she recognizes and it's giving her anxiety. "Selina, something's definitely going on inside............I don't know if it's good or bad. It seems like her heart is getting worse or its trying too hard to regulate itself and its beginning to succeed." Cleo says.
"I knew I saw this from somewhere, she's not dead yet!" Selina says, feeling like she's had a eureka moment. Cleo smiles slightly, but I can see the fear in her eyes. "She's not dead yet." I whisper to myself. The family comes in, looking and acting hysterical. "Calm down, she's alive........sort of." Selina says as she takes over the bag that you squeeze to breathe for her. She's blue so she adds a constant flow of oxygen into her body. Her skin is now a normal color, so Selina calculates how much oxygen is going into her right now. Cleo brings the ventilator right beside Jasmine's bed as they prepare to transfer her onto a machine to breathe the several liters of oxygen per minute for her, instead of Selina using a pump. It feels impersonal and cold, but her hand is cramping and they don't want a human error damaging an even more human life.
The transition is shaky and no where near smooth. Then, something changes. Jasmine has a seizure right in front of her family and she is fighting the ventilator and her own heart. Selina wishes she could stop it, but she doesn't see a good way too without possibly damaging her heart. The longer this goes on, though, the higher the chance of brain damage. Selina draws a syringe of Valium up and stabs her quickly. The seizure ends and the ventilator is allowed to do its job without so much as a quiver of objection against it. Her heart is shaky and it won't beat near normally for long. It will seem to steady out, but it gets worse out of the blue.
Selina hated pulling Jasmine out of Heaven, but Jasmine didn't mind, she wasn't ready to go just yet, she needed to live a bit more. "You're doing the right thing." Jasmine's voice resonates in Selina's mind. "Shock her again." Selina sighs, setting it up again. "Clear." she says, shocking Jasmine with hundreds of volts of electricity. Her heart beat slows down and her breathing picks up, meaning the ventilator can be turned down a little bit. Her heart is quivering a little, but it's trying its hardest to beat correctly. "Antibiotics and epinephrine." Cleo orders. Selina does as she said, hoping the meningitis hasn't quite gotten to her brain...........worse than it already has. She takes Jasmine's temperature and it's up to 107. "Cold blankets!" Selina orders, worrying more about lasting brain damage that will be even worse than it probably already is.
She keeps checking her temperature. It takes thirty minutes to get it down. Selina and Cleo sigh, Jasmine is finally almost out the way of brain damage. Her heart rate is becoming a little more normal, but she isn't out of the woods yet. "Is she going to be okay?" her aunt asks. "Honesty or comfort?" Selina thinks, wanting to keep them optimistic, while not getting their hopes up too high because they would be mad at her if she didn't make it. Selina looks at Cleo, her eyes slightly wide with fear. All that happens in an instance.
"I'm remaining optimistic, but there's a good chance she'll die." Selina says, trying to be completely honest. Jasmine's heart rate drops and Selina feels her's pick up. Then, it disappears. "C.P.R.?" Cleo asks. I nod and give her C.P.R. Her heart rate is finally normal! "It's normal now, we've brought her back, from the brink of death." Selina says. "Let's just flood her system with antibiotics, get rid of her meningitis, then check her blood counts, bone marrow, and brain." Cleo says. Selina squeezes the bag of antibiotics, getting it go in as quickly as possible. "Give it six hours to work." Selina says.
Six hours later
"Check her blood counts and bone marrow." Cleo says. Selina moves Jasmine onto her side and does the spinal tap while Cleo does the blood test. Selina takes it to the lab and stands over the technician. "Her meningitis is gone. Her cancer is a little better, keep giving her treatments." the technician says, a smile on her face. "Great news!!" Selina says, her hair making her sage eyes pop in the light. She goes back to Jasmine's intensive care room. "Her meningitis is gone, her cancer is getting better!!" she says breathlessly. "Great." Cleo says. Her family smiles. "Let's have a M.R.I. done, we need to check for brain damage." Selina continues. Cleo and Selina take her to the scanner on the floor and they connect her to another ventilator.
"Check for meningitis and shock related brain damage, as well as the kind from oxygen and blood deprivation." Cleo says to the technician. "Okay, there doesn't seem to be a lot of irreparable damage. It seems like it's going to be easy to fix with.....umm........help from a neurologist. They should be able to treat it easily." the technician says. Selina hugs Cleo. "I'll call a neurologist and get everything checked and fixed." Cleo says. They do.
"It will heal on its own, with the help of immune boosters in a few days." he says, sounding frustrated with the worried nurses. They both sigh, along with the family.
"She's going to be okay." Selina whispers to herself. The man leaves. Jasmine begins to struggle against her ventilator. "Let's decrease the ventilator. She's beginning to fight it, meaning she'll probably wake up soon." she says, turning a knob down. Jasmine's oxygen decreases slightly before regulating itself at ninety nine percent saturation. I smile and decide all we can do is wait. "You all can-" Selina says, turning to look at Jasmine's aunt, uncle, and cousins. They're gone, assured she's going to be fine. Selina is furious. "They need to care more. They shouldn't just leave, she might not be okay." she says, sitting down and watching her carefully. Cleo shrugs and leaves. Jasmine's eyes flutter as she struggles against the ventilator more. Selina turns it down more and she finally opens her eyes, aware at last. She coughs and tries to pull the tube out.
Selina holds her hands down and look calmingly into her eyes. "The meningitis is gone, I did an antibiotic flush and it got rid of it." Selina says, smiling. Jasmine gives her a thumbs up. She releases her hands and helps her sit up. She hands her a white board and marker. "What did you need to tell me?" she writes. Selina panics, she thought Jasmine would die. She didn't want to tell her the truth about her dad's death, not yet anyway. "Jasmine, it's about your mother and father's death. Which should I start with?" Selina asks. Jasmine writes mother and wipes her eyes. "Your mother killed herself because we thought there was little to no chance for you to make it, but I was the one who decided we were going to treat your cancer and I thought I was proven wrong today, but you're still here and we're still going to fight your cancer. Your father was a little drunk when you all got in that wreck, also. It was a little bit his fault. Your mother was permanently disabled in that wreck and she had bad brain damage, to the point she shouldn't have been able to take care of you, but she was. Her depression and grief finally got her, that's why she committed suicide after self harming and being a drug addict for that time after your dad died." Selina rambles, being completely honest. Tears run down Jasmine's face, horrible pain deep within. "Let me die." she writes. "I can't just 'let you die' sweetie, I know you're upset, but you don't want this to be over." Selina says, squeezing Jasmine's hand. Jasmine shrugs. "You're right." she writes, smiling the best she can with the tube in her throat. Selina smiles and looks around. "Where did my family go?" she writes. "They left." Selina informs her sadly. Selina runs out the room and she quickly calls her aunt.
"She's alive!! She's awake, too!!!" Selina says to Jasmine's aunt. She gasps, but doesn't express anything other than shock. Selina hangs up and holds her head, trying to not be angry. She goes back into Jasmine's room and finds her sleeping. She instinctively checks her vital signs and finds everything is normal. She relaxes and sits down to get paper work done and watch over Jasmine. This is just the perfect reward for all she's done to save the young girl.