Chapter 3: Summer Break

It was the last class meeting of the spring semester. Sam asked his students to come forward one at a time to receive their graded final paper and final marks for the course. There was tension among the students, but he was smiling; this group had been very attentive, and he had only a few low grades among the pile of papers on his desk.

As each student came up, he greeted them warmly and offered words of congratulation or encouragement. Afterwards, he packed up his things and walked to his office. Inside, he took off his regular teaching clothes and put on his best suit, then headed for the parking lot. It was time to pick up Lila at corporate headquarters, and he had reservations for their traditional end-of-semester dinner.

“Hi, sweetie, how was work?”

“It was typical, another day, another catastrophe avoided by my enlightened management. You’re looking spiffy, by the way. We have dinner plans, right?”

“Yes, we do. Today I told those young minds I have trained for future business leadership to get the fuck out of my sight and don’t come back.”

“Yeah, sure you did, Sam. I know your style, you’re more Teddy Bear than Drill Sergeant. So where are you taking us?”

These were Lila’s last words.

Sam woke up two weeks later immobilized in a hospital bed. In terrible pain. His left leg was in a cast and elevated with a traction cable. He had no view of his back and pelvis, but he assumed injuries there were causing most of his other pains.

“Help! Help!” He cried out. Eventually a nurse appeared, looking peeved. “Why are you screaming? Use your call button if you need something.”

“I don’t know where that button is. I’m in TERRIBLE PAIN! I just woke up in this hospital and I don’t know what happened to me! Where is my WIFE? I need a doctor, not a fucking BUTTON!”

“I have to check your orders,” she grumbled, and left.

A different nurse came in a few minutes later, pushing a cart. “Mr. Hartman, I have some pain medication here for you.”

“Thank God, I’m dying here!”

“We’ve paged the doctor; she should be here shortly. I need to ask you, this is powerful stuff, it may knock you out before she gets here. I can give you a half-dose so you can stay awake and then give the rest afterwards. Your choice.”

Sam gritted his teeth. “OK, give me half.”

She injected his IV line, and Sam began coming down the pain scale from excruciating to just awful.

Ten minutes later, that same nurse returned with a doctor. They were both women in their 50’s, and they had serious expressions on their faces.

“I’m Dr. Segretti, it’s good to see you awake. I’ll tell you what I can from reviewing your chart. Two weeks ago, you were in a severe car accident. You’ve been unconscious ever since. Your left leg, pelvis, and lower back were badly fractured, and those bones have been surgically repaired. Literally, with metal pins and screws. However, there may well be nerve damage which could impair your walking in the future.”

“Wait. Car Accident? Lila, my wife! Is she OK?”

“I’m so sorry, Mr. Hartman. Your wife was killed in the accident.”

Sam couldn’t make a sound. His face was a rictus of pure agony. Already crying from the pain, tears flowed non-stop down his face. Dr. Segretti turned to the nurse. Seeing she was affected and focused on the patient, she touched her arm to get her attention.

“Please give him the other half of his meds now.”

They waited and watched him close his eyes and drift off. As they left the room, the doctor said, “That’s just awful, the poor guy. Now, because of all the bone surgery he’s had, I want him on alternating doses of hydromorphone and morphine, that means he gets morphine at 8, hydromorphone at 12, and morphine at 4, and so on.

“After 24 hours we will review for going forward. It’s important, I want this medication order followed precisely and exactly! Make sure the next shift understands that, clearly and completely.

“I’ve never seen so much skeletal damage in someone still alive; he is going to need every drop of those opiates.

“Come to think of it, I’m going call and confirm we have enough on hand for him down in our pharmacy.”

“Doctor, I know what you’re saying, but think having lost his wife will hurt him more.”