Chapter 8

Ray headed out of the city and toward the suburbs. He pulled into the hospital's parking lot and dashed to the Emergency Department. "Excuse me -- do you have a Kamelya DeWitte here?" he asked the receptionist.

"Dad!" he heard Ken call. "We're back here."

Ray headed to an examination room where Kamelya was lying on a cot in a treatment gown. He could see the pain on her face.

The receptionist followed him. "Are you the father?"

"Alas, no," he replied. "I'm only a friend of her mother."

"He's her mother's fiancé," Ken added.

"Yes -- her mother's fiancé. What's wrong with her?"

"We really can't proceed without a parent or guardian's approval..."

"We're trying to get hold of her mother," Ray replied. "Can't you tell me what's wrong with her?"

"So far, it looks like peritonitis," she said. "I really can't go further."

Ray turned to Kamelya. "Does it hurt bad?" He asked.

"Yes..." She bit her lip and nodded and tears spilled out of her eyes.

Ray looked at Ken. "What are you doing here? I told you to stay and wait for Rebecca."

"Kami wanted me with her in the ambulance," he replied. "Sonay's waiting for her mother."

"But Sonay doesn't know the route to the hospital."

"Neither do I," Ken said. "I've never been here."

Ray whipped out his Blackberry and dialed his home phone. It rang. "Hello?"

"Sonay -- it's Ray. Have you seen any sign of your mother?"

"No, not yet. How's Kami?"

"She's real sick. Sonay -- find something to write on and a pen or pencil. I'm going to give you directions to the hospital. Your mother needs to get here right away."

"Okay..."

"Ready?"

"Yes..."

"Turn left out of the driveway and then turn right onto Grand. Got that?"

"Yes..."

"Then, right on Delany. It's about four blocks to Summit. Turn left on Summit and follow the signs. Got that?"

"Yeah ... left then right onto Grand; right on Delany four blocks to Summit, left on Summit and follow signs."

"I'll give you my Blackberry number in case Rebecca doesn't have it. Have her call and then head right out."

"Okay..."

He recited the number and then hung up.

Ray sat in the treatment room with Kamelya. Ken sat beside her and held her hand. "Ray -- I'm scared," she said.

"You're in good hands." He looked at the time on his handheld. "Where is she?"

"I gave her cracked ice at home," Ken said. "I remember when I had an upset stomach, Mom used to give me a bowl of cracked ice with a spoon."

"Did that help?"

Kamelya nodded. "It helped..."

"Then she said her stomach was hurting worse and worse and she threw up the green slime."

Ray's Blackberry buzzed. "Yeah ... Rebecca! Yes, she's in the ER. They think it might be peritonitis. Calm down and hold on." He carried his Blackberry to the receptionist. "Her mother's on the phone. Can she give verbal authority to proceed with whatever diagnostics you need?"

"Let me speak to her." Ray handed her the Blackberry and paced by the desk. She handed him the phone. "We're going to get some X-rays."

"Rebecca -- Sonay has directions to the hospital. As fast as possible but drive carefully. We don't need an accident on top of everything else. Love you."

He saw Kamelya being wheeled on a gurney to the X-ray room. He put his arm around his son. "Good job, Ken. I'm proud of you."

"She's scared, Dad. She thinks she's going to die."

"She might. If it's peritonitis -- that's pretty serious."

"No, Dad. She can't be that bad. Can she?"

Ray sat in the waiting room holding Rebecca's hand. He gestured toward Ken, sitting with Sonay. She smiled and nodded. "At least Sonay has connected with him," she whispered.

The receptionist beckoned to Rebecca and she gestured to Ray. She led them to Kamelya's treatment room. "The doctor will have a word with you."

"Feeling any better?" Rebecca asked her daughter.

"Uhn-uhn..."

The doctor stepped into the room, switched on a light box and snapped two films in place. "We have a diagnosis," he said.

"What?" Rebecca asked.

"It appears she ingested a foreign object -- it looks like a needle."

"A needle?" The doctor pointed to a thin, white line on the films. "Kamelya -- how could you eat a needle?"

"I don't know," she whimpered.

"Most likely it perforated her intestine and that's what's causing the inflammation. We'll know better once we go inside."

"Go inside?" Rebecca's jaw dropped. "Do you mean she needs surgery?"

"Yes, and right away. We're getting the O.R. ready for her."

"Can't you just put a tube down her throat?" Ray asked.

"It's too far into her intestine to retrieve that way," the doctor replied. "And, it might not even be in her intestine any more. It might have traveled. We'll start getting her prepped for surgery."

An admissions clerk approached with some paperwork. "I'll need insurance information," she said.

"We ... we don't have any," Rebecca stammered. "I'm starting a new job next week."

"Didn't you have a COBRA from your prior employer?"

"No..."

"I can indemnify any fees," Ray said "Let me know what you need."

"We'll deal with that later," the clerk replied. "Here are the admissions forms ... authorization and informed consent..."

Rebecca signed the papers. A nurse came in the room and fastened an ID bracelet around Kamelya's wrist. "Kam..."

"Call her Kami," Ray said.

"Kami? I'm going to start an I.V. Ever have one before?"

"No..."

"Relax -- you'll feel a poke." She taped the tubing to the back of Kamelya's left hand. "Now, I'm going to give you a shot -- into the I.V. That's one advantage of having an I.V -- we can give you your meds and you only have to feel one poke. This shot is going to make you sleepy and take off the edge." She attached the syringe to a fitting, pinched the tube and squeezed the plunger. "There."

Ray watched as Kamelya's eyes drooped and her body relaxed. "Whatever they gave her is really knocking her out," he remarked.

Some orderlies wheeled in a gurney and shifted Kamelya onto it. "We're going for a little ride, now," the nurse said. "Just close your eyes and relax." She turned to Rebecca. "The waiting room for the O.R. is on the third floor."

Ray sat holding Rebecca's hand. Ken sat beside Sonay and together they worked on a crossword puzzle. "Oh, God, Ray," Rebecca said. "I thought I was going to be short of cash before this. This is going to run five figures if not more."

"We'll get through it," he replied.

"We?"

"We can apply some of the settlement from Maggie's malpractice if we need to. Don't worry about it. Getting Kamelya well is our first priority."

Sonay's timer beeped. "Time to pee," she said.

"I'll help you find the ladies' room," Ken said and they headed down the corridor.

"Maybe what we needed was a little crisis for our blended family to gel," Ray remarked. "Ken did a wonderful job tending Kamelya. She insisted he ride in the ambulance with her."

"I'm glad he was there for her."

A doctor in scrubs approached them, carrying a small plastic tray. "Ms DeWitte?"

"Yes?" She stood and faced him.

"I'm Doctor Patel ... surgeon. I'll set your mind at rest. Your daughter pulled through with no complications. I thought you'd be interested in seeing what we removed from her belly." He held up a pair of forceps holding a thin, black object.

"What is that?" Rebecca asked.

"It appears to me to be a bristle from a wire brush. It probably contaminated something she ate recently -- a hot dog or burger or some such." He set the forceps in the tray. "It perforated her intestine. We have repaired the damage. Her chances for a full recovery are excellent."

"How did you go into her?" Ray asked.

"We made a midline incision, through the navel. There's a band of cartilage there. It'll heal more easily and we didn't need to disturb any musculature. For the next day we'll irrigate the region with antibiotic -- she'll receive it intravenously, also."

"How long will she be in the hospital?"

"A few days," the doctor replied. "She's in recovery now and you may see her once she's awake."

"How long had that been inside her?" Rebecca asked.

"Hard to say -- several days; maybe a week or two."

"May we keep that?" Ray asked, pointing to the tray.

"Certainly." The surgeon handed the tray to him. "Good day."

"My God -- how could she have swallowed something like this without knowing it?" she asked.

"You know how kids eat -- they inhale their food."

"I'm getting that same sense of outrage I had when my purse was snatched. This shouldn't have happened. Someone was careless -- and, that someone should pay for this -- but whom? How could we ever know? And now, my beautiful daughter will be scarred for life because of it!" Rebecca fell against Ray and wept.

"At least, she'll be all right," Ray said. "I'd much rather have a scarred person than a perfect corpse."

"Oh, I know. I'm so relieved ... but so angry at the same time."

Ken returned with Sonay. He rushed toward his father. "What's wrong?"