Chapter 3

Wednesday morning was again sunny as the early morning sun shone directly into the room, causing Brian to wake up. He opened his eyes and found his eyesight was better, but not totally clear yet. The sound in his head was muted when his eyes were open and other than a dull overall ache in his head, he felt better. The clock on the wall showed it was only 7:30 but he felt well rested. His stomach growled and his throat was dry so he reached for the bed controls and found the button to raise the head of the bed. After he was in a sitting position he had a big drink of ice water and relaxed until the nurses came in about 8:00 o'clock.

They did a full assessment of his various wounds, marked down their observations and then recorded the various machine readings. They gave him another sponge bath and as per instructions removed the rest of the tubes from him. The nurses helped him to the bathroom and he had a painful time but finally peed. They helped him up and he looked in the mirror as he washed his hands.

"Wow, I look like death warmed over, don't I?" he asked the nurses.

"Well, you look much better than you did last week Brian. You really looked terrible then!" one nurse replied.

Brian shook his head as he peered at his image in the mirror. He was very pale and most of head was shaved bare. The front head wound was ghastly to say the least. There was a stitched up cut about six inches long on the top of his left side of this head that ended up just above his left eye. The area around it was still swollen and all purple and red. They were a couple of small tubes, or shunts, sticking out of holes in his head, presumably to keep the pressure down from the brain swelling.

His left eye was still a bit bloodshot and he had a black eye around it. He turned his head to try and see the back of it, and he could just see another vertical cut stitched up and more bruising around it, before he had to stop due to the pain of moving his head.

He looked down at his left arm and saw that the cut was across the bicep from the top down the outside and again was stitched up. He could move the arm with only a little pain so it didn't appear to have cut much of the muscle.

"I could win a Frankenstein look-a-like contest hands down right now" he remarked. "I wish I could have seen myself a week ago if you tell me I look much better now!"

"I'm sure there are some pictures floating around somewhere Brian" the other nurse informed him.

They helped him back to bed just in time for breakfast. He quickly ate everything on the tray, which consisted of soft foods like scrambled eggs, oatmeal, rice pudding and bread as well as juice and milk.

The doctor came in and after greeting him with a good morning, examined him thoroughly.

"You seem to be progressing well Mr. Trainer" the doctor informed him. "I think we can take out these shunts this morning and let the holes heal up. The cuts seem to be healing fine and your eye looks better. How is your eyesight and hearing coming along?"

"My eyesight is definitely improving Dr. Hilliard, but that sound is still there. It was quieter this morning" Brian responded.

"And how was it last night?" he asked.

"It got louder when I closed my eyes and it was more like people whispering or murmuring nonsense than any buzzing sound" Brian replied.

"That's certainly weird as you say. I'll have our resident ear specialist come in and check you out today Brian" Dr. Hilliard informed him.

"Thanks Doc, it's pretty annoying to say the least" answered Brian.

The doctor and the nurses worked together to remove the shunts and bandage Brian back up. They made him comfortable in bed and left him alone after giving him some more pain medication, though at a lower dose. He dozed for a while until his mother came in with some of the things he had requested.

"Hey Mom, did you find the place ok last night?" Brian asked.

"Hello Brian, yes, your directions were quite precise thank you" she replied. "How are you feeling this morning?"

"Better, I got all the tubes out and the shunts as well" he answered. "I had a good breakfast and my pain meds so I'm feeling pretty good right now."

"That's good to hear, you're looking a bit better colour wise as well" his Mom stated. "I brought you some clothes, some of the books you wanted as well as your laptop."

"Great Mom thanks. I'll probably get bored in here soon enough" he told her.

She put the books and laptop on the side table where Brian could reach them and helped him put on the underwear and sweat pants so his ass wouldn't be flapping in the breeze the way it did in with just the hospital gown on. They had to wait until his bandages came off his head again to slip a tee shirt over it, so Brian kept on the gown for now.

All the activity tired him out so Brian laid back on the raised bed and rested his eyes for a bit while his mother sat down in a chair and read for awhile.

Terry's parents came into the room about eleven thirty and quietly greeted Brian's Mom. They asked how he was doing and she gave him the run down on his condition. Brian heard them talking and opened his eyes to see the Simons sitting down with his mother, chatting away.

"Hello Mr. and Mrs. Simon. How are you two today?" he asked.

The Simons got up and approached the bed.

"Brian, you look like crap" said Dale.

"Dale!" protested Mrs. Simon

Brian cracked a smile and said "I not only look like crap, I feel like crap Mr Simon."

"No way to sugar coat it is there young man? The good thing is that at least you are alive to feel anything and you know that you will get better" Dale stated.

"I couldn't agree more" Brian answered.

"So, what has the doctor told you?" asked Mrs. Simon.

"Well, things are healing, they got the shunts and tubes out this morning and my eyesight is better" Brian replied. "I should be out in a few days and then spend up to a few weeks at home with some home nursing care before getting back on the job."

"Don't rush back. The job will be there whenever you're ready. Terry is going to be picking up the slack while you're gone" stated Dale.

"I have my laptop here so if he needs any help I can provide it if he wants to email me or call me. I don't know where my cell is though, I had it with me at the restaurant" Brian said.

"I think it was broken in the fight Brian" answered his Mom.

"Oh well, he can email me and I can help him from here" Brian stated.

"Terry needs to handle this by himself. He needs to prove to me that he can actually handle this without your help or he will be demoted to janitor soon. His actions last week almost gotten you killed over a stupid car and then your absence has shown us that you have been doing not only your work but also his at the same time" Dale said in disgust.

"Terry did stuff too. He is very good with people, much better than me. I let him handle the customer relation stuff with purchasing while I handled the detail stuff with engineering and suppliers. We were a team with the work divided based on our strengths, not on the usual divisions of engineer versus manager" Brian tried to explain.

"Nice try and it shows you have loyalty to Terry, but don't try to kid a kidder" Mr. Simon stated emphatically. "Terry has abused your friendship and his position for too long. I know it, he knows it and you know it. When you get back, you will be promoted to program manager and if Terry survives the next few weeks, he can work under you, if you want him."

"Enough about work boys, Brian is supposed to be recuperating, not talking shop" stated Mrs. Simon.

"You're right dear. Ok, Brian, we'll talk more when you get well. Don't worry about work until you get back in, we'll take care of it. It's the least I can do for what you did to save our idiot son from his stupidity" Dale said, shaking his head.