I followed along behind the gurney at breakneck speed through the maze of corridors and rooms. We attracted looks from everyone we met in the halls…… they could tell it was a serious case just by the haste. I’m sure I was frantic by now. Dr. Buckner had ordered a room ahead for her and she was placed in bed with a nurse waiting to take her vitals and ask a few questions. When she finished with that she said she needed to look at the area Becky described and lifted the sheet. She showed no emotion and put the sheet back…..saying she would be back in a little bit….and for Becky to rest.

In minutes, Dr. Buckner arrived from the Emergency Room where he was one of the doctor’s on a Trauma Team. The nurse followed him into the room and their faces looked as blank as they could manage but I knew he came too quick for something to be OK……..one look and he touched her arm and told her he was going to get her some help. He wanted X-rays and rattled off a bunch of tests to the nurse that he wanted and told Becky she would be going down to the ER area for a quicker evaluation. Within 10-minutes they whisked her out and I stayed in the room.

Bear had driven home to get me some things to stay with Becky, to call John and take the cats to the clinic for boarding. He did all that and arrived early afternoon. Dr. Buckner was young, handsome…….and aggressive with his patients needs. He seemed to know exactly what to do and had it all in control. There was not the waiting and indecision we had encountered at the West Plains Hospital where they kept taking tests and writing notes. We had been there six hours to no avail. Time wasted that Becky could have been getting help in Cox Hospital. I trusted him.

A short time later he came through the door with test results and was on high alert. He said there was a large mass of fluid in her abdomen and he wasn’t sure what it was. It could be necrotizing fasciitis …………..when he said that, Becky, Bear and I dropped our jaws. That had been the infection that almost took Bear’s life in 1980 when he was spared by the tiniest margin………he was fortunate to have only lost a leg. It is a fast moving infection that travels the plains between the muscles in the body and the flesh dies faster than the anti-biotics can get to it. Saving a patient depends on the severity and the speed of the infection……we had lost a lot of time with Becky. This only happens in about one out of a million patients and it’s a battle hard fought to win. How could it happen twice to the three of us?

Dr. Buckner was surprised at our reaction and asked if we knew what it was……..we told him about Bear and he said he didn’t want to cause Becky any undue worry but he thought we should know going in to surgery just what we could be up against. He told her she would have to have surgery ASAP and a nurse would get her ready. Becky asked if she was going to come out of the surgery and he told her………. “I can promise to get you past surgery………after that, it’s out of my hands but we’ll do all we can. We have to see what’s causing this, first.” Becky immediately asked me to call our pastor and some of our friends and family for prayer. She put herself in God’s hands and they took her to the surgical floor. The time was about 5:00pm. We had now been over 14-hours trying to get help for her. We were about to accomplish that.

Bear and I went to the Surgical Waiting Room and tried to collect out thoughts. I was more or less in a state of shock and Bear was trying to console me but not having much luck. How could this happen again? I couldn’t get it out of my head that we might be going home without Becky. It just couldn’t be. I called her two children, Jennifer and Jonathan, and John. He told me he would call their dad and George. After that there was nothing to do but wait.

Just as they were ready to operate on Becky, an emergency call came in that a bad car wreck happened north of town and the trauma team had to prepare for several people who were badly injured. They were being flown to the hospital in the helicopter. Becky’s surgery was delayed 2-hours. Dr. Cordonnier came in about the time they were finished with the injured and offered to assist Dr. Buckner on Becky’s case since he had performed the gall-bladder surgery. So they both took her to OR and Bear and I went back to the waiting room. It was a miserable time. I was worn out and sleepy. The stress was getting to me and I couldn’t get comfortable. The clock seemed to drag out the minutes and we were alone and in the dark in the waiting room which was closed down for the night.

Finally, we heard footsteps coming down the hall and we sat up and saw it was Dr. Buckner and Dr. Cordonnier….they were talking energetically and seemed to be in great spirits. They came quickly and told us that the best possible thing happened that could………the bile duct had come loose from the stitches and had been pumping bile into her abdomen since her surgery. This was six days ago. They said they removed 3-liters of fluid from her abdomen and there was no infection found anywhere…… she would be awake in a little bit and we could go in and see her. They were jubilant and very happy to be able to bring us good news.

We were shown where she lay on a gurney and walked up to her…..I asked if she was awake and she said she was……..I said, “Becky! You’re going to live!! It was a bile leak in your abdomen. You’re going to live, honey!” She managed a smile and put her hand up…….I kissed her and we left. She was going to ICU and we were shown where the ICU waiting room was and given blankets. The room was full of anxious families or friends of patients. We all had one thing in common that night. We wanted to be close to our loved ones for better or worse. We were there for them and the discomfort of the recliners didn’t matter at all.

Becky was going to live and everything was going to be all right. Sleep came easily……..

Until the next time,
Essentially Esther