Rose Lilliana Shaw (
rosetattoo) wrote in
dreamlikenewyork2014-07-09 11:32 am
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Word of the Day 090.
HERE @ muserevival
Coterie
n. 1. a group of people who associate closely. 2. an exclusive group; clique.
There hadn’t been many occasions yet that Rose and Angel had left their new baby daughter with anyone. They were still learning to be parents, and with that came the fierce over-protectiveness and separation anxiety. It was tough for them to leave her with anyone else without one of them being around. It would get better, they knew that. But for now, people understood. They were so damn lucky to have a very close and extended network of people around them for support, and right now, it felt like they were all connected to Beau.
And Beau was the reason Angel and Rose were leaving their baby girl with Rose’s big sister, Julie, and her husband, Euan, that morning. They needed to be at the hospital, and everything was teetering on a precipice. Today could end really hopeful, or it could end in a tragic way where they might have to finally say goodbye to Beau. Beau had the early stages of ventilator-associated pneumonia, they called it. Yet another thing that could impact heavily on his already very ailing health. Any of these serious onslaughts his system was being attacked by could kill him. In fact, it was probably a miracle he was still there and fighting.
Angel and Rose needed to be there that morning while they began to try to wean Beau off the ventilator. It would begin with switching it off and seeing it he could take his own breaths, and if he did, the tube would soon be taken from his lungs to see if he could continue. The problem with all that was that Beau could crash. He might start breathing, and then stop again. And he might not survive another resuscitation. In fact, it was almost certain he wasn’t with his heart still being weak from the infection and his body taxed from the chemotherapy. Suddenly, Beau had gone from a cancer surviving success story to the horror story no one would ever wish on someone, with the ‘possible complications of treatment’ becoming a harsh reality no one was managing to cope with.
It was like a military operation. There was a whole team there, and another crash team on stand-by. Rose was watching Austin, though. She was wondering if he was seriously thinking about intercepting and telling them to make good on Beau’s ‘Do not resuscitate’ wishes that he had dissolved when he couldn’t just let him go the first time he had a cardiac arrest and stopped breathing. Austin was white. He looked like he wanted to throw up, but he hadn’t been able to eat at all in the past 24 hours leading up to this moment. Angel was sitting beside him, rigid, stressed to the max because he knew there was little he could do to help his twin feel better in this situation. It all came down to Beau. Not even the best and most extensive support system of amazing people could ensure Beau would be able to breathe unassisted.
It was like a slow-mo moment in a movie when Tara was finally standing over Beau to switch off his ventilation. Other than the sounds the machines were making, the room was silent for a few agonising moments. At least until the nurses started to commentate Beau’s progress. It seemed like everyone was holding their breath for Beau, possibly even subconsciously trying to breathe themselves soon to coach him how to do it again. All fruitless, of course, but you didn’t have rational responses with something like this. Rose had a death grip on Angel’s hand, and her other hand over pressed over her mouth in anticipation. She was fearing the worst because that was so much less painful that hoping for the best and it all being ripped out from under you.
“Okay, we got him, he’s breathing,” Tara confirmed and with a gesture, instructed one of the ICU nurses (who happened to be Christian’s sister, Maddie) to count through on the breaths Beau was maintaining himself. Any small hitch could be a warning sign. It didn’t seem real. It was hard to truly process that Beau was showing signs of coming through this. Rose watched on, eyes wide, whilst a seat over beside Angel, Austin was bursting into tears. The emotional onslaught hit him, and it was hard enough as it was to not be able to grab Beau and hug him, to show him how happy they were he was managing this.
Beau wasn’t out of the woods yet, but maybe there was just a tiny flicker of light at the end of the tunnel. Rose’s met Angel’s eyes helplessly, and then looked over at Austin, reaching around Angel to rub Austin’s back soothingly. It would probably be easier for him once they got that tube out of Beau’s mouth and he kept breathing without it. Until now, they would take any sliver of hope they could get.
Coterie
n. 1. a group of people who associate closely. 2. an exclusive group; clique.
There hadn’t been many occasions yet that Rose and Angel had left their new baby daughter with anyone. They were still learning to be parents, and with that came the fierce over-protectiveness and separation anxiety. It was tough for them to leave her with anyone else without one of them being around. It would get better, they knew that. But for now, people understood. They were so damn lucky to have a very close and extended network of people around them for support, and right now, it felt like they were all connected to Beau.
And Beau was the reason Angel and Rose were leaving their baby girl with Rose’s big sister, Julie, and her husband, Euan, that morning. They needed to be at the hospital, and everything was teetering on a precipice. Today could end really hopeful, or it could end in a tragic way where they might have to finally say goodbye to Beau. Beau had the early stages of ventilator-associated pneumonia, they called it. Yet another thing that could impact heavily on his already very ailing health. Any of these serious onslaughts his system was being attacked by could kill him. In fact, it was probably a miracle he was still there and fighting.
Angel and Rose needed to be there that morning while they began to try to wean Beau off the ventilator. It would begin with switching it off and seeing it he could take his own breaths, and if he did, the tube would soon be taken from his lungs to see if he could continue. The problem with all that was that Beau could crash. He might start breathing, and then stop again. And he might not survive another resuscitation. In fact, it was almost certain he wasn’t with his heart still being weak from the infection and his body taxed from the chemotherapy. Suddenly, Beau had gone from a cancer surviving success story to the horror story no one would ever wish on someone, with the ‘possible complications of treatment’ becoming a harsh reality no one was managing to cope with.
It was like a military operation. There was a whole team there, and another crash team on stand-by. Rose was watching Austin, though. She was wondering if he was seriously thinking about intercepting and telling them to make good on Beau’s ‘Do not resuscitate’ wishes that he had dissolved when he couldn’t just let him go the first time he had a cardiac arrest and stopped breathing. Austin was white. He looked like he wanted to throw up, but he hadn’t been able to eat at all in the past 24 hours leading up to this moment. Angel was sitting beside him, rigid, stressed to the max because he knew there was little he could do to help his twin feel better in this situation. It all came down to Beau. Not even the best and most extensive support system of amazing people could ensure Beau would be able to breathe unassisted.
It was like a slow-mo moment in a movie when Tara was finally standing over Beau to switch off his ventilation. Other than the sounds the machines were making, the room was silent for a few agonising moments. At least until the nurses started to commentate Beau’s progress. It seemed like everyone was holding their breath for Beau, possibly even subconsciously trying to breathe themselves soon to coach him how to do it again. All fruitless, of course, but you didn’t have rational responses with something like this. Rose had a death grip on Angel’s hand, and her other hand over pressed over her mouth in anticipation. She was fearing the worst because that was so much less painful that hoping for the best and it all being ripped out from under you.
“Okay, we got him, he’s breathing,” Tara confirmed and with a gesture, instructed one of the ICU nurses (who happened to be Christian’s sister, Maddie) to count through on the breaths Beau was maintaining himself. Any small hitch could be a warning sign. It didn’t seem real. It was hard to truly process that Beau was showing signs of coming through this. Rose watched on, eyes wide, whilst a seat over beside Angel, Austin was bursting into tears. The emotional onslaught hit him, and it was hard enough as it was to not be able to grab Beau and hug him, to show him how happy they were he was managing this.
Beau wasn’t out of the woods yet, but maybe there was just a tiny flicker of light at the end of the tunnel. Rose’s met Angel’s eyes helplessly, and then looked over at Austin, reaching around Angel to rub Austin’s back soothingly. It would probably be easier for him once they got that tube out of Beau’s mouth and he kept breathing without it. Until now, they would take any sliver of hope they could get.