by: Marty Chrisman
Doctor Malone finished his examination and looked at the anxious faces of the other members of the Duke family. He smiled encouragingly and said, “It does look like Luke is trying to come out of the coma. But it could take a few days yet, maybe longer.”
“Oh, thank god!” Daisy said, burying her face against her Uncle’s shoulder and beginning to cry softly. Jesse smiled through his own tears and tightened his arm around his niece’s shoulder comfortingly. Bo grinned broadly. The doctor didn’t need to tell him something that he already knew.
“He’s still in a lot of pain.” Bo told the doctor “You gotta give him something for it. I ain’t gonna have him suffering.”
“I’ll write an order for a morphine drip. Just enough to keep him comfortable.” The doctor said
“Doc, what about his head?” Jesse asked
“It’s still too soon to tell much. We need him awake and alert to properly access his condition any further.”
“He’ll be alright, you’ll see.” Bo said confidently “It won’t be as bad as you think it’s gonna be.”
The doctor looked at Bo with an arched eyebrow but didn’t comment. There seemed to be a strange sort of connection between the two young men, the doctor had sensed it. Luke’s condition had started improving as soon as the younger man started coming to see him. He had seen the same kind of connection a few times before during his career, usually between a man and his wife after they had been married for several years. It was almost a psychic bond that held them together. He had even seen one spouse die within days of losing their mate because that bond was so strong. He had learned not to question it or the fact that it existed in the first place.
Luke listened to their conversation about him disinterestedly. What was wrong with his head? He couldn’t seem to remember much about what had happened to him and why he was in the state he was in. But at least the doctor was going to do something to make the pain go away. He was tired of being in so much pain. He had never hurt so much in his life. But, somehow it did seem to be a little better than it had been. At least his stomach and chest didn’t feel like they were being ripped apart anymore. The only thing that really still like hell was his head. And he couldn’t understand the strange tingling sensation in his hands and arms and his feet and legs. He tried not to think about it too much or it just might drive him crazy. He wished he could open his eyes but that was the one thing he still couldn’t seem to do.
After the doctor left, Bo sat down next to Luke on one side, and Daisy sat down on the other side of the bed. They both touched his hands, gently rubbing them and talking to him quietly. They sensed that he could hear them and that somehow he knew that they were there. So they wrapped their love around him to keep him safe. They knew it was love that had kept him with them so far and it was love that would bring him back to them.
He seemed to be responding more to them each time they were there. He would sometimes squeeze their hands now in response to their presence. Not very hard, but hard enough that there was no mistaking the gesture. And a couple of times, he had even turned his head slightly in the direction of their voice when they spoke to him. He was finally breathing on his own again and had been taken of the ventilator and the pacemaker had been removed. His body was functioning on its own again without the help of all the machines. He was still hooked up to the heart monitor and the nurses still came in every half hour to check his vital signs but for the first time since the accident, they actually had hope.