by: Marty Chrisman
Bo made it to the hospital in Capital City in record time. He had radioed Uncle Jesse and Daisy to let them know that he had Luke and was on his way to the hospital. Jesse told Bo that they would meet him there. In the emergency room, Luke was rushed into one of the examining rooms and Bo was ordered to wait in the waiting room. When Jesse and Daisy arrived half an hour later, they found Bo anxiously pacing the floor, a worried look on his face.
“Uncle Jesse,” he said in an agitated voice when he saw his uncle. “They’ve had Luke in there since we got here and nobody will tell me nothing.”
“Now, Bo, just settle down.” Jesse told him “I’m sure they’ll tell us as soon as they know something.”
That was when Doc Applebee came out of the examining room and walked over to the anxious Duke family. “Luke’s in surgery so we can set his ankle. It’s broken in four places and we’re gonna have to use pins to set it, but it should heal without any problems. He has some broken ribs too.”
“That’s good” Jesse said in a relieved voice “Is there anything else?”
“He has a bad infection that’s why he’s running such a high fever. If we can’t get it under control, he could lose his leg. Plus he’s dehydrated and one lung has collapsed. But now that we have him here in the hospital, hopefully we can get those things under control.”
“Can we see him?” Daisy asked anxiously
“He’ll be in surgery for a couple of hours and then he’ll probably be out of it for the rest of the night. And right now, it’s important that he rest. Why don’t you come back tomorrow? He should be awake by then.”
Satisfied that Luke was out of danger, the Dukes returned home to get some rest themselves. The next afternoon they arrived at the hospital to find Luke conscious but still a little groggy. Luke told them what he could remember about the accident.
“Well, thank goodness that Cory found you or we could have lost you.” Daisy said, gently rubbing her cousin’s hand.
“I remember Red Lynn,” Jesse said “Ornery ole cuss but one hell of a moon shiner. Those must be his son’s kids. We ran a lot of shine together in the old days.”
“When I get out of here, I wanna find ‘em and thank ‘em personal for everything they did.” Luke said
“Well, that might be a problem. Red was always kinda secretive about exactly where he lived. I was never even there.”
“Yeah, and I don’t remember exactly how we got there either.” Bo admitted “I was too worried about you so I wasn’t paying much attention.”
“Yeah, that sounds like Red.” Jesse agreed “If you don’t know exactly how to find that cabin, you’ll probably never find it again.”
“Well I’m still gonna try” Luke said.
“Well, you get some rest right now.” Jesse ordered “There’ll be time enough for that after you get well.”
“Jesse,” Luke said in a troubled voice looking at his Uncle somberly “Am I going to lose my leg?”
“Doc’s doing everything he can to make sure that don’t happen.” Jesse told him reassuringly. “Now you get some rest and try not to worry.” Luke nodded as his Uncle and two cousins left his room. But it was hard not to worry. He had overheard a couple of nurses talking. He knew how serious the infection in his leg was and he was scared.
Doc Applebee did little to relieve those fears when he came in to check on Luke later that afternoon. After examining his leg for several long minutes, he finally sighed and looked at Luke with an expression on his face that scared Luke to death.
“Luke, I’m afraid we’re gonna have to take you back to surgery so we can lance your leg to drain the infection. That’s the only way we’re gonna save your leg.” He said “We’re also going to have to put you on some heavy duty antibiotics that might cause some nasty side effects.”
“Just do what you have to do, Doc.” Luke told him “I don’t wanna lose my leg.”
“Do you want me to call Jesse?”
“No, I don’t wanna worry him anymore then he already is.”
“Alright, then we’ll go ahead with the surgery as soon as I can get an OR scheduled.”
The idea of having more surgery did not appeal to Luke. He didn’t like being cut on. But he didn’t want to lose his leg either. Doc managed to get an OR scheduled for later that morning. By two o’clock that afternoon, Luke was back in his room. He was groggy and sleepy from the medication but he was still vaguely aware of the shunt that had been placed in the incision in his leg to drain the infection.
When Jesse came in early that afternoon, Luke knew from the expression on his face that he had been talking to the doctor. He waited, his heart pounding nervously, for his Uncle to tell him what Doc Applebee had said. Jesse got right to the point.
“Doc says the infection had gone into the bone. He thinks they got it all out, but you’re still gonna have to take some pretty strong antibiotics for the next six weeks as a precaution. And he said that your right ankle is always going to be weaker than your other one. So you’ll need to be careful cause it will break pretty easy.”
“Is there still a chance I could lose my leg?”
“There’s a chance of that if the infection comes back.” Jesse admitted. “And the antibiotics that they’re gonna be giving you can have some pretty nasty side effects. You ain’t gonna be doing much for the next six weeks and you’re probably still gonna feel pretty lousy.”
“Terrific.” Luke muttered . No matter how back the side effects were, he knew he would cope with them somehow. The important thing was that he not lose his leg. Luke had to stay in the hospital for over a week then he was released with strict orders to take it easy for the next 6 weeks. He had a soft cast on his leg that could be taken off to check the wound twice a day and was on crutches. Because of how badly his ankle had been broken and the pins would permanently remain in the bone.
He did have serious side effects from the powerful antibiotics he was required to take for 6 weeks. Those side effects included severe nausea and vomiting, severe diarrhea, dry mouth, and fatigue. He was downright miserable but he was no longer in danger of losing his leg. After the wound on his leg healed, the soft cast was replaced with a walking cast and he was able to discard the crutches.
6 months after the accident, Luke, accompanied by Bo went back up on the mountain to try and find the Lynn siblings. He still wanted to thank Cory and his sister personally for saving his life. But no matter how they searched, the boys could never find the Lynn cabin. Luke hoped that someday he would see the Lynns again so he could thank them properly for everything they had done for him.