Fluorescent Adolescent

"Do you know what would be really awesome?" Kenna asked as we made our way to Dr. Marsh's office. All of the nurses who hadn't been assigned a patient were meeting up in her office so she could disribute everyone their patients folders. "And what would that be?" I asked her. A smirk made its way onto her face, "If we got like, a famous person, you know? Like you walk in to their room, and BOOM! Zac Efron was laying in one of the beds." She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, probably imagining how the scene would turn out in her mind. I rolled my eyes, "I highly doubt Zac Efron will be in Baltimore, much less in this hospital." Kenna frowned, "A girl can dream, can't she?"

When we made it to the office, Dr. Marsh was already handing out everyone's folders. McKenna's last name was before mine, so when she looked at who her patient was, she heaved a disappointed sigh. "I got a eighty-two year old woman who's diagnosed with alzheimer's. Grand." She waved good bye and headed towards whatever ward her patient was currently living in. Not a minute later, Dr. Marsh handed me my patient's folder with a small smile. I thanked her and turned to leave, but before I left her office, I noticed something about my patient. "Doctor, you gave me a male patient.." I announced uneasily.

She turned around and faced me, her eyebrows raised. "I believe I did, Michelle, is there a problem?" I looked at her, my eyebrows scrunching together, "Well, wouldn't you think it would be better for both the patient and I to be the same gender, at least?" She laughed a little, though there was nothing funny about the situation. My problem with the opposing genders is that when you take care of a patient, you see them naked just as much as you see them clothed. "And what would be the difference between you getting a female patient?" She asked, a smile playing on her old lips, as if she were getting a kick out of what we were discussing. "I'm sure the paitent would feel more comfortable if he was being cared for by another man." I answered.

She shook her head, "Ah, but in the end, you realise that the only things that make us different are our genders. Things like this will come up again, Mitchy. Whether you get an elderly person to take care of, or a younger person, you'll need to learn to not be embarrassed by other's body parts. We're all human." And with that, she walked passed me, clipboard in hand. I groaned quietly. Lets take a look at you, Mr. Gaskarth. I flipped open my folder, looking over my patient's basic facts:

Alexander W. Gaskarth
Age: 25
Sex: Male
Notes: Patient has been comatose since January 26th of 2013, recently awoke June 6th.

I looked down at my wrist and checked the date, June 7th. I shook my head, He's been in a coma for almost five months? I've never met someone who had just woken up from a coma, but I'm sure he's confused as hell. I sighed, feeling deeply sorry for both him and his family. I looked up what ward he was in, and was on my way. I usually wasn't nervous when it came to meeting patients, but this one was different. He wasn't another nurses patient, he was mine. I would be feeding him, helping him bathe, and helping him walk around the hospital. They don't seem that bad, but seeing as how he was only a few years older than me..it'll be awkward.

I shook my head. I shouldn't be working myself up over this! He is a my patient, who gives a shit if he feels awkward? I'm there to do my job, nothing more and nothing less. As I walked down what will soon be a familiar hallway, I came to his door. Taking a deep breath, I knock twice before going inside. As I closed the door behind me, a husky voice asked, "What's the date?" I looked over, my eyebrows scrunching together in confusion. "Didn't the doctors tell you?"

He laughed dryly, "They didn't tell me shit, actually. They just told me to go back to sleep. Why am I in here anyway? My friends must be wondering where I am, we went to a bar last night..or maybe it was the night before..but I fell, hit my head." He reached up and touched his head before placing his hands back in his lap. I set down his folder on the side table beside his bed. "Well, Alex, I guess I might as well introduce myself. My name's Michelle, but everyone calls me Mitchy or Mitch. I'm going to be your nurse for the next few months so-" I was rudely interrupted by Alex screaming at me, his face going red with sudden anger. "Few months? Are you fucking joking me? I have a job to do, places to fucking go, I can't stay in here for months! I'm fucking fine! All I did was hit my head, and its all healed up from over night! I don't need to be here."

I sighed, expecting something like this. The doctors left it up to me to tell him he's actually been in here for a few months already, which will probably light another angry spark from him. "Alex, the date is June 7th, you've already been in the hospital for almost five months. When you hit your head, you fell into a coma. We've been taking care of you for awhile, but now that you're awake I can help your healing process." He stared at me, dubfounded. His jaw slightly went slack, and his eyes seemed to focus on nothing. It was quiet for a few moments. With him trying to figure out that he woke up from a coma not even a day ago, I stayed quiet and let him think. "A coma?" He asked quietly, causing me to nod. He bit his lip, "Does my family know I'm awake? My friends? Are they on our way to come see me?"

"Once the visiting hours are open I'll make a call telling them that you've woken up. I'm sure they'll be relieved once they find out you're alright." He nodded his head, a small, cute smile spreading across his lips. Michelle! Don't say that about your patient!. "So now that I'm awake I can leave in a few days, right?" I shook my head, "I'm afraid it doesn't work that way, Alex. Your body's become weak with the lack of exercise, even with the daily work out's that the other nurses have given you, you won't be able to fully walk for a few days. You'll still be needing daily checkups, making sure that everything is ok."

He sighed, closing his eyes and leaning his head against his pillows. "What time do the visiting hours start?" He asked quietly. "7:30am." I answered automatically. "What time is it now?" I looked down at my watch, translating the army time to the usual time, "7:25, if you want, I can make the call now. Would you be ok with that?" He nodded his head and smiled, "Yeah, that'd be great. Do you mind calling my parents and then my friends? They'd all want to be here." I told him that would be fine, and asked him what his parents number was, but he remained quiet. I looked up from my paper, wondering why he wasn't answering me, but I quickly understood once I saw the look on his face.

Anger and extreme confusion covered the features on his face. "I don't remember.." He whispered, sounding surprised. "I don't fucking remember my own goddamn parents number!" In patients who have recently woken up from comas, almost all of them will have some sort of memory loss. But with Alex, the memory loss only caused him to become more frustrated than anything. His breathing started to speed up and his heart rate gained speed. He started yelling at himself, at everything, and before I could say something to calm him down, he began throwing off the blankets that were covering his body, and ripped out the IV's from his arms. I panicked. I quickly ran to the door, pressing the emergency button and called for help, asking for something to sedate him.

Alex threw his legs over the side of the bed before planting them on the ground, but what surprised him was how he couldn't hold up his own body weight. He quickly fell to the ground, curses falling from his lips. I rushed over to him, throwing one of his arms over my shoulder, and struggled to get him back onto the bed. When he was seated, he shoved me away. "I don't need your fucking help!" Just then, two nurses came in. One had a needle while the other one held down Alex's left arm. "Hold on to him, Samantha needs to give him the shot." I nodded my head and did as I was told. Alex thrashed around in his bed, claiming that he would calm down if they didn't give him the shot, but we've all heard that one before. Alex's eyelids fluttered and closed, his body becoming still.

"Do you need him restrained, Mitch?" I looked back over at Alex, watching him as he took calm breaths. "Yeah, he freaked out when he couldn't remember his parents phone number. Something as small as that will set him off, I don't want him hurting himself when I'm not here to help." Jen nodded her head and buckled one of his arms to the lether straps, and Sam did the same on the other side. "Do you need anymore help or are you alright?" I took a deep breath, but shook my head. "I'll be ok, thanks. I don't think he'll snap again. Do you mind asking Jan if she can look up his family's number and tell him that he's awake, or was at least? He'd like to see them." The girls nodded and left the room.

Looking at my watch, I saw that it was around eight oclock. I walked out of Alex's room and made my way to the cafeteria, grabbing a plate of breakfast for him, and stopping by the pharmacy to grab his pills. Al, the pharmacist, said, "I heard there was some trouble with your patient, did ya get assigned a crazy one?" I shook my head, "No Al, he just woke up from a coma last night. He got frustrated when he couldn't remember his parents phone number. I felt so bad for him, though. I don't think all of his memory will fully come back to him. I just hope that when his family and friends come to visit it'll calm him down a bit." Al handed me the pills in a paper Dixie cup and smiled, "You are one sweet gal, Mitchy. I'm sure that boy will come to realise that soon enough. But until then, you'll have to deal with episodes like that. You're a tough cookie though, you'll pull through, honey." I smiled and thanked him, making my way back to Alex's. When I opened the door, I saw that Alex was still asleep. I set down his tray of food on the table next to his bed, and walked over to the water fountain and filled up a cup of water.

As I set down the glass next to his food, the door bursted open, and a very tall dark haired man walked in through the door, a worried expression on his face. "They said he's awake, is he?" I shook my head, "No, he had to be sedated. He has woken up from his coma, though. He's healthy, but still a bit confused. Would you like a chair?" He took his eyes off from Alex and looked at me, "Yeah, that'd be great. When do you think he'll be awake?" I walked over to the other side of the room, picked up one of the chairs, and walked it back over to the side of the bed. "I'm not sure, they didn't give him a lot, just enough to put him to sleep. He may wake up in half an hour, two hours, or maybe he'll wake up in a few minutes. I can't know for sure."

He nodded his head, and stuck out his hand out. "I'm Jack, by the way. I'm Alex's best friend. I was there when he hit his head, but I didn't think he'd actually go into a coma..I feel like it was all my fault." I frowned when I heard him say this. "You shouldn't blame yourself. I'm sure if you could have stopped it from happening you would have. I'm Michelle, by the way." I imitated his voice, making him smile. "But you can call me Mitchy. I'm Alex's nurse, so I'll be with him until he's fully recovered." Jack's smile became even wider, "Well, Mitchy, I'm sure I'll be seeing a lot of you for the next few months."