Chapter 45

“What was all that, I wonder?” Jackie Littrell asked. From the small, private waiting room where they all sat, they had heard a loud commotion in the hall.

“Who knows,” her husband murmured. “It’s over now though, I guess.”

They hadn’t any idea what had just happened.

Suddenly, Dr. Adele entered the room, closing the door behind him.

“Oh, Dr. Adele!” Jackie cried, nearly jumping when she saw him. “How is he?”

Silently, Dr. Adele thanked God once again for sparing Brian. As an experienced doctor and surgeon, he had learned not to get emotionally attached to patients. It made their dying and having to tell their families easier, although it was never easy in the first place. But Brian was a different case. Dr. Adele had gotten attached to Brian, not just though Brian himself, but through his loyal fans and his kind family. As hard as it would have been to have declared Brian’s death with so many fans watching, he knew it would have been harder to break that horrible news to Brian’s family and friends, this large, caring group before him. But because of a miracle, as Dr. Adele had come to believe, he would not have to give them that news, at least not yet.

“Well, Mrs. Littrell, Brian’s out of surgery and in recovery right now,” he said, offering her a comforting smile.

“Oh, thanks Heavens,” she said, relaxing a bit and smiling widely.

“Thank you, Dr. Adele,” Harold said, shaking Dr. Adele’s hand. “Thank you so much.”

“So, everything went okay in surgery?” Kevin asked.

Dr. Adele took a deep breath. He knew couldn’t lie to these people about what had really happened and what had almost happened in the operating room. “Not quite,” he said, hoping to make this as easy as possible for all of them. “There were some complications towards the end of the surgery.”

“What kind of complications?” AJ demanded warily.

“Well, as we were about to sew him up, Brian flat-lined,” Dr. Adele stated slowly. “We’re not really sure why, but I’m assuming it’s because of the pneumonia. Operating on a person with any kind of infection is risky, I told you that, but we didn’t have much of a choice. We were very lucky that nothing happened until the end, and we were very lucky to have gotten him back,” Dr. Adele said.

“He’s going to be okay then?” asked Nick, who had barely said a word the entire time Brian was in surgery.

“Well, he’s not out of the woods yet,” Dr. Adele admitted. “He has a long road to recovery ahead of him. But hopefully, with the medical care we can provide for him, as well as your prayers and support, he will make it. I will tell you, we’ll need to run some extra tests on him when he’s more stable to determine what exactly caused the complication during surgery. Hopefully, it’s nothing that caused any serious damage.”

“Damage? What kind of damage?” Harold asked.

“I’ll discuss that when the time comes, if I need to,” Dr. Adele said. “But for now, we just need to concentrate on Brian recuperating from the surgery.”

“When can we see him?” Jackie asked eagerly.

“He’ll need a few more hours in recovery, and then we’ll move him to a private room in isolation where he will recover further. At that point, only immediate family members will be allowed to see him,” Dr. Adele explained.

“Okay, thank you,” Jackie said.

“You’re very welcome,” Dr. Adele said. “I need to be going now. Good luck to all of you. I’ll see you later.”

They told him goodbye and watched as he left the room. Once he was gone, much of the tension and fear that had filled the room before was gone, replaced by relief.

Chapter 46