Trey Comes Calling
by: E Walk
(© 2010-2011 by the Author)
 

The author retains all rights. No reproductions are allowed without the author's consent. Comments are appreciated at...

Chapter 8

Appendicitis

Trey and I fixed dinner but Jordan just picked at his food and went back to bed.  Trey was getting his three brothers ready for bed when Jack arrived with some things for the Richards boys and a signed letter from Bart Richards assigning me as the boys’ guardian.  “Ed, I can’t stay.  I need to be at the office early, since Bart isn’t going to be in.  They decided to keep him in the hospital another night.  Are you sure you’re up to taking care of the Richards’ boys?”

“Jack, they’ll be fine.  Trey is taking care of the younger three guys right now.”

Jack kissed me on the lips, “I’ll be glad when things settle down.  I’ll see you tomorrow.”

On Monday morning, I was awakened by strange voices.  I sat up and suddenly remembered that we had four extra people in the house.  I went to see what was happening.  Trey was in the kitchen with his three brothers. Trent was complaining, “Trey, why do we have to eat these rolls and juice.  Why can’t we just have cereal like we do at home?  We’ll be late for the bus if we eat all of these things.”

I laughed, “Trent, you don’t need to ride the bus.  You have lots of time to eat.  When you see the bus going by, it will be time to go to school.  We can be there before the bus unloads the last of the passengers.”

Trent looked at me, “Do you go to school where we do?’

Timmy and Tommy started to giggle.  “No, I don’t go to school where you do.  But I’m going with you to see if you need money for lunch.”

Timmy asked, “What’s for lunch, today.  Maybe we should pack our lunches.  Some days they have things we don’t like and then we starve.”

“I’ll get a menu when I walk you to school.  That way we’ll know if you need to pack a lunch.  We’ll probably have to go to the store if you’re going to pack lunches.”

Timmy looked at me, “Mr. Parker, why do you have to walk us to school?  The kids will call us babies.  I’m eleven years old.  I won’t let us get lost between here and school.   Besides, you can watch to see if we get to school by standing in your front yard.”

“Guys, I need to go to the office and tell them to call me, in case something happens to one of you.  Remember, I need to make sure that you have money in your account to pay for lunch and I need to get a menu so we know if we’re going to need to pack lunches.  Besides, you can tell your friends that you found me wandering around the streets and you think I’m homeless.”

Tommy giggled, “Yeah right, Mr. Parker.  Everyone knows who you are.  Aren’t they going to wonder why you’re taking care of us?”

“Tell your friends that your parents are out of town and they asked me to take care of you until they got home, so you wouldn’t miss any school.  I hope you guys can remember to not ride the bus after school and come directly to my house.”

We arrived at the school, “Let’s go to see how much money you have in your lunch accounts; then you can go get in trouble with your friends.”

The boys had plenty of money in their lunch accounts.  I stopped in the office and handed them a copy of the letter saying that I was going to be in charge of the three boys until further notice.  I almost forgot the most important thing to the three boys and that was the menu.

When I got home, Jordy was lying on the sofa, “Dad, call Dr. Holly.  I feel like my stomach is going to explode.”

I called Dr. Holly’s office.  “This is Doctor Holly, Jr.’s office.  This is Tara; how may I help you?”

“Tara, this is Ed Parker.  I need to make an appointment for Jordan, as soon as possible.  He says he feels as if his stomach is about to explode.”

“Just a minute, Mr. Parker. … Mr. Parker, can you have him here at nine o’clock?”

I looked at the clock, “I can have him there.  We’ll see you then.”

I helped Jordy into the car.  When we arrived at the doctor’s office Tara looked at me, “Mr. Parker, the doctor will see Jordan in just a few minutes.” 

I looked around the waiting room and there were three people waiting.  I thought to myself, ‘We’re in for an hour’s wait.”

Linda, the head nurse, opened the door, “Mr. Parker.”

I helped Jordan up and watched as he went behind the dreaded door.  It was about ten minutes later when Doctor Holly came to the door, “Mr. Parker, we’re making an appointment for Jordan to have a cat scan at the Bellevue Medical Center.  I think he has acute appendicitis.”

Tara handed me a slip of paper, “The people at Bellevue Medical Center will take care of you immediately.”

I helped Jordan into the car and we went less than two miles to the new hospital.  The hospital had only been open less than a month, so they had some procedural issues that they needed to work out.  No one seemed concerned that Jordan might have acute appendicitis. 

It was almost forty five minutes after we were taken to the diagnostics area before someone came to take Jordan for the CAT Scan.  I was sitting on pins and needles, so to speak.  Jordy finally emerged from the bowels of the hospital, “Dad, I want to go home.  I feel miserable.”

As we were walking in the door, the phone was ringing.  I rushed to answer it, “This is the Parker residence.”

“Mr. Parker, this is Sarah from the Bellevue Medical Center.  You need to have Jordan Parker check in at the hospital immediately.  He has an appendix that is about to pop.”

I loaded Jordy back in the car and drove to the emergency entrance of the hospital.  When we went in, the lady behind the desk acted like we were from outer space, “You need to go to the main check in desk down the hall.”

I helped Jordan to the main check in desk and after I explained what was happening they called the emergency desk and the same lady appeared and apologized.  “I’m so sorry for the confusion.  Follow me so we can fill out the registration forms.”

The confusion didn’t stop there.  Once the paper work was completed, she took us to the operating room entrance on the second floor.  She disappeared behind the door and when she returned she announced, “They are preparing to receive you in the ward on third floor.”

We went to the third floor and they were just finishing preparing a room for Jordy.  They got him undressed and into bed and started an I. V. and gave him a pain shot.

I asked, “When are they going to operate?”

The head nurse, “We haven’t been told yet.  We don’t know what surgeon Doctor Holly has contacted.  Once we find out, we’ll let you know what the schedule is.”

I looked at the clock, “Jordan is asleep, so I’m going to leave, since I have three young boys I need to worry about.  Please call me at home if you have any word when the surgery is going to be scheduled.  Is Mr. Richards still in the hospital?”

“No sir, he was discharged.  This is the room that he was in.”

When I arrived at the house, the light was blinking on the phone, saying there was a message.  I picked up the phone to get the messages.  The first message started, “This is Tara from Doctor Holly’s office.  Get Jordan to the hospital immediately.  He has acute appendicitis.”

I hung up the phone thinking, ‘I would have thought the hospital would have informed the Doctor that Jordan was at the hospital, by now.’

I called the Doctor’s office, “This is Tara.”

“Tara, Jordan is already in the Bellevue Medical Center.”

“The Doctor is on the phone with the hospital as we speak.  He is making arrangements for a surgeon to operate as soon as possible.”

I went next door to talk to Bev.  “Bev, you know the Richards boys from church.  They are staying with me for several days.  Jordan is in the hospital with acute appendicitis and is going to be operated on, this afternoon,  Would you take care of the three youngest Richards boys until Trey gets to the house?”

“Sure, I’ll take care of them for you. Which hospital is Jordy in?”

“He’s in the Bellevue Medical Center.  Thanks, I’ll be back as soon as they operate and I know everything is okay.”

I made a quick sandwich to eat on the way to the hospital.  When I arrived in Jordan’s room, the nurse came in, “Mr. Parker, Doctor Reiberg will be operating as soon as she can get here.  She was on 72^nd street when she just called.”

An older diminutive lady came into the room and checked on Jordan and introduced herself, “I’m Ardith Reiberg.  We’ll be taking Mr. Parker to surgery, shortly.  I plan to use laparoscopic surgery so there is a minimum invasion of the body

.

I watched as the Operating Room Staff prepared Jordan to go to the operating room.  They took me back to the second floor where I was the only person waiting in the waiting area.  I felt so useless.  I pulled out my cell phone and called home but there was no answer.  I called Jack’s office.

“Peter Hewitt company.  How can I direct your call?”

“This is Ed Parker.  I’d like to speak to Jack Evans.”

“This is Jack.  What’s up Eddie?”

“Jordy is in the operating room at the Bellevue Medical Center.  He has acute appendicitis.  I have the next door neighbor to the south taking care of the three youngest Richards boys until Trey gets home.”

“Don’t worry, Ed, I’ll go retrieve them.  Trey will probably be late, because they had a baseball game today.  You stay there until you know that Jordy is okay.”

I was bored out of my gourd.  The seconds seemed to pass-by like minutes.  It was about five forty five later when Dr. Reiberg came out to talk to me.  “Mr. Parker, your son’s appendix was so rotten that it shattered when I touched it.  We had to get all of the pieces, and that is what took so long.  He’s rather heavily sedated and will sleep for most of the evening.  Why don’t you go home and get some rest?”

I stopped up on the third floor and told Jordan’s nurse that I was going home and that she could call me if she needed something. When I arrived at the house, Jack and the four boys were eating Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Trey got me a place setting and asked, “How’s Jordy?”

“He’s still sedated, so I didn’t have a chance to talk to him.  It’s a good thing that we went to the Doctor this morning, though.  His appendix was pretty rotten.  I’ll call his nurse after while to see how he’s doing.”

Trey asked, “Can I take Jordy’s car and go check on him?”

“Of course, he’s in the same room that your father was in.  Room 324.  They booted your father out, so they would have room for Jordan.”

Tommy frowned, “They didn’t really kick our Dad out so they would have room for Jordan, did they?”

Jack answered,  “No, your Dad was released before they knew that Jordan was going to be admitted.  I picked your Dad up and took him home.  He is supposed to rest for the next several days.  He was going to call in a cleaning company to clean the mess.  It may be a few days before you’ll be able to go home.”

Trey took over.  “We’ll be fine, here.  Mr. Parker is going to need our help while Jordy is gone.  He’ll get lonely here in this big house by himself.”

Timmy didn’t miss a beat.  “Who’s going to stay with Mr. Evans?  He must really get lonely in his big house?”

Jack laughed, “Timmy, I don’t spend much time there.  Usually I have to travel and spend most of my nights in hotel rooms.   I keep thinking that I might find someone who might want to move in with me and keep me company.”

Trey took off for the hospital and the Timmy and Tommy cleared the table.  We were in the family room watching television when the doorbell rang.  Timmy went to answer, “Hi Mom, whatca’ need.”

“I came to talk to Mr. Parker.”

“Mr. Parker is in the family room, keeping Mr. Evans company and Trey is at the hospital.”

“What’s Trey doing at the hospital?  Is he sick?”

“Mom, he went to check on Jordy.”

“What’s the matter with Jordy?”

“He had a rotten app something and they had to take it out.”

I had gone to see who Timmy was talking to, “Hi, Kathie, come on in.”

“Ed, I’m concerned, I went to the Richards’ house and there was no answer.”

Jack spoke up, “Kathie, your husband’s ex is still in jail for attempted homicide.  Bart is heavily sedated, so he’s probably in bed.  We’ll go check on him when Trey gets back, since we don’t have a key.”

The garage door closed and Trey came into the room, “Hi Mom.  Jordy is going to be fine.  He was awake and complaining, because they wouldn’t let him have any food.  He’s ready to come home.  He tried to get out of bed and the nurse gave him a shot to make him sleep. He’ll be a basket case if they keep him in the hospital too long.”

I interrupted, “Trey, your Mother went to check on your Dad and couldn’t get a response.  She thinks we should go see what’s going on.”

Jack stood, “Trey, you and I can go check on him while Mr. Parker gets your brothers ready for bed.  It's almost eight thirty.”

Trent asked, “Mr. Parker, did you get a menu, today?”

“Yes and it says that you’re going to have cream of turkey on mashed potatoes, vegetable sticks and vanilla pudding.”

Trent reacted the most violently, “Yuck, I hope you got some things so we can pack our lunches, tomorrow.  I’m not eating that garbage.”

I shook my head, “Guys, I didn’t have time to buy anything, today.”

Jack interrupted, “Don’t worry, guys, Trey and I will stop on the way home from your house at No Frills and get you some things for your lunches tomorrow.”

Kathie started for the door, “I need to go home.  I told my husband that I would be right back.  Ed, call me if you find out anything that I need to know, or do.”

It was almost ten o’clock, and the three youngest Richards boys were in bed, and I was beginning to get concerned that something had happened to Jack and Trey.  I was sitting in my recliner waiting for Jack and Trey to return when the phone rang. 

To be continued...

Editor's Notes: Oh, now that is just simply not fair.  We are all waiting on pins and needles, to see what is happening, and now we have to wait longer. I am afraid that we might just have to call in The Cliffhanger Police.

Appendicitis is a serious problem, and should certainly be taken seriously.  Jordy's appendix could easily have ruptured before they got him into surgery.

Let's hope everything turns out all right.

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher

Posted: 02/11/11