Serious Problem [Carla/Sam/Bruce]

[niki]

11th November 2008

Late afternoon - after Bruce & James have been to New York with Claire.


Niki was extremely worried about Carla Norton. Before she had used her abilities to the class, she'd said that she had been passing out. Niki was hoping she would be fine, unfortunately however, soon after she had used her ability, she had passed out. Niki had tried to waken her but to no avail. So she had asked Bruce, Carla's boyfriend to get in touch with her brother Sam and tell him Niki was taking his sister to the hospital.

The soon as Niki arrived, the doctors and nurses immediately went into action. Of course the specialist doctor began to ask Niki a lot of questions. So Niki had to explain about Carla passing out. She left out the part about Carla's ability, as she didn't think that the doctors would understand it. She just explained from what she knew by Carla and Bruce, that Carla had passed out a few times feeling sick and with migraine type headaches.

The specialist doctor began to worry and fuss around more. He thanked Niki for her information but informed her he really needed to speak with Carla's family. Of course Niki had to then that she only had an older brother, and that Carla's boyfriend was in the middle of contacting him to get him here.

The doctor thanked Niki again and then they rushed Carla off to carry out some tests on her. Niki, not sure what to do for the best, decided it wouldn't do any harm to sit around for a while and find out what was happening.

[carla]

Carla had no idea how long she had been unconscious for, but it must have been a good couple of hours by the time she had finally come around, although she was very woozy. The doctor was standing by the bed where he had carried out some tests, and he didn't have very good news. However he didn't want to tell Carla without her brother being with her at least.

Carla looked up at the doctor, with her eyes half closed, "Whats wrong with me?" she asked him quietly and slowly, every movement killing her head and her eyes.

"I'd rather not say until your brother gets here Miss Norton" the doctor replied sternly.

"Just tell me and please call me Carla" she said, giving him a slight smile and then began to cough, which caused her head to hurt again, and then she began to feel sick. After being sick into the sick bown a couple of times, she tried again.

"Please, just tell me what's wrong" she said slowly but defiantly, giving the doctor a stern look.

"I'd really rather just talk to you when your brother is here" the doctor said, but sighed when he could see that she wasn't going to give up too easily. He put up the x-rays onto the screen and switched on the light. Then he pointed to a mass area on the skull area.

"You see that dark circle Carla?" he asked her quietly, "That is a tumor and if we don't operate fast, the chances are you might die" he said as compassionately as he could.

"A tumor?" Carla asked in shock, and then she just looked away, wising she'd done as he'd asked and waited for Sam to arrive, as she just lay there with the tears slowly running down her cheeks. What would Sam do if she died? He'd be all alone, he would never be able to cope, then there was Bruce. She couldn't leave Bruce, they had to fix her, they just had to.

The doctor just left her to it, as he went out into the corridor and to the reception area to see if her brother had arrived yet.

[nortons99]

Sam recieved a call as he was driving his ferarri. His ferarri was a fire red kind of color and it did look like fire from the people walking by. His phone then rang, he picked it up from the cup holder. He didn't know what the number was but he answered anyway. "Hello?" he said into it. A voice came back and knew it was Bruce. But he was a bit confused why Bruce was calling him for. He thought it was for the whole "Best Man" thing. But he immediately knew it wasn't that after hearing the worry in his voice. "What's wrong."

Sam headed off towards the New York's General Hospital, after hearing that Carla was not feeling good. Bruce had also said that Niki brought her to the hospital. He was sorta tearing as he drove down the main highway in Costa Verde. He had to get there quick. He should have been there when she fainted. This was the first time she did without him there. He felt guilty, it was his fault.

He parked his car near the front doors of the hospital and exited the car. Shutting the door he locked it and ran towards the door. Running through the doors he asked the lady at the counter where was she. She pointed towards the elevator as she began to explain. Sam ran to the elevator and pushed the up button a bunch of times. Come on! Come on! Finally, after what seemed to take for ever, the doors opened up its doors. He jumped in and pressed the '14' button. The doors slide shut and began to rise.

The doors opened as it reached its destination. Sam ran out the door, and began to search for a sign of Bruce, Niki, or even Carla. But then he saw a doctor, that looked like he was searching for someone. He was hoping that would be her doctor, searching for him. He approached the doctor. "Is Carla in that room?" he asked as he pointed to the door he just exited. "Is she alright? Whats wrong?" he continued to ask.

[carla]

Carla tried to sit up to see if she could see anybody outside her room she recognised yet. But every time she looked she could only see the teacher Niki from the school. She must have brought her in. However, every time she pushed herself up, her head began to hurt. So, she had to keep sliding back down into the bed again.

After a short time, she was certain she heard Sam's voice, she pushed herself up again, and sure enough there he was. Sam had finally come, and that at least managed to put a smile on her face, because she knew he would soon be in the room with her. Of course she wanted Bruce here too, but right now while she was feeling sick, Sam was the most important person.

She watched as the doctor turned when Sam obviously spoke to him. She wondered if the doctor would tell Sam out there about her condition or wait until Sam was in the room with her. Either way she hoped Sam wouldn't break down over it. It wouldn't be an easy thing for him to hear, of that she was sure.

"Yes, Carla is in that room, I assume you are her brother Sam" the doctor asked sternly. "I'm afraid the news isn't very good, she has a brain tumor, it could prove fatal if we don't operate immediately" the doctor said and looked down at his feet for a few seconds.

"However, the good news and we haven't had a chance to tell Carla this yet, is the tumor is benign, it means it's not cancerous and she will not have to go through chemotherapy, she'll just take a week or so to recover from the surgery" the doctor explained gently.

"I'm sure she will like to see you before we prep her and take her to surgery, so follow me" the doctor said as he opened the door.

Right away Carla saw her brother and sore head, dizziness or not, she couldn't help but shout for him.

"Sam, Sam you're here" she said as she began to sob again, as she held her arms out best she could for a hug, seeing as she was hooked up to all sorts of drips.

[bruceadams]

Bruce had been out getting coffee when Sam arrived. He walked into the room, to see Carla crying and Sam questioning what was going on.

"She needs surgery?!" Bruce asked, quickly, wanting to know what was going on. His girlfriend was lying in a bed, with a billion needles stuck into her. He didn't like the idea of surgery, but if it was going to save her life, he was all for it.

The thing was, he really couldn't live without her, he had grown, as if he felt her pain. If she died, he would too. If she died, he couldn't live.

He walked over to her, bending over to hug her, and kiss her on the cheek, trying not to knock the cords in her body around to much.

"How are you feeling?"

[carla]

Carla was just lying there waiting for Sam to hug her and acknowledge her, but he must have been in a state of shock or something, since he didn't seem to be responding to her immediately. She began to feel herself cry again, she hated crying, but sometimes it was something out of her control. However a few moments after seeing Sam appear, she saw Bruce come into the room.

She didn't stop crying, but she was at least able to give Bruce a small smile. She was worried about herself, she didn't know what was going to happen to her, what if the operation didn't work and she died. She'd be leaving Sam and Bruce behind, the two people who meant the most to her in the world.

She put her arms around Bruce the best she could as he tried to hug her, but when he asked how she was feeling she just began to cry again.

"I've got a tumor Bruce, I don't know how I'm feeling, the doctor said I could die" she replied, as she began to cry again and looked away from Bruce, not because she wanted to shut him out or anything, but because she couldn't face him.

[bruceadams]

When she told him she had a tumor, the anger went up inside Bruce, he could of almost burnt down the entire building. He tried to keep as calm as he could though, to prevent that from happening.

"They've gotta fix you! They will!" He said, as he punched the wall, making a hole in it.

He turned to the doctor. "If you don't, if something happens and she dies, your going with her!" He said, anger bursting out of him. He felt a bit bad, straight after, and turned to the old doctor. "I'm sorry, I'm just so... angry!"

He turned to the doctor. "Do the surgery! Do it now."

[carla]

Carla could only look on in angst as she watched the anger build within Bruce over her predicament. She knew he was hurting, but she also knew that shouting at the doctors and Bruce getting angry wouldn't help either of them.

"Bruce..." she said softly, and began to cry again, "Don't... don't shout at the ... doctor" she managed to say as another massive pain took her over, and she squeezed her eyes shut, and let out a scream of pain before passing out again.

The doctor now very worried for the young girl Carla, turned to her very angered and distressed boyfriend and smiled as best he could under the circumstances. He put his hand on Bruce's arm. "I understand how you're feeling sir, but this will not do either of you any good" the doctor tried to explain as best he could. Since he hadn't heard anything back from the girl's brother, who was obviously too upset to say anything, the doctor went on to explain more to the girl's boyfriend.

"We will do the surgery, actually we have to do it now, the sooner the better" then the doctor heard a noise from one of the machines, as he turned around and looked at Carla who had obviously passed out again. Then the alarm bell rang. He ran toward Carla in the bed, and checked her eyes with his little torch, not responsive, and then he checked her pulse, then looked at the screen.

"Nurse, come here, I need help now" he shouted at the nurse outside Carla's room. "Blood pressure is dropping drastically and she looks as if she's ..." and then the deathly noise sounded out as Carla's heart monitor machine flat lined.

"Damn it" the doctor shouted, as he started pumping at Carla's chest to try and bring her back. Shaking his head as it refused to work. "Get the paddles ready" he shouted to the nurse, she brought them over. "1, 2, 3 and go" she said, nothing, and then again, "1, 2, 3 and go" she repeated.

"Come on Carla" the doctor shouted, "I'm not losing you today" he shouted, and looking back to the two young men who would be in a mess. "One more time?" the nurse asked, the doctor nodded, "1, 2, 3 and go" and the heart machine began to bleep again.

"We've got her back" the nurse said.

"Right, surgery, now, take her down, right away" the doctor said, "I'll be there in a minute" he added as he then turned to the two young men.

"We nearly lost her there, she's obviously very strong, we're going to do this surgery right away, hopefully the operation will be a success, the tumor is benign, it means she doesn't need chemotherapy, but the mass is big, so that's what has been causing all her problems" the doctor said as he took his leave and ran after the nurse who had wheeled Carla down to the operation room.

[zenniel]

The nurse pushed the stretcher carrying Carla Norton to the EMERGENCY SURGICAL UNIT. The doctor, trailing behind, looked through the information of the girl on the stretcher. As they rounded the bend to reach the ESU room, the doctor bumped into another one. “Oh, good! It’s you! I was hoping to catch you before you left.” The doctor said, relieved.

Lauren looked at him skeptically, “If you would have read the charts, I am pulling an all-nighter tonight. Why do you need me?”

The doctor handed Lauren the readings, and her expert eye dashed through the information. She looked at the girl, who was continuing through the ESU door and to an Emergency Surgical Room beyond. Lauren’s eyes narrowed. “Do you know how she got the tumor?”

The doctor started, and then shook his head. “No, but luckily it’s benign.”

“You say in your report that she flat-lined just a couple minutes ago, right?” Lauren looked at the man condescendingly. This was the only time when she got to act bossy; all of the other times she was a very timid person.

“Yes, Doctor. She died, and we thought her gone.” The doctor said, meekly.

“Then is the tumor really benign if it killed her? No matter, I’ll work this out.” Lauren said, and folded the folder containing Carla’s information underneath her arm. She walked away purposefully, leaving the lower doctor gaping in her wake. She didn’t have time for lower doctors who, though they knew things, didn’t know how to put what they knew to good use. She followed two nurses into the prep room, and scoured her hands all the way up to her arms. She had a nurse put on her extra long operating gloves, and then she put on a mask. If the tumor was benign like he said it was, then everything was fine, but if the doctor was wrong, the girl might not live through the procedure.

Inside the operating room, Lauren took stock of her surroundings. The room was sterile, the only thing not completely clean in the room was the girl, and even then she seemed cleaner than most patients that came in to be operated on. She watched as the anxious nurses (and another doctor, just to be safe) milled around, readying the patient to be worked on. Lauren twinged: the girl was too young to die. Lauren had to get the tumor out of her, and fast.

“Hello, Carla.” Lauren said, walking up to the girl. A nurse gave her a needle with some anesthesia in it. “I’m Doctor Lauren Heathan. I’ll be operating you, and when I’m done, you’ll be as good as new. I’m going to put you to sleep now so you won’t feel a thing.”

Lauren entered the anesthesia into Carla’s drop-bag, and waited for it to take effect. She didn’t know what was going on in the girl’s mind, but it couldn’t have been good. For all Carla knew, she could die during the operation. But Lauren had never had anyone die on her operating tables before, never. She was so skilled in surgery – especially with the brain – that everyone essentially trusted her, even if they didn’t in the beginning. When the teen succumbed, Lauren nodded, “I didn’t want to do this, but you must shave her head. Only the part near the tumor. I heard she’s a rather popular girl, she needs to keep as much hair as possible.”

As the nurses shaved only what Lauren needed in order to make the incisions, Lauren surveyed her tools of the trade. The scalpel was her favorite, but she’d need the bone saw, too. If Lauren thought correctly, and with these things she usually did, a bone saw was definitely going to be needed. When the nurses finished shaving away the girl’s hair (it was a shame, her hair was beautiful), Lauren applied the scalpel. She cut a butterfly wing only across where she knew the darn tumor was. Then Lauren did something not many people could do, she turned on her ability.

The tumor stuck out like a sore thumb. As of yet, the tumor was benign (thank goodness), but it was so large that it was pushing the brain into the wall of the skull. It was just under the skull where she was going to drill. With any luck, the tumor would be attached to the skull’s wall, and it would pull away when she removed that piece of skull. “Bone saw.” She said, holding out her hand. Someone – she didn’t care who – took the scalpel from her and gave her the bone saw. For at least a minute the saw’s loud sound broke the silence, and then Lauren switched it off. She had cut almost precisely where the tumor was.

She gave the bone saw to a nurse, and asked for the forceps. The forceps were not really needed, but just in case, she used them. Actually, she just made it look like she was using them. Rather, she leaned over the girl’s head and gingerly took her skull piece away from her head using only her fingers. She didn’t even have to see what was underneath the skull to know that the bright red mass of tumor was coming out with the skull. It had been latched onto the skull’s wall! Lauren breathed a sigh of relief, but realized that the tumor wasn’t the worst part.

If the tumor pulled at the brain a tiny bit, the brain may send out a frantic signal to the rest of the body and it may shut down. Essentially, the girl would be dead even if her body lived on. Once the brain died, no one could help her. Very gently, she lifted the skull piece. The tethers of the tumor came with it, not one getting snagged anywhere in her brain. If the tethers pulled one small thing, apart from massive brain damage, the brain may hemorrhage, and the girl would die regardless. Lauren was always careful and precise with her work. She was happy that Lori never interrupted whenever she was working on patients.

If Lori would have interrupted now, the girl surely would have died.

The tumor was pulled out cleanly, and the girl was okay, for now. Lauren put the skull piece on the sterile table, and pulled the tumor deftly away from the skull fragment. She then set in with the tweezers to any bright lines of material left on the skull – if she didn’t get those, the tumor might reform. She didn’t want the girl to go through the whole thing all over again. Once all of the bright lights of the tumor were abolished, Lauren turned back to the girl, gently placed the skull fragment back onto her head, and stapled the skull fragment back into place. Then she sewed shut the skin, and hoped that she hadn’t shaved off too much hair.

The procedure was finished. Carla would live. The whole procedure had taken at least three hours. Lauren was happy that it had taken that long, any less and she knew there would have been a problem. Any longer and there definitely would have been a problem. Carla’s meds were wearing off, but not the pain medicine that Lauren had just administered her.

“Hello, Carla. Nice to be awake again, huh?” Lauren said, smiling as she walked beside the stretcher. A nurse was wheeling her back into the room. Seeing the two men still waiting, Lauren smiled, “Carla made it through just fine, but she might be a little groggy. She is a strong girl, and you should be proud, both of you. The tumor is gone, and there is no more infection that is pressing. She’ll be fit and healthy soon. If there’s anything else…?”

[carla]

[ooc: bloody awesome post, I enjoyed reading that, well done]

Carla had been out of it for a long time, how long she couldn't really be sure, but it was a long time. In fact she had been unconscious for about four hours, including her passing out, and flat lining and being brought back to life and then the life saving operation, the whole thing in total had been about four hours.

As Lauren finished the operation, and began to wheel Carla back to her room, Carla began to waken up, very groggy naturally. But when the doctor spoke to her, Carla just smiled, she tried to speak, but her throat was too dry, and instead she just coughed, so she smiled once more.

She noticed after a few minutes she was back outside the room where she had been so many hours earlier, and she could see, or just about see, as her eyes weren't quite focusing right, the two men she loved the most in her life.

Carla instinctively put her hand out for Bruce to hold, she tried to speak to him, but no sound came out, so instead she mouthed it, "Bruce, I love you" hopefully he would be able to lip read what she said, and if not, she'd tell him when she was able to talk more properly. She knew he hadn't said it to her yet, but she didn't care, she was pretty certain she'd almost died today, in fact she was sure at one point she had. She remembered seeing a light, a bright light, and a lady was there, she didn't remember before in her life, but she was telling Carla it wasn't her time and she had to go back.

The woman had looked very familiar and now when Carla thought about it, she realised it must have been her mom, because Carla looked just like her. She had met her mom at the gates to heaven and she'd send her back to earth, because it was too soon for Carla to be there. As she realised this, a smile formed on Carla's face.

She'd be able to tell Sam and Bruce she saw her and Sam's mother and she sent her back to them. She wanted to thank the lovely woman doctor too, but she could do it all once she'd had a drink and was feeling less groggy and was in a better state to talk.

[nortons99]

Sam stood there, shocked, as Carla was wheeled back in to the room. He had spent the most of the last 4 hours that it took to do the surgery out in the corridor, pacing up and down. He was worried about her, very worried. If she died, he would have no one left! His parents, his little sister. All of them would be gone.

He wasn't the only one who was worried about Carla, Bruce obviously was too. Sam could tell that Bruce really loved Carla. But not as much as Sam did, he couldn't live without her. He stood above Carla's bed, as she took Bruce's hand in hers.

Sam was looking at her, when he did something that he hadn't done in years, he jumped onto her bed, and hugged her tighter then anything.

"Carla! Don't ever do that again! You hear me! Never! If you ever do that again, I'll... I'll..."

[carla]

Carla was still very groggy from the operation and wasn't completely focusing on things too well. She had held her hand out for Bruce to take, she gently caressed his palm with her thumb. It would seem that Bruce was rather speechless for the moment, as he didn't say anything to her.

Sam was just standing watching over, and then suddenly he jumped onto the bed and hugged her tightly. Her head was still really sore and tender yet. Then it hit her, she was never going to be recovered in time for the wedding, was she?

She began to cry again, she and Claire had picked the most gorgeous dress and now she might not be able to go and she'd ruin Claire's big day.

How ever her tears quickly turned to laughter as Sam muttered something about her not doing that kind of thing to him again or he'd and didn't finish it.

"What Sam? You'll kill me?" she asked and continued to laugh and then had to stop, "Hurting my head" she said and smiled instead, and then she pushed herself up underneath Sam into a sitting position, still miraculously holding onto Bruce's hand.

"I've just thought of something though" she began sadly, looking from both Sam to Bruce, "I'm probably not going to recover in time for the wedding" and then she thought of something ridiculous and wondered if the doctor who was still standing close by would do it.

"But Sam, a transfusion of your blood would completely heal me, the doctor is still here, she might do it if you ask" Carla said, still looking from Sam to Bruce. Personally she thought it was a good idea.

[zenniel]

Lauren looked at the threesome trying to figure out who was who. She knew Bruce and Sam now, could tell them apart, but who did Carla love and who was the other guy? Lauren knew from years of experience not to delve too deeply in her patient’s matters. So, instead of trying to distinguish the men, she just stood there, not at all awkwardly. In fact, she was perfectly fine standing in the corner of the room. She almost always did that anyway. Her only respite was Zorro. She spent most of her time with Zorro, and that dog was a very lean dog.

Then Carla started talking nonsense. Had Lauren hit a nerve that she shouldn’t have hit? Lauren turned on her heat-seeking power again, and noticed, with relief, that Carla had not been injured more than what Lauren had done to her. In fact, what Lauren had done to her was no more than what Carla had done to herself many previous times, only Carla had, no doubt, never cracked her head open. Lauren meant what Carla had done previous times added all together.

“A transfusion of his blood?” Lauren echoed, and looked at Sam (or who she presumed was Sam). All of a sudden a couple of things clicked in place. Carla’s brain had a higher temperature than normal, sort of like Sam and Bruce’s brain, and Lori’s brain, too. Lauren had long ago recognized that the different brain temperature meant that the person with the different brain temperature had an ability. Lauren had no doubt that her brain had the same temperature as Carla, Sam, Bruce, and Lori’s.

“I’m making an educated guess, here, but do you mean that all three of you have abilities?” She spoke rather low, because people weren’t supposed to know about the enhanced people. “If Sam has an ability that may help you, Carla, tell me now. If I deem that to be okay, then by all means I will go ahead with the blood transfusion.”

[carla]

The doctor was still by Carla's bed when she spoke about the transfusion of blood. So naturally she questioned it. She turned to look at the doctor "Yes" she said simply and smiled, then she thought she should tell the doctor who was who.

"This one hugging me to death here is my brother Sam, the one standing by the side there, is my boyfriend Bruce" she said still smiling at the doctor, so that she would hopefully know who was who now.

Then the doctor asked if all three of them had abilities, she had asked the question quietly because she knew like the rest of them it wasn't something you openly discussed. Carla nodded her head slowly. Then she said in a low voice, "I have telepathy, Bruce has Element Control and Sam has Rapid Cellular Regeneration, that's why I think his blood would help me recover for the wedding in just over a week" Carla explained, as she looked from the doctor to Bruce and back to Sam.

She hoped that the doctor would be able to do it. The only thing about getting the transfusion, would mean that she too would gain Sam's power, and she would no longer just be telepathic, she'd be able to self heal as well.

[niki]

Niki had waited in the background while everything went on with Carla. Even when things looked at their worst Niki never said anything or tried to get involved, she just sat back and let all the doctors get on with everything they had to.

However, Niki was happy to see Carla be wheeled back from the emergency operation she had needed. She wasn't sure what was going to happen now, but Niki felt it was the right time to make her leave. Carla seemed fine, and she had her family with her.

She got up and made her way over to where Carla's room was and tried to get the attention of her brother Sam. She smiled at him, "Just wanted to say, I'm glad everything seem's alright with your sister Sam, and tell her to just come back to the school when she feels ready to" Niki said, and then she made her exit from the hospital and left Sam, Carla and Bruce to have some alone time, while Carla continued to recover from the operation.