The Gift (25 page)

Spencer grabbed Maggie’s mandolin out of the way from
where she had dropped it, and helped the doctor get her on her back so he could
administer CPR. The doctor looked extremely serious. He kept pushing on her
chest and then suddenly, Maggie’s heart started beating again. Maggie did not
look good though. Her face was ashen and she was unconscious. The doctor
noticed that she appeared to have burn marks on her hands and legs.

“Where’s the damn ambulance,” the doctor yelled out.

Finally the ambulance pulled up to the back of the
stage. The EMT’s jumped out with a stretcher and carefully lifted Maggie onto
it and started carrying her to the ambulance. Justin followed them.

“I’m her husband,” he said.

“O.k,” said an EMT. “You can ride with us to the
hospital.”

Justin turned to Spencer and said, “Call Maggie’s
parents and Zak. I’ll meet you at the hospital.”

The festival organizers took Spencer to a phone. He was
able to get through to Maggie’s parents who told him that they were on their
way. He tried calling Zak several times but no one answered. Meanwhile, Jim and
Carole and some of the other musicians helped load Little Maggie’s equipment
into the U-Haul van. Then Spencer and Jim and Carole drove to the hospital.

When they arrived at the hospital, they were told that
Maggie was in the emergency room with her husband. They were instructed to wait
in the waiting room and that someone would come out eventually to tell them how
Maggie was doing. Spencer kept calling Zak and after two hours he finally
answered the phone.

“Jesus, Zak, where have you been? I’ve been trying to
get in touch with you for a couple hours.”

Zak could tell from the urgency in Spencer’s voice that
something serious was going on.

“Zak, Maggie’s had an accident. We had just started
playing our set when a bolt of lightning hit a tree next to the stage, and
Maggie was hit too.”

Zak felt his blood run cold.

“How is she?”

“I don’t know. They took her in an ambulance to the hospital.
She didn’t look so good. I think her heart stopped beating, but a doctor gave
her CPR and got it started again. She may have some kind of injuries. You need
to get here as soon as you can.”

Zak couldn’t think for a minute.

“O.k., I’ll take the kids to my mother’s and then I’ll
take the next flight to Boston. It may take me a while to get there. I’ll get
to the hospital as soon as I can.”

After giving Zak the name and address of the hospital,
Spencer went back to the waiting room to sit with Jim and Carole. They hadn’t
heard anything about how Maggie was doing, which made them worried. Spencer was
glad that Justin had told the EMT’s that he was Maggie’s husband so that she
wouldn’t be alone. It was going to take Zak a long time to get to the hospital.
He just hoped that he wouldn’t be too late.

Several hours later, Maggie’s parents arrived looking
extremely distressed. They asked the nurse how their daughter was doing and she
said Maggie was in critical but stable condition. She told them that the doctor
would come out to talk to them as soon as he could. Around 1 am, the doctor
finally emerged. He looked exhausted and very serious.

“Your daughter was lucky that there was someone there to
administer CPR right away. I’m hoping that there wasn’t any sort of permanent
neurological damage. She did sustain burns to her hands and legs, but that
should heal with time. She’s unconscious right now, but hopefully she will
regain consciousness soon. Her husband says he wants to stay with her so she
won’t be distressed when she comes to.”

Maggie’s parents looked at each other. They knew that
Zak was in Louisiana.

Spencer said, “I’m sure that Justin must be worried. I’m
glad that he’s by her side.”

The doctor told them that he would let them know more in
a few hours and then left to attend to his patients.

Spencer and Maggie’s parents decided to take turns going
down to the cafeteria for coffee and food out of the vending machines. They
guessed that it would be a long night.

Justin was spending the night in a chair next to
Maggie’s bed. He had persuaded the doctor to let him stay by telling him that
Maggie would wake up and have an anxiety attack if he wasn’t there with her. He
held her hand and stroked it, so that she would know that he was there with her
even if she wasn’t conscious. Occasionally he whispered to her that he loved
her and his eyes filled with tears. He couldn’t imagine living without her, he
had been terrified when the doctor said that Maggie’s heart had stopped
beating.

The nurse came in every so often to check on Maggie and
she suggested that Justin go get some coffee or something to eat. He refused,
he said he couldn’t leave her until she regained consciousness.

Finally around 6 am, Maggie moaned a little and opened
her eyes momentarily. Justin whispered in her ear that she had an accident at
the bluegrass festival and that she was in the hospital.

Maggie asked, “Is Zak coming?”

“Yes Maggie, he’s on his way,” he replied.

“Thank you,” she said and closed her eyes again.

A couple hours later, Maggie opened her eyes. She looked
at Justin and frowned.

“Is that you Justin?” she said. “I can’t see you very
well.”

Justin took Maggie’s hand and told her that it was him.
He said that he was going to stay with her until Zak got there. She thanked him
and told him that she loved him, and went back to sleep. When the doctor came
in to check on Maggie, Justin told him that she had been awake briefly, but had
told him that she couldn’t see him very well. The doctor looked concerned at
that.

“We’re going to have to do some tests and find out
what’s going on,” he said.

Maggie finally woke up around 9 am. She felt Justin
holding her hand and looked over to see that he was sleeping in the chair next
to her bed. She realized that he had been sitting there all night. She
whispered his name and he woke up.

“Maggie, how are you feeling?” he asked.

“Not that great. I have a bad headache and my vision is
blurry. My hands and my legs are killing me.”

“You have some burns on them from when you got hit by
the lightning. The doctor said that they’re not too serious and should heal
pretty quickly.”

“Justin, thanks for staying with me. I’m so glad that
you’re here.”

“Maggie, I love you. I didn’t want you to be alone when
you woke up.”

Maggie took his hand and pressed it to her lips. Justin
leaned over the bed and kissed her on the lips.

“Maggie, please get better. I couldn’t live without you.”

Tears rolled down Maggie’s face as she kissed Justin
back and told him that she loved him too. Half an hour later, a neurologist
showed up and gave Maggie a few tests. She had to touch her nose and follow his
finger with her eyes. He was concerned because her vision was still blurry and
because she had lost consciousness, so he decided to order a CAT scan. He also
recommended that she see the ophthalmologist about her blurry vision. The
doctor told her that sometimes people who are hit by lightning develop
cataracts in their eyes. He wasn’t sure if that was causing her vision problems
or if it was something else.

After the doctor left, a nurse arrived to take Maggie to
the CAT scan machine. Justin decided to take the opportunity to call Abbie and
Jerry. They were happy to hear from him. They had heard that Maggie had been
hit by lightning at the festival and had been extremely worried. Justin told
them that she was mostly o.k. but was having some vision problems. She was
having some tests and they would probably know more by the end of the
afternoon.

Justin grabbed a quick sandwich and coffee in the
cafeteria, and by the time he got back to Maggie’s room she had returned from
having the CAT scan done and was trying to eat some lunch. She was feeling a
little frustrated because she couldn’t see well enough to feed herself, so
Justin sat next to the bed and helped her. It was then that Zak showed up.

“What’s going on?” he asked. “They almost wouldn’t let
me in to see Maggie. They said that her husband was already here with her.”

“Sorry, Zak,” Justin said. “I told them that I was
Maggie’s husband so she wouldn’t have to go to the hospital in the ambulance by
herself.”

“I guess I should thank you Justin. How are you doing
Maggie?”

“O.k. I guess, considering. The doctor said that I’m
lucky to be alive. The lightning hit a tree first and then jumped off and
struck me. So my injuries weren’t as bad as they could have been.”

Zak looked at the bandages on Maggie’s hands and legs
and said that they looked like they were bad enough.

“The major problem is that I can’t see too well. They
couldn’t find any problem on the CAT scan. I’m supposed to see the ophthalmologist
in a few minutes.”

Zak looked at Justin.

“Justin, you look like hell. I’m guessing you haven’t
gotten any sleep. Maybe you should check into a motel and get a couple hours of
rest. I can take over for a while.”

“Yeah, good idea Zak. I don’t think I can stay awake
much longer.”

Justin reached over and squeezed Maggie’s shoulder.

“You take care. I’ll be back in a few hours to see how
you’re doing.”

As Justin was leaving, Maggie suddenly said, “Justin,
what happened to my mandolin?” He turned to her and said, “Don’t worry Maggie,
Spencer has it.” He knew that it had been damaged when Maggie dropped it, but
he didn’t think she was ready to hear that just yet. She had enough to worry
about for the moment.

After Justin left, the nurse showed up with a wheelchair
to take Maggie to see the ophthalmologist. Zak accompanied them and sat quietly
while the doctor checked Maggie’s eyes. He told them that he couldn’t see
anything obviously wrong, and then he conducted some field of vision tests.
When he was done he told them that Maggie seemed to be having problems with
seeing in half of her field of vision. He recommended that she have an MRI to
see if she had sustained any brain damage when she was struck by the lightning.

So next, the nurse wheeled Maggie down to the imaging
department for the MRI. Maggie was not thrilled about this test. She was
claustrophobic and there wasn’t much room inside the machine, the ceiling of it
was only a couple inches above her nose. Even though they blew air through the
machine, she felt like she couldn’t breathe. The machine banged loudly as it
scanned her head, making her headache even worse. Maggie closed her eyes and
thought about Zak and her children. Then she imagined Justin holding her hand
just as he had done in the emergency room. Finally, they pulled her out and the
nurse took her back up to her room.

Zak had fallen asleep in the chair next to her bed. He
hadn’t gotten any sleep the night before while he was flying up to Boston from Louisiana. Maggie and the nurse tried not to disturb him as Maggie got back
into her hospital bed. Two hours later, the doctor entered the room. Zak woke
up in time to hear him say “Well, we think we know what’s going on now. You’re
having problems seeing because your visual cortex was damaged when you were hit
by the lightning. Your vision seems blurry because you have lost half of your
field of vision.”

“Everything seems dark too,” said Maggie.

“Is she going to be able to see normally again?” asked
Zak.

“We don’t really know. Maggie is young and the brain is
plastic, meaning that sometimes it will compensate for damaged functions. She
should know within the next year if she’s going to recover her vision.”

“When can I go home?” asked Maggie.

“Your vital signs seem good, so how about tomorrow
morning?”

Maggie said that would be good. She couldn’t wait to get
back home to Louisiana and her children.

As the doctor was leaving the room, he signaled to Zak
that he wanted to talk to him in the hall. They walked down the hall a distance
so that Maggie wouldn’t be able to hear them.

“I wanted to let you know what to expect over the next
few months. Maggie has had an acute injury to her brain. She may experience
confusion and disorientation and have difficulties sleeping. She may also
exhibit personality changes like becoming irritable and depressed. Once you get
back to Louisiana, you should probably find a therapist for her. She’s going to
have to make a lot of adjustments over the next few months.”

Zak thanked the doctor and returned to Maggie’s room to
find her crying. She was finding it difficult to get used to having limited
vision. Most of all she was sad because she couldn’t see Zak’s face very well.
She loved him so much and couldn’t bear the thought of never being able to see
him or her children again. Zak leaned over the bed and kissed and hugged her.

“It’s o.k. Maggie, the doctor said there’s a chance that
you can recover your vision. It will just take some time.”

Maggie realized that he had heard the doctor’s words
differently than she had. She had understood the doctor to say that she
probably wouldn’t recover her lost vision and it would take a long time before
she would know if there was going to be any improvement. She guessed that she
would just have to try to be patient and hope that things would turn out for
the best.

.

Chapter 27

The hospital released Maggie the next day. Zak
picked her up in the car that he had rented at the airport and they drove the
four hours to Maggie’s parents’ house. Maggie’s parents, Justin and Spencer
were waiting for them. Jim and Carole had already flown back to Louisiana. Spencer sat next to Maggie on the couch and held her tightly as she told him
that she couldn’t see very well and didn’t know if she would ever be able to
see clearly again. He kissed her hair and stroked her back, tears rolling down
his face as he tried to comfort her. Maggie kissed him back and said “Don’t
worry Spencer. I’ll be o.k. I can mostly see, at least enough to get by. Things
are just kind of blurry.” Maggie decided to change the subject.