Helping Jamie

Mentions of nausea/vomiting.  Tried to keep it as discrete as possible. 

Alex fumbled for his phone as it rang, waking him from sleep.    He sniffled once before answering, seeing it was Freddie.  “Hello?” He said in a hoarse voice before clearing his throat.  “Ugh, hello, sorry.”

“Hey Alex, look, I’m just gonna get to the point.   Are you busy this morning?”

“Um, not really.   I mean, I’m in bed, but…”

Freddie cut him off.    “Can you go check on Jamie?   She’s got some sort of stomach bug.  She hasn’t been able to keep anything down since for over 12 hours and, after what happened to me, I’m worried about her.”

“Can you call her an ambulance?”

“She won’t go.   She says she’s not sick enough but if she’s still throwing up this afternoon, she’ll drive herself in.   But she’s also not supposed to get dehydrated because of a medication she’s on.   Can you just see how she’s doing, please?  See if she needs anything?

Alex sniffled.   “Yeah, let me get up and eat.   I’ll call her and see if she needs anything first.”

“Thanks man.  It’s hard not being there while she’s sick.”

“I know.   Now go spend time with your mom.  Bye.”   He barely heard Freddie’s bye before he hung up the phone and sneezed three times.   Probably best not to let his friend know that he had given him his cold if he was sending him to check on a sick girlfriend.  

After blowing his nose, he picked up his phone again to call Jamie.

“Hello?”  A hoarse, congested, tired sounding voice answered.

“Hi, Jamie, it’s Alex.  So, Freddie called me.” 

“Alex, I’m ok.” She cut him off.  

“Look, he just wants me to see if you need anything and peek in on you.   So what can I bring you?  Soup? Gatorade?”  There was a pause.   “Jamie?”

“Sorry.  Stomach flips at the thought of either.   Gatorade would be nice.  Yellow, please.”  

“Yellow Gatorade coming up.   You have soup or you just don’t want any?”

“Are you trying to make me sick?  Chicken broth if you must.”

“I think I must.” Alex chuckled.   “Anything else?”

“Um, since you’re going to the store anyway, can you get me another box of Kleenex?  I’ve got Freddie’s cold along with this and I’m not sure how long the box I have will last.”

“No problem.   I’m just getting up now, so give me about 2 hours, ok?”

“I’ll be waiting.”

Just under 2 hours later, Alex was at Freddie and Jamie’s.   He rang the bell and heard Pace, Jamie’s dog barking in the background.   She answered the door and let him in, taking the bag from him and leading him to the kitchen, where she slipped down into a chair.   He took in her pale, wan countenance and noticed her hands trembling.    “Last time you drank anything?”

“That stayed down? 8ish last night.”

“I know you don’t want an ambulance.   If I take you to the ER, will you go?”

She hesitated.  “Yeah, but take my car.”

“Why?”

“I don’t want to throw up in yours.”

“Is that the condition?”

She nodded, followed by a quiet sneeze.  “Ihhtshoo.”

“Bless you.  Deal.”

“Let me grab a few things.”  

He nodded, rubbing at his nose.  She slowly left the room to grab what she needed.   “Heh-chooo, Heh-CHOO.”  The sneezes took him by surprise and the second bent him double as Jamie came back into the kitchen with her purse and hoodie.  

“Bless you.” She told him.  “You ok?”

“Freddie’s cold.” He explained. 

She sighed.  “And you’re here checking up on me.   Does he know you’re sick too?”

Alex shook his head.  “You’re sicker.   Let’s get you hydrated.”  He took the keys she handed him, grabbed the tissues off the coffee table, and walked with her to the car.   He kept casting worried glances at her the entire trip to the ER, cursing traffic.   She was slouched in the passenger seat, head resting on the window.   She looked gray and tired, and the hand clutching plastic bags continued to tremble.  She sneezed three or four times on the trip, quiet ihtshoos that seemed to take more energy than she had right now.    He sneezed a quick double once during the trip, and the concerned look she gave him made him hate the traffic even more.  

30 minutes later, they were at the ER and waiting to be seen.   When her buzzer went off, she stood and wavered for a minute, dizzy.   He stood and steadied her, walking her to the room with his arm around her to support her.   “Want me to stay with you?” He whispered.   She nodded. 

He sat in the chair next to the bed while she talked to the nurse and doctor, had labs drawn, IVs started and got medication for the nausea.   Finally all that was left was for the fluids to rehydrate her, which meant sit and wait.  

“Heh-chuuhh,  Ehh-choo,  heh-hhheh-chushh.”   He broke the silence with a trio of sneezes and sniffled, looking around the small room for tissues.   He spotted them on the other side of the room, got up and grabbed them, blowing his nose, taking the box and setting it on her cot.  “I think we both may want these,” he explained.  

She nodded.  “Bless you.  When did you get sick?”

“Yesterday.  You?”

“Friday.  Then got hit with this last night.”

“Rough weekend,”

“I know.   Why didn’t you tell Freddie you were sick?   He would have found someone else to do…” She trailed off.  “Ihh-tshoo.  This.”

“He was pretty worried on the phone.   I couldn’t do it.  So here I am.  Nice guy syndrome.”

She smiled.  “Thank you.  I don’t know if I could have driven.”

“I know.”  He paused as she sneezed again.  “You sound terrible by the way.”  

“Yeah, well, cold medicine wasn’t an option this morning,” she sniffled, taking a tissue, blowing her nose, and coughing. 

He gave her a sympathetic smile and nod.  “Hopefully once we get you home.   That and some rest.  You don’t look like you slept much.”  He looked up at the bag of saline which had a third to go.   “Should be soon; they’re pouring that stuff into you.”  The congestion built in his voice as the urge to sneeze intensified, and he turned away from her.  “Huhhh-chuuhh.  Excuse m…ehhh-chuhhh, hhh-chuhh, ehhh-chuhhishh.  Ugh. Sorry. Excuse me.”  He gave his nose several long blows and paused for a brief coughing spell   

“You don’t sound much better than me.” She observed after he had finished.  

He shook his head and pulled cough drops out of his pocket, offering one to her.   She hesitated, “Maybe not just yet.” She finally decided.    “I don’t know if they’d approve. Ugh.”  She rubbed her nose, reaching for the tissues.  “Ihhtschoo,  hiitschoo….  hiitscchh, hihh…ihhtschh….hiihh…ihhh…hiitschoooo.”  She groaned and flopped back, blowing her nose.   “I deed sobe DayQuil.” She sniffled.  She saw him staring at her.  “Sorry, the bore there are, the bore I habe to fighd to get theb oud.”

“Bless you.”  He handed her a few more tissues.  “I’ve got the opposite problem.  The more there are, the faster they come.” He chuckled.  

She smiled as he handed her the garbage can.   She dumped her tissues in.   “Thanks.”   Still congested he noticed, but not overwhelmingly so.  He also noticed the saline was nearly done, which meant he could get her back home to her own bed and hopefully medicine soon.  

As if on cue, there was a knock on the door, and the nurse came into the room.   “How are you feeling?”

“Not nauseous.” She told him.  “Can I go home?”

“Let me get that IV out and go over a few things with you.”  Jamie nodded, holding out her arm.   Just as when they had been inserting it, Alex looked away.

“We’re done.” He heard Jamie tell him a couple minutes later.   “Alex?” She asked when he didn’t move.

“Heh-CHUUHHH”. He placed a hand on the wall as a powerful sneeze struck him.  

“Bless you.” Jamie and the nurse said in unison.   

“Thanks.” He mumbled, turning back to Jamie.   He listened with her as the nurse gave her discharge instructions and a prescription for anti-nausea medication as well as to have a medication lab drawn on Monday and a note off work for Monday.   He stepped back outside while Jamie changed out of her gown, and when she stepped out into the hall, escorted her out, staying close in case she was still as weak as when she went in.

They stopped at a pharmacy near her apartment to get the medication.  “Is there anything else you need?” He asked. “I have a feeling you’ll need more than just the one box of Kleenex.”  He said, picking up a multipack for himself.

“Probably another box would be good.” She agreed, protesting as he started to pick up another multipack.  

“You’ll have plenty and some for next time you need them.” He told her practically.   “Cold medicine?”

“I know we have some.  To be honest, I was gonna deal with it tomorrow.”

“Get some now.  Again, extra isn’t a bad thing.”   She reached down and picked up the day time capsules and the night time capsules.    “No liquid?” He teased.  “It doesn’t taste that bad.”

“Alcohol.” She said softly, and he nodded.  

“Can you grab the day time and the liquid night time for me?” He requested.

“Green or red?”

“Re-Ehshoo, Ehshoo. Red.”  He directed a pair of sneezes into his shoulder as his hands were occupied.   “I just wandt to grab some orange juice,” he sniffed, heading to the cooler as her name was called by the pharmacy.  He set one of the packs of tissues in the basket and took it from her.  “Meet you up front.”

She went and stood in the pharmacy line while he grabbed his juice.   When she got to the front of the store, he had already checked out.    “Alex,” she chided, “I can pay for my own stuff.”

“Freddie said to make sure you had what you need.” Alex told her, heading to the car.   He pulled out one of the boxes of cold medicine as she buckled her seat belt.   Handing her a bottle of water, he offered it over.  “Ready to try this?”

She paused.  “Ihhtschoo!  ISchooo!  Hihh…Ihhschoooo!!”  He handed her the box of Kleenex off the floor of the car.   She blew her nose, then took the orange capsules with the tiniest sip of water.   “Hope they help.” She said stuffily, blowing her nose again, then stuffing her tissues in one of the plastic bags she had brought with her that morning.  

“Bless you.   Those were intense.”

“Don’t have the energy to try to control them.” She sighed.  

“Let’s get you home.”   She had just dozed off when Alex turned off the car in the condo’s driveway.   “Come on, let’s try something to eat, and then….” He trailed off.   “Hehh-chuhhh, Uhh-chuhhh, huhhhchuhh.   Get you sombe rest.”  He finished.  

She nodded.   “I made soup last night.  I didn’t eat it so it’s not why I got sick like this, if you want to stay for lunch.” She offered.  

“I’m staying until you eat and take a nap,” he told her.   “Make sure the nausea medication works.”

She nodded.  “I expected as much.”

He ate a bowl of chicken soup while she slowly drank half a cup of chicken broth and half a Gatorade.   “I don’t feel right just abandoning you to go to bed.” She explained.  “How about we put in a movie and I sleep on the couch?”

He nodded.   “I’m ok with that.  What movie?”

“Whatever you want.  Hopefully, I’ll be out 5 minutes in.”

He selected a superhero movie while she got comfortable on the couch, tucking a throw blanket around her and placing the Kleenex between them.   He sat in the oversized chair next to her, taking the blanket she handed him.    15 minutes in, they were both asleep.   

Jamie awoke a couple hours later to find the movie over and Alex talking quietly on his phone.   He looked over, noticing she was up.   “Let me switch you to FaceTime,” he told the person on the other end.  “She’s awake now.”   He pressed a button on his phone.  “It’s Freddie.” He told her as she sat up on the couch, and he sat next to her.  

“Hi sweetie.”  She croaked, then cleared her throat.  “Hi,” she repeated, stronger this time.  

“Hi, hon.  How are you feeling?  Alex was just filling me in on the morning.”

“Better.   I kepbt broth ad Gatorade dowd.  Hode od.”  She grabbed a tissue and blew her nose a few times.   “That’s better.   The only thing left is this cold.” She told her boyfriend.  

“Alex said you looked pretty rough this morning.”

Jamie turned her head.  “Ihhtschoo.  Ihtschoo.  I was.”  She turned back to Alex’s phone.   “But I feel better.  I got fluids and medicine.   Labs and no work on Monday.”   

“You do look be-“

“Uh-CHUHH!  Huh…uhhh-chuhhh,  hh-hiihhchuhh, huhhhchuhh, chushoo.”

He was interrupted by a set of sneezes from Alex.    “Bless you.  You ok, man?”

Alex was busy blowing his nose so Jamie answered.  “He’s also got your cold.”  To Alex, “Did you get cold medicine this afternoon?”   When Alex shook his head, she reminded him it was in the kitchen and shooed him off to take it.  Then she turned on Freddie.  “He’s sick.  You remember how you felt at the start of this.   And yet he’s been here all day because you sent him to take care of me.   Did you even give him a ‘how are you’ before you dispatched him here? Maybe he would have liked to rest today.”

“Jamie.” Alex cut in, coming back into the room.  “I could have said no.  I could have told him I was sick.  And other than the uncomfortable chairs in the ER, you haven’t been anything like work.  It’s been nice spending time with you.  Don’t go after Freddie.”

She sighed.  “Sorry.”

Alex sat next to her and rubbed her back.  “I get where you’re coming from though, and I appreciate the thought.”  

“I was worried.” Freddie explained.  “And I knew out of all my friends, Alex was most likely to do it.”

She nodded, rubbing at her nose.   “Sorry.”

“I hate not being there when you’re sick.   Even when it’s down to just a cold again.”  He looked at Alex; “What’s your plan for the rest of the day?”

“Gotta discuss it with Jamie, but I thought I’d stay through supper at least, then head back home.”

She nodded.  “I’m ok with that.  I’ll probably go to bed after supper anyway.”

“And you’ll call him if you need anything” Freddie asked, anxiously.

“Yes,” both Jamie and Alex answered.  

“Freddie, I’m ok.   I’ll call you before I go to bed.   Go spend time with your mom.”   Jamie said firmly.    “Things are under control here.  Alex is gonna watch another movie.  I’m going back to sleep.   And in a few hours, we’ll eat dinner which will go just fine.”

Freddie nodded.  “Ok, baby.  Love you.  Thanks Alex.”

Jamie waited while Alex cued up another movie before curling backup on the couch to sleep again.