Free Angel of the Night by Jackie McCallister Page A

were signs of worry. The Henry that stood before her now looked as if he had lost eight years off of his face. Henry greeted Wendy in a way that startled her, but had become to be expected by Henry’s close friends. He picked Wendy up and spun her around.
    “He’s awake! Mike is awake!” Henry said.
    Wendy whooped with joy! For sure she was happy for poor Pfc. Michael Kitcavage, but her joy was made complete by Henry’s exuberant reaction. Wendy wasn’t sure what it was about Henry Washoe, but something about being with him made her more likely to laugh and see the silly side of life.
    “I like this guy! I really do. He makes me smile,” Wendy thought as she caught her breath after being spun in the air and unceremoniously deposited back on the ground.
    “When did he wake up? Did you see him? What did he say? What did the doctor say?” The questions rushed out of Wendy’s mouth as fast as she could say them. Usually considered one of the quiet and reserved nurses in the medical service, Wendy found herself caught up in Henry’s boyish enthusiasm.
    Henry listened to her questions and tried to answer them in the order in which they were asked. “He woke up about four hours ago. I saw him but just for a very short time. He told me that, while he was happy to see me, he would have been happier seeing a rib eye steak. I haven’t had a chance to talk to the doctor yet. No doctor had even seen him long enough to do a complete exam when I was there.”
    Wendy nodded, thinking about her intensive care rotation when she was a resident at the University Hospital in Madison, Wisconsin. Vital signs are taken, and a perfunctory exam was undertaken as soon as a patient in Michael Kitcavage’s condition awakened. Within a couple of hours, a complete workup was done, at which time an evaluation of his prognosis could be determined.
    “If he’s been awake for four hours a doctor has seen him, “Wendy said. “You’ve already seen him once today so they may not let you in, but I haven’t used up my visit yet! Let’s go see what we can find out!”
    Good news and bad news awaited Wendy and Henry when they arrived at intensive care. Neither of them was going to be able to see Michael…because he had already been transferred to a ward in the general medical wing of the Glynnis Unit.
    “That’s a good thing, right?” Henry asked when Wendy told him the news.
    “That’s a VERY good thing. Usually they keep a patient who has been comatose in intensive care for a day after he wakes up. Your friend must have really answered all of the qualifying questions well.”
    Henry was curious about what Wendy had said. “Qualifying questions? What qualifying questions?”
    “When a patient regains consciousness after a coma he or she will usually have some holes in their memory. They may remember their name and the name of their first grade teacher, but can’t remember their spouse’s middle name or even how many kids they have. These are called ‘coma craters.’ They aren’t considered serious because they usually go away over a short period of time. The questions that a doctor will ask his patient start out as routine questions about the patient’s name, age, date of birth, Social Security number. Then they ask deeper questions. Like what was your first car, or where was your maternal grandmother born. Usually some of the questions will fall into the coma crater. The fact that Michael is in the hospital's general population means that the doctor couldn’t find a crater. They told us that he was in a light coma. It must have been a light one indeed.”
    Henry’s smile creased his face from ear to ear. “Do you think they’ll let us see him? I mean right now?”
    “I think it’s worth a try, Henry my boy. I think it’s worth a try.”
    The head of Michael Kitcavage’s hospital bed was propped up, and he had two pillows under his neck to lift his head even more upright. This was so he was more readily able to see “South