John and Jill Ch. 05

Chip's third and fatal mistake, was not cribbing the massive machine for a safer working area. Since the rod had been weakened before by being jacked up, the metal quickly bent and the machine came down on Chip. As Chip was screaming, John ran over and tried to pull his friend out. John started to crib underneath the behemoth as his friend was screaming for his life. John stopped his attempts at cribbing and crawled under the machine to get to the jack.

Chip was lodged sideways under the machine and there was blood everywhere. Finally when Chip stopped screaming, John realized he had pretty much lost his friend. As he reached under for the jack the brace rod broke and the machine came down the rest of the way on John and he could feel the ribs on his left side cracking and realized he was trapped as well. Alarms went off all over the plant, the din being the last thing John remembered hearing before things went dark.

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John woke up in a haze to a bunch of beeping noises. He looked up at a white ceiling and panic when he realized something was lodged in his throat and he could talk. All sorts of alarms started going off then and the nurses came running in. That was when John realized he was in the hospital.

John panicked and started struggling against the tubes and wires hanging from the different machines on him. The nurses tried to calm him down and finally pushed a syringe of something into some clear plastic tubing. John slowly became unconscious again.

When John awakened again, the machines were still beeping, but a lot quieter than they had been when he went out. He looked around the room as best he could and realized he must be in intensive care at the Fullmer hospital. His memory was cloudy, but it was all beginning to come back to him slowly, as if from a fog. He could feel something in his throat and could not even attempt to talk.

A very pretty nurse walked in the room and looked at John with compassion and said, "Good John, you're awake and back among the living. You had us all frightened there for a while. You're very lucky man."

"You relax and I'll talk to your doctor," she said as she checked a bunch of the machines and wrote some stuff on his chart.

John was frustrated because he couldn't talk and wanted to know how Chip was. Then he looked over in the corner and saw JJ sitting in the chair. Suddenly JJ opened his eyes, obviously from a short catnap. He jumped up and ran over to his father and said, "THANK GOD dad, are you okay?"

John could only do one thing and blinked his eyes once. JJ must've understood and began crying. He hated to see his big strong father so injured and vulnerable. After he composed himself, JJ turned around and told his father, "Dad I've got to go call Grandpa George and tell him you're okay."

JJ must've gone to find a phone because he was gone for about 10 minutes. In that time the doctor walked in and started talking to John. "Mr. Trainor, I'm Dr. Evans your physician." John became agitated and started to move around too much and the machine started going off again.

"Mr. Trainor I'll explain everything to you in a moment, but you must relax. You woke up finally, which is a good thing, but you're not out of the woods yet. There's a tube in your throat and a machine to help you breathe due to your injuries. Don't fight it, just let it do its work. Mr. Trainor, may I call you John? I know that's a little presumptuous of me, but I've heard about you from your family and friends; and from what they tell me I feel I can call you by your first name. My first name is Richard, so I'm going to call you John."

John blinked his eyes once and tried to make a nod with his head; which was almost impossible to do. Everything was starting to hurt when he tried just that simple little movement.

"John you were in an industrial accident at Simmons do you remember any of that?"

John blinked his eyes again just once. The doctor continued his oratory.

"John you received a major crush injury to your chest and abdomen cavities. You also broke your pelvis. You punctured your left lung, ruptured your spleen, and bruised your heart. We removed your spleen, stabilized your pelvis, and stabilized your chest cavity to get your lungs were inflated. You lost a significant amount of blood due to the internal injuries and were in shock when you came in."

"The firefighters and paramedics did an awful lot of work to get you out from under that machine. They saved your life. We're going to start trying to wean you that the breathing machine if you can breeze on your own. For now, let the machine do all the work and just relax and go with it. I know it's a pain that you can't talk, but I don't want you getting excited and do any damage to our handiwork."

The next thing John knew, JJ was back and his father was standing at his side. George looked down at his son with tears in his eyes.

"Son I'm not a praying man, but I started last week."

From what his father said, John figured he'd been out a week. He just wanted to know if Chip had made it. He felt responsible for not watching over his friend's work. He realized that this was probably because he trusted Chip and didn't think he would make the mistakes he made. He looked up at his dad with pleading eyes trying to will his father into giving him the information he so desperately wanted.

"Son, you shouldn't be alive. That machine weighs 16 tons and would've killed six ordinary men. The doctors say that the weight distributed over your large frame is what saved your life. The fire department had a hell of a time getting you out from under there. I'm so glad that God saw fit to you leave you here with us. We've all been praying for you, Son."

John knew his dad had never been a religious man, so he must've really been in bad shape for his father to pray for him. John knew George was not prone to emotional displays, but his father stood there and cried. This had JJ in tears, also, as the two stood there and hugged through their sobbing. JJ was also not used to his grandfather being this emotional.

John looked at the two people in the world that he loved beyond anyone else, and felt elevated inside. John tired considerably from all this stress and nodded off again.

When he awakened it was dark outside and the clock said 6:00 and the nurses started filing, in taking blood samples, vital signs and machine readings. At about 9 o'clock the doctor came in with one of the nurses and started looking at John's chart.

He reached over to the big ventilator sitting beside the bed and shut off the machine. Then he reached down and unhooked a big hose from the tubing John's throat while saying, "Nurse get me a T piece and an oxygen nipple will you?" The nurse left quickly and came back with a blue T-shaped hard plastic tube with some kind of a strange valve with ridges sticking out of it. The doctor hooked what appeared to be oxygen tubing to it and John started breathing on his own, struggling at first. Then his breathing began to be much easier and he felt much better, although still wanting the tube out of his throat. John's chest was very sore as he breathed and the doctor warned him to breathe normally. John did this but tired out very quickly due to the physical stress. He nodded off again.

The next time when John awakened, he felt very refreshed, but still in a lot of pain. When the doctor and nurse came in, the doctor asked her for a ten mL syringe.

John watched as Dr. Evans grabbed a skinny, blue colored tube with a big valve on the end of it and stuck the syringe in it. He drew air out of the valve and said to John, "Now John when I tell you, I want you to try to cough as hard as you can. Okay, NOW," as he started pulling the tube out of John's throat. John thought to himself as he hacked up the tube and a lot of secretions, he would've hated to been awake when that thing went in. He started coughing and his chest felt like it was on fire.

"Take it easy John, take it easy. Nurse if he keeps coughing I want some cough syrup for him. I don't want him coughing any more than he needs to. John can you say anything?"

John struggled to talk, but the words wouldn't come out because his throat was so swollen and sore. The nurse gave him a cup of water and straw and John took a couple of sips while thinking nothing ever tasted so good in his life. Then John said, "What do you want me to say? I don't remember the Gettysburg Address word for word. But I can hum a few bars of America the Beautiful for you."

"Good, good. A sense of humor. You're going to need it, especially when you start physical therapy. Those people down there are laugh a minute, aren't they Nurse Kramer?"

"Now Dr. Evans, you know it's not nice to threaten the patients."

John even laughed at that, and he clearly got the joke.

"Doc what about my friend, Chip Monk?"

Nurse Kramer looked at him with sad eyes and said, "John I'm really sorry to be the one to tell you, but your friend didn't make it. He died at the scene."

John put his hand up over his eyes to hide his tears, but both medical professionals knew what was going on.

Dr. Evans just looked at him and asked, "How is your pain, John, on a zero to ten scale; zero being no pain and ten being the worst pain you ever felt?"

"I'd say it's about a six right now Doc. I can handle it," John said through a thick voice wracked with emotional pain.

"Nonsense, John. None of these mock heroics and macho bullshit. Pain is a detriment to healing. I want you to tell the nurse if you're even the least little bit of pain. Connie, give John half a normal dose of the Dilaudid IV and see how he does with that in about an hour and a half. If that doesn't do it, give him the full dose. I want him pain free at all times. Keep an eye on his respiratory status." Dr. Evans charted all this on his patient chart and left.

Connie came back in with his shot and John felt his pain subsiding. Although it made him a little groggy, he was glad for the relief of his aches. He was starting to feel like he could breathe a little easier and was even a little comfortable laying in his bed.

Being able to eat on his own; eating at all, was a major relief until his lunch tray came. John had always thought that hospital food got a bad rap until he gazed upon his meager meal offering. He desperately craved a hamburger and some French fries, but what he got was meatloaf and some of the worst boiled potatoes he ever tasted.

When George and JJ came in that evening, he begged JJ to go to Burger King for him. When JJ came back with a bag and a milkshake John was ecstatic. John ate his scrumptious meal and chatted with his two favorite people. After they left at about 7 PM John started to doze off

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Soon, they moved John to another room without all the machines except an IV pump. John was fine with that, dozing off after all the hubbub died down. John woke up with a start when he realized someone was standing in the room. He looked up to see Jill standing there with tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Well I see you almost did a good job of killing yourself, John."

"It's nice to see you to Jill," John said with almost equal sarcasm in his voice.

"I'm sorry John; it's just hard to see somebody you love laying there in pain."

"I'm sorry Jill, I know it's not easy. It's not too easy on me either."

"How are you feeling?"

"Like I've been run over by a steamroller. How are you doing?"

"I'm okay. I would've been here to see you sooner, but only immediate family is allowed in ICU. JJ has been keep me apprised of your status."

"Yeah, he's a good kid all right. How is he really doing through all this?"

"How do you think you doing John? His favorite person almost died. I've never seen him cry and worry so much.

"Well I didn't have any choice in the matter; it's not like I planned it."

"You did have a choice to not jump under there and try to pull that little squirrel Chip out from underneath that machine. Especially when it was his own fault."

"Jill I don't believe you just said that. He was my best friend in the world after you decided to destroy my other friendship."

"I didn't decide to do anything and I was played upon by your friend."

"She didn't have to really work that hard to get you to do it either; which shows how smart you are," John said not believing the coldhearted statements of his ex-wife.

Before Jill could say anything there was a light knock on the door. It opened and Mel walked in.

Jill, being already incensed by John's comments, looked directly at Pamela Tamchek and said, "What are you doing here you redheaded skank?"

"I'm here to visit your EX-husband, if it's any of your business," Mel said with a biting tone in her voice.

Jill replied, "He doesn't want you here, so why don't you just leave."

"How about I leave when he tells me to and not some stupid slut that talks out of both sides of her face. If anyone should leave it should be you. You're the one that was stupid enough to fall for that horseshit from his half-dike friend. You had your chance."

"Ladies," John said forcefully from his bed, "How about both of you get out of here and leave me alone. Here I am trying to recuperate from life threatening injuries and you two hags stand here arguing over me like I'm not even here and I'm just a piece of meat. Now GET OUT THE BOTH OF YOU and don't come back." John hit the nurse call button and the nurse, having heard the commotion, didn't take long to arrive at his bedside as John said, "Nurse, I want both these people put on a list, they're not to be allowed to visit me. If they show up here I want them to be escorted out of the hospital; I mean it."

John's two exes just looked at each other strangely and looked back at John as he had said this. They both said almost the same time, "John, you can't mean that," as the nurse escorted them out of the room.

John had a lot of time to think while he was recuperating and that episode put him over the top as he made his decision on what he was going to do. He realized life was too short and he called Amanda Blonder and asked her to come to the hospital. After she arrived he told her what he wished to do with his finances what he planned on doing and she asked him not to be hasty.

Both Jillian and Mel both tried to call John several times to talk to him but he refused their attempts. They were both devastated, as was Mac when she attempted to walk into the room and John actually threw his full plastic water pitcher at her. The nurse came running in and he said to add her to the list of non-visitors as well.

When George and JJ came to visit John he told them of his plans and that he would definitely keep in touch with them. He explained to them that he was never going to get a moments peace living in the same town with both of the ex-significant others. JJ understood completely, but George seemed to think he was running away.

"I'm not running away dad, I'm running toward my dream of what I've wanted to do with my life for a long time now. Chip, my brush with death and the way those two acted in here the other night made up my mind for me. I'm at that time in my life where I want to change. I want a different life than what I have at the factory. I can fix things there, but I want to create or re-create, not just repair."

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John was released from the hospital weeks later and began the arduous physical therapy he needed to endure due to his pelvic fracture. During this time, JJ drove him back and forth to therapy. The school gave him permission to do this, with his teachers allowing him to write about the process and reports. Since his dad's therapy was during health and English classes, he did reports and turned in pictures of his dad's therapy for presentations. He actually got A's on both projects.

One day at therapy, Ellie Monk stopped in to see him. Although a pleasant surprise for John, he instantly felt pangs of guilt for the loss of his friend.

"Ellie, I'm so sorry about Chip; he was the best friend that I ever had. I tried to get to him but it was too late," John said as he felt the tears forming in his eyes.

Ellie just looked sympathetically at John and said, "John, everyone told me what you tried to do for Chip and you bear no responsibility in what happened."

"OSHA did their report and said Chip made some mistakes when he started trying to work on the project, and that a design flaw in the machine created 50% of the incident. The company that made the machine already contacted me and I've accepted a handsome settlement from them."

"Ellie, I shouldn't have let him go under there alone. He wasn't as familiar with 'Big Mo' as I was and I wouldn't let him put that jack under that bracket. Other men have done that and I've corrected them on that. It's just that I trusted Chip so much with everything that I didn't think he would do that. He made a mistake that I should've seen quicker and corrected, and it cost him his life. I'll always bear guilt for that."

"John, Chip would've wanted you to go on with your life and not worry about wasting it by feeling guilt. I just want you to know that I appreciate what you did to try to save him and I came here to tell you that and to ask you if there was anything I could do to help you. Jillian has spoke with me and says that you refuse to see her. Is that true?"

"Yes Ellie it is. I can't see either her or Mel because they both drive me crazy. I'm at the time in my life where I don't have to put up with that. I don't want to see or hear from either one of them. I'll gladly see you or other family and friends, but not either one of them. If you need anything, and I mean anything, Ellie, please let me know. Anything around the house, anything I can help you with or you need, any time night or day; you understand?"

"Thank you John. Even during times of discomfort and turmoil, you're still the gentleman. I want you to know that Chip always loved you like a brother."

"And I him Ellie, and I him."

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When John finally finished his therapy and got a clean bill of health. He marched into HR at Simmons and turned in his two-week notice. He worked his two weeks out by training his replacement, Ed Thornton. Ed had worked in engineering for years and it always supported John's vision of preventive maintenance and night shift repairs. Mr. Simmons accepted John's recommendation, but tried to offer him more money to stay. John thanked Mr. Simmons for always being a great boss and told him that as long as Simmons' employees were treated the way he had been, he was always going to have a good business.

John worked out his two weeks and made his preparations for relocation. He had planned on moving too far away so he could be close to both George and JJ. John changed his cell phone plan and gave the numbers only to his brother Billy, his father, JJ, Amanda Blonder and Ellie Monk. They had all sworn to keep the number private, which was all John asked of them.

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As John met for dinner with Amanda Blonder to sign the final papers for his financial goals, Amanda looked at him quizzically.

"John, are you sure you want to do this?"

"This is not a spur of the moment decision Amanda, I've been thinking about it for years. The accident and Chip's death just became the impetus that put me over the top. I'm ready for this."

"I wish you all the luck in the world John, it sure does take a lot of courage to uproot your life and start all over again. Of course, I guess that's what I did when I came here and went to work with Daddy."

"Sometimes people just need to follow their hearts, Amanda."