The Wounds Within My Heart By James
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This is a story which deals with sexual/romantic situations between consenting teenaged boys. If you're not of the legal age to read such material, or if you're offended by this type of story, then leave the site now. Also, if you're disturbed by issues dealing with rape, child abuse, Racism, Ableism, Anti-LGBT Bigotry or suicide then leave now.
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The Wounds Within My Heart
Part Two
Back to Consciousness
Chapter Eight
Nohea
Entering the conference room, I sat beside my dad with Triston on my left side. Dr. Barns sat down across from us, and I waited to hear what he would have to say. I didn't like the fact that he hadn't looked at us, or at least it seemed that way. Also worrying was the fact that his tone of voice sounded so serious! I wondered what that could mean!
"I wanted to let you all know how everything went," Dr. Barns began. "I explained a little about what an Arteriovenous Malformation is, but what it specifically does is that it groups together a few different veins, and is directly connected to an artery. There aren't any capillaries through which the blood travels in between the arteries and veins. This causes pressure to build, and eventually the walls of the veins grow weak. At some point, the wall rips open, leaking blood into the brain. There can result in a lack of blood supply to other parts of the brain that could result in strokes. AVMs can be fatal, and they can also be within a person's brain from birth, or shortly thereafter.
Now, we come to Pietro. He might have had this AVM in his brain from the day he was born. We're not really sure, given the fact that no one knows much of anything about his biological family. That being said, his AVM was slowly leaking, and he would have probably experienced tingling, pain in his head and possibly confusion. We don't think he'll have any brain damage going forward, and the leak was so small and slow enough so that no brain tissue was harmed. There was some exposure of the brain to some blood that leaked out, but again, it was so small that we're confident that it didn't cause any brain damage currently nor going forward. All this to say, that Pietro should make a full recovery. He's in the Post Anesthetic Care Unit currently, and should be waking up soon."
It was a lot to take in. Knowing just how close to death Pietro had been was terrifying! Hearing about the prognosis however, did relieve me greatly! I hoped that Dr. Barns was correct, and that my best friend and soul mate would truly make a full recovery.
"Nohea, I know you're especially concerned about Pietro," Dr. Barns said after answering a couple of questions from Amy and Bryan. "Once we get Pietro into a room, you can go in and see him."
"Thanks," I said feeling a little calmer than I had been. "If you guys want to go in first though, then you can."
I turned to Pietro's family when I said that last part. They said they'd go in and say hi to him for a moment, but they would have me there by his side first thing. I thanked them, then Dr. Barns excused himself to check on Pietro's status.
It didn't take too long, then I was sitting in the room to which they moved Pietro. He had been half-asleep as I entered, then when I gently took his hand, he made a soft vocal sound, then his head slowly turned in my direction. I could sense his eyes on me, and I looked in the direction of his face. I smiled, and I could sense his own smile.
"Hey, welcome back!" I said smiling, and feeling tears coming to my eyes once again. "We're so glad you're back with us!"
Pietro gently squeezed my hand once letting me know he understood.
"Excuse me," Dr. Barns said, walking into the room and standing at the foot of Pietro's bed. "I would like to ask you a couple of questions Pietro, if you don't mind. It's just to make sure you're oriented. Is that alright?"
Pietro tapped once on the side of the bed, and I let Dr. Barns know that that response meant yes.
"Good," Dr. Barns answered. "Do you know what day it is Pietro?"
A nurse held up a calendar, and Pietro pointed to Monday. Next Dr. Barns asked him if he knew who the president of the United States was. Pietro typed out the answer on his device. Finally, Dr. Barns asked if he could type the numbers one through ten. Pietro did it slowly given how he was still tired from the anesthesia. He got them all correct though.
"Good, you did really well!" Dr. Barns said. "I'll let you rest, and I do want to say that, given the nature of the surgery we did, you'll need to stay here at least for tonight. I'm sure you'd like to be back home, but given the serious nature of an AVM, I want to observe and make sure that nothing else happens."
Pietro made a slight vocal sound expressing that this was the last thing he wanted to hear, but he took my hand and relaxed back on the bed a little more.
At that point, my dad excused himself and also asked if Bryan and Amy could come out into the hall with him. Lexy joined them, and so did Dr. Barns. This left Pietro, Triston and I. Triston then announced that he wanted to get a drink, and so now it was just my soul mate and I.
"I love you so much," I said, as I felt myself close to tears not for the first time that afternoon. "When you collapsed, I was so scared. I didn't know what was happening, and I hoped that they would be able to help you! I'm so glad they did!"
Pietro squeezed my hand once, and firmly. I then stopped talking, and rested my head on the edge of Pietro's bed.
He gently took his hand from mine, and rested it on the back of my head. I felt sleep coming upon me fast, and I was struggling to stay awake. Suddenly the door opened, and everyone returned. I gently lifted my head, and Pietro moved his hand. I took his hand again, and he was beginning to fall asleep once more.
"We all talked," my dad said. "Dr. Barns agreed that you could sleep here in Pietro's room with him Nohea. I'll stay here, and Bryan, Amy and Lexy will be back in the morning."
"Thanks!" I said, then stood hugging my dad!
"You're welcome," he said. "We figured that Pietro needs to have you here with him, and you needed to be here by his side as well."
"You're right about that," I replied.
A few minutes later, a nurse wheeled in a bed placing it beside Pietro's. Removing my shoes and socks, I lay down, immediately taking Pietro's hand once again.
At that point, Pietro's family gently hugged him, then me. They exited the room and my dad lay down on the cot they brought in for him, and Triston went with Aunt Beth back to the house. I was asleep almost within seconds of hearing my dad lying down.
When I awoke, it was after 7:00 P.M. Pietro was asleep after having had some soup. Dad let me know that when I woke up. I ate a sandwich from the cafeteria, and sat just holding Pietro's hand for a while. He awoke a couple of times, and I let him know that everything was alright, and that I was here for him. He fell back to sleep, and it didn't take too long then I was asleep once again.
The next morning, I awoke and showered. Aunt Beth had brought over a change of clothes when she picked up Triston the night before. With that in mind, I showered in the restroom that was off Pietro's room. Once dried off, I changed into the outfit my aunt brought over. Returning to Pietro's side, I saw that he was awake, and a nurse was asking him how his pain was. He replied that it was at a seven. She gave him one of his pills, and he then had some oat meal when breakfast was being served.
I ate with Pietro, then after a few minutes of us talking, he fell back asleep. Once my lover was asleep again, Dad let me know that, given everything that had gone on, he had called me off of school. He told me he did that when I had fallen asleep the night before, and I hugged him as well as thanked him.
"I knew you'd want to be here by Pietro's side today," he said. "Besides, I had no intention of having you be away from him. I know how much you guys mean to one another, and it didn't seem right having you at school today with Pietro being here in this place. I hope they release him today."
"So do I," I replied.
Soon Dr. Barns came in, letting us know that Pietro needed to have a couple of scans done. He told us that they were the usual tests done after a surgery like this. Before Dr. Barns wheeled Pietro out of the room, he went on to say that if the scans check out, then Pietro could go home today. I hoped they came back clean. So did Pietro!
Finally, after what seemed like hours, but was only a half-an-hour, Dr. Barns and Pietro were back. Dr. Barns announced that the scans were clean, and that everything looked really good. By this time, Bryan, Amy and Lexy were in the room. They had arrived shortly after Pietro went down for the scans.
"With that in mind, you can go home today, Pietro," Dr. Barns went on.
We all thanked Dr. Barns, then I helped Pietro get changed back into regular clothes. Once we left the room, we walked with Pietro's family and out of the hospital. Entering the car, we had it settled that I'd be going back to Pietro's house with him. I was glad to hear that, and I figured I'd be sleeping beside Pietro once back home. I hadn't slept well the night before. I got sleep, but not much with the nurses coming in and out at certain points all night. I knew it was the same for my best friend and boyfriend as well.
Once we pulled into the driveway, I got out of the car then helped Pietro out. Entering the house, we went into Pietro's room. Placing my overnight bag on the floor, I helped Pietro off with his shoes, socks, pants and shirt. I undressed down to my boxers as well, then we both got into bed.
It felt amazing, the feel of Pietro's warm body against me. This time though, the feeling wasn't sexual as much as it was just warm, reassuring and safe! I lay in his arms as I held him as well. We were asleep within seconds of me pulling the covers up over the two of us!
Over the next couple of days, Pietro returned to normal, though he was quiet a little more than usual. When we talked about it on Thursday evening, he told me that being so close to death really scared him. It also made him even more grateful for his life, as well as the people in it. I told him that I felt even more grateful for him, and that I was so glad he made it through the surgery. We were cuddling as we talked about that, and by this point we were both finding it hard to not get sexual. Pietro had been barred from any usual physical activities for at least a week.
Though Pietro and I didn't ask if that meant sexual activities, we figured that was on the list of things he couldn't yet do. Still though, we somehow exercised some control, and just enjoyed being in one another's arms. I did return to school on Wednesday, and spent the rest of that week at night back home with my dad and Triston. Pietro and I did get together in the afternoons after school though. I brought his assignments back to his house so he could stay caught up on school work. He would return to school by sometime next week, and we were both really glad about that.
When that up-coming weekend arrived, Pietro came over to my house, and it was really nice to see him. He arrived there shortly after I returned home from school. I had been finishing up homework I had started in Study Hall earlier that afternoon. I was saving the file when Dad let Pietro into the house, and I smiled as I heard Pietro slowly making his way up the steps to my room!
Once he was in the doorway of my room, I came over and we hugged for a long moment.
"I really missed you today," I said as I took him by the hand, leading him over to the bed.
We both sat down on the edge of the bed, and we continued embracing for what seemed like forever. As I reached up to stroke his hair, I had to remind myself that it was his super-short hair now. They had to shave his head for the surgery, a fact which Pietro was far from grateful. His hair was back slightly, but it would take a while to grow back in full once again. Still though, I stroked his head gently like all those times before, and he rested his head on my shoulder as I continued doing that for a long while.
"I love you Pietro!" I said voice thick with emotion. "I don't ever want to lose you!"
He gently nodded his head, then we shared a couple of long tender kisses. Eventually though, we separated and soon Triston was tapping on the door knob. I let him in, and he hugged Pietro for a long moment, as if worried that he'd fly away at any time. All this had been hard for Triston, and I knew that he had come to think of Pietro as a really good friend. Having said that though, it was during that week that I really came to see just how much Pietro meant to Triston.
I was glad to see them sharing that embrace, then Triston was sitting beside him on the bed as we all visited for a while, just enjoying one another's company. Soon though, Dad was calling us down for dinner, and we all entered the kitchen, excited to enjoy some really good food and each other's company as a family once again!
Once dinner was finished, we all went into the living room to watch TV for a while. We watched a couple of episodes of the Twilight Zone, and an episode of the X Files. It was really nice to be cuddled up together on the couch. Triston was snuggled between Pietro and I, and Dad was across from us in his favorite chair.
Soon though, it was nearing 11:00 P.M., and I could hear Pietro stretch a few times. The episode we had been watching was ending, and I could sense that Pietro was almost ready to get to bed. Eventually we all three stood up, and after we both hugged Triston, Pietro and I shared a long hug with our dad. We then all went upstairs. We said goodnight to Triston, then returned back to our own room.
Once in bed, I lay there on my side facing Pietro. He was on his back for a few minutes, then he turned to face me. We shared a couple of tender kisses, then I looked deeply into his eyes.
"I love you," I said. "You mean the world to me. You always will, and I can't ever imagine my life without you in it. You bring me more joy and happiness than I ever could have thought possible!"
Pietro made the I Love You hand gesture against the left side of my chest, and then kissed me gently on the lips. Resting my head against his chest, I felt my eyelids grow heavy. Soon I was fast asleep, safe in the arms of my lover, soul mate and best friend!
Author's Notes
So where at the end of Pietro's medical emergency. I hope you like how it turned out, and I can imagine none of you saw any of this coming. There will be more things to come soon, but for now things are alright for the boys.
All that being said, I hope you're all having a good day. I hope you guys are doing well, and I'll see everyone in Chapter Nine.