“What happened?” Khi demanded of our friends in the kitchen.
I vaguely recognized that we were surrounded by Cooper, Spencer, and Logan. I was pretty sure Rai was on shift at the hospital. Cruz was likely at the Wishing Well. Jesse probably had Hadley at home so she wasn’t a witness to her dear Bev being sick.
“She seemed tired and said she wasn’t feeling well. Didn’t eat much at dinner,” Spencer offered. “Right before it happened, she called up the stairs and then I heard the crash.” He winced and ran a hand through his hair. “I came running down, found her like this, and called 911.”
“How long from not eating dinner until she fell?” Khi asked.
“A couple hours?” Logan offered. “I ate dinner and then went to the shelter, but she was in bed with a cup of tea when I came home. I told her goodnight and went upstairs. About thirty minutes later was when I heard the commotion and Spencer hollered for me.”
Khi administered a quick blood sugar test and winced. “Forty-eight.” He immediately started an IV. “Give me the D10.”
Handing Khi the dextrose solution, knowing it would help get Bev’s sugar level back to a stable level—at least for a bit—I set to work bandaging the gash on her forehead.
“What’s going on? What’s wrong with her?” A very teary Cooper stood by, arms wrapped around his middle.
“Low blood sugar,” Khi answered. “We’ve given her a sugar water solution. We’ll keep her levels stable until she’s at the hospital. They’ll monitor from there.” He glanced around the group. “I feel like I should know this, but is she diabetic?”
All of us shook our heads.
“If she is, she never told us. But I’ve never seen any blood sugar testing supplies,” Cooper answered.
“She’s had a few more doctor appointments than usual lately,” Spencer offered. “I drove her to a couple of them. Didn’t figure it was my place to pry about what was going on and she didn’t offer.”
Bev stirred to life and my heart finally started beating again.
“Bev, your blood sugar was dangerously low. You fell and hit your head.” Khi calmly and professionally explained the situation while I couldn’t do anything but hold her hand. “We’ve patched up the cut on your head, but the hospital will get it stitched and watch for concussion symptoms. We’ve given you dextrose to get your sugar up, but the hospital will monitor you and run some tests. Have you had issues with your sugars before?”
Bev groaned and patted my hand. “I didn’t want to cause a fuss,” she muttered.
“You’re never a fuss. We need to know these things so we can keep you safe.” I squeezed her hand.
“The doctor has been on me about my sugars. I ignored him for a while, but I’ve been going to see him for some tests lately. Have an appointment tomorrow to start testing my sugars and giving myself insulin.” She took a long, quivery breath. “It’s all a bit much and I’m not sure I can do it. Don’t want to put any of you out with changes I’ll need to make.”
“We’ll all gladly make the changes with you,” Logan said as he patted Bev’s arm. “We’d rather make changes and see you healthy.”
A tear slipped from the corner of Bev’s eye. “I’m sorry for all the trouble. I didn’t feel well and thought I could make it until the appointment tomorrow.” She frowned. “Oh dear, I’ll need to let them know what happened.”
“You’ll probably be in the hospital until at least tomorrow afternoon, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they keep you a couple days. We’ll call the doctor’s office for you. You can set up another appointment once you’re back home.” Khi nodded to me, indicating we needed to load her on the stretcher. “They’ll send in a dietician and teach you all about your diet and carbs and how to stay healthy. They won’t let you leave until you’re comfortable checking your sugars and giving yourself the insulin.”
“And they’ll make sure all’s good with your head,” I added as we moved her to the cot and raised it to its full height. “We’ll keep everyone updated, but I’m guessing they’ll treat her head and sugars in the ER and then move her to a room. She can probably have visitors tomorrow, but call first to find out,” I spoke to the guys. “Can you all fill in Dalton and Gabby? Let Cruz, Rai, and Jesse know what’s going on?”
Cooper nodded. “Jesse’s got Hadley at home. I’ll tell him now.”
“I’ll call Cruz,” Logan offered.
“I already texted Rai. When he’s able to check his phone, he’ll call me,” Spencer said. “I called Dalton. He and Gabby are on their way home. I’ll fill them in.”
Goodbyes and words of love were exchanged as we rolled Bev from the house, carrying the stretcher down the stairs. Once we had our VIP patient loaded up, I drove on autopilot to the hospital.
We called the station to let them know what was going on and hung out at the hospital a bit longer than was technically necessary. But the ER staff understood Bev wasn’t just any patient. They let us pop our heads in to see her once she was in a room and we left after getting a report from her night nurse.
It was good to see Bev alert, even though she was tired from the ordeal and feeling embarrassed about all the fuss being made over her. They’d stitched her up in the ER and her sugars were stable for the time being. Bev had some changes to make and things to learn about taking care of herself, but a diagnosis of diabetes wasn’t the end of the world and she had a whole crew ready and willing to take care of her. Hopefully she wouldn’t keep things from us again; knowing she’d been dealing with all of that health information on her own was worrisome and made me feel like an ass
