Read Before I Wake for Free Online

charts.”
    The doctor glanced at me, then busied himself checking Sherry’s breathing.
    Simon rustled through the pages, taking it all in, nodding fractionally as he moved from point to point.
    â€œWhat do you think?” I asked, lowering my voice as if the doctor couldn’t or shouldn’t hear us.
    â€œJust what he said. Too early to tell.” He closed the file.
    The doctor looked up from where he leaned over the bed, listening through his stethoscope. He held up one finger, holding our attention and our silence for the few seconds it took him to finish. Then he folded the stethoscope and tucked it into a pocket.
    â€œI’m a little concerned with Sherilyn’s lungs,” he said.
    A new sense of dread took hold.
    â€œHer breathing seems a little…moist. I’m worried that she might be at risk for pneumonia.”
    Simon and the doctor exchanged a look.
    â€œWhat’s going on?” I asked. “What aren’t you telling us?”
    â€œIt’s the pneumonia we’re most concerned with right now. If she gets it…there’s really nothing we can do.”
    I started to speak, but he held out his hand to stop me. “I’m increasing her antibiotics. We’ll do everything we can to stave it off, but while she’s on the respirator she’s at risk for opportunistic infection.”
    â€œThen take her off the respirator.”
    I could feel Simon’s hand at the small of my back. That frightened me more than the doctor.
    â€œWe can’t,” Dr. McKinley replied.
    â€œWhat? Why not?”
    â€œThey can’t,” Simon said. “They think—”
    I turned my head away.
    The doctor started to speak, but Simon cut him off with his courtroom voice. “The trouble with the respirator is that with all the bacteria and viruses in the environment, what happens is that the patient is more susceptible. If she catches pneumonia…” He shook his head.
    I took a step backward. “Why are you saying this?”
    â€œBut they can’t take her off the respirator because she can’t breathe on her own,” Simon finished, so logically.
    â€œIs that true?” I asked the doctor, ignoring Simon altogether.
    He hesitated a moment, then nodded.
    â€œSo what do we do?” I asked the room, Simon, the doctor, Sherry. “What do we do?”
    â€œWe just have to wait and see,” the doctor answered.
    SIMON
    After the doctor left, Karen turned on me.
    â€œHow can you be so calm? How can you be so cold? Sherry is dying. Don’t you care?” She was shaking with anger.
    â€œOf course I care,” I said. But somebody needed to be strong, to be able to think things through. I didn’t say that. I couldn’t.
    â€œYou don’t. You don’t care at all!”
    â€œKaren—”
    â€œGet out,” she said. “Get the hell out of here.”
    She didn’t mean it. I was sure she didn’t mean it.
    â€œGet out!” she shouted.
    I picked my briefcase up and turned toward the door. “I’m going to go home and get us both a change of clothes, okay? I’ll be back in a little while. Is there anything else I can bring you?”
    â€œYou’re going?” She called after me. “How can you just leave? How can you just leave us again?”
    I could hear her sobbing as the elevator doors closed.
    KAREN
    â€œAre you okay?”
    I jumped. I hadn’t seen the doctor come in.
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œI saw your husband leaving and I just wanted to check…”
    I nodded. “I’m okay.”
    â€œListen.”
    I turned to face him. I was amazed at the depth of concern on his face.
    â€œWhy don’t we sit down,” he said
    Using just the slightest pressure on my upper arm he guided me to a plastic chair and sat next to me.
    â€œI’m sorry about your husband,” he said
    I found myself shaking my head defensively, not entirely