Danny Ray (Ray Trilogy) (9 page)

CHAPTER NINE

Laura, Art, Nora, and Jeremy had bought season passes to watch Danny play with the Dallas Cowboys
. It cost quite a bit of money to fly to each game but so worth it to watch the games in person. Every week they all met where ever the Cowboys played and had a wonderful get together and shared adjoining rooms. It was such a happy time in their lives.

They were into their eighth game
playing the New Orleans Saints when it happened. Laura shuddered to think about it. She went out to her lawn chair on the patio and sat under the shadow of the big oak tree. She put her hands over her face while the tears coursed down her cheeks remembering the terror that she felt when she saw her son crumble with the pain. She and Nora both screamed in helplessness knowing that they could feel only a portion of pain that they knew Danny must be feeling.

The game was in its last quarter when Coach Tom Landry chose to put Danny in to play the last few minutes of the game.
Danny had showed so much potential during practices and the game looked like it was in the bag for the Cowboys. The score was 17 to 3. All they needed to do was hold the New Orleans Saints down. The Saints had the ball. All the defensive players put in every effort to keep them back.

The whole stadium full of people were on their feet rooting for their team. Danny ran circling the play. The Cowboy’
s defense fully surrounded the Saints’ player trying to run with the ball. As Danny ran by he saw the fumbled ball bounce out among their legs, he easily reached down and scooped up the ball with hardly a pause in his running.

He carried the ball ten yards before the rest of the players located the fumbled ball in #10’s arm. Danny was running as hard as he could toward his
team’s goal line. The roar of the fans was deafening. Laura and Nora were both jumping up and down. Three Saints players merged on Danny at once hitting him with a crushing force from three directions. Danny went down. The ball inconsequently bounced off to the side in its little football dance.

The referee
s let out shrill earsplitting whistles into an instantly quiet stadium. Art and Jeremy both held Laura and Nora back from running down onto the field. This was a time for the medics to check his injury. After the players backed off to clear the way, they could see clear up on the seats where they sat that Danny’s leg lay at an awkward angle.

The intercom announced for everyone to stand back while the medical team checked him out. They placed Danny’s leg
on a brace and wrapped it, then carried him off on a gurney. The family rushed down through the chaos of people vying for position to see the action on the field. Finally they struggled through and met the EMT’s where they brought Danny off the field.

They found out that Danny had been unconscious since the time he was hit. That’s all the
family could find out at the time. They followed the ambulance to the Ochsner Baptist Medical Center in New Orleans, with white frightened faces. They got there just in time to see them wheel a still unconscious Danny into the back room of the emergency unit. All they could do was wait for the doctor or nurse to come back with more information.

Art comforted Laura by holding her hand and putting his arm around her. There was nothing any of them could say or do to make the wait any easier. Laura’s stomach felt sick and knotted up. Nora, being a doctor was terrified, knowing all the things that could be wrong with Danny but afraid to say much fearing that she would only make it worse for the rest of them, especially her mother. Jeremy sat quietly
occasionally kissing Nora’s cheek or hand trying to give his support. He could tell by the expression on her face that she barely could sit still due to the fact that she wanted to go back and conduct her own analysis.

Finally
, after sitting in the waiting room for an hour the nurse came out requesting Danny Ray’s family. Laura and Nora immediately stood and she motioned for the two of them to follow her. Jeremy and Art squeezed their hands in a last attempt of comfort wishing they could all go back.

Danny lay there with a white swollen face
barely conscious. When Nora walked into the room she immediately glanced around to see if any information was left at the end of the bed. She felt of his pulse which seemed good. Upfront, she explained to the nurse that she was a doctor and would like to know anything that they could tell her.

The nurse smiled and said, “Hi, My name is Shelly and I will be Danny’s nurse while he is here. We
already have taken him back for x-rays, but it will be a while until we get the results back.”

“Is that all you can tell us?” Nora inquired.

“At this time, yes, Ma’am,” she smiled and left the room.

Nora walked over and lifted an eyelid
. She opened his gown and looked at his chest and found that they had wrapped it. His leg had been rewrapped. He had bruising on his stomach below the chest bandages. She lifted his arm and watched his face closely while she pinched him under his arm. He grimaced which was the response that she wanted.

“Danny,” she spoke softly next to his ear. His eyelids fluttered and he turned his head slightly toward her. Nora smiled to Laura, and spoke to him again, “Danny, this is Nora. Mom and I are right here.” He groaned and she rubbed his arm next to her. She leaned down and kissed his forehead and said, “I love you.”

She went over to Laura and put her arm around her and said very quietly, “I can’t say for sure because I don’t have their information, but I’m guessing that he has a severe concussion, broken ribs with maybe even some internal injuries. His leg is badly broken; I hope the knee cap is okay.”

Laura began to cry softly.
“Mom, don’t panic.” Nora comforted her by patting her shoulder. “I don’t think he has damaged anything that would be life threatening.” Nora looked out the door. “He’s going to be alright. I want you to talk to him while I find the head nurse.”

Nora walked
over to the nurse’s station and asked for the head nurse. A woman with blond hair wearing a nurse’s cap walked out from behind the protective wall emitting confidence carrying a chart. Her badge had the name Sarah White, RN. Nora showed her credentials and stated, “I am Danny Ray’s sister. What can you tell me about his condition?”

Nurse White smiled at Nora and said, “I’ve been expecting you. Danny’s nurse, Shelly told me that you were a doctor, so I knew it was just a matter of time until you hunted me down.”

Nora smiled and replied, “I guess we’re pretty predictable. What have you got for me?”

After giving Nora Danny’s vitals, Nurse White looked around to see if anyone was listening, she stated, “We don’t have the final results from the doctor so don’t take anything I say as gospel, but here’s what we think.
His knee cap doesn’t seem to be broken, but he has a really badly fractured femur. He maybe has a couple of broken ribs. His concussion should clear up soon but we will watch that overnight at least.”

“Okay, what about internal damage? I noticed some bruises.”

“At this point, we don’t anticipate anything there. We will keep a close eye on him though.”

“Thank you so much for talking with me.” Nora held out her hand to shake. “I will put in a good word for you.”

“Goodness, thank you,” Nurse White said surprised. “I never expected that.”

“No problem,” Nora responded. “A good nurse deserves to be recognized.”

When Nora returned to Danny’s room, Danny was lying there on the bed looking at Laura. She had the biggest smile on her face while she talked to him.

Nora went to the other side of the bed and talked to him for a moment and then excused herself to go back to Art and Jeremy to explain to them Danny’s condition.

At the end of all the discussion it was decided that although Danny’s condition wasn’t what they would desire, it looked like his chances of recovery were good. Jeremy and Nora needed to leave for their flight back to Tulsa because they left Lauren with a friend and they both had to work tomorrow.

Art decided to call Fred at home
to ask if he could manage the garage for a few days if necessary. He called his star pupil Ned Graves at the Kuk Sool Won karate classes to ask him to conduct his classes until he could get back. Next he called the airlines to transfer his and Laura’s tickets to Thursday. Art talked to the woman at the front desk for a recommendation for a convenient hotel near the hospital. He called and made reservations to stay through Wednesday night. Finally he was freed up to go back to Danny’s room.

In spite of it being Sunday night, s
pecialists were brought in considering that they were dealing with a Dallas Cowboy star. The media already hounded the public relations department of the hospital which had been called in as soon as they knew that Danny was being brought to Ochsner Baptist. After hours of waiting they took Danny to set his leg and place him in a big cast. Surgery had been rejected.

The next time they saw Danny he was already admitted and in his room
. He lay on his back with a huge cast on his leg suspended in traction at a forty five degree angle. His ribs were freshly bandaged. He breathed deeply; they could see that he was heavily sedated.

Art and Laura stayed that night to get the doctors report
. Dr. Barnes, the orthopedic doctor who reset his leg explained to them that Danny had suffered a supracondylar femur fracture from the blow caused by the three large football players who ran into him. He explained that these fractures often involve the cartilage surface above the knee joint. That’s why it looked like his leg was broken at the knee and bent in an odd angle, but his knee seemed to be in good shape considering where his femur broke.

When it was well past midnight, the nurses encouraged them to go get some sleep.
They went to their hotel and even though they hadn’t eaten anything since lunch, they were too tired to eat. They took long showers crawled into bed exhausted.

Laura snuggled up to Art and laid her head on his shoulder. Finally she asked the thing that had her stomach in knots ever since the accident. “Do you think he will get well enough to play ball again?”

Art rolled toward her and pulled her close, “That’s what Jeremy and I discussed while you were in the emergency room with him. It’s scary. That was only his eighth game to play professionally.”

“I guess only time will tell,” she responded. Her heart hurt for him. He had worked ever since he was ten years old to earn a place in the professional football league. So quickly it could be taken from him.

During rounds Monday evening when Dr. Barnes came by to check on him, Laura asked, “Dr. Barnes, could you answer some questions for us about Danny’s treatment?”

Dr. Barnes took them out in the hall, “Of course, Mrs. Bailey. What would you like to know?”

“How long will Danny be in traction?” Laura began.

“A few months, until his leg can mend back together. He is a strong young man. He should heal quickly.”

Art frowned and asked, “Danny is used to being very active. Won’t this be extremely difficult for him to lie on his back for a long period of time?”

Dr. Barnes acknowledged with a shake of his head, “It will be difficult but he should pull through and still be a strong man after some physical therapy.”

Art reached over and held Laura’s hand to comfort her. He had seen too many men in similar circumstances when he had to fly them home from Korea during the war. “What are the complications?”

Dr. Barnes knew he needed to be frank with this man before him. He hated to give the bad news
but he realized this time he needed to let them know the full facts. “Danny was placed in traction to restore the length and alignment of his leg. The complications can come from prolonged bed rest, which in turn can cause pulmonary complications, deep venous thrombosis, along with generalized muscle atrophy and deconditioning.”

Laura’s head was spinning. It would take a dictionary for her to understand half of what he said.
She was too embarrassed to ask and show her ignorance.

Art said, “Okay, thank you doctor.”

After they returned to Danny’s room, she turned to Art since he seemed to understand. “Can you tell me what he said?”

“I
’m no expert, but I’ve been around some of this,” he said as he walked around Danny’s bed to detect if he seemed to be awake. “I know that pulmonary means the lungs, so Danny is in danger of developing pneumonia. Venous thrombosis has to do with the veins, which means that he could form a blood clot which could cause a lot of organ damage even a heart attack. Of course, muscle atrophy means losing muscle use.”

“Oh, Art, that doesn’t sound good for Danny,” she said wiping a tear from her left eye.

During that time almost all of the Dallas Cowboys came by to encourage him and give their support. Flowers and cards came every day from fans and old acquaintances of his from college and high school. Laura noticed an especially large, beautiful bouquet of flowers placed in his room during the time they were out of his room. ‘I love you, Lisa’ was written on the card when she peeked. Between naps from pain pills and visiting with all of his buddies, Laura and Art were sure that the impact of what really had happened to his career had not come home to him.