Chapter 5
Reedsport Regional
Hospital
The Next Day
The heart of the storm played
itself out as it moved inland discarding heavy rain across the lower elevations
and burdensome snows in the mountains. A light rain continued to saturate the
air along the coast with a cold chill hovering just above freezing, not cold
enough to turn to ice, but chilled enough, with but a shallow wind able to cut
well into the heaviest of winter clothes. Just inside the Regional Hospital
entrance a day-old newspaper sat on the reception room table with the headlines
reading:
Umpqua
River Bar Accident
Five
Lost
Down the hall inside one of the office
rooms, subdued but frank voices could be heard coming from inside. “Chief Adams, I’m Dr. Allan.”
They shook hands. “Let me show you what we know.” The doctor attached a series
of x-rays onto the light box and switched on the light.
“What’s the verdict?”
“Other than a serious concussion,
cuts and bruises, a couple of cracked ribs, and what appears to be a slight injury
to a disk in the Thoracic Region, there appears to be no long- term physical
concerns. Considering what happened, he’s one lucky young man. In twenty or
thirty years he may walk with a limp if that back injury gives him trouble.”
“So…he will be back to normal
then, given some rest.”
“Well, normal is relative here. The
ribs will heal in a few weeks, the disk may give him some problems, possibly requiring
surgery sometime in the future, but it should heal on its own given time. But that
cut on the head was deep and required twelve stitches. It’s the easiest part to
treat, but a concussion that severe can take a while to recover from. He’ll
need mostly rest.”
“How long you figure?”
“Hard to tell. The initial
problematic symptoms normally a few weeks at least, could be longer. We will
need to keep him under observation for a few days here, then he can spend time convalescing
at a rehab center. We have a good one here in town. With any luck at all, he’ll
make a quick recovery.
Chief Adams nodded, “Just make sure he gets
everything he needs. Take care of my guy.”
“Most of his recovery will depend
on him, however, there may be more to this.”
“What do you mean?”
“Matt will heal physically. How quickly he
progresses is up to him and nature. However, what he went through out there may
have damaged him in other ways.”
“What are you talking about doc?
Cut to the chase here.”
“Okay. I’ll give it to you straight.
He went through a tremendous emotional shock. He lost his crew and his friends,
and he could just as easily have died. His confidence could be shaken, so much
so he may never again be the same. He could need counseling to go along with
the physical recovery.”
“So, you mean a shrink? He won’t
like that.”
“Could be he’ll need to see one,
but I’ve seen this before, in Vietnam, lots of the boys came back with similar
symptoms because of what they went through. Some handled it better than others.
They called it battle fatigue back during WWII and Korea, but it’s all the
same. Psychologist back then really didn’t know what to make of it, some kind
of traumatic stress induced psychosis. They are starting to understand it
better now.”
“So, what kind of effects does it
have?”
“They may seem fine, then something triggers a
relapse, a negative reaction that can manifest itself in any number of ways.
Matt’s reaction is still yet to be determined. It might be years before it
begins to cause problems, or maybe none at all, or he could have an adverse
reaction if he is pushed too hard, to fast before he is ready. Even if he could
physically do so, it probably is not a good idea for him to potentially face
another incident like the one he just came through. He could be a danger to
himself and to others. Fear is often subtle, not unlike stress, but given an
opportunity, it can consume a person. It builds on itself, accumulates even
after the cause has been removed. The effects of it doesn’t just go away and
can rear its ugly head under the right circumstances.”
“You mean like losing control.”
“Probably more like freezing up
or maybe exploding in anger which if it happens under a similar situation could
become a real problem.”
“Matt’s never been afraid of
anything. He’s been through all kinds of difficult rescues and never had any
kind of a problem. He’ll shake this off in no time. He’s the bravest person I’ve
ever seen.”
“Well Chief Adams, again, I hope you are right.
It’s not so much about courage. It runs deeper. I would guess he has never had
to face this level of adversity. He’s never been injured before, not physically
and certainly not emotionally like this, nor lost anyone. I’m pretty sure he’s
never come this close to dying. My advice is if and when he returns to duty,
take it slow, real slow. The mind is a complicated organ. Only time will tell.”
Later that afternoon
James LeBeau, simply known as
Cajun by the crew, hustled to complete his cleanup chores of the station’s
galley. From Southern Louisiana he spoke with a distinctive creole accent, a
product of his Cajun ancestry, but he was one fine cook often creating spicy gourmet
meals for the crew. He possessed an uncanny ability to find several bucketloads
of crabs sitting on the fueling dock, usually showing up after one of the
trawlers had been towed in by the station due to a mechanical problem.
By regulation, they were not
supposed to offer such gratuities, nor was Cajun supposed to accept them, but Chief
Adams turned a blind eye to the offense, as did all the commanding officers of
the other units along the coast. Besides, Cajun really knew how to prepare and
cook crab and the crew were entitled to a treat from time to time.
Chief Adams stepped into the mess
area just as Cajun was finishing his cleaning. “Cajun, that was one fine meal
you cooked up this evening. Where did you learn how to cook like that?”
“My grandma show me how. She one
fine lady, and goo cook.”
“Well, she must have been a good
culinary teacher. You sure do know how to get it done.”
“I go with wit my gut mos of the
time. Just a matter how to put all da parts together.”
The Chief laughed as he pulled
out a chair and sat at one of the tables. “Well son, I’m for one glad you are
part of this crew.”
Cajun gritted a massive smile
across his cherub looking face and stood a little taller as he made the last series
of wipes across the serving counter.
“How ole Matt doin anyway?”
“I think he will be okay, just
needs a little time to recover.”
“Dat was a bad ting wha happen.
I hope he okay.”
“We’ll see.”
“My brotha once got cot like dat
in a big hurcane down in the gulf. Road it out he did for near two day. Everbod
tought he a gonnar, but the Good Lawd pull him through.”
Chief Adams chuckled and nodded.
“That’s good to know.”
“Avry one pray, for him and Gawd
heard doughs prays, yes sir, he heard avry one.”
Chief Adams continued to sip on
his coffee when Joe Tripp, the County Sheriff, entered the building and stepped
into the mess area.
“Can an old man bum a cup of
coffee from you guys?”
Chief Adams pointed to the
coffee machine standing in the back side of the mess area. “Help yourself. What
brings you in?”
“Oh nothing, just checking on Matt.
How’s he holding up?”
“He’ll be laid up for a while
until he recovers. Doc said to go easy and give him some time to get back to
normal.”
Joe shook his head in disbelief.
“Man, that was a bad situation. We’re lucky we didn’t lose everyone. We’ve had
some bad situations before around these parts, but nothing like that.”
Chief Adams didn’t respond, he
just nodded in agreement.
“Any word on a Board of Inquiry
hearing?”
“Oh, there will be one for sure.
Probably more sooner than later. District don’t like leaving things open ended.
They want answers and solutions. My guess in the next few days. I’ve already
been contacted by the Coast Guard legal services.”
“That’s good, just to cover yourself
if for no other reason. You never know.”
Chief Adams took a long slurp
from his coffee as Joe sat beside him. “Joe, Jack hasn't been found yet. We need to close off the beach until we do, you know. Don’t
want someone to stumble onto a body by accident.”
“Already done Mac. The access
road is closed to traffic until further notice. Besides there are all kinds of
debris washing up on the beach. Lot of souvenir hunters trying to sneak down
there are getting in the way.”
“We will rotate search teams on the beach for
several days until we find everyone or we are sure we won’t. I just hope we do
and soon. We also have a crew watching the 303 until we can pull her off the
beach. We need to have her refloated as soon as we can. It really puts a strain
on the crew to be down to one boat. With only 20 or so men, well, we can’t
allow much free time until we get the beach cleaned up.”
