"Ally, forget it. To begin with, I can't unplug you. Only a
nurse can do that. And I don't want to. You've got catheters in places I—"
"Then I'll get a nurse to come and do it. I'll say I need to go to the bathroom. That should get me unhooked."
Annoyed she looked around. Where's the buzzer? There has to be one somewhere. Then she spotted a set of controls attached to the bed and sure enough, there was a red button. What else could it be?
She pushed it and a light came on above her door. Moments later, a short blue‑haired woman with the name marion sewn into her white uniform opened the door and came striding in, flicking on the fluorescent overheads.
"My, my, we're looking well," she declared ignoring Grant. "I'm glad you're finally awake. He told us to call him the minute ... They're all saying you and your mother must have special genes. You've both been such terrific patients. He'd been keeping you sedated but he discontinued that medication this afternoon. He wanted you to wake up with your mind clear."
"Well, I'd really like to get up and go to the bathroom and get something to eat," Ally said "Mainly, I just want to get out of this bed for a stretch before I start developing bedsores. I'm feeling strong, for now at least. Can you unhook some of these wires and suction cups? And I certainly don't need that IV. I'm so hungry I could inhale a quart of ice cream in one gulp."
"Yes, of course," Marion said and began dismantling the intravenous tubes. "We only monitor you and hydrate you when you're not conscious. The standard procedure is to let you get up and start getting some exercise as soon as possible. You should be careful, though, because at this point you're not as strong as you think. Changes are taking place in your body that require a lot of your energy. If you feel up to it, you could walk around for a couple of minutes, but you shouldn't let yourself get tired."
As Marion continued now removing the taped‑on sensors, Ally looked up and saw another uniformed nurse standing in the doorway. She also was middle‑aged, with prematurely gray hair, and she was holding a syringe.
"May I come in?" she asked. "At this stage he needs a blood sample every three hours. Just twenty cc's."