Castles crumbling (Taylor Swift's little sister)

Chapter 33

Taylor and Andrea got to the hospital as soon as visiting hours started, you were coloring and listening to some music in your bed. Your breakfast lying untouched on the tray at the table.

- "Hey sweetie! How are you? How did you sleep?" Your mom said hugging you.

- "I slept better than the nights before. I'm so excited to go home!" You said while Taylor gave you a kiss.

Dr. Khan came in and greeted your family. Then said all the test results came back. She brought a chair and invited your mom and your sister to sit down too.

- "As we were suspecting, on one hand, your liver and kidneys are failing due to malnutrition. On the other hand, and our greatest concern is your heart: your average heart rate is between 35-38bpm, that's way lower than what a healthy heart should be at. Additionally, when you're sleeping your heart rate can go down to 29-30 beats per minute" Dr. Khan said straightforward.

Your mom's and Taylor's eyes filled with tears. As the doctor spoke.

- "As you know, the cardiac stress test didn't go well. Also, you've kept on with losing weight, even while being admitted, you're dangerously underweight" Dr. Khan continued.

Up until that point you were almost unbothered by what the doctor was saying. You stared at her defiantly, waiting for her to finish talking.

- "We've come up with a plan: we've decided to insert a nasogastric tube, which is basically a tube that goes through your nose directly to your stomach. It will supply you the nutrition you are unable to provide yourself. We'd give you the opportunity to eat solid meals, but if you're not able to eat them within the given time, we will feed you with a specialized formula that gives you the amount of energy that you need" the doctor turned towards Andrea and Taylor and said - "We really think this is Elizabeth's best option. She cannot keep refusing to eat. We'd like to keep her for a longer admission, wait until her heart is stronger, also her potassium levels have not improved as we expected, probably because she still refuses to eat."

Suddenly, you were not as unbothered as you were before. Your eyes looked at your mother wide in shock while tears were building, your mom blinked back her own tears.

- "NO! I do not consent this" you said shaking your head furiously.

- "This is not up to you anymore, baby. I'm not letting this illness take you away. I told you: I love you, but I will not love you to death. I will not let you starve until you die. I'm with Dr. Khan, darling" your mom said wiping her tears away.

You started to sob. Begging them to give you another chance to prove you could do it on your own, no tube needed.

- "What about school? I don't want to stay here. I want to go home, back to my normal life" you screamed.

- "I know. But we will visit you every day, once you are stronger, we can talk with Mrs. Tallin about options, so you don't fall that much behind at school. But you need to get better before that happens. Okay?" Andrea said rubbing your shoulder.

Dr. Khan said she was going to get everything ready and left. You sobbed uncontrollably until it spiraled into a full-blown panic attack. Your mom and Taylor tried to calm you down, telling you to follow their breathing. After a couple of rounds of breaths, you were finally able to bring your breathing almost back to normal but continued to cry softly in Taylor's arms for about 15 minutes until Dr. Khan showed up with a two nurses and the tube. As she came closer you started shaking in terror.

- "Taylor you can stand beside Elizabeth at the right side of the bed. Andrea, you can stand at the opposite side. You can both hold Elizabeth's hands while we are working" Dr. Khan suggested, and Taylor and Andrea immediately moved to the recommended positions.