Cailen wiped at Asher's chin without being bothered by it at all.
With how long he's been a nurse, he's had to clean more than his fair share of vomit.
Cailen may not have been able to help operate on Asher, but he was allowed to take care of him like this and he had offered to do so, so they wouldn't have to send someone else in here.
He was certain Asher would be more comfortable with Cailen taking care of him rather than a random person.
Cailen reached behind him for the glass of water that was always given to the patients and turned back around, holding it infront of Asher's face.
"Ash, can you swish this around in your mouth, love?" Cailen asked, placing the cup at Asher's lips.
Asher wasn't really all here, Cailen could tell, but he did comply with Cailen's instructions and swished a bit of water around in his mouth.
"Okay, now spit." Cailen instructed and watched as Asher spit it out into the bucket, but his jaw was slack so really, it sort of just dribbled out.
"Wil, Matt, maybe we should take Zeke for some air?" Noah suggested, looking at the boy who was still looking at Asher in a mix of emotions.
Cailen could see the concern and fear there, the horrified and worried looks as well and couldn't have thanked Noah more for offering.
William and Matthew both nodded, standing and following Noah and Ezekiel out of the room, with no protest from Ezekiel.
Cailen figured he was a little shell-shocked from what he had seen and probably didn't mind leaving the room.
"Try and drink some now." Cailen instructed, holding the cup to Asher's lips again.
Cailen waited patiently for Asher to collect himself enough to get his mouth to work. Once he did, Cailen slowly tipped the cup back and let the water pour down his throat.
Cailen didn't expect him to keep it down, and he didn't, but that didn't make the process any easier to watch as Asher threw the water back up.
"Okay, you're okay."
"Why... Why..." Asher panted out, trailing off and his brow furrowing in confusion. "What- why-"
"Ssh, save your breath." Cailen instructed, going into full nurse mode. "You're going to be confused, Asher, that's perfectly normal. You're probably going to feel a bit sluggish, you might not be able to feel some parts of your body, but that's okay, don't worry about it right now. Just focus on breathing, steady breaths, love."
Asher did as he was told and took in a long ragged breath, his body still shaking under Cailen's fingertips. Cailen willed himself to keep calm, remembering he had a job to do here.
"I don't want you to try and talk just yet, okay? Just nod yes or no." Cailen instructed.
He had a set of questions he had to ask Asher, but he didn't want Asher to try and talk yet.
What comes out of his mouth might panic the man, or rather what doesn't come out of his mouth, because aphasia was a common symptom in head injuries and made it difficult for patients to conjure up the words they wanted to use.
"Do you remember what happened?" Cailen asked around a lump in his throat.
He's done this numerous times with other patients, from kids who have bumped their heads a little too hard playing in the yard to adults who have been in a serious car accidents.
It should be no different, he should just get through the questions, but it was different because it was Asher and Cailen couldn't stop thinking about how hard this was going to be.
It was going to be so hard, not only on Asher because he was going to be in so much pain and have to go through numerous physiotherapy and rehabilitation classes, but on Ezekiel as well, and himself.
Asher was going to be easily agitated, he'd have mood swings, he won't be able to move the way he likes for a long time or even talk properly…
And it was going to affect them all.
"I- I-" Asher tried, ignoring Cailen's instructions.
"No, Ash. Nod yes or no." Cailen repeated, the hand that was stroking his back going up to card through his hair.
Cailen noticed the nurses must have cleaned him up at some point.
Asher nodded his head yes, looking up at Cailen in a slight daze but Cailen could see the apology there in his eyes.
Cailen wasn't sure exactly what Asher was apologizing for- for letting this happen, for not quitting when he said he would or something else entirely- but he smiled either way to let him know it was okay.
He couldn't hold this against Asher even if he wanted to.
"Does your head hurt?" Cailen asked, moving on to the next question before he lost Asher to exhaustion.
Asher nodded yes, staring into the bucket infront of him like he didn't have the energy to look anywhere else.
Cailen would have moved it for him but he was afraid he might still need it.
"Can you show me on your hand on a scale of one to five how much it hurts? Five being the worst." Cailen watched patiently as Asher held up a shaky hand and raised four fingers.
"Alright, thank you." Cailen said, instinctively lowering his voice in case the noise bothered him.
Cailen leaned forward to place a kiss on Asher's temple, still switching between stroking his back and playing with his hair in order to keep him calm.
"Can you feel your right leg?" Cailen asked, knowing the answer already.
Asher nodded yes, taking a rather shaky breath as he seemed to sense the next question because he was staring at his left leg now, the limb covered in a bandage to help heal and protect the burn there. "Your left leg?"
Asher shook his head no, his breathing picking up indicating he was getting worked up again.
"It's okay, you're okay. It'll be fine." Cailen assured, saying anything to get Asher to calm down.
He was in a very fragile state right now, scared and confused while hopped up on more than enough drugs and probably fighting exhaustion already, he didn't need to worsen that state in anyway.
"Can you not feel it at all or does it feel numb? Hold up one finger for numb, two for not at all." Cailen breathed out a sigh of relief as Asher held up one finger and smiled down at him.
"Good, that's good, Ash." Cailen whispered, leaning forward to kiss him on the temple again.
The questioning process went on like this at a very slow and calm pace.
Cailen found out that his right arm was fine though Cailen already figured since he's been using it to communicate with Cailen, his left arm he could feel but felt uncomfortable, probably because it was actually in pain but Asher couldn't feel it due to the morphine they were pumping into him.
Cailen found out that Asher was pretty normal considering everything that's happened to him.
Cailen went on to explain all the things Asher might be feeling, starting with the symptoms he knew Asher was already feeling.
He explained his headache probably wouldn't be going away anytime soon, that the nauseous feeling he felt and the vomiting was normal. He explained that the numbness in his leg was normal and that any weakness he felt was as well.
He explained that he would probably feel a bit restless, that he might feel the urge to get up and move about but was not to do so at any point unless otherwise instructed.
He told him about aphasia; that he might not be able to think clearly enough to say what he wants and that what he does say might be slurred and hard to say.
He told him about dysarthria and that his muscles will feel weak which is why his words will be slurred.
He warned him that his coordination might be off and about how difficult everything will be for a while but to not get discouraged.
By the time he was done, and he actually wasn't done because he had a lot more to go over about physiotherapy and rehabilitation, the operation on his leg and the treatment of his burns, Asher was leaning against Cailen heavily, exhausted and ready to fall asleep.
Cailen didn't even debate continuing, he just wrapped Asher up in his arms gently and stroked his good arm to reassure him he was there and that he wasn't going anywhere.
He slipped right out of his 'nurse mode' and into 'husband mode' and just focused on comforting him.
He could go over everything else later on or even tomorrow.
They were going to be in the hospital for a long time, unfortunately.