FIVE
SHADOW OF DEATH
That was Monday, March 3. Nurses placed Colton in a room and inserted
an IV. Two bags dangled from the top of a stainless steel pole, one for
hydration and one with antibiotics of some kind. Sonja and I prayed
together for Colton. Norma stopped by with Colton’s favorite toy, his
Spider-Man action figure. Normally, his eyes would’ve lit up at the sight of
either Norma or Spider-Man, but Colton didn’t react at all. Later, our friend
Terri brought Colton’s best little buddy, her son Hunter, to visit. Again,
Colton was unresponsive, almost lifeless.
Sitting in a side chair near Colton’s bed, Norma looked at Sonja grimly.
“I think you should take him to Children’s Hospital in Denver.”
But at that point, we were trusting in the doctors, confident that
everything was being done that could be done. Besides, Colton was in no
condition to travel all the way back to Colorado.
Colton continued to throw up. Sonja held down the fort, comforting him,
catching his vomit, while I drove home to check in on the rest of our lives.
On the way, I stopped by the church to make sure the place hadn’t burned
down. I checked in with my garage-door guys, returned some phone calls
from new customers, and went out to do a door repair job. The entire time I
was away from the hospital, I sent up prayers. Even during my
conversations with others, my prayers ascended, a kind of mental
background music that would’ve been in the foreground—the only ground
—if only life didn’t have an annoying way of rolling on.
Sonja spent Monday night at the hospital, and I stayed home with
Cassie. On Tuesday morning, I took her to school. During the rest of the
day, between church and company responsibilities, I popped in and out of
the hospital as often as I could, hoping for some improvement. Instead,
each time I walked into Colton’s room, I saw my little boy slipping deeper
into the grip of whatever mysterious monster held him. Not only was he not
getting better; he was getting worse faster.
By the second afternoon, I saw something that terrified me: the shadow