Page 25 of Second Chance At Love

“I think I can wait for you. I need to change my clothes,” said Cora as she looked around the suite. She didn’t even have her bag packed for the hospital. She was hopelessly unorganized for this baby. Sniffing, she blinked back tears of self recrimination. “I’m not ready for this.”

“It’s okay, Cora. Linc and I will be there shortly. We can help you through this,” reassured Addison.

“I don’t even have a bag packed yet,” confessed Cora. “I was putting everything off.”

“I have a bag of baby things and stuff I packed for the hospital. I will bring it along. All you need to do is grab some clothes for yourself,” offered Addison kindly.

“Thank you,” whispered Cora.

“That’s what sisters do. We help each other,” provided Addison. “Now Linc and I are ready and are going to the car. We can be there in ten minutes. I’m going to keep you on the phone. Okay?”

“Okay.” Cora bit her lip as another contraction hit.

“How’s it going?” quietly asked Ben as he sat in the chair of the exam room.

Henry was leaning back in the bed, having changed into dry hospital scrubs, socks, sneakers, and hoodie on loan from Molson. He was hooked up to the oxygen tube again and knew he looked like death warmed over.

He also kept coughing which was worrying. At least he was finally warm again.

“The doctor thinks I might have aspirated some of the water and mud in the river. It could lead to pneumonia,” sighed Henry. “I need to watch for a fever.”

A significant enough fever meant removal from the transplant list.

“I told Cora. She was worried when you weren’t at the hotel,” mentioned Ben.

Henry nodded tiredly. He should have thought of calling her but time had slipped away. He hoped Cora wouldn’t be tooworried or mad at him. She had taken to looking after him, keeping him on schedule with his meds, and pushing him to eat. She was a nurturing sort of person. “How is Holly?”

“I just got an update from Drew. She’s talking and they think she’s going to make a full recovery. Molson says to thank you,” responded Ben.

“It was dumb luck,” Henry downplayed his part in finding her. “I’m just glad she’s okay.”

The curtain moved aside as a young doctor came forward with a tablet. “Mr. Henry Ramesly?”

Henry lifted a hand in acknowledgement. “That would be me.”

The doctor had a distracted smile before looking at his screen. “It shows here your temperature is a little elevated. I would like to do another test on your lung capacity. After talking with your regular doctor, he and I agree it would be best to admit you overnight for monitoring.”

“I was hoping to get out of here. You did say earlier I might be able to,” mentioned Henry.

“Henry, the rise in your temperature is worrying. Your oxygen levels are still down. Should you develop pneumonia, it will put a big strain on your lungs. It may deteriorate your already weakened lung capacity. We need to be right on top of it, from the beginning if you’re going to have a chance to mitigate any damage. Earlier, I hadn’t realized the extent of the heart failure that hasalready occurred. Now that I have more thoroughly reviewed your file, I have altered my opinion for your care plan. Monitoring you overnight is important,” advised the doctor.

“This sounds pretty serious. Will it affect his status on the transplant list?” wondered Ben with some concern.

“It could, depending on how things progress. Hopefully Henry’s lungs will clear on their own and the fever will calmdown. If the fever spikes further we will start on antibiotics and see how things go,” the younger doctor advised them. He tapped a screen on the tablet. “A room will be set up shortly for you.”

“Thanks,” murmured Henry as the man left, closing the curtain behind him.

“Well, it’s not good but maybe it won’t turn into anything,” hopefully said Ben. “It doesn’t mean you’re off the list so the heart could still happen.”

Henry was quiet for a moment. “It’s what he’s not saying, Ben. That’s where the problems are.”

At Ben’s enquiring look, Henry explained. “After a few years of dealing with doctors, I have learned that it’s what they don’t say which is as important as what they are saying. If I get pneumonia and my lung capacity dwindles, I’m probably not healthy enough to heal. I might need a lung transplant and a heart transplant. That’s not going to happen. In the previous surgery, the doctors didn’t graph any of the blood vessels to my lungs, there was no need. That means the blood vessels are too thin to touch near my lungs. It would be suicide to do a lung transplant as I would bleed out. I don’t have enough time for a third surgery to do lung graphs and it was a minor miracle it worked the first time on my heart. So, if I get pneumonia, I’m done. I’m off the heart transplant list and I live out whatever time I have left. That’s the unsaid prognosis.”

“Henry…” It was obvious Ben was at a loss for words, uncertain of what to say.

“It’s okay, Ben,” Henry reassured him with a half smile. “We will know soon enough what’s going to happen. You should probably give Cora a call and update her, tell her I’m staying overnight after all.”

“It’s not going to be that way. You’re going to live and get the transplant,” quietly insisted Ben.