by Ruby Scott
current state. We feel like the best course of action would be an emergency
coronary artery bypass. As his next of kin, we need your permission to
proceed?” His attention was solely on Ann then, waiting for her response.
Ann looked around at the children before saying, “Of course.
Anything to save our Russ. Do what you all feel is best.”
The doctor nodded. “Okay. I’ll have a nurse take you up to the OR
waiting room, so you all can have some privacy and we have some
paperwork we will need you to sign.”
“Wait.” Ann’s brows knitted together as she looked up at him. “Right
now? Today? I… I haven’t had time to call his parents. We have so much –”
Cara reached out and put her hand on her mother’s shoulder. “Mom,
I’ll call grandma and grandpa. They have to do the surgery now. Let all of
us handle everything else. You just pray for dad, okay?”
Ann gave a slow nod, reaching up and putting her hand on top of
Cara’. “Alright. That’s fine. Just please save my husband.”
“Frost!” Hoffman barked, causing Izzy to turn around from the
nursing station. She was going over Russ’ paperwork like Hoffman had
instructed her to do, making sure she double-checked all of his test results
before they wheeled him back to surgery. They had to make sure that
everything was perfect, that all his blood work was right. There was no
room for surprises.
“Yes?” She asked, stuffing the paperwork back into its manila folder.
“I need you to go speak to the family before we go back to the OR.
Give them the basis of the surgery, what we’re going to do. You’ve done
that before, haven’t you?” He asked. Izzy responded with a small eye roll
and a nod of her head. “Great. Go do that, then come scrub in.”
“But…” She had been biting her tongue about her connection to the
O’Leary family since the beginning. She didn’t want to cause a delay in
Russ’ case, or mess anything up, but Izzy felt like it was important
information… especially if she was being made to go talk to the family of
her ex-girlfriend.
“What is it, Frost?”
“I… I know the patient. He’s my ex-girlfriend’s father.”
Hoffman sighed. He reached up and rubbed at his temples, refusing to
make eye contact with Izzy for a moment. “You didn’t think that was
something important to say in the beginning?” He didn’t give her a chance
to answer. “Were you close to the patient? Will your former relationship
affect you in the OR?”
“No.” Izzy said, shaking her head. “We weren’t close.” She had to
pause and think about the last question. Would it affect her in the OR? She
didn’t believe that it would, because she wasn’t close to Russ, she was close
to Cara. They weren’t together anymore. “No. I’ll be fine.”
“I’m trusting you on this one.” He said, making eye contact with her.
“If you mess this up, Frost… you’ll regret it.” Izzy knew that that was not a
threat. It was the truth. If she somehow got too distracted by her feelings,
whatever they were, and messed up the surgery… it wouldn’t end well for
her. “Now, go tell the family.”
“Still?”
“You said you could still do your job, so do it.”
Izzy took a deep breath, sighing. She placed the folder she had been
looking through back on the nursing station desk and gathered her
composure. Here went nothing.
CHAPTER 20
She walked out to the OR waiting room, only to be greeted by the entire
O’Leary family. Ann looked up, her dark eyes growing wide. “Izzy?” The
sound of her name got Cara’s attention, causing her ex-girlfriend to look at
her.
“My attending and I, Dr. Hoffman, will be performing an emergency
coronary artery bypass on Russell.” Izzy began refusing to make eye
contact with anybody but Ann. “The surgery may take anywhere from three
to six hours. Afterwards, we’ll come back out to speak to you about how it
went. The rest of Russell’s blood work looks fine, so we don’t anticipate
any hiccups with the surgery, but as with any surgery there are risks as you
have already been made aware of. If anyone has any questions, now is the
time to ask.” She tried to keep her voice calm, tried to keep herself perfectly
normal and professional. There was no time for emotions to get in the way.
The room was silent. The only person who spoke up was Cara, “I
don’t think we have any questions.” She said. Izzy was reluctant, but she
finally turned to make eye contact with Cara. It was the first time they had
looked at each other in forever; it still made Izzy’s heart rate rise. “Just…”
Cara ran a hand through her already disheveled hair, “please save my father,
Izzy.”
Izzy had been putting enough pressure on herself, but hearing that
from Cara made it worse. “We’re going to do our best.” She said, not
wanting to make any false promises. She was already a villain in the eyes of
her ex and her family. If something were to happen to Russ… Izzy could
only imagine how bad she would look.
With that, she turned and walked back down the hallway towards the
OR. She scrubbed in before stepping inside. The lights were already
dimmed, Russell was already under. There was no time to hesitate.
Hoffman allowed Izzy to make the first incision but took over when it
came to opening Russell’s chest and the stopping of the heart, which Izzy
was more than thankful for. She couldn’t imagine the pressure she would
have felt if that was left up to her. She knew she would need to learn
eventually, but Russ wasn’t the patient that Izzy wanted to experiment on.
She just wanted to make sure it went as flawlessly as possible.
“Do us the honors of hooking him up to the heart-lung?” He
instructed and Izzy followed, working carefully. She judged every move
that she made, working meticulously. Thankfully, Hoffman wasn’t rushing
her. He knew how important this was.
“Patient is on the heart-lung machine.” Izzy said after a moment,
looking back up at Hoffman with a nod. The heart-lung machine circulated
blood through the body while the heart was stopped, keeping the tissue
alive until his heart was restarted.
“Perfect. You’re in charge of getting us a healthy vessel from the leg.
Think you can do that?” Izzy was ready to get offended, thinking Hoffman
was just being an ass, but when she looked up at him, it was clear that he
was just joking with her.
“Think I can.” She mumbled back, moving down to Russ’ leg.
Hoffman joking with her was off-putting, but Izzy decided to take it as a
sign of respect from her attending. If he actually doubted her skills, he
likely wouldn’t have brought her into the OR.
When the three-hour mark hit, Cara started pacing. She was waiting for
Izzy to walk through the doors at any moment and deliver the devastating
news that she didn’t want to hear. She was waiting on bated breath, her
heart pounding in her chest. The silent chatter that had filled the waiting
room from her family ea
rlier had stopped. Now nobody spoke. She would
bet money that everybody felt as anxious as her.
She looked up at the clock, expecting to see a big difference in time.
Only a few minutes had passed. She couldn’t do this. She couldn’t sit
around and continue waiting. Cara stood up. “I’m going to go get us all
dinner from a vending machine.” They needed to eat. Eating would take
their mind off of everything else that was going on.
Ann started to reach into her purse, but Cara stopped her. “I got it,
mom. You have enough to worry about right now.” Shoving her hands into
her pockets, Cara walked off to where she knew the nearest vending
machine was. She just needed a minute, some air. She needed to try to clear
her mind, to get herself to relax. But she had no idea how to do that. All she
could think about was whether her father was okay, whether he was going
to be able to pull through.
She found the nearest set of vending machines and started feeding
loose change into the slot. She was so lost in her own thoughts that she
hadn’t heard footsteps following behind her. She didn’t realize she wasn’t
alone until a voice said, “I have some extra quarters.”
She turned around to see Pat standing there, hands shoved in his
pockets just like hers had been. “What are you doing?” She asked him.
“I wanted to make sure that you were okay.”
“Pat, do you really think any of us are okay?”
Pat sighed, shrugging one shoulder. “No, but I know that you were
close to him. You had to focus on being professional for like the first hour
after finding him. Your ex is performing the surgery. I’m sure you have a lot
going on.”
Pat was a year and a half younger than her. They had been close
growing up, but after a bit Cara found herself attached to her older brothers,
wanting to emulate their behavior.
She had been close to her father. Growing up, Cara was your
stereotypical daddy’s little girl. Their relationship had only dwindled when
Cara came out and her family wasn’t immediately accepting. Her mother
accepted it much quicker than her dad had and after that, their relationship
was never the same but she knew he would do anything for her and his love
was never in question.
Cara turned around, leaning back against the vending machine. “I… I
don’t know what I’m expecting to feel because all I can think about is how
worried I am about dad. I can’t imagine living in a world without him in it. I
don’t know how I would do that. I don’t know how mum would do that.”
Pat walked up to her side, leaning back against the same vending
machine that she was. “I get it. I know I’ve struggled to grow up, but this
has changed things. I want to grow up, y’know? I want to become a better
person, one that dad would absolutely be proud of. Not just one he would
say he’s proud of. Before… before he collapsed, we were talking. Mom was
in the kitchen and I was sitting with dad. We were just talking, and I was
going to ask him some questions about business… because… I think I
realized what I want to do. I don’t want to do construction work for the rest
of my life, but I want to run the business. I think we could use someone like
that.”
“What did he say?”
“He didn’t. He didn’t get a chance too. Dad was talking about how a
part of him wishes we all went our own way like you did, how he wishes
we didn’t depend on him so much because sometimes he doesn’t know how
to run things. He just has to trust his gut. That’s why I thought it would be
perfect for me to step in, but… yeah.” Pat anxiously reached up and
tightened his ponytail.
“Dad’s gonna be okay.” Cara finally decided. She was sure of it
because she had to be. “And he’s gonna be super pissed when he wakes up
and finds out we were all sitting around worried about him.”
Pat looked over at her, giving a small nod of his head. “I… I think
you’re right. Yeah, dad’s tough. He’s gonna be okay. How couldn’t he be? I
can’t imagine something like a heart attack taking him down.”
Cara looked over at her brother and smiled for the first time in hours.
“Yeah. His stubborn ass is gonna get taken down by a bear, like he always
used to say.”
Pat mocked her smile. “Yeah. You’re right.” He pushed off from the
vending machine, turning around to look at it. “I don’t know about you, but
I’m eating a candy bar for dinner and I don’t think anyone can stop me.”
And just like that, Cara felt a bit better. She was still scared to death,
but she didn’t feel so alone. Growing up in such a big family, she had
quickly learned that it was easy to feel alone in a crowded room.
Sometimes, she just needed a simple connection with somebody else,
somebody to share her fears with and somebody to see things her way.
Luckily for her, she had Pat to be that person.
In silence, they filled their arms with various snacks and treats from
the vending machine, probably going overboard with the amount of junk
that they bought. They did have a big family to feed though.
CHAPTER 21
Izzy watched, her heart rate speeding up as her anxiety built up. Hoffman
was rerouting the blood past the clogged coronary artery and to the vessel
that Izzy had harvested. She watched, observing every step he took,
knowing that one day she would do the same.
Everything Hoffman did was with a certain ease that came after years
of practice. He finished the reroute and then they removed Russ from the
heart-lung machine Then, right before their very eyes, his heart began to
pump again. It was… it was a thing of beauty. It was something Izzy had
never been part of before, but she knew she would never forget it. It was
magical.
Dr. Hoffman turned away to look up at the monitor, finally giving a
nod of his head. His attention turned to Izzy, “We did it, Dr. Frost.” He said
and Izzy could see the smile in his eyes. “Mr. O’Leary is going to be just
fine. Good work, doctor.”
Izzy was unable to describe how happy she felt, how successful she
felt. She had somehow managed to push aside what she felt, her worries,
her fears, her personal battles, and she had saved the life of Cara’s father.
“Thank you, Dr. Hoffman.”
“Don’t thank me, Izzy. You worked just as hard as I did. Why don’t I
close him up and you go tell the family?”
Izzy paused. She wasn’t sure she wanted to be the one to tell the
family. Cara hated her, no doubt the rest of her family hated her. Izzy had
ruined everything between the two of them. She didn’t feel like she
deserved to be the one to give them such good news. But… she had helped
save him. This was her job, emotions aside.
“Alright.” She nodded. She turned and walked out of the OR. She
washed her hands and changed out of her gown before walking into the
hallway. Her heart was pounding in her chest, radiating through each
heartbeat as she walked toward the waiting room. Taking a deep breath, she
pushed the door open.
This time, she actually allowed herself to look around. Inside the
waiting room was what she assumed was Cara’ entire family, and Terri.
There were the siblings that she had met, and the siblings that she hadn’t
with their children and wives. They took up the entire waiting room. They
were busy chattering quietly to each other. The only person who seemed to
notice Izzy’s presence was Ann. She cleared her throat and chatter around
her dissolved into silence.
Izzy took another deep breath, preparing her speech. “We performed
a coronary artery bypass on Russ this evening. I’m not going to explain to
you the details of the surgery because I feel like all you really want to know
right now is if he’s okay. And he is. The surgery went well and he is in
recovery as we speak. Russ is doing fine and we expect him to make a full
recovery. You’ll be able to see him in the next couple of hours.”
Izzy got to watch as the entire room lit up, as stress melted off a
family and relief took place. She had delivered the news of a patient’s
survival before, numerous times at this point, but it was never somebody
she knew.
The family hugged one another, cheering. The quiet chatter that had
been in the room earlier turned into cheers, into excited voices and I told
you so’s. Ann stood from her chair and crossed the room, wrapping her
arms around Izzy. “Thank you.” She said quietly as she squeezed her into
her chest. “Thank you so much.”
Izzy didn’t know what to do. She had never been hugged after
delivering such news before. Hesitantly, she hugged Ann back. “Don’t
thank me.” She said softly. “Please don’t.”
Ann let go of her and turned back to her family, hugging every one of
them. Izzy knew this moment didn’t belong to her, but she wanted to watch
it just a bit longer. It was hard to explain exactly how she felt. She had
saved a man’s life, performed a life-saving surgery.
It hit her then. This had nothing to do with her parents, this was her
choice. This is what she wanted to do. Not because she was being pushed or
following a family line. This is what she wanted to do because of the impact
it had on other people. It wasn’t about her, this was about them, and that felt
