Surgeon Boss, Surprise Dad

Adam glanced over May’s hemoglobin and hematocrit levels. Still low, but holding steady to what they had been after the infusion of her last blood transfusion. A good sign that she wasn’t bleeding internally.

“Thanks, Kathy,” he told the nurse.

“May has hurt for so long.” Her husband took May’s hand in his, brought it to his lips and placed a kiss on her pale skin. “Finally she can start looking forward to life again. For that, we’ll always be grateful to you, Dr Cline.”

“The outcome could have just as easily have been different,” he reminded them, uncomfortable with the lavish praise.

Thank goodness May had no knowledge that her surgeon had completed the procedure with numb fingers. That he had sat down prior to her being stapled, that the vascular surgeon and the nephrologist had finished without him.

Thank goodness she didn’t know her surgeon had temporarily gone blind in one eye.

He swallowed back the thoughts that memory brought with it.

Yesterday had been the worst day of his life in so many ways.

“Well, it didn’t go differently and my family can never thank you enough,” John said.

Awkward heat flooding his cheeks, Adam pulled back May’s blanket and checked the large incision that ran from right beneath her sternum down to her pubis. The wound was holding together excellently with the staples Dr Robards had put in. There wasn’t any sign of infection or bleeding. He hoped to keep it that way.

“Everything looks great. I’ll come by and check you again this afternoon. The vascular surgeon and the nephrologist will both be by as well. Do as they say.” He sighed, meeting May’s expectant gaze. “I wish we’d been able to save your kidney, but it just wasn’t possible. Dr Robards and Dr Nash are both excellent at their craft. Be assured they tried.”

“I’m alive. I know you all did your best.” May nodded her understanding. “Besides, losing a kidney is nothing compared to what you’ve given me, Dr Cline. What you’ve all done for me. The fact you were able to remove the tumor is a miracle.”

A miracle.

He was no miracle worker.

“Dr Robards and Dr Nash deserve credit for your surgery being so successful. Without them, yesterday wouldn’t have happened.”

The couple looked ready to argue, but Adam distracted them by asking the nurse about May’s input via her IV, as she wasn’t allowed to eat or drink yet, and her output from her catheter. He’d already looked at the record on the computer, knew the numbers were decent, but he needed a change of subject.

Adam spent a few more minutes speaking with the couple, leaving shortly after their daughter arrived and began gushing praise of her own.

May surviving the surgery had been a miracle, but not one at his hand.

Seeing May smile, her husband’s and daughter’s looks of relief and love made the all-day, stressful surgery worthwhile.

That evening Liz forced a smile to her face, hoping Kelly and Mona would quit clucking over her like mother hens. “Would you please sit down?”

Her friend kept pacing around the room, checking first one thing then another. With the way Kelly had gone over her room and equipment, Liz had every confidence each detail had been triple-checked.

She’d been transferred from Intensive Care that morning to a regular medical room. Not that she remembered. She didn’t. Not from the moment her car had hit the deer then the tree until she’d woken up to see Mona dozing in the chair next to her bed that afternoon. But apparently she’d been awake off and on, spoken, interacted with her friends and coworkers last night and that morning.

“Sit down,” she repeated, a bit more firmly.

“I can’t. I’m on duty until seven,” Kelly reminded.

“Other than aching like the devil, I’m fine. At least, I will be.” Her gaze went to where her foot was propped upon a pillow. Apparently, she had three fractures in her right ankle. She wasn’t exactly sure how she’d managed to accomplish that feat during the accident. A concussion, multiple contusions, two lacerations requiring sutures, and three fractures in her distal tibia.

Liz’s fingers rested over her belly, just as it had done constantly since she’d woken up. “I have to talk to Dr Graviss.”

“He’s not going to let you go home yet so don’t even bother asking,” Kelly said so bossily Liz would have laughed had movement of any kind not hurt so much.

“Thanks, anyway, but I’m not ready to go home even if he would discharge me. I want my leg fixed first.”

“I’ll call for him,” Kelly said, gave her a hug, then headed for the door. Before she left the room, Dr Graviss entered.

“What can I say? I’m that good.” Kelly gave a whimsical smile, as if she’d summoned him with mystical powers, shrugged, and then followed the doctor over to Liz’s bed.