My Christmas Doctor

Unfortunately for me, she was my patient, and I wouldn't cross that line. At least not until she was no longer my patient. I just hoped she stayed single until then. In the meantime, I could get to know her some, maybe become friends with her. She was an intriguing woman.

"Dr. Chase? Here is the bloodwork on Ms. Adams. Her potassium levels are extremely low."

I took the paperwork from the attending nurse, Lara, and looked it over. "I thought as much. Let's set her up with an injection of 4,700 mg a day for while she's here and I'll write her up a prescription supplement for when she leaves."

"I will get that set up," Lara replied.

"Let me know when she wakes up. I'd like to speak with her."

"I will." Lara nodded and excused herself.

I went through the rest of the bloodwork tests, but everything else seemed to be fine. I set the bloodwork aside and went through all the other tests Dr. Chilikuri had ordered as well as the CT and MRI scans. I'd looked at them before, but I always liked to go back through and check them again. I could see the fibrous scarring and thickening of the pericardium as well as the build-up of fluid around the heart, which did indeed show I was correct in my diagnosis. The cardiological tests proved to back this up with her reduced cardiac output and elevated systemic venous pressure. I would schedule her for another round of tests in a day or two to see if the anti-inflammatories and potassium were doing their job and she was out of danger. Her case was extremely severe, and I was glad that Dr. Chilikuri had called me in. The world would have been robbed of her talent should she have passed away from this.

I decided to give it a few minutes before I went and saw her. I wanted to get to her before she ordered breakfast, because I wanted to stress the importance of nutrition and make a few suggestions before she ordered.

"Hey, Dr. Chase, I've got your ex-wife on line two?" the nurses' assistant at the nurse's station said, looking up at me.

"I'm with a patient."

"But—"

"Any calls from Ms. Winslet to me will be met with 'I am with a patient.'"

The young woman sighed. "Yes, Dr. Chase." She pushed a button on the phone and said, "I'm sorry, Ms. Winslet, he's with a patient. Yes, I can take a message."

I shook my head. I didn't want any messages from her. I didn't want to talk to her. I didn't want to see her. She'd left me, cheated on me with her plastic surgeon, the one I had told her was a hack and she didn't need to see, but I was over-ruled because she wanted to 'tighten' her skin. She'd probably spent more hours in the man's bed than on his table. Just thinking about her left a bad taste in my mouth. "You can file that in the trash, Penny. I'm not interested." I directed the nurses' assistant.

I started down the hall, only for another call to interrupt me, this one to my cell. With a sigh, I answered it. "Mother, how are you this morning?" I ducked into an empty room to have a little bit of privacy. I had a feeling I was going to need it.

"Darling, it is so good to hear your voice. I swear you disappear and never come to visit me and your father anymore. When are you coming home?"

"Mom, I'm working, what do you need?"

"Can't a mother simply miss her son and want him to come home without being brushed off, Brian?"

I sighed. "Of course, Mother, I miss you too, but you aren't that far away. I will come see you next week. I'm busy with a patient this week and I cannot get away."

"I suppose that will have to do. I still don't understand why you had to go all the way to lower Manhattan for a job, you could have gotten on at Stony Brook."

"If I had, I wouldn't be doing the job I want to be doing, Mother. We've discussed this. I like my job and I love living here in Manhattan. I know you and Father don't approve, but you don't get a say in what I choose to do. I'm an adult, I have been for quite a while now, if you'll recall."

"There's no need to be rude, Brian. I just think if you were here, you and Belle could—"

"Belle and I are not going to reconcile, Mother. Not now, not ever, so please put that thought out of your head. Now, I need to go. I have a patient in need of attention. I'll see you next week. Goodbye, Mother." I hung up and didn't even wait for her reply. I turned my ringer to vibrate and shoved the phone in my pocket. I had no need for it to go off when I was with Jane.