My Christmas Doctor

Lara rushed back into the room and took the phone from me as she pushed some buttons on the machine. "Mrs. Adams? Hello, this is Lara Freely, Ms. Adams' nurse. I'm going to have to cut your conversation with her off now, she is still recovering, and we can't have her getting stressed, it is detrimental to her recovery. Yes, I will be sure to tell her you want her to call you when she is in a new room. Yes, if anything occurs, I will make sure I notify you, Mrs. Adams. Yes ma'am, goodbye."

Lara hung up the phone and then unplugged it. She turned to me with her hands on her hips and a frown on her face. "What was that about?"

I leaned back in the bed, my hand on my chest as I tried to relax again. "She told my ex-boyfriend I was in here."

"Bad break-up?" she queried.

I nodded. "You could say that. The douchebag had the nerve to hit me when I called him out on his cheating."

"Ugh. Does she know that?"

"She knows. Doesn't care. Thinks he's a changed man." I rubbed my chest, trying to calm down, but I was still flabbergasted that she had gone so far as to tell him anything about me being in the hospital, it was none of his business.

"How's your stress level?" she asked as she watched the machine that measured my heartbeat rhythms.

"Getting better."

She arched a brow as she looked from me to the machine, but she didn't dispute my lie. Instead, she said, "Do you need some pain meds? I can get Dr. Chase."

I shook my head. "No, don't bother him, he's got to be busy with other patients. Doesn't need my drama."

"You're wrong, you are his focus at the moment. He does have a couple other patients, but they are in recovery right now. You are still in intensive care in case you've forgotten."

I blinked at her and then nodded. "Right. I think maybe I'll just sleep for a little bit."

"Good. Sleep will help your body recover faster." Lara went to the window and closed the heavy curtains again, blocking out the sun. "There. Now you can rest. I'll check back in later. If you need anything, just hit the call button, okay?"

"I will," I replied as she checked the monitor one more time.

She seemed satisfied by what she saw because she proceeded to move the swinging table with my new legal pad and pen on it out of the way, and then tucked the covers up around me, like she was my mother. "Get some sleep," she murmured before dimming the lights and leaving the room, pulling the door almost all the way closed as she left.

Sighing, I closed my eyes and soon fell asleep. I woke a little while later when there was a knock on the door. Stretching, I sat up and called, "Come in?"

"Did I wake you?" Dr. Chase asked, peeking his head around the door.

I smiled. "Yes, but it's okay."

He raised the lights in the room and came in with a new nurse. "This is Jennifer, she's going to draw a little more blood so we can test your potassium again. How are you doing? Lara mentioned a stressful call from your mother?"

I nodded, but I didn't want to go into the real reason why it was stressful, because it was embarrassing. "Yeah. She's just worried about me I guess, but—"

"But that just stressed you out to the point the monitor picked it up." He grinned.

"Yeah."

He looked at the readout from the monitor and then nodded. "Well, it's been looking good since then. That's good since we're looking to move you in about an hour. You slept most of the afternoon and missed lunch, which is fine for now, but I don't want you missing any more meals, okay?"

I nodded. "Yes, sir."

He looked up at that and grinned. "Why do I get the feeling you skip meals pretty often? And I'm going to go out on a limb and guess it's not even on purpose, but because you get caught up in your writing."

I laughed softly. "Yeah, guilty as charged."

He shook his head. "That's got to stop. Maybe you need to set an alarm. It's not good to skip meals, and you should be getting up and doing some stretching and moving around as well. Sitting for extended periods of time can lead to a lot of other medical problems." He gave me a serious look. "I don't want to find out something happened to you because you didn't listen to my advice."

I blushed. "I will set an alarm, but I do actually move around and stuff when I'm writing. Sometimes I pace as I dictate into the computer. And I do use the treadmill in the gym three days a week."