My Christmas Doctor

I left the empty room and headed for her room down the hall. I ran into Lara halfway there. "Is Ms. Adams awake yet?"

"She is and she was asking when you'd be in." Lara smiled. "I think you have an admirer there," she said, her smile growing wider.

"Oh?" I questioned, surprised at that, I'd only spoken to her for a moment and she'd been half out of it at the time and those dark circles around her eyes, which were — I was guessing based on her author photo — usually very bright and lively, told me she wasn't sleeping well, probably from the pain of the pericarditis.

Lara nodded. "She was expressing her gratitude that you had made her feel so much better and comfortable with your diagnosis."

"Well, it wasn't all me," I replied.

"She knows that, but you were the one to give her a real diagnosis. Anyway, she's awake and looking over the menu for breakfast."

"She hasn't ordered yet, has she?"

"Not that I know of."

"Good, I want to go over a few things with her before she does." I nodded and strode down the hall to her room. I rapped upon the open door and peered inside. "Ms. Adams, you are looking much better this morning." I smiled at her, moving into her room.

"Dr. Chase," she glanced up from the menu and her face lit up with a beautiful smile, "I hoped I would see you this morning. I wanted to thank you."

"You don't have to thank me. It was a team effort, after all." I grinned and took a seat in the chair next to her bed, pulling it closer. "I wanted to go over a few things with you before you ordered breakfast. Do you recall I said I was having your potassium level checked last night?"

She nodded. "Yes?"

"I was correct, it's very low, so we've given you a dose of it, and I'm going to prescribe you a supplement, but I wanted to go over a few foods that would also help keep your levels up."

"Oh, yes?"

I handed her a list that I'd made for her. "So, any of these sound appetizing?"

She laughed. "Well, I can't say I really want spinach or broccoli for breakfast, but I could handle the cantaloupe or honeydew."

"Both good choices. I would say maybe go for the egg and spinach omelet as well as a side of the melons."

Her eyes twinkled as she nodded. "Alright then. May I keep this?" She held up the list.

"Yes, of course. So how are you feeling today?"

She took a moment, breathed in a deep breath, and nodded. "Much better, still a little pain when I take a deep breath, but so much better than I felt when I first came in."

"Good to know. I'm still going to keep you a couple of days. I want to give the anti-inflammatories a chance to do their job, and then run those cardiology tests again," I informed her. "Is there anything else we can do for you?"

She sighed. "Not really unless you can magically make my laptop appear," she joked. "I'm in the middle of writing and I hate just sitting here."

"Well, I can't do anything about your laptop, unfortunately I haven't got those kinds of skills," I chuckled, "but how about a legal pad and a pen?"

"If you could get me those, I'd love you forever."

I drew in a sharp breath as my heart did a little jump in my chest at her words. "Consider it done." I winked at her. "I am looking forward to your next novel. What's this one about?"

Her eyes widened. "You've read my novel?" She seemed a bit in awe.

"Of course. It's on the New York Times best seller list. Who hasn't read it?" I grinned.

"Ugh. My parents, my friends back home, half the online community I interact with." She sighed. "I shouldn't complain, I mean, you're right, it is still on the list after a year and the reviews have been fantastic, but it's really disheartening when the people close to you don't support you." She shrugged. "Sorry, that sounds a lot like a pity party, and I should just not care about them—"

I nodded. "I get it. It's tough when those we care about don't understand how important their support really is to us." I could really relate to that. I'd felt that from my parents, and my ex. Oh, they'd been thrilled when I went into medicine, became a doctor, but my parents didn't like me treating just anybody… they thought I should be exclusive to the rich and famous… their kind of people as they put it. My ex was pretty much the same. She was more than happy to become a doctor's wife, but she didn't like the hours I put in, so she'd found a doctor who could set his own hours because all he did was elective cosmetic surgeries for the rich and famous. Now I was the one having a pity party. "Trust me, I can relate. However, you should be really proud of yourself. A Lethal Injection is a fantastic story. I couldn't put it down. I have to admit, I'm a fan."