Dark as Daylight Ch. 18

He did this three more times, after adjusting the head of the x-ray machine, and ran to have the films developed.

While he was gone, Doctor C. Agnes Abramowitz walked in to the operating room, fully gowned.

"Matti, why am I in the spacesuit?"

"Because I always wanted to see you in green. Would you please come over here and look at my patient? Please give the good doctor a magnifying lens."

"Very nice lungs, liver looks good, I guess her ticker needs a little work, or you wouldn't be here."

"Would you please look a little higher, at the top of her heart."

"Does your patient have any obvious wounds?"

"No, she doesn't."

"Is she in an abusive relationship that she's hiding?"

"No, she isn't."

"Have you met her husband?"

"Yes, he's having tests done in the hospital today."

"Have him and his close relatives tested for this immediately."

"What is her name?"

"Jemma Zabo."

"Holy Shit, why didn't you tell me that in the first place. I could've fallen, and shot myself just to make it easy. Test everyone including their guards. Someone close to her gave her this. I take it you sent samples to the lab already?"

"Yes, I have."

"Good, we have to nip this in the bud. I must know how far along the disease is in her so I know where to start her on medication. I'll be back in 10 minutes. All of you should be thankful that you are in spacesuits."

"Agnes, you never said what my patient has."

"Necrotizing Fasciitis."

"Do I finish the operation on her heart, or let her pass away?"

"Matti, what is your first duty as a doctor?"

"Do no harm. Agnes, you are a pain in the ass."

"This had better be your best operation, Matti, or I will make sure to tell her family you fucked up and killed her, while she was on the table."

"I don't like you, Agnes."

"You can come over to my home this weekend, and I will make you fresh canapés, filled with crushed sweet potato, eggplant, and/Apple, French onion soup, Beef Wellington or Squab, with baby carrots, broccoli, and baked potato. To end the evening, you will have a choice of lemon meringue pie, death by chocolate, carrot cake, or truffles. Do you like me now, Matti?"

"What time should I be there, Agnes, my love?"

"The 12^th of never, you Bitch. Take care of your patient, I'm going to tell her husband to get a lawyer ready for you."

"I knew I hated you for good reason."

"Saturday at seven, and if you're late I'll throw everything away."

"I love you, Agnes."

As she looked at Jemma's heart she said out loud, "I can't leave the diseased part of her aorta in there. It will continue to move down towards the heart itself, and I can't let that happen if I want this patient to live.

"I need my residents by me for a moment."

The seven residents that are outside the immediate circle joined her.

"This is what I need, for this patient to survive for the next 24 hours. If we can get her past that, maybe, just maybe we can fix her properly. I need you to go to every hospital morgue within a five-mile radius, in pairs, and ask if they have any John or Jane Doe who wouldn't mind giving up 8 to 12 inches of their Pulmonary artery. I will sign a letter stating it is my request not yours, so you will have no liability. Will you do that for me?"

"Yes Doctor."

"Someone use the computer and write up a flowery letter explaining my problem. Use the name Jemma Zabo as the patient, because it may move mountains. Also, I want one team to go to the waiting room and speak to William Zabo Junior, and tell him what's going on in here. There is no sense keeping them in the dark. In the meantime, I'm going back to work on her heart. I'll stop for one second to sign the letter."

"Don't start Doctor, here is your letter."

She read it quickly, and saw that it covered all the salient points. She took the same pen she marked Jemma's chest with and signed the paper.

"When you get outside make all the copies you need in color."

"Good luck Doctor, we will do our best to get you that artery."

Cilia said, "Did you notice Agnes did not invite me to dinner."

"If you wish to get an invitation to Agnes's house for dinner, you have to aggravate her. You never aggravate anyone, you are too good a person Cilia, as far as I am concerned, you are nearly perfect. You are a great conversationalist. You are the best driver I have ever been in a car with. There is no one who can beat you at chess or cribbage. You ravage everyone, when you play hearts or spades. No one will play poker with you anymore because you are so good at it, and if that is not bad enough, but you do it so humbly, no one minds. You are just perfect."

"I am not, but thank you for saying it. I have many faults, but I keep them to myself."

"Cilia, you are the best."

"Doctor, go to work."

"Yes Doctor."

*****************

William sat there frozen. This must be a mistake. They were talking about the wrong patient. He was about to get up in a rage, when Gwen grabbed him.

"Sit. Don't move, until I tell you-you can move."

She asked the young resident, "Who is the infectious disease doctor, and where the fuck is she?"

"Doctor Abramowitz, and I think she's in the lab."

"Go find the pulmonary artery, and don't come back without it."

"Yes ma'am."

Gwen opened her cell phone and punched in a number that all the agents answered at the same time.

"This is Gwen. Jemma is very ill. She needs 10 to 14 inches of an aorta artery tissue, and I don't give a fuck how you get it. Go."

She sat on William's lap, and stroked his head.

"I know how miserable a day this is for you. Is there anything at all I can do?"

"What I just heard you do was something I never would have thought of. How can she be sick? She is never sick. I can't remember a day in her life that she was sick. How could she have contracted this kind of disease? Suddenly, she needs a heart valve, and a foot of a pulmonary artery."

"William, your mom was always wired very tight. It was not about you or me, or the girls, it was always about dad. If his shoelace was too long, she yelled at him to fix it, because he was going to trip over it. She was always overprotective of him. Today, it caught up to her.

If it was only her heart valve replacement, it was a piece of cake. It's this other thing that's messed everything up. We must take everything as it comes at us, and be prepared for the worst. Patrick will be here at 6 PM. That will take some pressure off you.

'Oh crap, Patti, did you call her?"

"Gwen, my brain is not working. I haven't done a thing. I'm sorry."

"She's going to kill us."

Jim said, "No ma'am, she isn't. I called her, and informed her of the situation. She's on her way down by helicopter."

"Jim; you are a lifesaver, thank you."

"I didn't believe you needed any more angst in your lives' today."

"You are so right."

"I have also sent everyone for lunch, and when they return they will bring lunch for everyone here."

"Now you know why Doctor Luck put you in charge of my husband's safety. Your brain does not stop working, and you are thinking three steps ahead of everyone else."

"Thank you, ma'am. I said to Miss Jemma this morning what a pleasure it is watching over him."

William said, "Just think Jim, he could have given you Patrick."

"My main concern would have been to make sure the aircraft had an abundant supply of condoms in easy reach, sir."

"How do you 'air out' an airplane that big?"

"I guess you strap everyone in, open the front and rear doors, when you are at or below 10,000 feet, and let the air rush through. As long as you don't fly through a thunderstorm, or rain clouds, I believe that would work very well."

"That would work, Jim. Knowing Patrick, if the young woman involved was reticent, he would have the flight crew take the aircraft over the Gulf of Mexico. He would strap himself in, and take the lady in question to the door. He would say, 'Your Virtue, Or Your Life?'

If you are looking out at nothing but clouds, and the sea, which is several thousand feet below, the answer will probably come very easy."

For the first time in several hours, her husband's face relaxed, and he laughed a loud belly laugh.

Gwen got up and kissed Jim.

"Thank you, Jim; you don't know how much he needed the relief from the pressures he's been under. Go find Olivia and try your luck."

"I will remind you madam that the young lady in question is only 16 years old."

"Check the hospital records, please. With a body like that she must be older than 16."

"I guarantee you that Doctor Braverman has already checked the hospital records, her school records, and the records from the hospital where she was born. The child, although she is as ripe as any peach in any orchard, is not ready to be plucked, legally."

"I'll make you a bet she goes to an all girls school."

"Have you ever thought about her being a lesbian?"

"The way she looks at Doctor Braverman, there is no chance. She probably goes home in an armored car."

"I'll verify that for you, when she leaves the hospital."

"You would only be convicted of a crime, if you went before a female judge, and an all-female jury; and there is only a 50% chance of that, when they get a good look at her. I will get you the best lawyer on this planet to defend you."

"It would not be worth going to jail, and putting a stain on my record for a few moments of pleasure. However, if she was willing to go to the south of France for a few weeks, and then to Switzerland, Italy, and then to the Seychelles, I don't believe any judge would convict me of kidnapping, or sexual assault, do you?"

"If you were flying her around in a private jet, staying at five-star hotels, and her buying herself tons of expensive items to bring home, I don't think there's a chance of you being convicted of anything, except having a very good time."

"We will see how today goes. I will talk with her, and If there is any interest in her eyes about traveling to exotic places, I will use the company credit card and have a wonderful time."

"Yes, you will, and you will be back in six weeks."

"I can guarantee you I will be back within six weeks, with a smile etched on my face, and an all--over tan."

"Here are Mr. and Mrs. Valentino."

Gwen turned to see Patty running full-tilt at her. She braced herself for the contact that was about to happen. It happened, and it knocked the wind out of her.

Patty screamed, "What the fuck happened here?"

"Nothing good, Patty, definitely nothing good. Let's sit down and I'll tell you the whole thing. Hello Stephano."

"Hello Gwen, talk to her, and I'll listen."

"It was a very innocent morning, until mom thought dad didn't look well. She thought he looked ill, so she called his cardiologist and told him to be here in 29 minutes, if he wanted to be alive in 30. You know how mom can be, so he was here. She ordered dad to get dressed. She told the girls to get dressed, because they were going shopping for their trip to Houston next month. The girls didn't argue, but dad did, for a few minutes, before mom laid down the law. As soon as dad was out of the way, she called William and told him that dad didn't look well and she was taking him here. I was already dressed, and William was getting dressed, so I flew over here to see what was going on. Dad came up behind me, looking very well, and in a beautiful suit. Mom wasn't dressed yet. William came over and the four of us were talking about where we were going.

Dad told us that mom lied to him to him, and that what ever she said was a lie. The long story short is we wound up here with Doctor Braverman waiting.

Doctor Braverman looked at dad, told him he was going to be in the hospital until Monday morning, what tests were going to be taken, and that he had a suite ready for him. When he finished talking, he asked mom if she had any questions.

The problem was he was so thorough, mom stood there with her mouth open. My husband, being the instigator he is, started in on her. A riot broke out in the ER. She started chasing him, and I had Olivia get dad to the lab.

William asked me if it was all clear, and when I said yes, mom had a fit.

She yelled, "I didn't say goodbye."

"William went through the whole thing with her, and that it wasn't goodbye. She was going to be staying with him the next two nights in his suite. Now be good, and Let's go to breakfast."

I won't tell you the part about William and me having sex in the back of the limousine, on our way to breakfast, because it's not pertinent to this story.

We get to the restaurant, and I look at mom's eyes and I'm not happy. The arteries are very evident, which means her blood pressure is up high, very high, and I don't have my bag with me. I felt her wrist, and her pulse rate is up. I just want her to sit down and be calm. As luck would have it, a group of doctor's walked in. I borrowed a blood pressure cuff and a stethoscope. We walked over to mom, and I introduce the group of doctors to her, as I am wrapping the stethoscope around my neck, and the blood pressure cuff around her arm. Her pressure was 210/105."

"Holy crap, you're not kidding are you."

"I'm not kidding, and that's not the worst part. She developed a bad heart murmur that I knew had to be tended to immediately."

We race back here, and Manolo was waiting outside for us. He takes one look at mom and tells the staff to take her straight to radiology. They put her inside the CAT scan machine and as it's working the radiologist said, "How did we miss this last year?"

He calls for the cardiac surgeons to meet us in radiology STAT! Apparently Doctor Braverman was talking to them, cuing them in on the situation. They were in radiology in a matter of seconds.

As the radiologist, Doctor Recht, was talking to Doctor Reynolds, Doctor Williams, and Doctor Chikwe, I turned around to see how mom was doing. The emergency light was blinking, but the oral alarm did not sound off.

I yelled, "She's not breathing." I ran into the room hit the emergency switch, which brought her out of the tube quickly. When her chest was clear, I hit her hard, jumped on the table and start doing chest compressions. I'm just starting my third repetition, when they pull me off her. The ER response team was there, and they checked her out, she had already begun breathing. Doctor Reicht congratulated me for my quick reaction. They didn't bother finishing the scan, because they had everything they needed.

Doctor Matti Williams was going to replace the tricuspid valve, which they had in stock, both in porcine(biological) or mechanical models. Doctor Harvey Reynolds and Joanna Chikwe were going to be assisting her, along with her resident's.

They had just started when one of the residents noticed something and pointed it out to the surgeon. She called for the infectious disease doctor, who told her what it was. It's not something that's supposed to be on the inside of the body. It's supposed to be on the outside. It's the flesh-eating disease, 'Necrotizing Fasciitis." The surgeon called for her residents to go to every hospital in a 5-mile radius to get 8 to 12 inches of the aortic artery from a cadaver and get back here ASAP. I put a call out to all our people to go to every hospital, and morgue to explain our situation. We would be more than happy to pay for the artery from a dead person who did not die from a blood-borne disease like AIDS. That's where we stand at this moment."

Patty said, "You've had your hands full this morning."

"Yes, we have."

"What are you going to do with the children, yours and Jemma's? Do you want me to take them with us up to Glen Falls for the remainder of the school year? Their teachers can email their work up to me, and I can make sure they do it and email it back to them."

"Let's see how today goes Patti."

"Okay, just think about it. I want you to know that the offer is there for you to take advantage of it."

"Thank you, Patti, I don't know what I'll do if today goes bad."

******************************

Someone had spilled five gallons of liquid in a corridor, forcing it to be closed, until janitorial staff could clean it up. This forced many patients to be sent in a roundabout way to their next examinations. One of these patients was William Zabo. As they pushed him through the waiting area, he saw William, Gwen, Patty sitting, and Stephano standing over them with a very worried look on his face. He told his orderly to go over to his children slowly, and quietly, so he could hear what they were saying about him.

They might have just as well put a knife through his heart, when he heard them talking about Jemma.

Stephano turned his head and saw him sitting there crying.

He shouted in horror, "DAD!"

William was out of his seat like a rocket. He jumped over the line of chairs that separated him from his father, and wrapped his arms around him.

"Dad, I am so sorry. No one knew this was going to happen. She got ill when we went for breakfast. It was supposed to be a simple valve replacement. When they opened her chest, they found a deceased artery that could kill her. We are doing everything possible to find a replacement for it. I don't know what else to say."

"What are you doing for your mother?"

"Everything, I mean that dad, we are doing everything possible to find a length of Aorta to replace the diseased area of her aorta. As soon as the infectious disease doctor verifies the exact strain of the bacteria, she is going to hit it with everything in the book. She's in the lab studying it now.

Mom is on the heart-lung bypass machine, so her blood is being cooled, and scrubbed clean of any bacteria that are floating around in it. The operation is in its early stages. They stopped it when they saw the condition of the aorta. They restarted it after the diagnosis.

"William, I have friends in every drug manufacturing company in Japan, Korea, Germany and Switzerland. They are on my cell phone, with the name of my contacts. Call them, if there is any chance at all to help your mother, I want it taken."

"I have already done it, dad. I knew you would want me to do it. I spoke with Doctor Hung, at SeeGen Pharmaceuticals, in Seoul. He was very sorry to hear about this problem. He asked us to send him a sample of the diseased tissue by the fastest method possible. He said if he can find a way to replicate the disease, he will find a way to kill it, without killing the host. United Airlines has a flight that leaves at 4 P.M., nonstop to Seoul, South Korea. It will be carriered from here to United by 3 PM

Patrick will be here by 6 PM, with his 747. I will make sure it is flight planned to Seoul, South Korea, has a maximum fuel load on board, three flight crews, and has plenty of food. It will go to Korea, as soon as possible Doctor Hung calls, and says he has found a cure. We will send the aircraft to get it, unless there is a quicker way to bring it back.

"What will I do without her, William."

William knelt beside his father, and put his head on his shoulder.

"Dad, I don't want that to happen. Gwen had to bring her back life once today already. She cried for an hour afterwards. No one wants that to happen, again, because we all love that pain in the ass so much. Please finish your test and come back to us. I promise you, we will watch over mom. We don't want anything to happen to you, while we are worrying about mom. That would kill us all."

"You will come and get me if there is a problem?"

"I swear, I will come myself."

"I will keep you to that promise, William."

"So will I, dad."

Patty said, "Can I say hello before you leave to take your tests? You look healthy as a horse to me."