getting better by the minute.’
‘There’s no fluid output yet.’
‘You wouldn’t expect that,’ he said, and he had his voice under control again. ‘I’m hoping we got to him before there’s any long-term kidney damage.’
‘Even if there’s no kidney damage, it’s obvious he’s had a stroke,’ Tess said grimly. ‘And we don’t know how badly he’ll be affected.’
‘No. We don’t know that, and he’s far too weak to do any testing yet. But there are some good signs, Tess. The fact that he’s still alive now is a very good sign.’
‘Yeah, terrific.’
‘I mean it,’ he said seriously. ‘You realise Henry must have had the stroke five days ago. It’s obvious he has a hemiplegia. At the moment, the left side of his body seems almost totally paralysed. He’s slurring his speech and he appears confused.
‘But he’s survived for five days, Tess, and the only way he can have done that is if he’s had water. Also, there’s a pressure wound on his hip but it’s not a major one. It doesn’t look like he’s lain in the one position for five days. Therefore he must have been able to drag himself out of the cave and down to the creek and back again. If he’d been totally paralysed for five days, he’d be dead by now.’
‘So what are you saying?’
‘I’m saying that once he’s got his fluid balance back to normal-once he’s recovered from shock and exhaustion and we get on top of his chest infection-he may well make a full recovery from his stroke,’ he told her. ‘The fact that he was able to say your name last night was amazing, and even though he hasn’t spoken since the muscles must be still operating. That’s all I wanted to tell you, Dr Westcott. I’m sure you’ll figure it out for yourself, but it might take time and I don’t want a gloomy face scaring Henry into another stroke.’
‘My face is not gloomy,’ she said before she could stop herself, and he grinned.
‘Well, maybe you’re right,’ he agreed. ‘In fact, it’s not gloomy at all.’ He smiled down at her, and Tess found herself flushing under his careful scrutiny. ‘But fearful, though,’ he amended gently. ‘Fearful of your grandfather’s future.’
Her momentary lightness faded. ‘He’s at risk of another stroke, Mike. Isn’t he?’
She didn’t need to ask. She knew the odds.
‘He is,’ he said bluntly. There was no use giving false reassurance. ‘But you know we’ve started him on heparin as well as digoxin. I’m sure much of his weakness now is due to being left so long without attention rather than the stroke itself. I’d say, with good rehabilitation, we’ve a very strong chance of getting Henry back to his beloved farm. Between us, I think we’ve done an excellent night’s work.’
‘I guess…’
He looked down at Tess and his smile died. He could see what she was thinking.
Henry had been so near death. To have pulled him back…well, there were no guarantees now that Henry would be grateful-especially if he was left with a body that wouldn’t do as he commanded. To be left with partial paralysis…
‘I’m telling you, Tess, there can’t be major paralysis,’ he said gently, and his hand came down on the bed to cover hers. It was an unconscious action which he did with many patients, but he was suddenly acutely aware of the contact. He was acutely aware of the linking of their two hands. But he didn’t pull away.
‘No, but…’
‘But?’
‘He won’t be out of trouble in a week,’ she said sadly. ‘Or even a month. He can’t be. So what happens now?’ She stared down at her grandfather’s gaunt face and a muscle worked at the side of her mouth.
‘I won’t be able to return to the States now,’ she said at last. ‘I’ll have to stay.’
Mike frowned, but he was aware of a tiny jerk inside him. It was like something deep within was really pleased with the words he’d just heard.
Go for practicalities…
‘Where does that leave you?’ he asked. ‘Are you on leave from your job?’
‘I quit to come here.’
‘You quit?’
She looked up at him then, and her mouth twisted into a wry smile. She hadn’t moved her hand. It was still under his, and for the life of her she couldn’t find the energy to move it.
This man was her only comfort in all this.
‘It sounds dramatic, doesn’t it?’ She shrugged and managed a grin. ‘It’s not. I’ve been working in emergency medicine for the last two years. It’s been exciting but now… I’ve had enough excitement. I’m moving into family medicine.’
‘You have a job to go to?’
‘I’ve applied for a heap of positions in the States,’ she told him. ‘I was really just waiting to hear if-or where- I’ve been accepted when I had to leave to come here.’ Her gorgeous grin flashed out again. ‘If you must know, I’m expecting a pile of job offers-with salary commensurate with my expected lifestyle, of course-to be waiting when I get home. So it seemed only fair to tell the hospital I wouldn’t be back.’
‘So you’re a free agent?’
‘I guess. Until I have to start working to pay for food.’ She smiled again, that blindingly attractive smile that almost shook his socks off. ‘It seems to me that if Grandpa’s farming one sow, eight piglets and six goats and not a lot else, then I might be in trouble if I expect the farm to pay for my keep-and I don’t much fancy living on piglet.’
‘No.’ Mike gave Tess a smile in return, but his mind was racing.
Bill’s words were echoing strongly in his mind. ‘You have a duty here…’ And ‘We’d accept Doris the pig if only she had a medical degree.’
Hell!
The room was suddenly way too small.
The door opened. It was Bill, with a junior nurse in tow. Just as well. His blood pressure was climbing through the roof as he tried to think this through. ‘We’ve come to do the real work around here,’ Bill said cheerfully. The charge nurse looked from Tess to Mike with amused speculation and then watched as they selfconsciously disengaged hands. Hmm. Things were moving along nicely here. ‘Doctors aren’t wanted,’ he added, kindly forbearing to comment on the hand-holding. ‘Unless you have anything urgent to do here…’
‘I’m just going,’ Mike said curtly, in a voice that made Bill frown. ‘Let me know when he wakes, Bill.’
‘I’m staying,’ Tess said.
‘No.’ Mike shook his head. ‘No way. You need to sleep.’
‘I can sleep here,’ she told him. ‘I want to be here when Grandpa wakes.’
‘Tess…’
‘Butt out, Dr Llewellyn,’ she said firmly. ‘This is my grandpa. Go find a grandpa of your own.’
‘He has ten or so grandpas-grandmas, too-booked into surgery this morning,’ Bill said, grinning again. ‘He can choose.’
‘There you are, then,’ she said kindly. ‘Bye-bye, Dr Llewellyn. Off you go and care for the medical needs of the valley grandpas and grandmas
And he was left with nothing to do but leave.
It’d be evening before he had an excuse to make another trip to Henry’s room, he thought as he closed the door reluctantly behind him. Unless Henry woke…
He hoped to hell that Henry woke. And it wasn’t just for Henry’s sake, either.
Mike worked flat out for the whole day, but Tess hardly left her grandfather’s side. Bill persuaded her to shower and change while he took over her watch, but apart from that she hardly left his side.
‘It’s just so hard,’ she told Bill, her voice strained. ‘I’m just trying to figure what to do for the best here. Maybe Mike’s right and he’ll make a full recovery, but meanwhile he can’t go back to the farm to live alone. Where’s the nearest rehabilitation unit?’
‘Melbourne.’
