“Choices too? Man, you’ve been holding out on me.”
He named a bunch of flavors, so she picked two and then said, “Can I get a cone for Lance as well?”
“Do you know what flavor he likes?”
She shook her head. “No idea. Just make it the same as mine.” He raised an eyebrow at that but headed into the back. When she turned around, Shane was gone. He’d headed down the stairs and was even now cutting across the back pasture toward the fence where the horses were. She waited a few minutes for Dennis to return, and, when he showed up with two medium-size cones, she smiled, grabbed some napkins, and thanked him. She headed toward Lance’s room, but, when she got there, the door was closed.
Why hadn’t she thought of that before she came with both hands full?
She knocked awkwardly on the door. When he called out, “Come in,” she tried to hold the two cones with one hand and open the door. She managed it but had to use her foot to push the door itself wide open. As she stepped inside, she said, “I know I didn’t ask you about this, so I’m taking the chance that you actually want one.”
He looked at her in surprise, saw the ice cream, and his face lit up. “I didn’t even know ice cream cones were a thing here.”
“I keep forgetting,” she said. “I just saw Shane, and he had one, so I asked Dennis.” She handed over the cone and said, “There were all kinds of choices for flavors, and I didn’t know what to get, so I just had him get us two the same,” she said. “So this is rum raisin and maple walnut.” He immediately took a bite off the top, and she winced when she saw his teeth come down on the ice-cold ice cream.
“What are you wincing for?”
“You put your teeth right in the cold ice cream,” she exclaimed. “I can’t bite ice cream. So I just lick my ice cream.”
“I can,” he said with a shrug. “This is really good, Jessica. Thank you.”
She smiled and nodded, then put a few spare napkins on his little bedside table and said, “I just figured you might like it after the hot tub.”
“I really appreciate it,” he said. He hesitated and then said, “I know they did a bunch of blood work on me yesterday. Did you ever get any results back?”
“I can check your files,” she said, “but it’ll take one of the doctors to give you the results.”
“Of course,” he said with an eye roll. “It’s all about protocol, isn’t it?”
“Always,” she said. “Are you feeling worse?”
“Not worse, I’m just not feeling great,” he said. “I think the doctors wanted to cover the basics to make sure it wasn’t something other than just being tired.”
“Okay, I’ll check,” she said and headed out of his room, wondering about the tests. As tired as he seemed, he really could be anemic. Also all sorts of bacterial infections could be going on. He’d had so many surgeries that his gut flora could also be completely messed up. As she headed back to her office to pull up his file, one of the doctors popped in and asked, “Did you happen to get the blood work back for Lance?”
“Not that I’ve seen yet, but I was just checking,” she said.
“In that case, I’ll wait while you take a look.”
“That would be great because he seems anxious about it.” She paused. “He could just be overtired, I suppose.”
“Yes, it’s possible, but I think more’s going on than that,” he said.
She headed toward her desk and quickly brought up her computer, even though she was done with her shift. Logging in, she checked to see if any of the results were in. She nodded. “They’re here, Doctor. I’m sending it to you right now.” She added the results to his file and tagged the doctor on it.
Bringing it up on his iPad, he whistled. “Yeah, just as I thought, we definitely have an anemia issue.” He looked farther down and shook his head. “Oh, wow. He needs to be on antibiotics like now.”
“Ouch,” she said. “Well, that might make him feel better in a way. To know there’s a physical reason behind why he’s been so down.”
“He’s noticed himself?”
“Yeah. I think more just feeling like he’s not quite right,” she said.
The doctor quickly changed the orders on the file and said, “Let’s start giving him the antibiotics twice a day, and I want an iron supplement three times a day,” he said. He shook his head at that. “We may have to look at some injections in his case too—or infusions even.”
“You tell me,” she said, as she walked over to the medicine cabinet. “I’ll take him some antibiotics right now. Do you want him to get a second dose tonight before bed?”
“Yes,” he said. “Then starting tomorrow, just breakfast and dinner would probably be the easiest.”
With the best course of action sorted out, she quickly grabbed one of the little serving trays and said, “Do you want to come and explain it with me?”
He hesitated and then said, “Sure.” Together they walked to Lance’s room, just as he finished his ice cream. She pushed the door open a little wider and said, “Your blood work came back.”
He looked up at her, surprised, and then saw the doctor behind her. “How bad is it?”
“Looks like you’re running a bacterial infection,” he said, “and you’re anemic. I figured on the anemia, but the bacterial infection could have been the cause of it. So, it’s iron supplements and antibiotics for the next bit.”
“Great,” he said. “There goes my gut again.”
“Good point. So we’ll add probiotics to that regime too,” the doctor said. “I want you to get two doses of the antibiotics down today, so Jessica has your first dose.”
She held them out with a glass of water.
He obediently took his pills and said, “So the second will be when?
