Page 4 of Rounds
He smiled at me as I rolled my eyes playfully. “First of all, old man, I’m still in the baby-making age range. That range is wide as hell for men. Secondly, I saw a woman at work yesterday that nearly stole my breath. I bumped right into her, nearly knocking her to the floor, then she went into one of my patient rooms to take blood. She’s a phlebotomist. Thirdly, she fine as hell. She’s been plaguing my thoughts. It wasn’t just her physical. Theway she cared for the patients, taking her time to soothe their worries, caught my attention and my heart.”
His eyebrows lifted. “I’ve never heard you . . . speak of a woman that . . . way.”
I nodded reflectively. “I know. Her name is Delaney. She plagued my dreams last night. I could barely sleep, even with as tired as I was. Thankfully, my first appointment canceled today so I could catch up on sleep.”
He smiled and closed his eyes. We were both quiet for a moment. I watched him struggle somewhat, and I had to come to the painful realization that his time was winding up quicker than I expected. “How long have you been struggling to breathe like this?”
“Just today.”
“You could have an infection. I’m gonna call a nurse and have them call an ambulance to take you to the hospital. You could also have pneumonia.”
I stood from my seat, and he grabbed my arm. When I turned to him, his eyes were still closed. “I’m tired, son. I’m longing for my Katy. I’ve been . . . seeing her in my dreams . . . like you’ve been . . . seeing that young lady.”
My brows furrowed. There was no way I could continue listening to him wheeze and struggle to breathe without getting medical assistance for him. As his son and doctor, it was my duty. I closed my eyes for a moment, then said, “I understand, Dad, but I still need to get you medical attention. When God is ready for you, there won’t be a thing we can do to keep you here. Okay?”
He nodded and released my arm. I quickly made my way to the nurse’s station and had a nurse call for an ambulance to take him to St. Ambrose. At least I would be able to check on him while I was at work if he was there. I slid my hand over my face as she placed the call. Most times, they did whatever I askedthem to do since I was a doctor. Technically, I was my father’s PCP. So, theyhadto do what I told them to do.
Making my way back to his room, I thought about what my life would look like without him. He was the only constant in my life. That was why he wanted me to settle down. He knew his time was winding up, and he didn’t want me to be all alone in this world. After taking a deep breath, I entered his room, and his eyes immediately met mine.
“The ambulance is on the way.”
“Okay.”
I sat back in the chair I previously occupied and stared at him. “She shot me down for lunch yesterday. I could tell by the way she stared at me that she got the note I put on her desk. She’s going to be more work than I’m used to.”
He chuckled then coughed. “She’s probably the one then.”
That rattle in his chest wasn’t a good sign. I had better start preparing my heart for his departure. Instead of focusing on that, I said, “Probably. She don’t know it yet, but I can be persistent. She ain’t getting off that easy.”
“Don’t get on that woman’s . . . nerves. Be persistent but a gentleman.”
He started coughing again. I stood and went to his bedside. “Enough talking for today. Soak up this oxygen.”
I took the mask from his bed and turned on the oxygen. He’d had pneumonia before but was able to make it through. I wasn’t so sure this time. His will to live was gone. Whether God was ready for him or not, He wouldn’t override Dad’s will. He wanted to die. He wanted to be reunited with his Katy . . . my mama. They were only in their mid-fifties when that accident took her away from us, and now the lasting effects of it was taking him too.
When the paramedics came into the room, I stepped away from his bedside and placed a call to the E.R. at St. Ambrose toprepare them for my father’s arrival. They were well-acquainted with who he was. After the accident, he was in the hospital for months. Once he was released, he’d made two more trips back, once for pneumonia and the other visit was for a bowel obstruction. In my medical opinion, I felt like this would be his last visit. I felt that shit in my heart too. I could only pray that God would prove me wrong.
As they got him situated and were about to push him out to the ambulance, he smiled at me. It took everything in me to smile back at him. This was hard. I followed them out the doors and watched them load him in the back of the ambulance then went to my car to follow them back to St. Ambrose. I would be better off selling the house and moving into the hospital at this point. I was always at that muthafucka.
I rested my head on the headrest. I had a headache from hell, but I had to see to my father. It would most likely be another all-nighter for me. Lifting my head, I pulled out of my parking spot and followed the ambulance to St. Ambrose. I parked in my designated area, then hurriedly made my way inside.
When I got to the room they’d brought him to, he seemed to be calm. I went to his side to hear that he no longer had that rattle. I used to hear people say that it was the death rattle. I’d had patients to die, but I had never witnessed that rattle until today. They’d probably given him antibiotics and cough medicine on the way here. I was more than sure this was bacteria pneumonia. He’d just started the coughing, so he was in the first forty-eight hours. It was important to get treatment before it worsened.
“They are going to take good care of you, Dad. I need to go to the nurse’s station real quick to see what’s been given and to get started on your treatment. I love you.”
He removed the mask and said, “I love you too, son.”
I helped him put it back on then gave his hand a squeeze. I closed my eyes and leaned over and kissed his forehead. When I left the room, I could feel the lump in my throat. I swallowed hard as I just stood in the hallway. It was like I was in wet cement for a moment. I took a deep breath and headed to the nurses’ station to put in orders. Since today was Friday, I knew I would be sleeping here all weekend.
When I left the station, I walked out of the doors to search for a vending machine. Here I was again, looking for something to eat, extremely late, for the second time this week. I found one and got a bag of chips from it, along with a Snickers. I could get water from the lounge. I bought a case of water every week to contribute to what was in the fridge. Damn near power walking, I got to the lounge to see Delaney grabbing her purse from the countertop. Her eyes were red as hell.
I frowned slightly, confused as to why she was even still here. It was almost eight o’clock. The lab typically closed at five. “Hi, Delaney,” I said as I got a bottle of water from the refrigerator.
She sniffed and wiped her face, then turned to me. “Hello, Doctor Israel.”
“You can call me Glover. You okay?”
“Yeah. Thanks for asking. What are you doing back?”
