Impatient to get on with it, Elijah rattled through the answers.
Satisfied, the doctor told him, ‘I’m pleased to say the fracture has healed nicely.’
‘Does that mean I can take this off?’ He was beaming.
‘You may.’
‘Thank the Lord for that!’
‘I’ll arrange for some physio for you, to help strengthen the muscles around—’
‘No need, doctor. I know the exercises I have to do.’
‘Ah, yes, this is the second tibial stress fracture you’ve had on this leg, isn’t it? It says in your notes that you’re a marathon runner.’
‘That’s me – I run marathons. I’ve managed to get into the Marathon de Sable next year. Me and my son.’
She looked at him blankly, so he went on to explain what it was, ending with, ‘I can’t wait to start running again.’
‘How often do you train? And for how long?’
‘Four or five times a week for the longer distances, and in between, I do shorter runs, around fifteen or twenty miles.’
‘That’s ashorter run?’ Her expression was incredulous.
‘Of course, I know I’ll have to take it easy for a bit, and—’
‘Mr Grant – Elijah – I don’t think you understand. This is thesecondstress fracture you’ve had on this leg. If you continue with the same level of activity, there will be more. I am strongly advising you to hang up your trainers for fear of doing yourself permanent damage.’
Elijah gawked at her, stunned, unable to believe what he was hearing. ‘Could you say that again?’ he stammered.
The doctor’s face was sympathetic, but her tone brooked no argument as she told him in no uncertain terms, ‘I’m sorry, but you’ll have to accept that your running days are over.’
CHAPTER TWO
‘I’m going to die,’ Nora wailed, sniffling into a tattered tissue.
Trinette picked up a plate of biscuits and held it out to her. ‘Not just yet, surely?’
Nora took one and bit into it, crumbs cascading down her cleavage. With her mouth full, she replied, ‘No, but I could go blind or lose a leg.’
‘Did the doctor actuallysaythat?’ her bezzie wanted to know.
‘Uh huh.’ Nora nodded. ‘He said it’s a serious condition and I need to take it seriously.’
‘Seriously?’
‘Yep.’ What scared her the most – as if the threat of going blind or having a foot amputated wasn’t scary enough – was that he’d wanted to see her as soon as possible. Like,today. He said he could fit her in this afternoon and GPsneverdid that. Getting an appointment was normally as hard as catching smokewith your bare hands. She’d had to wait ages the last time, yet miraculously he’d been able to see herthis afternoon?!
Nora had struggled on with her work in the salon until the time of her appointment, trying her best to pretend nothing had happened, but inside she’d been reeling.Diabetes.Wasn’t that a disease old people got?
Every chance she had, she’d reached for her phone and googled it, but she’d only ended up scaring herself even more. And now here she was, sitting in her bezzie’s lounge and crying on her shoulder.
‘I didn’t know he was even testing me for diabetes,’ she added tearfully. ‘My gran always used to say she hated going to hospital because you went in for one thing and came out with another – usually worse than the very thing you went in for! I always thought she was joking. I wish I hadn’t gone to see him now – I only wanted HRT.’
‘Did he prescribe you any?’
‘No. He was more concerned about my blood sugar level, my cholesterol, and my blood pressure. They’re all too high.’
