Just To See Her Smile (standard:drama, 3066 words)
Author: Paul	Added: Mar 04 2001	Views/Reads: 3869/2162	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
A husband waits while his wife suffers surgery

Click here to read the first 75 lines of the story


"If you don't mind," Terry said. 

He was very tired too, but he couldn't close his eyes. The tension was
just too great. He'd had to bring Lisa in at five AM, and the hospital 
was an hour from home. But each time he would close his eyes they 
seemed to just pop open as if he was on speed. 

"Why don't you see if anything is on TV?" Andrew asked. 

"Is there anything you want to watch?" she answered. 

"No. I can't concentrate on that. What's taking them so long? How am I
supposed to stand this wait? Not knowing, God, that's the hard part," 
he said in despair. 

"I don't think that they are doing that on purpose! Maybe they are just
too involved," Terry stated. 

" I am going for more coffee," he said. "Do you want some." 

"No thanks," she replied. 

As he left the room he glanced back. Terry was almost asleep. I wish I
could sleep, he thought, but things were spinning around in his head. 
The whole day ran together now. It seemed like a lifetime had passed 
since they had checked in. The few hours they spent together waiting 
for Lisa to be taken to the operating room were good ones to remember. 
They cuddled and remembered some of the good times in their lives, and 
laughed about some of the bad ones that they scraped through. As usual 
she was the emotional strength. Lisa was scared but she knew that he 
was a basket case, and she had to be there for him. How could he 
possibly get by without her? God forgive, he wouldn't try. 

As he passed the nurse's station he looked at the nurses and aids,
looking for some sign of recognition but got none. Did no one care 
about families waiting? This torture was almost unbearable, and they 
didn't seem to care. That's just the way it is these days. If it's your 
problem it is important, and if it is someone else it is of little 
consequence. 

As he left the coffee room carrying his pacifier in a cup, he saw Billy
exiting the elevator. Now they were all here. That might help. No, only 
seeing Lisa's smile would help. 

"Hi, Billy. Down here," Andrew said. 

"Hey Dad. How is Mom doing?" Billy asked. 

"I don't know. I haven't heard from anyone for hours." He replied. 

"Aren't they supposed to call once in a while to let you know what is
going on?" Billy questioned. 

"They did at one and two but not since then," he replied. 

"Do you think there is trouble?" Billy inquired. 

"I don't know what's up," Andrew answered, "but it seems that they would
call if everything was all right." 

"It's almost four now," Billy said. "Can we ask here at the nurse's
station?" 

" Terry already tried, but it didn't do any good. Either they just don't
know anything, or they can't talk about it. They said that they would 
call the operating room and get them to call, but that hasn't happened 
either," Andrew answered. 

They walked to the room in silence. Billy, like Terry tended to look on
the bright side, but he was clearly worried about this. They entered 
the room quietly. Terry was asleep. 

***** 

At six o'clock, all three were watching the evening news when the
attending doctor entered. His look struck horror in the hearts of 
Andrew, Billy, and Terry. His face was strained and very concerned. His 
head was down slightly and he seemed to have something to say and 
didn't know how to say it. 

I'm Dr. Wiley," he said. "I was trying to do the angioplasty on Mrs. Mc
Bride, but the procedure did not work. We must call in a cardiovascular 
surgeon to try to save her leg with a bypass. Otherwise she will lose 
the leg or worse, but we need your permission to do the operation. 

" Have you called someone to do it?' said Andrew. 

"Yes, we have and he is on his way," Dr. Wiley answered. His name is Dr.
Meyer." 

"What about insurance?" Andrew asked. "We are supposed to make sure we
have a plan doctor, and it's too late to do that. This is an 
emergency!!!!" 

"It definitely is," answered Dr. Wiley. 

"Then do what you have to," said Andrew now in tears." I can't lose
her!" Just do what you and the other doctor can. Please, please. I 
can't lose her!!" He signed the paper Doctor Wiley handed him without 
reading it. That was out of character for Andrew, but he was 
distraught. 

"We will do all we can," answered Dr. Wiley. " We will try to keep you
up to date as best we can, but we have been so busy with this so far 
that we could not spare anyone to call you." 

" How long will this take?" asked Andrew. 

"Maybe two or three hours," Dr. Wiley said. "But that is just a guess.
It may even take longer. Dr. Meyer is the best, though. If anyone can 
do the job, he can. Do you have any more questions?" 

"Yes I do," said Terry. "How could a simple angioplasty turn into this?"


" We got the balloon in, and the artery open. Clots broke loose almost
as soon as we got it in, and they have blocked the artery in several 
places. This can happen sometimes. We do what we can to prevent it, but 
we couldn't this time," answered Dr. Wiley. 

" Are her chances pretty good?" asked Billy. 

" Dr. Meyer could answer that better than I, but I have to tell you this
is a really bad situation," replied Dr. Wiley. "I have to get back now. 
We really need to get everything ready for Dr. Meyer to start. I will 
try to see you again later. Bye." 

Dr. Wiley turned and walked away without looking back. Andrew, Billy,
and Terry looked into each other's eyes and then gathered in a hug. 
After breaking the hug Billy and Terry sat down and stared at the floor 
while Andrew went to the coffee room for some more pacifier. His brain 
was numb, and he was incapable of putting two thoughts together. He was 
always ready to cut and run in the face of disaster, but there was 
nowhere to run now. He had to stand and face what was to come. Then he 
could run if he wanted. 

"Do you want to get something to eat," said Billy. "It looks like we are
going to be here for a while." 

" I will, said Terry,' I'm starved. Do you want to come along Dad?" 

"No, I had better stay here in case they call," Andrew answered. 

" Can we bring you something back?" Billy asked. 

Just then a nurse came into the room. "We are going to have to move Mrs.
Mc Bride to another room one floor down when she comes back," she 
announced. "She will be in room 1011." 

" Why?" Andrew asked. 

" We are trying to close this floor. She is the only patient left, so we
are going to move her," the nurse answered. She then turned and left 
curtly without another word. 

" I guess there won't be any discussion about that," said Andrew. "Where
are you going for dinner?" 

"There is a burger place across the street," replied Billy. " What do
you think Terry?" 

" Sounds good to me," she replied. 

" Bring me a burger, fries, and a diet drink, please," Andrew said. 

" We will be back in a few minutes," Billy said, and they left. 

Andrew gathered his wife's things along with his unread magazine, and
moved to the new room. As he got off the elevator he checked for a 
coffee room, and there it was. This would be just as good as the other 
room he thought. 

Alone again, Andrew's thoughts turned again to their plight and his
fears. Worry could not help, but it also wouldn't go away. They had 
been married since he was twenty, and he never really had an adult life 
without her. God, what if she lost her leg. That would be devastating, 
and he wondered if she would want to live like that. Yes, certainly she 
would. In that respect they were complete opposites. In the best of 
times he was suicidal, and she probably never had the thought cross her 
mind. She would want to live no matter what, but he knew that it would 
be difficult for her. 

There I go again, he thought. Writing her off before it's over. If
anyone could survive this, it would be Lisa. After all she had survived 
forty years of marriage to him. She deserved a medal for that alone. 
Somehow he felt that he was failing her. He felt responsible for this 
crisis. Why? He felt responsible for everything; there must be some 
reason for this, but he didn't know what it was. 

Where are they? It's seven thirty and they aren't back from dinner. I
really am hungry. Why don't the nurses call? Maybe I'm too impatient. 
The phone finally rings. He hesitates for a minute but realizes that 
the news will be the same whether he answers or not. 

"Hello," he said as he picked up the receiver. 

"Is this Mr. McBride?" said a female voice on the other end. 

"Yes, it is," he answered. 

"This is Marcia the operating room nurse. We are still working on Mrs.
McBride and probably will be for some time. She is holding her own, and 
we are hoping for the best," she advised. " I am sorry that we couldn't 
call earlier but there just wasn't time. I hope you understand." 

"Yes, I understand. Just keep trying, and thank you for taking the time
to call," he said as he hung up the phone. 

Just then the kids came in with his dinner."They just called from the
operating room and things have gone well so far. They said that they 
were very busy and could not call often but that your mother was 
holding her own," he informed them. 

"That's great," said Terry. 'I'm so glad." 

"I didn't get the impression that she is out of the woods yet, but the
call was encouraging," Andrew said. 

"Here's your dinner Dad," said Billy." Sorry we took so long, but we got
to talking and lost track of time." 

"That's ok," Andrew replied. He took the bag and started to eat. Some
people can't eat in times of crisis but that wasn't the case with 
Andrew. In fact it had a calming effect on him. 

"It's ten o'clock," Billy said. "They certainly are taking a long time."


"I think we should call the baby sitter and let her know what is going
on," Terry said. 

" I can call her but I have to go outside with my cell phone," Billy
offered. "I need to walk some anyway. Does anyone want anything?" 

" Bring Terry and me some soda," Andrew said, as he handed some money to
Billy. 

" Back in a minute," Billy said. He walked out and silence again fell on
the room. 

Billy returned half an hour later. "I called the baby sitter, Terry; she
said it was ok and that we should take as long as we needed. Here are 
your sodas," he said. 

"It's now been almost eleven hours," Andrew said. " This has been some
ordeal. I hope she's ok. If I could just see her smile again. I want 
her to be whole, but even if I have to... take care of her...I just 
want her back." 

It's not over yet, Dad," Terry said. "Everything can still come out all
right. Anyway, if the worst had happened we'd have known about it by 
now." 

Andrew looked at the clock again. Eleven o'clock. He watched as it
skipped-eleven and one click-eleven and two clicks. All was quiet. No 
one spoke. 

Just then a man appeared in the doorway. He was short in stature with
scrubs still on. "Hi, I'm Dr. Meyer. Mrs. McBride has been taken to the 
ICU, at least for tonight. It was touch and go for a long time, but we 
saved her leg and her life. I really was afraid that we wouldn't be 
able to save the leg, though." 

"Thank God," Billy said. Then he, Terry, and Andrew hugged again. 

Andrew extended his hand to Dr. Meyer who reciprocated. " Thank you very
much," Andrew said: "May we see her now?" 

"It will probably be another hour or so before you can go in, but if you
want to wait down at the ICU they will let you in for a few minutes," 
Dr. Meyer replied. "I will have the nurse tell them that you will be 
there, and if you wait outside they will call the waiting room when it 
is time." 

"I can't thank you enough," Andrew said again. Dr. Meyer smiled and left
the room. 

"If she is all right and will be a while, I think I will go home and
pick up Charlie at the babysitters," Terry said. "She is way over the 
expected time now. Do you want me to pick up little Billy too?" 

"No, I am coming too," said Billy. They both hugged Andrew again and
left. 

Andrew stopped by the nurse's station and asked if he could leave Lisa's
things in the room, and the nurse nodded affirmatively. He then 
proceeded to the ICU waiting room, to wait some more, but this was 
different. Now he knew that she would be ok at least for another week, 
and for that he was grateful. . 

The phone wall rang, and since he was the only one there Andrew
answered. A voice said," Is this Mr. McBride?" 

"Yes it is," he answered 

"Mrs. McBride is in room twelve. You can come in now. I will be there to
open the door," the voice said. 

Andrew went to the open door and proceeded to room twelve. He saw her
eyes! She was awake! Thank God, he thought, as she smiled. 


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