Pace My Heart (A sequel to *Happy To Meet You*)

Chapter-5

Finishing my cup of espresso, I settled down on a seat in the conference room waiting for the routine clinical case discussion to start. Hopefully the strong coffee will keep me awake through it. I was feeling groggy because I was unable to sleep properly yesterday night.

"Hello,dear."

A girl slipped into the seat beside me.

"Stacy,what are you doing here?!"

I asked surprised to see her. If I wasn't wrong, she was in urology, her neurosurgery rotation already over.

"I thought of stopping by and joining you guys."

She smiled at me flipping her blonde hair back.

"Someone is having the Daniel fever."

Owen sat down behind us.

"Shut up, Foster."

Stacy was scolding him. At one point,both of them had dated each other.They had broken up amicably but they still had those silly squabbles and I wondered if they still had a thing for each other.

The discussion had started on a clinical case of Anterior Cervical Discectomy & Fusion. Dr.Daniel was speaking and shuffling the slides on the projector. He was his usual serious self.

"I have been trying so hard to catch his attention. Should I just asked him out,Ava?"

Stacy was asking me breaking my concentration. I was already having a hard time following his discussion.

"Stacy, are you serious?"

I replied not believing what I was hearing. She wants to date him? Of all the people, I thought shaking my head.

"I can't believe this."

I muttered under my breath. Stacy had a dreamy look in her eyes.

"Tall, dark...and handsome. Don't you think so?"

She asked me again.

"Well, I have another three words to describe him."

I said and she was looking at me expectantly.

"Stubborn, moody and arrogant."

Stacy gasped hearing me speak. I was irritated because of yesterday and the lack of sleep was getting into my nerves. There were sounds of muffled laughing at the back. Someone had overheard me. I turned my head behind to hear Owen whispered to me.

"Good one, Ava."

"Dr.Ava Nomray."

Dr.Daniel's voice suddenly caught me offguard. Oh no! He had again caught me. Nothing seems to escape his keen sight.

"Could you please share with us, what is amusing you right now?"

"I...I was just discussing the case."

I gave a quick reply not finding a sufficient explanation at the moment.

"Really? Well then, could you please elaborate the certain things in this patient's past history you have to keep in mind?"

Right, he was throwing questions at me now. I didn't even got the time yesterday to prepare for the discussion. But atleast I could reply to that. Racking my brain I answered,

"While taking up for surgery, we have to rule out any clotting or bleeding problems, any history of deep vein thrombosis i.e blood clots in the legs or emboli in the lungs. Also important is history of taking pills like aspirin or warfarin that thins your blood. Any smoking history or high blood pressure.Anything that will affect the outcome of the surgery."

But seems like he was not going to let go off me so easily.

"One more question. What symptoms of the patient will improve first after the surgery?"

He definitely got me on that question.

"I think the numbness will improve first."

I replied a little unsure and confused.

"Wrong answer.That's exactly what I have been trying to explain for the last few minutes. Numbness may take a long time to improve because the nerve fibers are thinner and are more vulnerable to pressure and more easily damaged. Actually, it's the part where you decided to have a little chit chat of yours."

If looks could kill he was giving me one right now. I thought of protesting that I wasn't the only one who interrupted his discussion but I decided to remain quiet.

"I am sorry, Dr Daniel. I will try to be more attentive next time."

He didn't reply back as he continued with the presentation. I was supposed to keep a low profile but I had landed myself in trouble again. I lowered my head on the desk feeling frustated.Nothing could get worse than this.

For the whole week, I tried my best in avoiding him but today I had to scrub in the O.R with Owen to assist him. An emergency spine trauma case of acute spinal cord injury was being taken up.

Inside the O.R, everything was going accordingly as planned. The surgery had started and a decompression procedure was being attempted to relieve the pressure on the spinal cord. I remember reading the case sheet.The patient was a varsity football player who had sustained a fall from a height.The injury might leave him paralysed and he may even loss the function of his legs. For a young aspiring athelete that would be the end of his career.

Then suddenly without warning,standing in the O.R, in between the surgery, an image of a young boy reappeared in my mind. A repressed old memory came back rushing. It was something I had buried somewhere deep in my mind.

"Not now."

I told myself startled by the raw emotion that came with the painful memory. This was not the time nor place for it to come back. I steadied myself struggling to fight with the images in my mind.

Someone was calling out to me but I had blanked out.

"Dr.Ava Nomray!"

Dr.Daniel was shouting at me as I regained my thoughts back.

"What the hell are you doing right now?"

I just couldn't reply back. My throat constricted suddenly and I couldn't even think properly.

"Dr.Daniel, maybe she..."

"Dr.Owen, did I ask you to intervene?"

He was scolding him. I was standing there not even listening to the conversation happening between them.

"Dr.Ava. I want you out of my O.R right now."

He was telling me.

"Leave....leave now."

He shouted, his raised angry voice finally catching my attention. I have to get out of here, I thought before it gets worse. Somehow I managed to make out of the O.R leaving a surprised Owen and a furious Dr.Daniel behind.

I know I was going to have a panic attack any moment.The air was rushing out of the lungs as I caught my breath which was coming in short labored gasps. Sitting there outside in the hospital lawn clutching the handle of the chair till my knuckles turn white, the flashbacks were coming back.The old painful memory came back as much I tried to avoid it. I finally closed shut my eyes remembering the dreadful day.

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