Courting Erin

(9) I Have the Coolest Wife on the Planet

For those who celebrate it, hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving! 

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"She's going to what?" Court's eyes grew wide as she stared at the two women like they were escapees from the psych ward. "That can't be possible. No way."

"Court," Vicki gently started.

"No, no, no, Vicki." The redhead shook her head hard enough that she should have developed whiplash. "There must be another less invasive test you can perform to get a good look at the aneurysm. This angio--whatever you call it, I can't deal with it. Na ah. No way." Sitting in a chair wearing nothing but a hospital gown, Court pointed to the IV, which had been inserted in her left hand. "I loathe needles but I got this done, I had some of my blood drawn and I quietly rested in the donut hole of that CT scan machine so internal pictures of my body could be snapped, but this," she indicated the x-ray bed about ten feet away from her chair, "I don't know about this. I know that you only want to help me and I appreciate it, but couldn't you do that using another method?"

The woman standing next to Vicki informed her that she would like to answer their patient's questions. Nodding her assent, the neurosurgeon listened. "Ms. Calloway--"

"Court please."

"Court," kneeling on the floor in front of the redhead although there was another chair next to her, the radiologist was almost eye level with her, "I realize this procedure sounds frightful, but it's really not as bad as it sounds. That IV and the blood work probably hurt worse than this will." Court didn't look convinced. "For real. I can't tell you how many angiograms I've performed through the years, because there have been so many. The worst part is getting an injection in your groin to numb the area before threading the catheter. That might sting a bit. The actual threading of the catheter doesn't hurt--at all. You won't feel it because I won't be touching nerves. And once the catheter is in place, I'll inject contrast dye into it and you'll feel a rush of warmth through your body, but it won't be painful and it won't last any longer than a minute. Now anytime during the angiogram if you feel pain despite my guarantees that you won't, you may smack me after we're finished." The radiologist grinned and Court found herself smiling back.

"Are you sure it's not going to hurt?"

"It's not going to hurt. Not to toot my own horn, but Court I'm great at what I do and therefore I will not hurt you. That's a promise. Like I said, the anesthetic so you won't feel anything is the worse part and that's not horrible. And I'd be happy to slip a small dose of sedative into your IV line. That'll help relax you."

"Oh yeah. I definitely want a sedative. Vicki, are you staying?" she asked, looking toward the curly-haired doctor. Vicki smiled, quickly assuring her that she would. "Good." She took a deep breath and then loudly expelled it. "Okay, I'm ready."

A tight bandage wrapped around the upper region of her thigh held the small incision beneath it together as Court lay in the hospital bed in what was now her room since she had been admitted after Vicki revealed the results of her CT scan. The radiologist (whose promises she could trust since the actual angiogram hadn't been painful) and Vicki informed her that it was important for her to keep her right leg straight for the next six hours. The incision couldn't be disturbed. It occurred to Court that this was the worse part. She had five hours and twenty-seven minutes left according to the clock on the wall. How was she supposed to remain still for that long?

Sleeping wasn't an option because she couldn't sleep. She was much too nervous to sleep. Maybe she could find something on television to watch. At nearly 2 o'clock in the morning she might only find infomercials, but it was worth a try. Quickly figuring out how to work the buttons attached to the rails on her bed, Court switched on the television, beginning to channel surf. Just as she had suspected, she found three infomercials. Two were for weight loss products and the other for a set of dishware that the actors selling it claimed was quite difficult to break. She might have been inclined to purchase the dishware for Erin if she had her credit card handy. And if she called within the next fifteen minutes she would receive a free wok.