I look back across the table at Megan and just drink her in. The simple way she’s got her hair pulled back in a ponytail, to her hospital standard scrubs. She wears minimal makeup, just a little mascara and tinted Chapstick that I’ve seen her apply a few times. Could we have a serious future together? Can she deal with my crazy schedule? Those are million-dollar questions for any woman I’d end up with. I already know my family’s money means nothing to her after seeing her reaction at the gala. When you have a trust fund the size of mine, gold diggers are a serious concern. I have no plans to tarnish my family’s good name, especially with some chick just after my bank account and local social status, and I have no doubt Megan doesn’t care one bit about any of that.
“Everything okay?” Megan asks a few moments later. I realize I just went radio silent, as I was deep in thought.
“Yeah, sorry. Just a lot on my mind,” I do my best to assure her. “I should get back upstairs, though,” I say, piling my lunch trash together on the small tray. “Come find me before you leave for the day?” I ask Megan as I bend down to brush my lips across hers in a quick chaste kiss.
“Of course,” she says, a blush breaking out across her cheeks, which makes me grin. I love that I have that affect on her.
“Bye, Lucy!” I call out to my cousin before I leave the two of them at the table.
THE PAST FEW days have rolled by with a blur. Tomorrow is my surprise date with Megan, and I’ve got everything in place. I plan to take her out to my family’s beach house. I rented a van for the weekend that can accommodate her chair. I’ve got a brunch spread being delivered shortly after we arrive, and dinner planned at one of my favorite restaurants by the house, overlooking the water.
I step into my office just as my cell starts ringing. I pull the phone from my pocket and a number I don’t recognize is flashing on the screen, which isn’t unusual. I slide my finger across the screen and bring the phone to my ear.
“Dr. Montgomery,” I greet the caller.
“Hello, Dr. Montgomery, this is Kayla with the transplant team. We just got confirmation that your patient, Mackenzie Gibbs, has a new heart. The donor heart will be on its way to you later this evening. I’ll have more concrete details within the next couple of hours, but we wanted to give you a heads up so your team could start the preparations on your end.”
Holy shit, it’s really happening. I drop into my chair as Kayla tells me all of this.
“Thank you, I’ll get my team assembled and notify the patient’s parents,” I tell her before we end the call. I’ve jotted down everything she told me. The heart is being flown in from the Washington, DC area. It will probably be evening before it’s here and we can transplant it.
With a million things running through my mind, I leave my office and head for the pediatric floor. The first people I need to find are Heather and David. I want them both there for this news, so I pull my cell back out and call the nurses’ station.
“Pedi’s this is Candace.”
“Candace, it’s Drew. Are Heather and David around? I need to talk to them and am on my way, it’s urgent.”
“I believe so, but I’ll check, and if not, track them down for you.”
“Thanks, I’ll be there in five,” I tell her as I bypass the elevator, electing to take the stairs.
I’m slightly winded when I reach the nurses’ station. I see Brianna standing there charting. “Bri, I need you in Mack’s room ASAP!” I call out as I pass by in a blur.
I knock and push her door open, and thankfully find everyone I need here in the room. I even find Megan is here with Mack. She’s got her out of bed and sitting in a chair, playing a game at the small table in the room.
“What’s going on?” Heather asks. I can tell she’s nervous about why I’ve come barreling in here like I have.
“I just got the call. A heart will be arriving in a few hours. Once I know a better ETA for it, we’ll start Mack’s pre-surgery protocol. From now until surgery time, I’m ordering her to be NPO -nothing by mouth- so that she’s ready to go when the heart arrives. I’ll be ordering some labs to be drawn ASAP, we need some current baseline vitals and such.”
“Are you serious?” Heather gasps. She walks over to Mackenzie, picking her up and hugging her tight.
“I wouldn’t joke about something like this. It’s finally happening,” I state, matter-of-factly.
“What time do you think she’ll be taken to surgery?” Heather asks.
“I’ll know more once I get another call from the transplant coordinator. The heart hasn’t been harvested yet. That was going to take place in the next hour or so. Once it is out, they’ll package it up and get it on a flight directly to us. Once it’s en route, we can take Mack back and get her prepped and under anesthesia. We don’t want to start that process too early and have her under longer than we need, but we also have to time it so that she’s ready when the heart arrives. The clock starts from the moment they harvest the heart from the donor. The maximum amount of time that a heart can be out of a body is six hours. It will take approximately two hours, maybe a little less, for the heart to get to us.”
“Okay, so we’re really doing this?” David asks, joining his wife and taking Mack from her arms.
“We are. The only thing that could derail it is if the heart is damaged during harvest or transport.”
“What can we do to help prepare Mackenzie?” Megan asks.
“Keeping her calm and happy until we have a better idea on when go time will be. As I said a few minutes ago, we’ll need the labs here soon. Depending on when they’re run and when the heart arrives, we might have to run them a second time,” I tell everyone as I walk over to the computer and sign in. I put in the lab order with a rush status.
I go on to explain, in detail, how the surgery will go, as well as what they can expect in the hours and days following the transplant. It’s a lot of information to take in, but I know David and Heather are well versed in all of this, as they’ve had a few days to prepare for the possibility of the transplant happening.
“I’m going to go take care of some things while we wait for the next call. I’ll notify you as soon as I know anything,” I assure both Heather and David and, most of all, Mackenzie. “Do any of you have any questions for me?” I ask.
“You’re sure this is going to work?” Heather asks as David sets Mackenzie down on the hospital bed.
“It’s our only option at this point, so it needs to. She’s too sick to recover without a transplant, we’ve done all we can with meds. I have full confidence that a heart will give her a new lease on life, and she’ll be back to your active little girl in the next few months. These hard weeks will just be a blip in her life when you look back at all the amazing things she’s going to accomplish. I know it’s scary and our Hail Mary pass, so to speak, but have faith. You know I’d do anything in my power to help Mack, and this is the opportunity we’ve been hoping for the last few days. To be matched so quickly is amazing and something that we really needed to happen for Mack. She’s a fighter, but even fighters need help sometimes,” I tell them confidently.
“Okay. Do we need to sign anything?” David asks.
“I’m sure there’ll be some consent forms for you to sign at some point, but I don’t have them just yet. The OR has been notified that we’ll be headed that way sometime today. Once the surgery is fully booked and confirmed, they’ll probably send someone up from registration to get your signature and such.”
“Thank you. I don’t know what we’d have done without you as Mack’s doctor,” Heather tells me, engulfing me in a hug. I wrap my arm around her, hugging her back. My eyes land on Megan across the room, and I see her attempting to discreetly wipe away a tear that has escaped.
Once Heather releases me, I shake David’s hand before he pulls his wife into his arms, wrapping her into an embrace. I watch for a few seconds as they lean on each other for strength. I can’t imagine what it must be like to be the parent of a child who’s sick
and about to go through such a major surgery.
I head for my office to wait. My mind is racing over all the details of what a heart transplant consists of. One small thing can go wrong and it blows the entire operation. One tiny delay and you can end up with a non-viable organ to transplant. I feel like the weight of the world is on my shoulders sometimes, and this moment has me feeling that tenfold.
I lean back in my desk chair, resting my head on the head rest. I close my eyes and focus on taking in some deep, relaxing breaths. I think back to a few of the meditating podcasts I’d listen to during med school, when things would get stressful and I just needed to refocus.
“Everything okay?” a quiet voice breaks the silence.
I turn in my chair until I’m facing the doorway, where I see Megan sitting. Her chair is stopped in the doorway, half in the hall and half in my office. “Yep, just trying to keep calm while we wait on the call.” Seeing her in my doorway, knowing that she’s here to check on me, brings some much-needed relief.
“I figured so but wanted to check on you,” she says, rolling forward until she’s fully in my office. I stand up and walk around my desk, stopping in front of her and leaning back until my butt hits my desk and I can rest against it, crossing my legs at my ankles.
“Thank you. I appreciate it. And I guess now’s the time to tell you that I’m going to have to cancel for tomorrow, probably this entire weekend. I’ll be sticking around the hospital, checking on Mack constantly. The first few days after the transplant are crucial,” I explain, waiting to see how she’ll react to this news.
“I’d expect nothing less of you,” she says, giving me a kind smile. I move, turning one of the visitor chairs that sit in front of my desk sideways before I plop into it. The gap between us now is smaller, and Megan rotates her chair so we’re facing each other now. “We can do whatever it was that you had planned any time. Mack needs you, and I completely understand that. She should be your priority right now and I’d think less of you if she wasn’t.” She grins at me.
“You’re incredible, you know that?” I tell her, leaning in to brush a kiss on her lips.
“Because I think it’s important that you are such a good doctor and want to take care of your patients?” she asks, her voice tinged with confusion.
“That, but also being so okay with it. Understanding that, sometimes, I’ll have to cancel things at the last minute and that what I do can be the difference between life and death.”
“Drew, I’ve spent a good chunk of my life in the hospital. I might not have ever needed an organ transplant like Mack, but I know my share of urgent, time-sensitive situations.”
“The few girls I’ve dated in the past hated when I had to make the hospital or patients my priority. Hated playing second fiddle to my job, so to have someone understand that is completely different, and refreshing and, to be honest, I don’t really know how to process it just yet. But I’m grateful.” I don’t want to compare her to other women, but it’s true. She’s unlike anyone I’ve ever dated, her compassion and understanding are incredible.
“You’ll get used to it. I also know that it won’t always be like this. You’re not going to always have a patient as sick as Mack is. Will it happen again? Absolutely, but that doesn’t mean that it will happen all the time,” she states mater-of-factly. “So, now that tomorrow has been canceled, do I get to know what the plan was?” she asks, hopeful.
“If I tell you, then it won’t be a surprise when we can reschedule it,” I tell her, cupping her cheek with my left hand and grinning mischievously. I brush my thumb along her plush bottom lip, and the little vixen slips the tip of her tongue out as it passes over it and licks my thumb. I feel that lick all the way down to my cock, as if she’d just licked my shaft.
“Such a vault,” she laughs at my stubbornness.
“Only sometimes. I like to keep a few things close to the vest,” I tell her, just as my phone starts ringing. I jump up and grab my cell off my desk.
“Dr. Montgomery,” I state as I answer the phone.
“Hello, Dr. Montgomery, this is Kayla with the transplant team.”
“Yes, hello, thanks for calling me back, what’s the status?”
“All tests have passed, and the heart is being removed now, it should be on its way to you within the hour.”
I sit down on the edge of my desk as the reality hits me. We’re a go with this operation. It’s not the first one I’ve done, hell, I’ve done more than I can keep track of. I assisted on over a hundred transplants during my residency years.
“Thank you, I’ll alert the OR and get the patient prepped for surgery. Can you please have someone notify us when the heart is in the air to us?”
“Absolutely, Dr. Montgomery. And please reach out to us if you have any questions. We can get updates whenever you need them.”
“Thank you. The one update when the heart is in the air will be fine for now.” I hang up the phone and drop it back on my desk. “This is really happening,” I tell Megan.
“It really is. What do you need in order to be ready? Something to eat? A short power nap? I have a feeling that this is going to be a long and late night for you, and we need to make sure that you’re just as ready for it as Mack is,” Megan tells me.
“I should probably eat something, as for a power nap, as much as one would probably help, I don’t think I could calm down long enough to actually get one. I’ve got too much adrenaline coursing through my body at the moment, I’m so fucking excited.”
“Okay, you make your calls to rally the troops and then we can head for the cafeteria for some early dinner to hold you over until you’re out of surgery, whenever that might be,” Megan offers.
“Okay, great idea,” I tell her, picking up my desk phone and pressing the OR scheduling pre-set. I get them notified, then call the nurses’ station on the Pediatric floor so they know what’s going on. We don’t have a ton of time before we’ll need to head to the OR.
“How long do you expect to be in the operating room?” Megan asks as we both chow down on French dip sandwiches and fries from the cafeteria.
“Surgery lasts approximately four hours, give or take some time.”
“Okay. And you’ll keep us updated if it’s going to be much longer than that?” she asks.
“Are you planning on sticking around?” I ask, a little shocked.
“Of course. I figured I’d stay with Heather and David. Try and be a source of support. Mackenzie has become important and special to me over the short time I’ve gotten to know her.”
“I’m sure they’ll appreciate that,” I tell her, reaching across the table and squeezing her hand before I go back to eating. Every moment we’re together has me falling for her. I love seeing these little glimpses into how she helps patients and their families, to the moments when it’s just the two of us after work, getting to know each other outside the walls of the hospital.
“I hope so, and if they ask for space, I’ll just go hang out in the staff lounge or head home and you can update me later.”
“Okay, but this is going to go late into the night. I’ll probably just crash for a few hours in one of the on-call rooms after she’s in the clear.”
“I figured as much,” she says, finishing off her food.
My cell starts buzzing in my pocket, so I slide it out and see one of the nurses’ stations’ numbers flashing. “Dr. Montgomery,” I say, serious doctor mode turned on.
“Dr. Montgomery, this is Bridget down in the ER. Are you available, by chance, for a consult?”
“I’m sorry, I’m not, I’m headed into surgery any minute now. You’ll have to page Dr. Gas,” I tell her.
“Very well. Thank you,” she says before hanging up. “Consult request,” I tell Megan when she gives me a questioning look.
“Ah. I was hoping that it was the transport team updating you on the heart.”
“Me too. Hopefully soon,” I tell her, just as my phone starts to flash once more.
“Dr. Montgomery,” I state as I answer the phone.
“Kayla with transplant. I’m calling to update you that the heart in en route to you. It left the donor hospital five minutes ago and will be airborne within the next twenty. Flight time is expected to be approximately fifty minutes.”
“Thank you, we’ll get the patient ready,” I tell her before we disconnect.
“It’s go time!” I tell Megan as I gather our trash and trays. I stand up and walk things over to the trash and collection spot for dirty dishes. “I’ve got to head upstairs and then to the OR, are you coming with me?”
“Of course,” she replies, already maneuvering her chair to follow me to the elevators. The wait is short for one to arrive, and the ride up is quick. “I’m going to head in and check on her,” she tells me as I stop at the nurses’ station.
“I’ll be in in just a few minutes,” I tell her as I pull up Mack’s chart on the computer. I’m happy to have Megan in this moment, part of the team, part of my team. I check the labs that I put in the rush order for, and everything looks good with her blood work, which is very important to the success of this operation.
I put in the orders for some of the meds that Mackenzie will need after the surgery. Transplant patients have to be on some medicines for the rest of their life to keep their body from rejecting the transplant. The first twenty-four, then forty-eight hours post-op are very important.
“Ready to do this?” I ask Mack as I walk into the room and rub the disinfectant all over my hands.
“As ready as I can be,” she bravely says from her perch on the hospital bed. The room is full of family members. I easily recognized both sets of her grandparents, a few aunts and uncles, and people who I assume are cousins.
Cocky Doc: A Hero Club Novel Page 8