Fiona McArthur

by The Surgeon's Special Gift

  Well, she'd asked him for space. It was a good thing, Ailee reminded herself as she stifled her own contrariness.

  When they came to William, Ailee may as well not have been in the room. William refused to look at her and even Fergus noticed the strain between the siblings.

  As they moved on, Ailee heard Fergus ask Rita to have the social worker see William today. Everything was going wrong. Finally the round was over and Ailee had to hurry to meet her first appointment.

  Fergus watched her go. Maybe she was right. They would have been better to have left all this until later. He needed to make sure his daughter wasn't hurt as well.

  Ailee's meeting was with a mother planning to donate one of her kidneys to her son.

  All of Iris Wilson's blood work had been completed and her scans and X-rays had been normal.

  'It seems a lot of tests just to be able to give a kidney to my own son, Ailee.' Iris looked at the already thick folder lying on Ailee's desk.

  'I know, Iris. These are all necessary to make sure that you will be well after donating your kidney. We'd look pretty silly if you only had one kidney and we let you give it away.' Ailee held up the renal imaging studies and pointed.

  'There are your two kidneys and this one shows the blood supply and structures in and around your kidneys, which are all normal.'

  Iris looked vaguely at the dark pictures and shrugged. 'If you say so.' She frowned. 'Because my son and I match blood groups, it's a good sign, isn't it?'

  Ailee agreed. 'To be the same type is the best, but even a blood type your antibodies won't fight with can be fine. People with O-type blood are still compatible to give but hot receive from all the others, and AB-type blood, like yours and Greg's, can receive from A, B, or O.'

  'So how do they tell if Greg's blood antibodies are going to fight with mine?'

  'To cross-match, we take blood from you and Greg, separate it down, and the laboratory incubates your lymphocytes with Greg's serum. They look to see if Greg has antibodies ready to fight against your cells.' Ailee paused to allow Iris time to understand that concept.

  'Antibodies that are already formed, called preformed antibodies, can cause acute rejection after transplant. If antibodies already exist, the transplant can't go ahead. That's why some people are on waiting lists for years and others seem to have managed to jump the queue.'

  Iris nodded. 'I wondered about that.'

  Ailee went on. 'It depends on the antibodies in the match as much if not more than how long you have been waiting.'

  Iris squinted at the results Ailee had facing her. 'So Greg hasn't any preformed antibodies against my blood?'

  Ailee smiled. 'None were found so that is the best news.'

  'So when do they finally start talking about operation dates?' Iris sat back and folded her plump arms across her ample breasts.

  'It takes quite a while for all the tests to come back, and because transplanted kidneys don't always last for a long time, we make as much use of the failing kidneys as we can. It is usual to wait until just before someone like Greg needs dialysis. Then we do the operation.'

  'So he might need another transplant in the future. How long does a transplanted kidney last?'

  'It can vary, and we hope each kidney lasts a very long time. The majority of donor kidneys last between fifteen and thirty or more years if they are not rejected. Live donor kidneys, like yours, seem to last longer than those from someone unrelated who has died.'

  Iris nodded and Ailee went on. 'You must remember that the fifteen or thirty years we talk about means that someone like Greg can have a normal life in that time. Even a shorter time than that makes a huge difference to a chronically ill person's quality of life.'

  'You mention rejection. That seems to be the big worry.'

  'And infection. The renal experts believe it could depend on the amount of acute rejection episodes Greg might have as to how long his new kidney lasts and how well he will be. That's why we keep a watchful eye on him for a long time.'

  Iris sighed. 'We seem to have been getting ready to do this for months and months. I just want it all to end.'

  Ailee leant across and squeezed Iris's hand. 'I know. I've been waiting to do the same for my brother for more than a year. It is a nerve-racking time. I even travelled overseas for a few months because my brother didn't need the operation at the time, but he's ready now.' Ailee gritted her teeth as she said it. He'd better be.

  Iris's eyes widened. 'So when do you go in?'

  Ailee thought of her last conversation with Fergus about William and stamped down her reservations. 'We're waiting for the final go-ahead from the surgeon, but it should be next week.'

  When Ailee went back to see William that afternoon, she was dreading another confrontation.

  But a different brother waited for her. William smiled, somewhat sheepishly, but smiled nonetheless.

  'I'm sorry, sis.'

  Ailee felt the tears rush to her eyes and she stepped closer until William hugged her. She sighed against him and hugged him back fiercely, 'I'm so sorry I didn't see how you were feeling.'

  William brushed his own damp eyes. 'I'm sorry I was such a jerk.'

  Ailee smiled and sniffed. 'You aren't a jerk but you scared me.' She tilted her head. 'What changed your mind?'

  William half laughed. 'Who.'

  Ailee didn't understand 'OK. Who?'

  'Lawrence.' William shrugged. 'He practically kicked my butt he was so amazed at my stupidity.'

  'When did you meet Lawrence?'

  'Mr McVicker introduced us.' William shook his head. 'And I thought I had it bad. Hell. Poor Lawrence, but don't tell him I said that.'

  Ailee felt like hugging the absent patient. 'I won't, but what did he say?'

  Lawrence had obviously made a big impression on William. 'It was what he knew. He knew what I was thinking and how I felt and it was pretty weird to hear it come from someone else's mouth. He said Mr McVicker wanted a commitment from me today or he would cancel the op.'

  Ailee felt sick. 'So what did you do?'

  William shook his head at the enormity of what could have happened. 'I finally realised how much I wanted to get on with my life and how stupid I've been. I asked to see Mr McVicker and said I would look after your kidney more carefully than anyone else in the world. He said I'd better or he'd be gunning for me.'

  He grinned. 'It looks like we're going to Theatre next week, sis.'

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  On Wednesday, between ward rounds and transplant co-ordinator duties, Ailee was retested with another serum cross-match and tissue type to check that nothing had changed.

  The new transplant co-ordinator would start on Monday and Ailee needed to ensure all her records and tasks were up to date. At least her workload meant she had little time to dwell on the disaster of her love life.

  Any interaction with Fergus had dwindled to the barest minimum, and although he continued to treat everyone else with his usual warmth and care, Ailee was excluded from the circle with polite distance.

  On the Friday before the surgery, both she and William underwent the final psychological testing to ensure they were mentally ready for the operation. This time the results came back resoundingly affirmative.

  After a subdued weekend spent lazing around at home with her family, and no phone calls from Fergus, Ailee was admitted on Monday afternoon as soon as William had his final dialysis.

  This admission there was no fluid overload on William's part, even though both he and Ailee had been on a clear fluid diet for the last twenty-four hours.

  Ailee unpacked her hospital bag in the single room allocated to her. She set up the bedside table for easy reach of things she imagined she might need when her movements would be severely restricted by the surgery.

  As a quirk of her job, Ailee had quizzed Emma's husband, Peter, on any tips he might have for her for the post-operative period.

  The morning of the operation finally arrived and Ailee woke up on the ward. Dr Harry w
as back and would perform Ailee's surgery. Fergus, on his last day at the hospital, would assist with William's transplant. Ailee was glad the surgical team had worked out as it had. Really glad.

  Ailee could hear William's voice in the room next door as she slid her arms into her white hospital gown that threatened to expose everything to the world.

  Her tummy rumbled more from nerves than the fact that she'd been fasting since midnight, and she imagined William felt the same.

  'Morning, bro.' Ailee's nonchalance didn't quite come off but the new closeness with William excused that and they smiled at each other.

  'Hungry?' William teased to hide his own nervousness, and they both looked up as the night sister came around with their charts to finalise the theatre requirements.

  'I thought I'd find you in here, Ailee.' Greta had settled them to bed the previous night and had bullied Ailee into a sleeping tablet.

  'I did sleep, Greta.' Ailee smiled at the nurse and she grinned back.

  'Good. That's much better than you harassing me all night.' They both knew what she meant. 'A good sleep helps down the track.'

  Greta smiled at William and then Ailee. 'I need some observations from both of you so pop back to bed because Dr Harry will be in soon and I have to do my duty before I go off.'

  Ailee obediently went back to her room and climbed up into the bed.

  In her absence a basket of glorious Singapore orchids had arrived. The fragile blooms perfectly matched her fragile mood and the memories rushed back. Tears clouded her vision.

  Fergus watched Ailee's hand stretch out to touch the velvet of a purple orchid and the tightness in his chest prevented him from speaking. He cleared his throat and moved from the wall.

  'Hello, Ailee.' It was all he could manage at that moment as the full impact of how close she was to going to Theatre hit him in the heart—just like the day he'd first seen her.

  'The flowers are beautiful,' she said and he could barely hear her voice for the rushing sound in his ears. He wanted to sweep her up into his arms and carry her away to safety, even though he knew the idea was ridiculous.

  He cleared his throat again. 'I hope you don't mind but I needed to wish you well before you go in.'

  'Thank you.' Ailee turned away and tried to brush the tears away without him seeing, but he came up in front of her and rested his hands on her shoulders.

  Unable to help himself, he bent and kissed her lips and tasted the salt. 'Staying away is the hardest thing, Ailee.'

  Greta bustled into the room with her charts and Fergus stepped back as she spoke to the folders in her hand. 'So all we need is...' She looked up and blinked when she saw Fergus was in the room. 'Mr McVicker?'

  'I'm just leaving.' He looked at Ailee. 'I'll be in William's theatre. Good luck.'

  Their eyes met for a final lingering look and for a moment Ailee thought he was going to kiss her again, but then he left and Ailee watched him go.

  She wondered what they would have said to each other if there had been more time. But they were out of time. She lifted her chin. 'So what do you need, Greta?'

  Greta ticked the boxes on the pre-admission sheet. 'Just need to take your blood pressure and check your armband.'

  Ailee nodded and lifted her arm.

  An hour later Ailee lay on her back, slightly fuzzy from the pre-anaesthetic medication, on her way to the operating theatre. She'd always wondered what it would feel like to see the ceiling go past like she had seen it in the movies so many times.

  The air-conditioning vents streamed by, faceless voices came and went from her peripheral vision, and it seemed to take for ever to arrive at the swinging plastic doors of the operating theatres.

  A figure clad in a scrub suit took her hand and checked her armband. 'Hello. Can you tell me your name and what operation you are having today?' Ailee had heard it all so many times and now it was her turn.

  After the check they passed through into the anaesthetic room and Andrew was all bouncy good humour.

  'So, Ailee,' he said as he patted her wrist and squared up to impale her vein with an incredibly large cannula, 'bet you never thought you'd see me from this angle.'

  'If you didn't have a mask on, I'd be able to see up your nose,' she bantered back, but the nerves were starting to squirm inside at what lay ahead and some of it must have shown in her eyes.

  Andrew dropped his humour and patted her shoulder. 'You'll be fine, my friend. We need your sort around here. I'll take good care of you.'

  'I know you will. Just make sure your colleague next door takes good care of William, too.'

  'Done. Now, off you go to sleep.' And that was the last Ailee heard.

  Fergus couldn't stay away as he waited for his own operation to start. He hovered around the theatre doors, not having been able to cope with the viewing-room window, and went over in his mind what would be happening inside.

  Ailee lay in the theatre next door and William would come into this theatre when Ailee's kidney was ready. The scrub room lay between the two theatres.

  Ailee's kidney would be removed first and the operation would take about an hour.

  Fergus had checked and Dr Harry had chosen to use the open-excision method he'd used for thirty years. Fergus admitted to less chance of injury to the donor organ than the keyhole method of excision if the surgeon wasn't as used to laparoscopic nephrectomy.

  He just wished Ailee hadn't had to suffer the extra recovery time, pain and movement restriction resulting from the large excision.

  Although William's operation would take twice as long as Ailee's, Ailee would be the one with the extended recovery time and greater shock to the system because she'd previously been well.

  William would start to feel better almost immediately.

  But Fergus had no say—either in her choice of surgeon or anything to do with her life. She'd told him that.

  An hour passed. 'What are you doing out here?' Dr Harry said as he slipped out of his sterile gown to have a small break before he had to re-scrub to assist Fergus with William's operation.

  'Waiting for a friend. Is she out yet?'

  The older surgeon smiled. 'I thought you might be. She's fine., And the young fellow will come along well, too.' He looked at Fergus from under his brows. 'She's just going through to Recovery now and isn't really awake. Go on through and see her.'

  Fergus had been debating but Dr Harry was on a mission now. 'We can afford a few minutes before we start on young William. There has to be some bonus for all the extra hours we work.' Dr Harry's bushy eyebrows bounced up and down. 'So that's why you didn't want to do this one, eh?'

  'As you say.' Fergus didn't enlarge on the subject and the older man didn't pursue it.

  They entered the recovery area and Fergus picked out Ailee at twenty paces. She was asleep. Her face was pale and the IV was running a blood transfusion so she must have lost a bit. He sucked in his breath in shock.

  Dr Harry heard the noise. 'She had a little bleeder, but we got it in the end.' He looked at Fergus and almost chuckled. 'She probably didn't need the blood but it saved her feeling tired for the next month so don't look at me like that.'

  This was a common enough complication for patients, but not for Fergus, and not for Ailee. There was no escaping his need for this woman, and while he'd loved and mourned his first wife this was for now and the future, and his future revolved around Ailee.

  There were obstacles before them but as he looked down at her, unconscious and moaning gently in her sleep, he vowed to himself he would have and hold his Ailee.

  It might take time but Sophie would get used to the idea.

  He moved across and lifted Ailee's hand to his cheek. She felt cold and he warmed her fingers between his hands before tucking them back under the covers.

  He lifted his head. He had a job to do.

  As Fergus cleaned his nails with the brush in the scrub room, he averted his eyes from the container where Ailee's kidney waited to be transplanted.

  Wh
en Fergus and Dr Harry entered the theatre, William lay anaesthetised, his abdomen exposed. The scrub sister handed Fergus the bowl and sponge forceps so he could prep.

  Fergus drew a deep breath. Renowned for his perfectionism, this would be his most meticulous transplant yet.

  'Now, that's a beautiful kidney,' Dr Harry said nonchalantly.

  'It's the most beautiful kidney in the world,' Fergus stated, and then he cleared his mind of the external distractions and set about placing Ailee's kidney in William's pelvis.

  The donor kidney was seated near William's bladder so that the ureter could be easily connected through an incision in the lower part of his body. William's old kidneys would not be removed.

  When Ailee surfaced slowly through the anaesthetic mist, she realised she had returned to her bed on the ward. Gingerly she turned her head and it seemed there were bright splotches around every wall. That was funny—she hadn't noticed those that morning.

  The next time she woke up she realised the splotches were arrangements of flowers—baskets and baskets of orchids and bougainvillea. She didn't need anyone to tell her who they were from.

  Her throat hurt and she ran her roughened tongue over dry lips.

  'Have some ice,' a deep voice said, and she opened her mouth for the chip of ice without worrying why Fergus was there. She smiled dreamily, Of course he was.

  The ice melted away the fur on her tongue and she savoured the feeling as moisture disintegrated the dryness.

  The intravenous lines in her arm caught on the sheet and a large hand came across and gently disentangled them for her. She turned her head slowly and Fergus sat in the chair beside her bed. 'Hello, sleepyhead. How is your pain?'

  'Not too bad if I don't move,' she croaked, and he slid the controls of her patient controlled analgesia into her hand.

  'You have to move a bit. Don't forget your "dope-on- a-rope". Press your button for the patient analgesia when you have pain. It works quickly and it won't let you overdose.'