Derian shot to her feet. “We are.”
The doctor came forward and held out his
hand. “I’m Jim Burns, one of the ICU residents.”
“Derian Winfield, Henrietta’s niece.” Derian
gestured to Emily. “This is my…sister, Emily.”
Burns gave a perfunctory nod. “This is the
first chance I’ve had to speak with anyone from the family. I apologize that
you’ve been waiting so long.”
“I understand,” Derian said tightly. So
Martin hadn’t bothered to ask about Henrietta’s condition. Probably hadn’t even
visited her. She wondered why he’d come at all, but then, he’d want to see for
himself she was incapacitated so he could plan his next campaign to force
Henrietta out of the business. Tamping down the familiar surge of rage whenever
Martin came to mind, she concentrated on what really mattered. “Can you tell us
how she’s doing?”
“She’s stable and intermittently awake,”
Burns said, “although heavily sedated at the moment. Her CPK and troponin”—he
paused, catching himself—“sorry, her blood tests measuring cardiac injury are
pretty conclusive. She had a substantial MI…heart attack…and the thallium scan,
which is a test to show heart function, indicates a serious area of damage.”
A cold hand squeezed around Derian’s insides.
“What does all that mean?”
“We’ve already started her on a fibrolytic
agent—an intravenous drug to help break up the clots in her coronary arteries.
The cardiologists will repeat her noninvasive cardiac tests, but there’s a very
good possibility she’s going to need open-heart surgery within the next day or
two to reverse the damage.”
“And then?” Emily asked, her voice steady and
calm. “What’s the prognosis?”
Burns regarded her directly for the first
time. “Very good, luckily. She got here fast, and we started treatment right
away. With adequate reperfusion, the cardiac muscle will likely recover, and
once the blood starts flowing again, the heart will return to a near-normal
state.”
Emily’s shoulders relaxed. “So we can expect
her to make a full recovery?”
“Barring complications, of course, and
assuming she follows a reasonable cardiac care plan.”
Derian laughed shortly. “If that includes no
stress and a slower pace, that’s not likely to happen.”
“Not uncommon in these patients,” Burns said,
“and that’s exactly why surgery is the best approach. If everything goes well,
your aunt won’t need to curtail her lifestyle.” He held up a cautionary finger.
“However, she’s still going to need significant time to recover from the
surgery, rehab, and work back into her full daily schedule. I take it she’s
pretty active.”