I was feeling too terrible to question him. He could be injecting me with embalming fluid, and I’d take it right now, that’s how bad I felt.
Honestly, if he just punched me to knock me out, I might be okay with that, too.
I sighed in relief. “Thank God.”
Puking was the worst.
My body slowly mellowed, and the constant feeling of needing to throw up took a backseat to the rest of the aches and pains that I was now feeling.
I felt like I’d done a seven-hour abdominal workout.
It hurt to freakin’ breathe at this point.
He took a seat on a chair that was in the corner of his room, crossed his arms over his chest, and studied me carefully.
I was too exhausted to question why he was looking at me so intensely.
“Tell me about your daughter,” he ordered.
I eyed him out of the corner of my eye, then laid my head on top of his desk, closed my eyes, and started to speak.
“What do you want to know?”
“How did you find out that she had the anemia?”
“Well, it started out when she was around four or so,” I muttered, feeling my lips move against the papers on Odin’s desk. “Just general weakness, dizziness, and other anemic symptoms. She’s always been a sleepy kid. But at first, I thought it was due to the fact that she was confined a lot. We were in and out of the hospital visiting her father, and she wasn’t allowed to run around and play like normal kids. Sure, she got some play time, but nothing too exciting. It was when I enrolled her in preschool that it really started to show. She loves to go outside and play, but she got tired super easily.”
“So, the need for regular blood transfusions had you coming here? Where there’s a local who also has Rh-null blood?”
“Yep,” I confirmed. “I got this email. I was in all kinds of chat rooms, message boards. Reddit. Craig’s List. Everywhere. I was trying to find a supplier, so to speak. And with there being less than fifty people in the world who have Rh-null blood, I was getting pretty desperate. They regulate who knows who has it. It’s like the world’s secret. And my doctor back home was useless. He kept saying she wasn’t that bad. But seriously, there were days Wendy couldn’t even find the energy to get out of bed. She needs the transfusions to function and live a normal life. This wasn’t a hard ask.”
“It’s not,” Odin agreed, watching me. “You feeling better yet?”
I nodded, not bothering to pick my head up off his desk.
His eyes went up to the IV bag and then back down to me. “Do you know who the donor is?”
I shook my head, causing the papers to shift underneath me. “As long as they’re able to give her regular blood transfusions, I will never ask. I’m grateful.”
“You get the transfusions through Pendelton?”
I nodded again.
More papers shifted.
“He’s a good one,” he said. “He’ll keep you stocked.” His eyes narrowed. “Did you ever find out who the email guy is?”
“Nope,” I finally sat up, my eyes drooping. “I emailed them back right after and got no response. My brother and sister thought I was crazy just getting up and leaving. And my mother and father had been talking about making the move to Wyoming, and well, the opportunity came, and they decided that Montana would work, too. Plus, my mom and dad weren’t too convinced that this was real. They were worried that it was a hoax, and that I would get here and nothing would be here.” I sighed. “I pulled into town and got another email. The email had the number of the local game wardens on it that could help my parents find a place to start their business up, and also the name of Dr. Pendelton. I did my own research, though, to make sure he was a good guy.”
“He is,” Odin murmured as he glanced up at the IV bag again.
I looked up too and found it mostly empty.
Satisfied with the improvements in me, he disconnected me from everything, put a Band-Aid on my arm, and cleaned everything up.
I stood up slowly, my feet a bit shaky, and reached for the medication that he’d gotten me.
“Take these once every eight hours,” he said. “I got you four. That should get you through the next day and a half.” He eyed me. “If you feel like you need more, just stop by. But I doubt you’ll need it. It should run its course in the next twenty-four hours.”
