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Debbie stared a long time, then shook her head. “I shouldn’t have called last night. I should have taken Amanda to the ER myself.”
“That’s not your job.”
“No, and it’s not your job to always be available either.” Debbie let out a long sigh. “I’m sorry for the role I played in this.”
Melissa shook her head. Debbie hadn’t known the significance of last night. “None of this is your fault and if you hadn’t called me on Amanda, I’d have been upset. You did the right thing.”
Debbie didn’t look sure. “Did I?”
“Yes,” Melissa answered, knowing in her heart that she told the truth. Amanda
had needed her and Jamie had already had a rough day at the surgeon’s office. “Dr Arnold will be doing a biopsy on Jamie’s breast this afternoon. Poor thing.”
Debbie stared at her strangely. “Are you OK?”
Her heart cried that she wasn’t. Admitting that wouldn’t accomplish anything except to earn Debbie’s pity. She’d had her lifetime’s fill of pity. She’d focus on work and she would be fine. It’s what she’d always done.
“James leaving hurts, but life goes on.” Knowing Debbie was watching her, Melissa picked up the charts and quickly dealt with reviewing the lab results. No more self-pity. No more tears. Not at the office, at any rate. Time enough for wallowing when she crawled into her big, empty bed tonight.
And every night to follow.
“What do we have on schedule for this morning?” she asked, eager to bury herself in distractions and escape Debbie’s perplexed gaze.
The nurse shook her head, disappointment shining in her brown eyes. “You’re double booked where we rescheduled yesterday afternoon’s appointments. Room one is Riley Stokes with heartburn and indigestion. Room two is Mamie Thomas with bilateral foot numbness. Room three is Delilah Evans with upper respiratory symptoms.”
“Guess I’d better get started, then.” Grateful for the busy morning, Melissa grabbed her stethoscope, blamed her nausea on pregnancy, and headed to check on Riley Stokes.
Ten minutes later, she wrote out his prescription. “You have gastroesophageal reflux disease and esophagitis. That’s where the acid in your stomach washes up into your esophagus. The esophagus isn’t designed to handle the acid and it causes erosion of the tissue, which is why you hurt. The medicine I’m giving you is a proton pump inhibitor and it will decrease the amount of acid your stomach makes. It’ll help the erosions to heal. Remember, though, you need to cut back on the spicy foods and don’t lie down for at least an hour after you eat. Debbie will bring you a handout with other tips.”
Mamie Thomas’s foot numbness wasn’t as simple to treat. Mrs Thomas suffered from non-insulin-dependent diabetes, also known as type 2 diabetes, and had for at least thirty years. Unfortunately, she didn’t adhere to a low-carbohydrate, high-protein diet and only took her medications sporadically.
Upon examination, Melissa found macerated skin between Mrs Thomas’s toes and large callus formations. Using an instrument that looked like a hairbrush bristle, she checked Mrs Thomas’s sensation. Not good. The diabetic couldn’t even tell that the tine had touched her foot.
“Mrs Thomas, you have peripheral neuropathy that is caused by your diabetes. When your blood sugar runs high, it causes damage to the nerve endings. Over time, enough damage can occur to cause numbness.”
“Can you fix it?” the elderly lady asked.
“No, I can’t. However, if you’ll take your medicines, it will help keep it from getting worse. There are also medicines that help to ease the accompanying burning sensation.” She patted Mrs Thomas’s hand. “I’m going to arrange for you to see a podiatrist, that’s a doctor who specializes in feet. There’s one in Dekalb, so your daughter won’t have to drive you to Nashville.”
The rest of Melissa’s morning flew by, as did the afternoon. Not wanting to go home, she drove to Dekalb to check on Wilma. The mostly recovered widow had been released that morning to prepare for her husband’s funeral the following day.
For the first time in weeks Melissa had nothing to keep her from going home.
She didn’t want to go home. Didn’t want to face the reality that James wouldn’t be coming back.
Since she was already in Dekalb, she grabbed a yogurt and a bottle of water from a deli and then went to pick up household supplies.
She wound up in the baby section.
Browsing through the aisle, she touched this and read that. A soft floppy-eared rabbit with big oval eyes caught her attention and she picked it up, hugged it, and her eyes welled up.
The rabbit rode back to Sawtooth. Shopping bags and stuffed animal in hand, she entered the quiet house, wishing she’d left lights on that morning.
Lesson learned. Coming home to a dark, empty house was worse than coming home to an empty house.
Oh, who was she kidding? It was all bad.
Setting the rabbit on the counter, she put her other items away.
