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Alana didn’t hear what Blue said, but whatever it was, it caused Egan to scramble off the bed and start dressing. “I’m on my way,” he rattled off to Blue.
Egan ended the call, pulled on his flight suit and met her gaze. “It’s Dad. He’s been taken to the hospital.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
EGANHADALREADYknown that some conversations just stayed with you. Like the last one he’d had with Jack, for instance. But Egan was certain he wouldn’t be forgetting what he’d just heard Dr. Abrams say.
“Derek went into cardiac arrest,” Abrams explained. “And we nearly lost him.”
Thatnearlydidn’t help tamp down the slam of worry and fear. The words that rang through loud and clear werelost him.
His dad had come close to dying, again.
“What is cardiac arrest?” Blue asked, thankfully voicing the question that was on Egan’s mind. Probably on Alana’s, Maybell’s and Effie’s, too, since they were all huddled in the doctor’s office, waiting to hear the medical verdict.
“It’s an abrupt loss of heart function, breathing and, in your dad’s case, consciousness,” Abrams said. “The good news is it happened during a routine appointment here at the hospital so he was able to get immediate treatment. He’s stable.”
“You said that after his heart attack,” Egan pointed out, trying not to sound bitter. Because he wasn’t. He wasn’t blaming the doctor for any of this. He just wanted to know how longstablewould last.
Abrams nodded. “He was, but cardiac arrest can happen before or after a heart attack.”
“What caused it?” Effie wanted to know.
“Derek will need more tests, but at this point, we believe he has arrhythmia. An irregular heartbeat,” the doctor clarified. “If it’s just that, he’ll need to go on some medication.”
Some of the tightness eased in Egan’s chest. Medication and not more surgery. Though, if surgery had been the fix, Egan figured his dad would have accepted that since it was far better than the alternative of having another incident like this.
“I talked with the heart specialist who’s on his way, and he suggested something called an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator, an ICD.” Dr. Abrams pointed to the area around his collarbone. “It’s a battery powered implant that monitors the heart rhythm and can make adjustments if the heart rate spikes too high or goes too low.”
The tightness in his chest returned, and Egan groaned and scrubbed his hand over his face. It helped when he felt Alana give his arm a gentle squeeze.
“Does Dad know all of this?” Egan asked Abrams. Because if so, he hadn’t said anything about it in the couple of seconds that Egan had been allowed to see him in the ICU.
The doctor nodded. “I told him right before I came here to talk to you.” He paused. “Of course, Derek will need some time to process this. All of you will. But he seemed...resigned.”
“Yeah,” Egan said just as Effie, Blue and Maybell voiced their own agreements. And maybe his dad felt that way because he’d sensed that the massive heart attack wouldn’t be the last of it.
“Can he make a full recovery?” Blue asked.
Abrams dragged in a long breath. “Yes, but I need to put an asterisk on that,” he was quick to add. “He can recover with proper treatment, medication and diet. It’s imperative that he work on his health, but if he does, he could be an even better version of his old self in just a matter of months.”
All right. That was something, at least. It meant Egan could stick to the plan of commuting. His dad would get any and all medical treatment he needed, and then slowly, over thatmatter of months, Derek could return to managing the ranch that he loved. A win-win for everyone.
“When can we see him?” Blue wanted to know.
“You can have a short visit with him now,” the doctor said. “Short, as in a minute or two at most,” he emphasized, and then he shifted his attention to Egan. “Since he asked specifically for you, why don’t you go in first?”
Egan immediately got to his feet and tried to give the others a reassuring glance. Especially Effie. Like the rest of them, she’d already been through so much with Derek, and this had to be wearing her down.
“I won’t be long,” Egan told them.
Blue nodded and took out his phone. “I’ll call Cal and Remi to let them know.”
“And I’ll call Audrey,” Maybell volunteered.
Egan certainly hadn’t forgotten about any of them, but he’d wanted to wait to contact them until they’d gotten word on his dad’s condition. At least now it wouldn’t be all gloom and doom when they were notified.
Egan gave Alana one last glance and followed Dr. Abrams out of the office and down the hall to the ICU. It’d been less than a month since his dad’s initial stay here, and it seemed as if the same nurses were on duty as had been then. He stepped inside the ICU, expecting to find his father asleep or heavily medicated. But he wasn’t. His dad’s eyes were wide open, and he saw another of the nurses by his bedside.
