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He’d lost his positivity when he’d lost Michael.
“When you see Yuri, please thank him,” Heidi said with a smile. “His chat last night helped my brother go off to sleep. Better than a glass of warm milk.”
Anna frowned. “Yuri?”
“A nurse who works nights. Keith met him for the first time last night.”
“He must be new. I don’t recall seeing his name before.”
“He said he only started yesterday,” Keith remarked.
Anna rolled her eyes. “I’m always the last to know.” She turned to Heidi. “I’ll be sure to pass on your thanks—assuming I ever get to meet him.” She checked Keith’s chart, then listened to his chest, her brow furrowing. “Are you finding it more difficult to breathe?”
“I do get a little short of breath,” he confessed. “Especially when I lie flat.”
“And it hurts to breathe?”
He nodded. “What happens when the pain gets to be too much?”
“The doctor will discuss that with you later.”
Keith persisted. “Can’t you tell me now?”
Anna bit her lip. “When that happens, the next course of treatment would be a tracheostomy.”
“I’d breathe through a tube in my neck?”
She nodded.
“Would I be able to talk?”
Anna didn’t reply right away. “Yes. It’s not easy but it can be done. The only thing is, repositioning you would become more difficult—you’d be on the ventilator all the time—so you’d need round-the-clock nursing care.”
He sighed. “Bedsores?”
“Yes.”
“But we’re not there yet?”
Anna’s smile was kind. “No, we’re not.” She replaced the chart. “I’ll leave you to enjoy your sister’s visit.” With a nod toward Heidi, she walked out of the room.
Heidi settled in her usual chair, and it took him a moment to realize how quiet she’d become.
“Are you all right?”
She sighed. “That conversation with Anna was a cold splash of reality.”
“Welcome to my world.” His stomach did a flip. “I’m sorry. But can we change the subject? I don’t really want to think about bedsores.”
She shuddered. “Neither do I. So what did you and Yuri talk about?”
“Would you believe, Michael?”
Her mouth fell open. “Now there’s a name I haven’t heard you mention in a long time.”
“You do remember him, then?”
She laughed. “Of course. You two were in and out of each other’s houses for years. I always liked him.” She frowned. “Funny how he just disappeared.”
