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The nurse calmed Rhea with a kind face. “I haven’t heard anything since I called you, but I think I found him in time. I rode the ambulance here with him and was there until they wheeled him through the ER. I promise he was stable the last I heard.”
“What does that mean, though? Will he be okay?”
“Hon,” the nurse said without a drip of condescension, “your father has had another heart attack. I can’t tell you how he will recover. Only the doctor in charge can.”
Rhea nodded, although she barely understood what that meant.
She was grateful to have someone here with her for now, even if that person didn’t know her from Eve and had their own family to get back to at some point. When Rhea finally heard back from Paige, it was through frantic texts asking what had happened and how it was going. Rhea immediately got her on the phone to hear the voice of someone who cared about her.
Paige promised to come by the hospital on the way home, but Rhea told her to not bother since the traffic through Westwood was at its peak ridiculousness. Paige awkwardly laughed until Rhea reassured her it wasn’t a joke.
Nor was it a joke when the doctor finally approached her shortly after hanging up.
“Ms. Kennewick?” the doctor asked, keeping her name short. “I’m relieved to report that your dad should be fine. We were able to get to him in time and he’s stable for now.”
Rhea instinctively slapped her hand over her mouth before nodding in relief. When she lowered her hand, she said, “Thank you. Was it really bad?”
“It looks like a mild heart attack, probably concerning the one he had a few months ago. Secondary heart attacks are often more dangerous than this, so we’re really happy to see that heshouldbe fine after spending a few days here. I want to ensure he’s completely stable before releasing him back into your care.”
“My care?”
“We can discuss this more later, but I understand that your father lives alone, correct?”
“Y… yes. Is that a problem? He has at least one nurse visit every day.”
“That’s great, but considering your father’s health issues, I’m highly suggesting that he stay with you or another family member for a while.”
“I’m the only one he’s got.”
The doctor offered her a sympathetic look. “You could also stay with him, of course. Point is your father may be reaching a level where he needs around-the-clock care. His last heart attack was strong enough to land him in a wheelchair for a long while. He may be looking at that again. It’s going to be a long road getting him on track. We’re talking diet, medication…”
Although Rhea nodded along, she barely took it all in.My father can’t ever be left alone now.The man had lived alone since Rhea moved out for college. It was why he sold the old house and moved into a one-bedroom bungalow in East Malibu, a far cry from how the family had lived before. It was cheaper in the face of rising Southern California costs, but he had never felt so isolated to a woman who was used to going out and doing as she pleased since becoming an independent adult… let alone married.
“Can I see him?” Rhea asked.
“He’s resting right now.” Although the doctor said that, it sounded like he had more to share as long as Rhea was patient. “You might be able to speak with him tomorrow after we’ve had time to monitor his status. Right now he’s fairly capable of consciousness and responds to our questions, but we don’t want to stress him out any more than he is. But…” The doctor sighed. “Suppose you can at least see him. Come with me.”
Rhea would take whatever she could get. Even if that meant standing on the other side of a window looking into the ICU room where her father currently slept.
The number of tubes attached to him was too high. The silver of his hair had dulled into pencil slate gray. The sagging lines on his face created the image of a man who hadn’t been awake in years.
Rhea didn’t recognize him, yet she knew that was her father. And she had never felt so much like a child who didn’t know what to do now that her daddy couldn’t help her.
Paige didn’t eat when she got home. Even the concept of preparing dinner made her feel ill – after all, how was she supposed to know what state Rhea might be in when she came home?
Eventually, she forced herself to heat some canned soup on the stove. When Rhea walked through the door an hour later, Paige had already eaten, but she was more than happy to get more for her wife as she collapsed on the couch.
“I haven’t eaten since brunch,” Rhea muttered into the couch. “Yet I’m not hungry at all.”
Paige encouraged her to eat by bringing the food over to a tray. After Rhea sat up and grabbed the spoon, Paige sat next to her and waited for her to speak between spoonfuls of soup.
She learned that her father-in-law would mostly be okay if he was allowed to get proper rest and be watched over by a small team of people for a few weeks. Maybe months. The more Rhea talked, the bigger the picture she painted of a future where Danny not only required thousands more a month in medical care… but was practically living with them.
“It’s that bad?” Paige asked.
Rhea stared into the bottom of her soup bowl. “I don’t know. I guess so. It was hard for me to understand with so much going on in a hospital. I was worried about my dad… I swear, when I last saw him, he was fine! I can’t believe this happened. The nurses always told me that he might bitch about eating the food they gave him, but he ate it. I have no reason to believe he was sneaking cheeseburgers every night.”
“It’s not always diet, you know,” Paige softly said. “I see it all the time in my job. We get some normal people who want to take their health more seriously because they’ve got things to live for. Lots of older guys have survived heart attacks and strokes and feel like they’ve been given a new lease on life. Some of them stay healthy for years. Others give up smoking, red meat, beer… yet they’re dead within two years of meeting me. From another heart attack.”
