By
Julie
Brian he sat on the table in the examining room,
the thin paper covering the table crinkling under his weight, as he fidgeted
nervously. It was late November, and
the dreaded time had come for Brian’s annual check-up with his cardiologist,
Dr. Marion Hargreaves.
Brian had always feared doctors and hospitals,
ever since the staph infection that had landed him in the hospital for two
months and nearly taken his life when he was five. Ever since, he had been forced to go for
check-ups once a year to examine his heart and the congenital hole that was in
it. As he had grown older over the
years, the doctors had told him that the hole was getting smaller and would
eventually close on its own.
Brian wasn’t so sure now though. For months, he had been feeling more tired
than usual, and just lately, he had been having chest pains. They weren’t anything major, just small
aches that made him uncomfortable. He
kept telling himself not to get paranoid, but he couldn’t shake the feeling
that something was wrong.
“Brian, how are you?” Dr. Hargreaves asked,
breezing into the room.
“Fine, thanks.
How are you?” Brian asked in return.
“Doing alright, thanks,” she replied, putting her
stethoscope to her ears and sliding the other end down the thin gown Brian had
been forced to wear. Brian flinched as
the cold metal came into contact with his chest.
“Relax,”
Dr. Hargreaves said with a smile, as she listened. “Take a deep breath for me,” she instructed,
and Brian did so, silently praying that she would find nothing wrong.
Next, the doctor took his temperature and blood
pressure and scribbled something on his chart.
“Okay, Brian,” she said, standing up from her
rolling stool. “Time for the EKG and
chest x-ray.”
Brian nodded; these were customary tests that he
always had to go through. He didn’t
enjoy them, but they were painless.
An orderly entered the room, pushing a wheelchair,
which Brian was forced to sit in for the ride down to radiology, where the
tests would be run. As the orderly
wheeled him down the hall, Brian could not help but silently plead once again
that everything would turn out good.
***
“Brian, I’m sorry, but I don’t have very good news
to give you.”
Brian sucked in a breath and stared with worried
blue eyes at the doctor sitting in front of him, her hands clasped together
tightly, her face serious.
“What’s wrong?” he heard his mother ask
worriedly. His parents always came down
to Orlando from Lexington, where they lived, to be with him for his doctor’s
appointments, and this time, his girlfriend Samantha was there too. Dr. Hargreaves had called them all down to
her office once she had finished examining Brian.
“The congenital hole in Brian’s heart has not
shrunk and closed as it was expected to.
In fact, it has gotten larger, causing Brian’s heart to swell
considerably. Right now, his heart has
expanded to the size of, oh, a three hundred pound linebacker.”
Jackie and Harold Littrell gasped and quickly
clasped on to each other’s hands. Brian
felt Samantha’s hand give his a squeeze, but when he glanced at her, she stared
straight ahead and refused to meet his gaze.
He noticed her blinking often and realized she was trying to hold back
tears.
“How do you fix it?” Harold asked. This was Brian’s question too, but he was
not sure he could find his voice to ask it.
“The only way to fix it is open heart surgery,”
Dr. Hargreaves replied.
Another gasp, then stunned silence.
“Open heart surgery?” Brian finally choked
out. Out of the corner of his eye, he
saw that Samantha had paled several shades.
“Yes. But
it sounds worse than it really is,” Dr. Hargreaves quickly assured them. “The procedure is quite routine and should
take less than an hour.”
Brian bit his lip; it was now he who was trying
not to cry. He didn’t look at his
mother, but he suspected she was doing the same.
“When do I have to have this?” Brian asked,
swallowing the lump that had risen in his throat. Perfect timing, he was thinking, for
just about two months earlier, the Backstreet Boys had released their first
album in the United States, and the first single, “Quit Playing Games”, was
doing great. They had worked so hard to
get this far, and now they had finally achieved success in their home
country. This heart surgery would be a
setback, and that was the last thing they needed.
“Not right away.
At the time, your condition is not very serious, and the surgery is
optional. But I wouldn’t advise you to
wait more than a few months, because as the hole gets larger, it will become
more and more serious,” the doctor explained.
Brian nodded, feeling an ounce of relief. At least this wasn’t an emergency. He could wait awhile, until the hype
surrounding them died down, and then have the surgery.
“You don’t have to set a date for it yet,” Dr.
Hargreaves said. “I’ll give you some
packets with more information, and we’ll keep in touch. When you know more about your schedule, we
can set up a time for it, okay?”
Brian nodded, glad that she understood. “Thank you,” he said.
“You’re welcome.
Here, you take these, and I’ll let you go,” she said, handing him
several packets of information on open heart surgery.
Brian nodded and stood, never letting go of
Samantha’s hand. He offered her a wan
smile, and then the four of them walked slowly out of the office.
***