is in the hospital.”
His stomach clenched. “What happened?”
“I don’t know.” She looked over at him, her expression one of panic. “We need to go.”
He put the truck in gear and backed out of the parking spot, heading to the hospital. Whatever was going on, he hoped it was nothing serious.
CHAPTER 29
“HOW BAD IS IT?” CARMEN STOOD IN FRONT OF THE NEUROLOGIST, Rafe and Felice right behind her.
“It was a TIA, nothing like the one he had years ago. We’ve treated him with medication, and we’ll monitor him overnight. He’s stable and he’s showing no other symptoms.”
“And what is his prognosis?” she asked. “Do you feel like this is a precursor for another major stroke?”
“Not at all. If he keeps taking his meds—and continues with his therapy, he should recover just fine. They should be transferring him up to a room shortly.”
Carmen nodded. “Thank you, Dr. Alou.”
She exhaled but couldn’t seem to get warm. Her entire body was covered in goose bumps, and her legs were shaking.
“Do you want some coffee?” Rafe asked.
She gave him a short nod. “That’d be great, thanks.”
“I’ll be right back. How about you, Felice?”
“I’m good, honey, but thank you.”
After Rafe walked away, Carmen turned to Felice. “Tell me what happened.”
“We were just sitting on my back porch watching the lightning. I have a great view of the ocean, and Jimmy likes that. And suddenly he started talking to me but only gibberish was coming out of his mouth. I asked him questions, and I could tell he was trying to answer me, but nothing of what he said made any sense.”
Carmen nodded. “Typical stroke symptom.”
“So I called 911 immediately, and an ambulance came. By then he was already starting to come out of it, but I didn’t want to take any chances. Plus he was a little shaken up, and he said he didn’t remember anything of what had just happened.”
Carmen laid her hand over Felice’s arm. “You did the right thing. You must have been so scared. I’m sorry I wasn’t there.”
“Honey, I’m not afraid. Jimmy’s a strong man. He’ll be just fine. Though I think we need to put him on a better diet. That man eats a lot of junk food. I’ve been doing some research, and diet can be so important in reducing his chances for a repeat stroke.”
She loved how much Felice cared about him. “That’s a good idea. We’ll talk about that.”
“Let’s go into the room,” Felice said, putting her arm around Carmen. “I know he’ll want to see you.”
They had been in the waiting room, since the team had been doing tests on her grandfather. As a nurse, waiting outside the room while other medical professionals worked on her grandpa had been so difficult for her. But she also knew the worst thing to do was get in the way of the medical team, so she’d stayed in the waiting area. Now the only thing she wanted to do was see her grandfather, to assess for herself that he was all right.
She passed the main nurses station where she worked in the daytime, saw nurses that she occasionally worked with when they switched shifts. She saw the sympathy on their faces. They also knew how hard it was to be on the other side of the care team. She nodded at them as she made her way into her grandfather’s room, then put on her best smile.
“Hey, Grandpa,” she said.
He appeared to be in decent shape. Almost his usual self, in fact, though he had some dark circles under his eyes. She took a glance at the monitors, making sure that all his vitals looked normal.
They did, which gave her some comfort.
She leaned over, brushed his white hair from his face and kissed his forehead.
“Hey, bebita. I’m sorry about all this.”
“Shh, Abuelo. Nothing for you to be sorry about. How are you feeling?”
“Tired. I want to go home and sleep in my own bed.”
“You will soon enough.”
He looked up at her with confusion in his sweet eyes. “I don’t know what happened. One minute, Felice and I were having a nice conversation about the storm coming in, and the next, I was being loaded up into an ambulance.”
She felt for him, for how traumatic this experience must have been for him. “Everything will be fine now. The doctor said you had a ministroke and there’s nothing to worry about, and you shouldn’t have any repeat episodes.”
“That’s what he told me. I don’t want to go through that big one