The Path to Sunshine Cove (Cape Sanctuary #2) - RaeAnne Thayne Page 0,92
at school until I have more information. It’s early dismissal day so McKenna’s mom will pick her up after school and let her hang out at their place until I can give a proper situation report.”
“That’s smart. No need to upset her until we know what’s happening.”
He made a split-second decision. “You should come back with me. Eleanor loves you. I know she would want you there.”
He approached the reception area with Jess in tow. Though the woman behind the desk, Cheryl Myers, went to school with him, she stood firm on the hospital policy.
“Right now, we can only allow one person per patient in a treatment room for security reasons. I’m so sorry, Nate. Wish I could make an exception for you.”
“It’s totally fine,” Jess said. “I don’t mind waiting out here.”
“You don’t have to hang around if you don’t want to. I can text you with an update as soon as I have news.”
“I’ll wait,” she said firmly. He wanted to hug her again but knew seeing his mother had to take priority right now.
The nurse gave him a room number and buzzed him back. When he arrived at his mother’s room, he found several nurses and doctors darting around and his mother hooked up to a multitude of machines. She looked frail and frightened and every one of her seventy years and then some.
It shocked him to the core.
When she spotted him, he saw relief and also embarrassment.
“Oh, Nathaniel. Hello.”
“Mom. What’s going on?”
“This is all so ridiculous. I’m perfectly fine. Would you tell these people that I don’t need to be here?”
“You’re exactly where you should be,” a kind-looking woman in scrubs who was monitoring a machine said firmly. “Right now, your heat rate is all over the place and we have to figure out why. Hello. I’m Josie, one of the nurses who will be taking care of your mom.”
“What’s going on? I heard something about a possible heart attack,” Nate said.
“That was what the paramedics thought,” the nurse said. “It makes sense because of some of her symptoms but we aren’t quite sure what’s happening. I can tell you the electrocardiogram is showing some unusual activity. Right now, the plan is to run more tests so her team can get a more accurate picture of what’s happening. The attending physician should be here shortly to talk to you.”
Nate stood beside his mother’s bed, feeling helpless and worried for her. She had closed her eyes, as if trying to block out the whole thing, but would open them to answer questions Josie posed to her.
After what felt like forever, the ER doc, who turned out to be a friend, came in. She was more than a friend, actually. Nate’s company had just completed a beautiful house for Luz Herrera and her wife, Jade, in the mountains north of town.
“Nate. Hi. Not the best of circumstances to see you again. Eleanor. How are you feeling?”
“Mostly embarrassed at all the fuss. I would like to go home,” she answered.
“I’m afraid we can’t send you home until we figure out why your heart rate is going from hare to turtle speed and back again,” she said calmly. “And you’re having chest pain, I understand. How long has that been going on?”
Eleanor looked at Nate with an apology in her eyes. “About three weeks,” she murmured. “It comes and goes.”
Three weeks! Three weeks and she hadn’t bothered to mention it to him?
“We think the reason you passed out is because you were having what’s called bradycardia. Extremely low heart rate. Your heart wasn’t pumping enough blood to your brain to do its job.”
“What could cause that?” Nate asked her.
“Any number of things. Heart disease, genetic factors, chemical imbalance, thyroid issues. That’s why we need to run some tests. The tricky thing in your case, Eleanor, is that you seem to be fluctuating right now between bradycardia and tachycardia, which is an extremely high heart rate. It’s as if your heart has forgotten how to work right and doesn’t quite know what to do. We’ll run some initial tests here in the emergency department and then come up with a plan with the cardiology team, moving forward.”
“What if I don’t want more tests?” Eleanor said.
“Mom. You don’t have a choice.”
She glowered at him, then sighed. “Fine. Do what you have to do.”
She closed her eyes as if she wanted to block out the whole experience.
“We’ll try to make this as easy on you as possible,” Luz promised gently. She continued looking