Chapter 4
Brad and Anna sat hand in hand at the hospital waiting room, the doctor and nurses were still in the emergency room with Casey so they weren’t given the chance to see her yet. It seemed like hours had passed since those boys showed up at the front door and told Anna what had happened, they were breathless and sweaty from riding all the way from Mr. Brookes’ nutmeg forest. Not wanting to waste any time. Anna had immediately called out to Brad who was in the living room on the telephone, Mike was nowhere around, so Brad accompanied Anna to the hospital. They were both very worried and anxious as they sped on down to the capital; Brad sitting silently beside Anna, as she prayed softly while weaving through the Saturday evening traffic. When they finally got there they were led to the waiting room where they met Mr. Brooke nodding sleepily.
“Mr. Brooke?” Anna called as she shook his shoulder gently, his head shot up and he looked at Anna then at Brad through narrowed eyes, as though trying to remember something.
“Yea, that’s me name” he replied, “You miss reeta?”
“Wright,” Anna corrected, “and this is Mister Mason” she waved her hand in Brad’s direction and he nodded slightly.
“What are you doing here sir?” asked Anna.
The man lifted his worn out cap and wiped his forehead with his hand, “yuh little gurl, gwan get she self in some kinda ting dey. Ah was jus waiting for yuh, yuh no ‘ow dem hospital an dem does do stupidness sometimes” he explained, as he rose from his seat slowly and set to leave, but Anna held his elbow and he stopped.
“You were there?” she asked, and he nodded. “How bad is it?”
Mr. Brooke shook his head slowly, “I ain’t a expert, but from what ah see, dat gurl in some serious pain. She take a hard fall mama,” and with that he walked away.
Anna stood there staring at his retreating figure; a pained expression on her face. Brad walked up behind her and placed his hands on her shoulder.
“It’ll be alright, you know” he whispered. Anna nodded and lifted her own hand to his where it rested on her shoulder, trying very hard to demonstrate her own strength.
“I know, I’m trusting in God to take care of her, he always does” she replied, as she pulled away from him and she sat down on the bench that Mr. Brooke had just now occupied.
Brad sighed and sat down beside her, making a mental note not to reveal his true feelings on the matters of her beliefs.“You know you can count on me, for whatever it is,” he leaned over to get a closer look at her, “you hear me Anna?”
She nodded absently, reaching over to take his hands in her own, “Pray with me Brad” she said and she shut her eyes, Brad hesitantly bowed his head.
He sat silently as she spoke into the air, and found himself opening his eyes and staring at her peaceful expression as she poured out herself before her God, and in that instant he found himself reliving those feelings he had experienced as a young man. It occurred to him that those feelings had never really left; he was still very much in love with Anna Wright.
“Amen” Anna had finished praying, she opened her eyes and found Brad’s kind brown eyes staring back at her.
Brad knew he should look away but he couldn’t stop staring, he leaned forward and she met him halfway they stared into each other’s eyes their noses slightly brushing as they considered each other. Somehow she had managed to capture him in those deep chocolate pools, somehow he had wound her in…
“Miss Wright?” called the nurse at the desk, both Anna and Brad jumped.
“Yes” Anna answered shakily.
“Doctor Manning would like to see you,” said the woman.
Anna exhaled and ran her hands down her face, in an effort to calm her nerves, she was letting him get to her again. She got up and followed the nurse, Brad was behind her but she refused to acknowledge him until she had her emotions under control. Anna silently scolded herself for her inappropriate behavior; she hoped she had not given Brad the wrong impression, because there was no hope for them.
Anna followed the nurse to Dr. Manning’s office. Though she knew her way around the hospital she allowed the nurse, who she knew as Jane to lead her. Jane knocked on the doctors’ door and left them.
“Come on in” was the warm reply.
Anna opened the door and stepped in, Brad was right behind her.
“Neil!” she greeted, as the doctor made his way around his desk.
“Hello Anna” he replied, and he pulled her into his arms in a warm embrace.
Brad stood aside watching the exchange with a scowl; she was way too friendly with the doctor for his liking.
“So what’s going on? How’s Casey?” Anna questioned anxiously.
Neil shook his head and walked back to his seat, “honestly Anna, it’s pretty bad even for Casey.” he motioned for them to sit, and took off his glasses, he then looked over at Brad as though he had just noticed him.
“Oh, and who is this?” he asked
“I’m sorry, this is Brad Mason” Anna replied.
“Pleasure to meet you” he said as he extended his hand, Brad took it.
“I’m Casey’s father” he said.
Neil lifted an eyebrow and looked over at Anna questioningly, who was staring at Brad.
“Well, what a pleasant surprise. I wouldn’t have guessed” he said with a hint of sarcasm, he smiled at Brad and settled back into his chair.
Neil was a handsome man, he looked more like he belonged on a basketball court with girls swooning as he played defense and not behind a desk sporting scrubs that appeared to be a bit too small for his athletic frame. He was just a bit shorter than Brad, who was now eyeing him suspiciously; measuring his competition, Neil continued to explain.
“In all the years I’ve known Casey this is the worst I’ve seen her come in here” he got up and went to a bright screen upon which were two x-rays, “her right leg was damaged very badly” he pointed to a spot on the x-ray and looked over at Anna.
“Do you see what I am showing you?” Anna nodded slowly.
Brad looked from Anna to Neil frantically, “wait, what does that mean?” he asked
“It means, Mr. Mason that we’re going to have to call in a specialist,” he pointed to the X-ray on the right “this is an x-ray of her left leg, it’s broken in more than one place. It’s not the kind of break we can just set. We’ll have to see what the experts say though.”
He turned his attention back to Anna, “it wasn’t very difficult for us to stabilize her breathing, we’ve managed that pretty well, as well as the minor patching up we had to do,” he paused to consult the file before him before continuing.
“We found no head injuries, her arm was dislocated not that it hasn’t been before” he looked up at Anna and they shared a secret smile. Brad looked at them with a disapproving frown.
“Anyway we placed it in a sling, with rest and time everything else should heal up just fine.”
“When can we see her?” Anna asked,
“In a moment. I can’t guarantee she’ll be awake, she’s in a lot of pain right now and she might be drugged out.”
“What about the specialist?” asked Brad, “who is the specialist you mentioned?”
“Depending on which specialist you opt for, the operation could be here but most surgeries like this we take to a country with better equipment.”
“Wait a minute you didn’t say anything about surgery!” Brad countered.
“Well it’s not official, but my experience tells me that it’s an absolute necessity,” said Neil, “look I know this is a very difficult time for you, but we’ve got to be frank. Bone injuries are very serious, especially to a developing child like Casey. The wrong approach could very well ruin life as she knows it, now you as the parents can choose to delay this but am advising you to not waste time on this.”
Brad looked over at Anna, they both knew that every operation was a risk; he reached over and took Anna’s hand, an action Neil did not miss.
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“But there’s more” he interrupted, the couple looked up at him expectantly.
“The cost of this operation would be a lot, along with travel arrangements if you decide to do it out of country.”
Brad noticed Anna’s sharp intake of breath, “don’t worry about it” he said, “you just see to the preparations and give us the information. I want to know everything concerning this, I want the specialist’s name and credentials as well” Brad instructed, he was taking full control of the situation.
Anna was genuinely thankful for it; she knew that God was answering her prayers. Brad handled everything so smoothly that they were out of Dr. Manning’s office and making their way to Casey’s room for a short visit, and just as Dr. Manning had said, she was ‘drugged out’. Anna sat beside her daughter, completely ignoring the patient on the other bed. Brad was standing over her shoulder looking down at Casey, who was patched up and hooked up, his lips set in a thin line. He’d just found out he had a daughter and already he almost lost her.
“Thank you” Anna said, her eyes fixed on Casey.
“No need to thank me Anna, she’s my daughter too you know” he replied.
Anna looked up at him and smiled sweetly, “I know Brad.”
Brad returned her smile as best he could, given the circumstances.
“I’ll be outside” he said and he turned to leave, “if she wakes up, you’ll let me know?”
“Of course” she replied, as he left the room.
Casey did not get up that day though, so Brad and Anna left when visiting hours were over. When they returned home Mike was waiting for them, apparently the news had reached him, wherever he was.
“She okay?” he asked as soon as they stepped in through the front door.
“Not great, but she’ll be fine” replied Anna; secretly hoping he had cooled down from earlier today.
She looked at him closely, he was slouched down on the chair in the living room and he seemed exceptionally calm, but he had fooled her like that before.
“Well what’s wrong?” he asked impatiently.
Anna dropped onto the couch and laid her hand against her throbbing forehead, she had a headache since that evening and it seemed to have gotten worse.
Brad noticed how worn out she looked and knew she must have been tired, from working long hours in the garden and the scare of Casey’s accident.
“She fell off a bike and fractured her leg, she’s bruised up pretty bad” he started to explain, not missing the look of distaste coming from Mike, yet he continued.
“The Doctor told us it would be best to send her to a specialist, who would perform the operation…”
“Whoa there!” Mike interrupted, “whaddaya ya’ mean by operation?” he looked from Brad to Anna questioningly, and Anna nodded.
“She’s got a lot of broken bones in her right leg and Doctor Manning explained to us that the best thing would be to operate” she explained warily.
“But don’t operations cost a load?” put in Mike,
“They do Mike” said Brad, “but there’s no need to worry about the financial aspect of it, I’ll see to that.”
“Yeah Mister. Big shot, but don’t you figure that’s gonna make everything a’right” said Mike, with a look of contempt.
Anna sat up straight and swallowed hard, she could sense what was coming, and she looked anxiously at the men, who were staring at each other tensely. Mike looked ready to pounce and Brad looked ready to defend himself.
“Don’t you two start anything” she ordered, she knew Mike would not hesitate to start a fight right then, and he was a brutal fighter. He had his share of angry squabbles of which he had always emerged victorious, not failing to suffer some minor scratches, but he seldom left his opponents scar less. And though she did not know Brad all that well, she had seen enough to surmise that he could very well be a difficult opponent to her brother.
“Now is not the time for this, I know the two of you care very much for Casey, who is the primary issue here, but if you can’t sit down and talk to each other like grown men, I would like you to leave” she looked at them angrily, “I can’t deal with this right now, and I don’t intend to, okay”
Mike looked over at her with flared nostrils, he was angry but even through that he could understand that he needed to be calm and sensible. Anna was right; this was not about him or Brad. He gave Brad one last snarl and then got up and started to walk away, he then paused and looked back at them.
“By the way Mason, I’ve just about realized I wanna sleep in ma’ bed, you can sleep out back if its suits ya’” and he left the room.
Brad looked back at Anna questioningly, “what’s wrong with him?” he asked,
“I told him” she replied.
“Why?”
“He asked Raj, he’s not foolish” she answered sharply as she shot to her feet, “I’m going to bed I don’t feel up to this now. There are sheets and pillows in the linen closet; you can have the couch tonight”
The following day as Anna was preparing a small bag for Casey, she received a phone call from Neil, and he sounded so excited when he spoke to her that Anna couldn’t help feeling the same way. Neil had found a great doctor and according to him, Doctor Harris was the best in the Caribbean at the time and he was willing to work as the head surgeon in Casey’s operation.
“Well that’s great news Neil!” Anna exclaimed.
“It is Anna, it’s not often a Doctor of his caliber takes cases like this, you asked for the best so I got you the best. I hope that mason guy can really put his money where his mouth is” he said.
“I’m sure he can, he doesn’t speak lightly” she replied, though deep down, she was a tad worried, things hadn’t been going so well for Brad lately.
“Anyway, he wants to do an examination tomorrow morning so he’d want to talk to you guys afterwards, just to explain everything in detail to you”
“Yes of course, I was about to come down in a while with some clothes and so, I really want to see her”
“That’s fine” he said, after which there was an awkward pause.
“I guess we’ll see later” Anna finally said.
“Uh…yeah, of course. Hey Anna, I hope you don’t mind me asking, but what’s really going on with you and this guy. I mean I’ve never seen him round here before, are you guys together or something?”
Anna smiled to herself, as she turned over an article of clothing in her hand, “Oh no Neil it’s nothing like that…it’s just complicated.”
“What’s complicated?”
Anna jumped at the sound of Brad’s voice behind her; she swallowed hard and turned around to face him.
“Listen we’ll talk later, bye” she hung up the receiver and turned her attention back to him. Brad was leaning against the arch with his arms folded across his chest.
“Are you eavesdropping on me now” Anna flared, as she turned back to her work.
“I didn’t mean to hear, it just jumped out at me” he defended smugly.
Anna gave him an exasperated look, “you can really be a jerk you know”
“I don’t try to be,” he grinned boyishly, and she couldn’t help smiling.
“Anyway who was that, if you don’t mind?”
“It was Doctor Manning” she replied.
Brad bit back a smart comment and focused on the issue at hand, while making a mental note to ask about her and the doctor.
“What did he want?” he moved from against the wall and sat at the edge of Casey’s bed.
“He found a specialist, who’s willing to work on Casey” she explained “he’s a very good doctor but he’s gonna be expensive.”
Brad shrugged, “no problem” he replied, and Anna smiled at his cool reply.
“I’m going to see her later on” she informed him, as she zipped the bag she was packing.
“You want me to come?” he asked anxiously.
“No thanks Raj, I think it’
s best if I just go today. We have to remember that no one else knows you’re her father.
Brad nodded, “of course, I understand.”
Later on that day, Anna went to the hospital as she said she would and she was alone. Neil met her at the entrance of the building a face splitting grin on his face. Anna was always flattered at his obvious interest in her, but she could never take it to the next step.
“Hello Miss Wright” he greeted
“Hi Doctor Manning” she replied, and they laughed at their friendly formalities.
“How’s Casey?” Anna asked,
“She’s up” he answered, “come, follow me”
Neil led her to the ward in which Casey was and then maneuvered through the other bed’s to get to hers; Neil pulled across a curtain and peeped in.
“Hey you, you’ve got a visitor” he cajoled, and Anna stepped from behind him.
“Hi Case,” Anna greeted, she was glad to see the look on her daughter’s face.
“Mommy!” she exclaimed.
As she attempted to sit up Neil made a move to keep her back, just as a sharp pain shot through her damaged leg. Her face contorted in anguish as she bit back a scream.
“Now Casey, you need to relax” he whispered as he settled her back in bed.
Anna walked up to the other side of the bed and laid a hand on Casey’s arm, “honey, just lie down and it’ll pass” she soothed; the girl looked up at her mother and nodded slowly. Her leg was temporarily splinted and propped up, and her right arm was in a sling across her chest. She smiled apologetically knowing that the ultimate question would be lurking at the back of her mother’s mind; somehow Anna would want to know how she had gotten into the situation she was now in, but was too preoccupied with worrying about her to broach the subject.
“Mummy I didn’t mean for this to happen” she started, Anna lifted a finger to stop her.
“Casey I know you didn’t, now all I want is for you to get better, understand?”
Casey nodded and settled back down in bed, and looked up at her mother.
“So what going on, when can I come home?” she asked.
Anna looked over at Neil, who was fiddling with Casey’s chart, and lifted an eyebrow questioningly.
“I figured I’d leave that to you, its better when the parent explains it” he whispered, “I got to go, talk to you later.”
Anna pulled up a chair next to Casey’s bed and took her hand, “when you fell, you hurt yourself very badly and the doctors think it would be best to operate” Anna explained.
“Operate? But why? Can’t they just set it?
Anna shook her head slowly, “It’s not that simple Case, you see, your fracture is a complicated one, so it’s safer that way. We want to make sure that there’s no permanent damage.”
Casey turned and looked thoughtfully at her feet. Anna could see her picturing it in her mind and trying to come up with some way out of it, but then she sighed and looked up at her mother with a resigned smile.
“If you think that’s best mum, then I have no reason to be difficult” she said. Anna smiled as she brushed back the hair from her face.
“Don’t you worry about it sweetheart, everything will be alright” she coaxed.
Anna spent a little more time with Casey until a grumpy looking nurse came in and ushered her out because ‘the child needed to rest’.
As she stepped out of the ward she bounced into Neil, who was again smiling at her.
“Hey you’re just in time for lunch; I’ve got this doctor covering for me since I’ve been here all night. How about grabbing something with me?” he asked.
Anna seemed to be thinking it over, “I would love to Neil but…” she started,
“Come on Anna you need a rest, loosen up a bit,” he interrupted; he moved closer and took her hand in his as he looked into her hesitant eyes.
“Just for a little while, please” he pleaded, “don’t leave me on my own”
Anna rocked on her heels as she thought about it; she then took a deep breath and smiled up at him.
“Alright,” she agreed.
Neil laughed triumphantly, “Yes!” he exclaimed, causing Anna to grin, “I’ll meet you in the lot in a little while” he said, before he hurried away.
Anna turned and started walking toward the parking lot; smiling from ear to ear; after eleven years she had finally taken the first step to getting over Brad.
The minute Anna stepped through the front door she could hear shouting coming from the living room. It was Brad, and he sounded really angry, she hoped he hadn’t gotten into anything with Mike but he was on the phone.
“What! Look Camille I’ve got to get back, send my jet,” he said.
“Sorry sir, I can’t do that,” she replied remorsefully.
“How so?” he asked, listening with disbelief as his secretary explained the situation to him. When she finished, Brad was speechless.
“Okay look, this is what we’ll do. Forget the jet, I’ve got this separate account that Mara doesn’t know about or have access to, I need you to call Mark Dottin, my lawyer I’ve got his number in my address book. I want you to get him to contact me; I need you to do that as soon as I hang up, got it? And keep looking for Derek!”
“Yes sir” she replied.
Brad slammed down the receiver, jerked off his wedding band and tossed it across the room, just as Anna was coming in. The ring bounced off her chest and fell to the floor. Her eyes moved from the ring where it lay on the floor to the angry faced man looking at her, and without saying a word, she knelt and picked it up off the floor.
“What’s going on Raj?” she asked, as she walked toward him.
Brad shook his head and lowered himself into a chair and tugged at his thick hair, “it’s nothing,” he said.
Anna sat down beside him and placed a hand on his shoulder, “is it Mara?”
“She’s trying to ruin me Anna, I trusted her and she’s using it against me”
Anna lifted his gaze to hers as she smooth out his ruffled hair, “she can’t ruin you,” she assured him, it was all she could think of saying that made sense.
Brad nodded and she pulled him to her in a comforting embrace, when they had finally separated she laid the ring on the table.
“Don’t go tossing this around anymore,” she said and left.
Anna and Brad arrived at the hospital early Monday morning. They were supposed to meet Doctor Harris the orthopedic surgeon, who would be in charge of Casey’s operation. Anna and Brad found they were waiting for almost an hour, they sat in the waiting area hand in hand and in silence; the familiar atmosphere caused the memories to start flooding in. She looked over at Brad who looked equally thoughtful and wondered how different life would’ve been if he’d stayed.
It was an early Friday morning in july; Anna stood with her back pressed against the cold wall of the doctor’s office, she looked about her at the strangers chattering endlessly, oblivious of anyone else about them. Anna closed her eyes and tried to pray, it was a futile attempt on her part considering the fact that she hadn’t prayed since her mother’s death which was three years ago. Eventually she gave up trying and walked to a free seat as the secretary called in another patient. Anna took a deep breath; the thought of what she had come here to do was overwhelming because she knew that if the results came back positive, her mistake would not only be a personal disappointment; she would be letting down her entire family, including her deceased parents. It seemed hours had passed before she heard the name ‘Lucy Thomas’ shouted across the room. Anna got up and walked stiffly to the office. As she stepped in she was greeted warmly by a plump man with tiny glasses that seemed stuck above his fat cheeks.
“Hello, lucy right?”
“That’s right” she answered
The doctor looked her over slowly, it wasn’t the first time he had seen someone as young as her in his office; he motioned for her to sit as he consulted her file. He knew tha
t there was a high possibility that Lucy wasn’t really her name, he also suspected that he might be seeing her in a few weeks, just the same he looked at her closely. She still had the look of an innocent who had made the wrong choice and knew it.
“Do you have the results?” she asked anxiously.
He looked up at her and smiled, she was frightened, it was not the first time he had seen it; he could bet his last dollar that when she heard the news she would break down crying.
“I do have the results Lucy, but before I tell you this I want you to know it isn’t the end of your life, for a small price I could make it like it never happened.”
Anna felt like her lungs were giving up on her, she started breathing in short gasps; it was clear what the results were.
“Just tell me” she managed.
“Alright. You are pregnant Lucy,” he said. Then he just sat there; secretly waiting for that breaking point, unfortunately for him, he would have lost his last dollar.
“How pregnant?” she asked with forced calmness, though she knew the answer.
“About six weeks” he said, his eyes glued to her face.
Anna took a deep breath and ran her hand down her face; beads of sweat had formed on her upper lip and nose. She was only seventeen, she had never even had a real job, she was in her first year at the community college, she had no parents. She fought hard to hold it together before the hungry looking doctor.
“Thank you,” she whispered, and got up to leave, but the man stopped her.
“Hold on awhile young one, are you sure you don’t want to discuss your options.”
Anna narrowed her eyes at him, she couldn’t think of any reason why she would want to discuss her ‘options’ with him, a matter of fact she didn’t believe there was any option in the matter.
“Excuse me?”
“You know, people do it all the time, there’s no reason to keep an unwanted baby,” he explained.
“What makes you think I don’t want to keep my baby, to hell with what everyone else does,” she countered, her face was red and her eyes were piercing “I love this baby’s father and I intend to love it just as much or even more, there is no option” she spat.
She stormed out of the room, grateful for the distraction because had it not been for her anger, she might not have made it through the curious stares in the waiting room without breaking down and who knows what she would have agreed to then.
Neil greeted them in a very professional manner; his eyes were quite cold and trained on Brad, instinctively Anna slipped her hand from Brad’s hold.
“Good morning, we’re sorry to have kept you waiting for so long” he said, in a low monotone.
“That’s okay” said Anna,
Neil looked at her briefly and gave a quick smile which faded the moment he laid eyes on Brad. Turning his full attention to the clipboard he held, he proceeded to speak to them with an air of pre-occupation not daring to look up at them.
“Yes well, he’ll see you now. I’m sure he’d want to explain everything to you, please follow me,” he instructed.
Neil was leading them in the direction of his office, he walked busily ahead of them and Anna and Brad had to hasten their footsteps to speed up.
“Someone’s in a hurry,” Brad muttered,
“Seems so,” she replied, she didn’t know what might have influenced his behavior, but he seemed awfully strange now that Brad was here.
Neil came to an abrupt stop at the front of his office door. Anna and Brad stopped as well and watched as he motioned to a tall, bald man who was standing a little way off speaking frantically to a terrified nurse. The man turned slightly and nodded at Neil, who pushed open the office door and led them inside.
“He’ll be in a moment,” he explained and left.
Brad looked over at Anna, “are you nervous?” he asked.
Anna chuckled softly, “I guess… just a little” she replied.
Brad nodded and walked over to the nearby window, from there he could see most of the town, the streets bustling with the Wednesday afternoon rush.
“This place is more beautiful than I remember” he said, “there are more buildings now though,”
The office door swung open and the tall doctor stepped in, he pushed up his glasses on his nose and offered his hand to Anna.
“You must be the parents,” he said, in a deep gruff tone.
“We are,” said Anna, her eyes glued to his own. Doctor Harris was a bald, light skinned man, actually he was almost white, like he spent all his time in doors. He wore a greying beard and mustache, and what seemed like a permanent ‘no nonsense’ expression upon his face which was marked with lines of experience and age. His dark brown eyes were bright and welcoming, though, after shaking both their hands he made his way behind the desk and sat down.
“Please, have a seat” he said.
When both were comfortably seated he clasped his hands and looked over at them, “I’ve done the examination and I have come to a conclusion. Now, it is my way to always give the patients a full review of their situation before actually performing an operation,” he picked up the folder on the desk and started flipping through the pages.
“So you’re saying you have to operate?” Brad asked.
“Well sir, the results tell me we do” he got up then and went to a brightly lit board where he stuck two x-rays.
“Now, I want you to take a look at this” he instructed. Brad and Anna got up and walked over to where he stood.
“This is what is called a compound fracture, it is a very severe break,” he explained.
“It’s the kind that penetrates the skin,” Anna added, “she must be in so much pain.”
“Do you have to do some kind of bone drafting or something?” Brad asked his eyes wide with concern.
“It’s bone grafting” Doctor Harris corrected, “but that’s not necessary,” he walked back to his desk and sat.
Anna followed, Brad stood behind her, gripping the back of the chair she sat on.
“In your daughters’ case it’s a clean break,” the doctor explained.
“So what do you have in mind?” Brad asked, his curiosity getting the best of him.
“Well we’ll need to join it together; there are different procedures we can use, all of which include using metal to join the bone together.”
“Metal, well that can’t be good. Wouldn’t that be permanent?” Brad asked again, Anna had to smile at his genuine concern.
“It doesn’t have to be, you see we can either insert screws across the break to hold it together or drill a steel plate held by screws into the bone, or we can drive a rod through the bone shaft and then screw it up…”
“That sounds kind of painful” Brad interrupted,
“She won’t feel a thing” the doctor assured him, he then continued “now those contraptions are only to hold the bone in place to ensure that it is properly healed, it can be removed, it’s not a necessity but it can be done.”
“Doctor Harris, you’re one of the best in this field, performing this operation should be quite easy for you right?” Anna asked,
“Easy? Well I guess that depends on what you consider easy,” he smiled at her, “but there are other things involved here.”
“Like?”
“Infections as well as bleeding and so on. In your daughters case there could be damaged nerves and vessels, with compound fractures bone and tissue infection is a common complication, without proper care it’s a high probability”
“And then what?” asked Brad.
“Hopefully none of that happens, I’m never one to mince words but I don’t think there’s reason to worry. This would be a very successful operation.”
Brad looked at Anna and she smiled at him, he smiled back, then turned to the man at the desk.
“Then let’s do it” he said.
Doctor Harris pulled off his glasses and stood up; he smiled at them as he extended his ha
nd again.
“Its settled then, I’ll have you contacted when we’ve made arrangements. As you might know we’re not going to do the operation here, because we have limited equipment”
“We are aware of that” Brad replied, “I’ll make sure Casey is set to travel.”