Chapter 4

With nothing planned for Saturday afternoon Steve thought he would go over to the club and play a round of golf and have dinner there afterwards. He also wanted to stop by the hospital to see how Paula, the patient who had the stents put in was doing.

As he was just about to enter Paula’s room a lady doctor walked out. She was fairly attractive and Steve made an effort to read her name on her name tag. He did and saw that it said Veronica Begley.

She saw him doing this and with a touch of arrogance in her voice said, “And you are?”

“Doctor Steven Brandle, how is my patient doing?”

“She is doing fine and I am getting ready to release her at noon. I am giving her a prescription for Plavix and I am changing the statin she is taking to Lipitor. I told her to call my office and make an appointment to see me in thirty days. Now if you have no objections I will complete the paperwork to release her but of course you could overrule me by calling the hospital administrator.”

Time to nip this in the bud thought Steve as he somewhat forcibly said, “Now don’t get you panties in a wad over this. Sometimes we doctors are right and sometimes we doctors are wrong. This time I was right in having the procedure done right away and that’s what counts and not that your ego has been bruised.”

She gave him a look that would freeze water into ice as she walked away from him.

Veronica Begley was fairly attractive and could see she had nice legs but her arrogant attitude just sucked was the thought he had in entering Paula’s room.

“How are you doing Paula?”

‘I am doing fine thanks to you. They said there were some blockages and they put in three stents. I just got off the phone with Johnny who said his mother had given him the good news. I told him not to break his arm patting himself on the back for establishing a clinic in Lake Lancer. He laughed when I said that.”

“You are going to be released shortly. Do you have a way of getting back home?”

“Yes Helen, Johnny’s mother is coming to get me.”

“Well, when you have time next week, make the appointment to see Doctor Begley thirty days from today. She is your cardiologist and will be giving you some prescriptions today that you will need to fill and start taking. One of them is for Plavix which you will need to take for at least one year because of the stents. She is also changing the statin drug you are taking as your bad cholesterol level needs to be lowered. Doctor Begley is the one to see for your heart but you should come in to see me in three months and I can check to see how this new statin medicine is doing and how it is affecting you. But if you have any problems or questions you can always come in sooner and see me.”

Paula thanked Steve for his concern.

Steve had a good round of golf at the club. He played with young man who was a senior in high school who shot seven over par. Steve’s twelve over par was a very respectable for score for him but it couldn’t compare to the young man’s score.

The prime rib dinner made for a very pleasant day.

While Steve was eating his dinner Trish Simon sat down at his table. She asked him if he could help her out at the fund raising dinner they were having for the hospital.

“What do you have in mind?”

“Well there is a silent auction and I would like to auction off a date with you.”

“Why don’t you just let me make a monetary donation?”

“That would be nice but I do need prizes to auction off and since you are single and if I may say good looking, it could mean a large donation to the hospital. You don’t have to be here for the dinner and I will just put a picture of you and a little bio so the women will know what they are bidding on.”

“I think I am going to regret saying yes but I will do it. However, this is going to be a onetime only thing.”

Trish thanked him and hurried to get her camera to take a picture.

There still was some daylight as Steve drove home. In approaching an intersection he could see that there were a few cars stopped on the road there heading in different directions. To him it looked like there had just been an accident. He stopped his car and then walked up to see if he could be of any help carrying his small physician’s bag.

He guessed that because of where there was a car stopped that it looked like it was making a left turn and turned in front of a motorcycle that was now against the side of the car. There was a large man wearing a sleeveless denim vest with tattoos on his arms and probably the cycle’s driver leaning up against the car. There was also a little crowd of people standing around.

“Anyone injured here, I am a doctor.”

The cycle driver started to say, “No doc everything... , “ and then he collapsed to the ground.

Steve rushed to him took out his stethoscope but he couldn’t hear a heartbeat. He didn’t have a portable defibrillator and regretted that he had not yet fully equipped his bag with an intra-cardiac needle and adrenalin to give a shot to the man’s heart. He started doing CPR and hollered out for someone to call 911 and request an ambulance. Time was of the essence and this man needed to get his heart started if he was going to live.

Thinking of what he could do or try to do he said, “Does anyone have car battery jumper cables here?”