Chapter 27

Returning to Colorado was difficult for Don, not just because he had to say goodbye to his son, but also because it was so hard to breathe. The change in altitude from 800 feet above sea level to 5,100 feet was telling on him. When they got home, he tried to make love to Lanh and was so horribly out of breath after a minute or two that he had to stop. As he lay on his back, gasping for air, Lanh watched in horror. Coming to her senses, she put the pulse/ox on his finger and found that his blood/oxygen level was below eighty. She texted Dr. Roberts, who immediately called her and said, “Take him to the ER, I’ve got an opening in my schedule tomorrow, be sure the ER runs a full CBC and a thoracic CT scan with contrast and bring him into my office at noon, OK?”

Don was miserable, he hated flying with that damn canula in his nose, the plastic tube that supplied him with oxygen, but the ER ran all the tests that Dr. Roberts requested and sent him home with a metal tank full of oxygen in a carrier slung over his shoulder, a canula in his nose, and a prescription for 2 liters of oxygen per minute.

The next day, he was sitting in the waiting room, waiting to see Dr. Roberts. He spent the morning in the testing wing of the hospital breathing into computers, getting chest x-rays, even another CT scan. He and Lanh lost count of how many tubes of blood were drawn from his arm. Finally, he ended up in Dr. Robert’s waiting room and as he waited a pair of tiny blond girls that looked no older than two, maybe close to three, came out of the office across from the waiting room and walked up to him and stood staring at him. Regardless of how cute they were, he was unnerved by their steady, unmoving gaze. They were obviously identical twins and were very tiny.

“They’re preemies,” whispered Lanh. “I was that little at their age.”

Finally, one twin looked at the other and began muttering something that Don was unable to understand, and the other twin replied in the same baby-talk, which confused him even more. Lanh was reading a book and holding a sleeping Krissy when she heard the strange language. Her ears perked up, and she put her book down.

One of the twins started looking in Lanh’s book bag while the other twin continued to stare at Don. The twin looking in the bookbag looked up at Lanh and said, “Is that your baby?”

“You must be Sandy,” said Lanh. “Your mom told us about you and Madeline.”

The twin nodded her head and pointed at Krissy and said, “Not your baby.”

Don and Lanh looked at each other in surprise. Did the twin know Krissy was not their child because of her hair color? Neither she nor Don is blond, and Krissy is a brilliant bright blond like her mother Karole. Lanh was honest and said, “our baby is in Minnesota with my sister. We just came back from seeing him.”

Sandy looked confused. She pointed at Don and said, “You’re daddy,” then she pointed at Lanh and said, “You’re...” just as she was about to say something, Dr. Roberts opened her office door and said, “Don?” She smiled when she saw Lanh and the baby and said, “Come on in,” then seeing her daughters she glared at them. “Girls! Get back in your office.”

Sandy threw up her hands and shrugged. “Work, work, work. That’s all we ever do. Come on Madeline.” The other twin waited for Don to stand, then she held on to a finger in his free hand and led him across the waiting room to her mother’s office. Don and Lanh sat in the open chairs in Dr. Roberts’ office and Madeline climbed up on Don’s lap while Sandy stood on the chair next to Lanh and watched Krissy sleep. “Is this one yours?” Dr. Roberts cooed.