Chapter 36

By the time we finally arrived at the hospital in Springfield, it was after nine o'clock. Elizabeth was already in the hospital room, visiting with Uncle Bunny, and he was being allowed only one visitor in his room at a time. The nurse had gone in to tell Uncle Bunny and Elizabeth that we had arrived. It was only a few minutes wait, but Mama was being impatient, loudly impatient too. Dad tried to get her to sit and wait, telling her it wouldn't be long before she could go in. He was telling her this when Elizabeth came into the waiting room, and Mama, seeing her, got up and just hurried right on by her, without even bothering to say hello, or to ask about how Uncle Bunny had seemed.

Dad and I greeted her though, and we asked her all the usual questions.

"Bunny says he doesn't want a bypass operation. He wants to have something called angioplasty done, up at the Mayo Clinic, in Rochester. He knows some doctor from up there who claims the angioplasty, with a change in diet and exercise, is just as effective as a bypass operation. Bunny says he's going to undergo a full course of something called chelation therapy too. His attending physician was just in there with the surgeon that was supposed to do the bypass operation. They both told Bunny that he's being reckless with his life. I hope you and Bertie can convince him to do what these doctors are recommending, Tom. Why would Bunny think he knows better than his own doctors? Dr. Tewell, in Ridgeline, he already told him he needed this bypass operation. I never heard of this other thing. They use balloons to push the plaque back and open up the arteries. The doctors inside his room now, they just told Bunny the arteries usually close back up again, mostly in a matter of just a few months."

"Elizabeth, don't worry. Bertie will make him behave. Bunny has always been a little distrusting of doctors, ever since I've known him. He'll come around. When is he scheduled for surgery?"

"That's just it, he just refused to have the surgery performed. He wouldn't sign the consent form. The attending doctor is having his release papers typed up for Bunny to sign. The doctor wants Bunny to sign a document, releasing the hospital, and all his doctors from all liability, if he really does choose to leave."

"Bunny needs to forget about this other stuff. I've heard something about this chelation therapy. I think it's something they use to treat people with lead poisoning. I never heard it helped heart attack victims. They put something in your bloodstream, and it binds with the lead molecules and removes them from the patient's body. I'll go talk to him as soon as Bertie gets out. It makes no sense for him to risk his life, by overruling competent doctors, giving their best advice."

Mama stayed in with Uncle Bunny for about fifteen minutes, and when she came out, Dad went in to see him. The whole time Dad was in with Uncle Bunny, Mama was venting about what a stubborn man Uncle Bunny was becoming. She didn't come right out and accuse her, but from her words, you could tell Mama thought it was Elizabeth's influence making Uncle Bunny go against medical advice to undergo the surgery.

"I think he should have the operation too. I don't know why he thinks that other thing will work better. I was hoping you'd talk him into having the bypass." Elizabeth was visibly upset, and part of the reason was she saw how Mama was fixing to lay the blame right on her doorstep, if anything bad happened to Uncle Bunny.

Dad was only in with Uncle Bunny for about ten minutes, and when he came out, he was as upset as Mama and Elizabeth.

"Bertie, the nurse came in and told me I had to leave. She said I was upsetting Bunny. I wasn't upsetting him, he was upsetting me. He wouldn't listen to a word I was telling him. That man is heading for an early grave, but he still won't listen. I wash my hands of it."

"Thomas, you stop saying things like that about Bunny. He certainly isn't heading for an early grave." Mama had stood up and was advancing on Dad. There was fire in her voice, and anger in her eyes. Dad put both his hands up, with the palms facing out, signaling his surrender.

"Poor choice of words on my part, Bertie, but you know what I meant. I'm damn worried about his whole attitude. He wouldn't even comment when I told him what this chelation therapy was used for. He as much as told me I didn't know what I was talking about. Then, after that, when I asked him, politely, to tell me how this chelation thing was supposed to work, he told me he didn't know. He's betting his life on a treatment he knows absolutely nothing about!"

I'd heard enough from all of them. I slid by Dad, heading into Uncle Bunny's room. It had that hospital room smell, and Uncle Bunny looked up when I walked in the room.

"Did they send you in to reason with me too, Kenny?"

"Hi, Uncle Bunny. No, they're too busy telling each other about how stubborn and reckless you are. Are you okay? Does it hurt bad?"

"I feel fine. Maybe a little weak, and sore from all that damn poking and prodding they keep doing. Phil Tewell is the one who got me into all of this. Those pill pushers don't like it when you don't treat them like they were Gods or something. A friend of mine had a triple bypass a year ago. Poor bastard, they cut his chest wide open, and spread him like a turkey. The guy who went in right before him, he died on the operating table. Eddie made it, but he was sore and worried for months. They use their scare tactics, trying to bully you into doing most of their work for them. Now they've got Eddie eating like a damn rabbit, and out walking five miles a day. I looked it up, this bypass operation. It's damn expensive, around fifty or sixty thousand, and even with it, they haven't been able to prove much beyond the fact it that it reduces angina pain. Do you know why it reduces it? They cut the damn nerve, when they operate, the one that causes the angina pain. They sure hate it when you ask them questions about it too. I'm supposed to just take their word for everything, because they went to medical school. I'll tell you, Kenny, I'd rather croak doing things my way, after I've investigated them, than live by letting them have this sixty thousand dollar crack at spreading open my chest cavity. I know who benefits from every bypass operation, and it isn't the patient, it's the surgical team and the hospital."

"Everyone's really worried. They've been listening to what your doctors have been telling you."

"It's my life, and it's my decision. In my legal practice, if I state an opinion, I'm more than willing to back it up with appropriate citations. I can't go around telling my clients that it's that way, just because I say so. I won't allow them to operate on me just because it's good for them, or because they think I should let them. There have been several long and exhaustive studies done, about whether people were living longer from having or not having this bypass surgery. They skew the results in their own studies by claiming that this one or that one would be dead without their surgical intervention. With the double blind studies though, the data suggests it just isn't true. There's little, if any, correlation with having the surgery, and enjoying an increased life span. I'm going to go with the less invasive procedure. Once the arteries are cleared, I'll diet and exercise, and take those chelation infusions. A lot of people think chelation is quackery, but I'm not so sure. I'll just take my chances, and then we'll wait and see."

"I hope you're right, Uncle Bunny. Are you going to really look into it, and investigate after you have these other things done? Mama is going a little whacko out in the waiting room. She's mad at Elizabeth and Dad. When I leave, she's going to be mad at me too, I guess. I think you should do whatever you have the most faith in. I know how smart you are. I can't believe you'd be refusing to do this if you didn't at least think your way would work better. I sure hope you're right. I love you."

"Ah, speaking of love. Bertie tells me you and your young lady kept her and Tommy up until the wee hours. Good for you. I used to spend quite a bit of time entertaining young ladies in your old room, after Tommy and Bertie were first married. Tommy hated it, but my father seemed to always get a charge out of it. The louder they were, the better he seemed to like it. Hans too. My father and Hans were a strange pairing. Did you know it was my father that taught Hans how to work on cars? It's the truth. The old man loved to go out in the garage and get his hands dirty. He was interested in anything mechanical. He could be a mean bastard, my father, but he always took care of the mechanically inclined people who worked for him. I think Gerta might be the only one of the young German girls who worked at the house that he didn't sleep with. That was out of his affection and respect for Hans."

"She told me he scared her, and that he fooled with her some. She said he was a very powerful man, with a strong animal attraction."

"He liked to dominate people. He had this belief, that most Germans, of a certain class, were very willing to assume a subservient role. After the second war, it amused my father to hire an all German staff. I approach women from the opposite side of the spectrum. I prefer to woo them, rather than order them into my bed. How do you prefer to do it, Kenny?"

"I don't know yet, Uncle Bunny. I guess I'm more like you that way. Sometimes, I just do nothing, and that seems to work all right too."

"You have the best of the two very different strengths Tommy and I had, Kenny. You have the good looks like Tommy always had, and the relaxed, soft approach that I preferred to use. I hear you've been trying to give Tommy pointers on how to elicit a better response from your mother?"

"No. I've been trying to get him to try to find out what she wants. Bea told me he's too selfish in bed. Dad says it isn't true."

"When getting girls has always come easy for you, you have no compelling reason to learn how to provide a woman pleasure. There's always another one who's standing around, willing to take the last one's place. Tommy always felt if he was satisfied, that was enough. I always hoped he'd change, and want to put more of himself into the process. With him, it's a case of not really trying. I haven't had the luxury of being presented with all of his choices. There isn't any bevy of beauties waiting off in the wings, anxious to give me a crack at them."

"I better go. Do you want me to tell Elizabeth to come back in?"

"I'm actually getting a little sleepy, Kenny. Why don't you all go out to lunch, and let me get some rest. I'm supposed to be released at three o'clock today. I'm going to catch a ride back home with Elizabeth, then I'm going to take care of some things that need taking care of. I need to get this done before flying up to Rochester on Wednesday. I tried talking to Bertie about Elizabeth, Kenny, but she's too worried right now, and for whatever reason, she and Elizabeth don't get along. I'm worried about Elizabeth's welfare, if something unfortunate were to befall me. I've put some cash away in the house for her, but it's really only enough for a month or two of living expenses. If something does happen, I want you to tell Tommy that I want him to see to it that Elizabeth doesn't have a hard time of it. She's a nice girl, and I've grown very fond of her."

"I'll tell him Uncle Bunny. You just worry about getting yourself better. Mama will do the right thing by Elizabeth if anything happens to you. I don't know why she worries so much about you and Elizabeth."

"I know she's worried, but I'm having a very good time with my Lizzie. She makes me happy when I come home every night. She isn't complex or demanding either. She's a sweet woman, and she likes being where she is."

Uncle Bunny was discharged, but it was long after three, closer to four thirty before he and Elizabeth drove away. We got a taxi out to the airport, and had to wait thirty minutes for the plane to be made ready for boarding and take off. Mama was even more upset after Uncle Bunny checked himself out of the hospital. We flew back to Bolling, and Hans was waiting for us when we touched down. Before I got in the back of the limo, I asked Hans about Shirley, and he told me she came downstairs at around ten thirty, and he drove her back home.

When we got home, Mama called over to Uncle Bunny's, but they weren't back yet. I got on the phone and called Shirley. It was already after seven o'clock when I called her. I told her about what Uncle Bunny had decided, about not having a bypass operation. She told me that her mom and dad were arguing ever since she got back home, about them both allowing her to come spend the night with me the night before. She said she didn't think they were going to let her do that again, not for awhile at least.

"Kenny, was last night much different for you?"

"It was great. I loved every part of it. What do you mean about it being different?"

"I'm not sure. It just felt different. I loved it too, and I think we both needed a night like that, but it seemed to me like something was different. Different might be the wrong word, maybe I should have said that something was missing from it. It wasn't that the sex was any different, that was great, I had the best orgasms. Maybe it was different because of us not talking?"