Chapter 52

They were all there in the hospital lounge looking somber, but not distraught. Either nobody had told them anything or Louis was going to recover.

In addition to Sunny and Sandy, Sam and Harri had somehow managed to get there before us.

"Thank God you two are here," said Sunny.

"What's the situation?" asked Jeff.

"We don't know. Nobody is telling us anything," said Sunny.

"How can they not know?" he asked.

"They're still doing tests," she said. "I got a call from his office and came straight here.

"The nurse told me they had to do tests to figure out the extent of the damage and each time I ask they're off doing this test or that. It's almost as bad as the heart attack, waiting and not knowing."

"Where's the doctor?" asked Jeff.

"We don't know," said Sunny. "We just get to talk to the nurse."

"Which nurse is in charge of the floor?" Jeff asked.

"I don't know," said Sunny.

Jeff walked down the hall to the desk and talked to a nurse for a while. She pointed and he disappeared around a corner.

"I don't know why he thinks anybody will tell him anything," said Sunny. "I can't get anything out of them and you know I'm no shrinking violet."

I squeezed her hand.

"Jeff is pretty remarkable. I saw him disembowel my father. It was an amazing sight."

"Thank you," she said.

We sat for a few minutes. I got up, walked over to Sam and Harri and hugged them. Then I went over to Sandy and hugged her. She quivered like she was ready to break down. I held on to her and she managed to regain control of herself.

Before long we saw Jeff walking back down the hall toward us. Beside him walked a man in a white coat with a stethoscope around his neck. It was all we could do to keep from rushing them.

The man addressed himself to Sunny. "I'm Doctor Price. I'd like a few words with you in private about your husband."

"There isn't anybody here that can't hear it. They'll know as soon as I tell them anyway."

He nodded.

"Your husband has had a heart attack which did not cause extensive damage. The prompt treatment he received helped ameliorate the situation. However, two arteries are almost completely occluded and we have to address that immediately.

"We discussed treatment options with him, but he did not seem inclined to make a choice on his own. He said he would go with whatever you and young Mr. Goldberg decided."

Young Mr. Goldberg? That seemed very strange. What was going on here?

Dr. Price continued, "We would ordinarily do a double bypass, taking veins from his leg. But we have an opportunity to perform balloon angioplasty and use new experimental medicated stents which have shown exemplary results in clinical trials. I feel their availability makes this procedure the optimal choice in this case."

"I'm not thrilled about experimental procedures when there is an effective, standard procedure available," said Sunny.

"Balloon angioplasty with medicated stents is not experimental. This is a new stent in trials to be approved. It has shown superior efficacy and has just become available to us through the trials."

"Jeff?" asked Sunny.

"I've seen the study. The results are very good. They haven't been astounding enough for the FDA to shortcut the process, but it's going to be approved unless some surprising bad results turn up.

"It's less invasive, provides quicker recovery and could offer a better chance that it won't recur. I say we should take this option."

And that was that. It wasn't until the next afternoon that Louis was able to fill us in on what had transpired.

The nurse had blown off Jeff the way she blew off Sunny. She was amused when he asked to be directed to the head nurse, knowing that policy was policy, but gave him directions.

The head nurse told Jeff the policy. He asked to speak to the Hospital Administrator about participating in a clinical trial being run by Second Foundation.

Of course Jeff couldn't be sure, he told her, that his father was an appropriate candidate to participate since nobody had told the family what was going on.

"So Jeff told her," said Louis, "maybe he should just speak to the Hospital Administrator tomorrow so he could explain why they had lost the opportunity to participate in the trial, the recognition, the funds it would generate and the opportunity to participate in the future.

"Then Jeff said, 'I'm sorry to have bothered you. I shouldn't have taken up your time. Don't worry, I'll tell him it wasn't your fault; you were just following policy. Nobody expects a head nurse to take any initiative.'

"And he turned and walked away from her, though he could see her turn white before he finished turning.

"I'm surprised you couldn't hear her shout, 'Wait!'

"Anyway, she connected Jeff with the doctor and Jeff repeated his threat slash offer, he put Jeff on hold and had the hospital operator get the Administrator and he explained my condition to Jeff and then the operator broke in with the Administrator and they had a three-way and came out to talk to you," he said, gesturing toward Sunny.