Mending The Doctor's Heart

The next hour went by quickly as Anna dealt with the less seriously injured patients. Nico had never really seen her in action like this. He watched the way she took care of people, assuring them they would be okay while dealing with the most gut-wrenching injuries.

He was exhausted after seeing the burn patients, despite being the one who’d brought them in from the field and knowing what to expect. Anna had walked in cold and not once had he seen her recoil like the tough-as-nails men who had carried the victims to the hospital. Anna always had been bulletproof. One of the many reasons he’d fallen for her. Without question, she was the great love of his life, the kind the legends talked about. Most people never felt this kind of love, and he considered himself lucky to have had it. But now it was time to be a responsible man and take care of his family; a family Anna didn’t want to be a part of.

“Do you have your mother’s chart handy? I can review it.”

He hadn’t asked, but of course she’d offered. Pointing to a computer terminal, he led her there. “Maria insisted that we have our electronic medical records that are backed up on servers in a fire-and waterproof room in addition to off-site data storage. We were able to restart our servers and find a machine that hasn’t been damaged. I’ll have a clerk type in all the handwritten notes you’ve left on the patients.”

Her eyes widened in surprise and his chest bloomed with pride. For their entire marriage, she had been the more accomplished one; she was more educated, made a better salary, had more prospects than he did. She never let him feel it, but it was always there. He hadn’t left the island to go to college. His degree in architecture meant a lot to him, but it wasn’t from a prestigious university like hers. And it was just a bachelor’s degree. He’d never earn as much money as she did. This hospital was his legacy, and he wanted her to be proud of it. That was why he’d begged Linda Tucker to send Anna with him today. He knew she would never have come of her own volition.

“Wow! There are clinics Stateside that still don’t have electronic health records. How did you manage that?”

Smiling, he pointed to the computer and logged in. “The people in Washington, DC, have no idea how efficient we can be with money when we want to. The grant they gave us covered the EHRs, too. Instead of buying one of those expensive ones the companies sell, my friend George designed this database. The man went to MIT. He’s settled in Boston now, but when I called him up to do us a favor, he flew over for two weeks, figured out the specs and then did his computer magic. We had the servers and computers shipped from Japan.”

She nodded. “I always knew you could do anything you wanted. You’ve accomplished more here in a few years than people do in generations.”

“It wasn’t all just me. I hired Maria two years ago and she’s been here right alongside me. She helped write the grant that let us build the hospital.”

Anna turned toward the computer and tapped some keys, but not before he caught the pain in her eyes. Taking credit for everything was easy, but not truthful. He knew how to construct a building but he knew nothing about what it took to run a hospital—Maria had done all that. She had been his partner in every way; his dreams had become her goals. Being with Anna made him forget that, and he wanted to make sure he reminded himself. He owed Maria.

He pointed to various features of the EHR as Anna navigated his mother’s chart.

“Looks like she has stage 3 breast cancer. That’s serious, but not fatal. She hasn’t seen a breast surgeon, which is what I’d recommend. They may suggest surgery or send her to a radiation oncologist. I know some good people in California if you fly her over.”

Nico shook his head. “She doesn’t want to leave the island.”

Anna gaped at him. “Are you crazy? This is her life we’re talking about. She doesn’t have to move there forever, just for treatment. There are even some medical assistance programs if you can’t afford the treatment.”

He bristled. “It’s not the money. This island has been her whole life—she wants to die here surrounded by family, in her home. She doesn’t want to live out her last days thousands of miles away in a sterile hospital.”

“But she doesn’t have to die! The five-year survival rates are pretty good. Treatment means more years of life for her...”

“Yes, but at what cost? Being sick all the time, lying in a bed? She wants to enjoy her last days and go out as the vibrant woman she is. That’s how she wants to be remembered, not as a sick old lady.”

Her wide eyes and slight pout told him that she not only disagreed, but wanted to dig her heels in and make him see things her way. And he wanted nothing more than to pick her up and kiss the pout right off her face.

“It’s okay, Anna, I appreciate what you’re saying, but you know it’s not the way we do things here. My mother wants to die with dignity. She doesn’t want to linger on and be a burden to her family.”

“As a doctor, it’s my job to save people, and your mother is by no means terminal. If you want to be obstinate, fine. There’s only so much I can do.”

“It’s not your place to say how I should or should not live my life.”

Nico turned to see his mother standing there and groaned. Why couldn’t he catch a break? First Uncle Bruno and now his mother. The look in her eyes told him he was in for a long lecture. Approaching her, he spoke softly in Chamorro. “Nana, Anna is trying to help. Please don’t start something. We don’t have to listen to her.”

“You do know I speak Chamorro, and my hearing is perfect.” Anna’s tone reminded him of the time he’d taken her to see the Fish Eye Marine Park and she’d been asked to pay the tourist fee, which was twice as much as the residents’ ticket price. She had planted her feet and given the baby-faced teenager working the counter an earful about how she was just as much a resident as Nico. The poor kid probably hadn’t received that kind of scolding since he was a toddler.

He gave her an exasperated look, remembering why they’d had to buy the house in Tumon Bay to begin with. For some reason, Anna and his mother just rubbed each other the wrong way and he always had the misfortune of being caught in the middle.

Anna stepped up to his mother, and short of physically separating them, Nico realized he wasn’t going to avoid an argument today.

“Nana, I understand that you want to die at home, I respect that. But you don’t have to die at all. Women survive breast cancer and go on to have happy, healthy, productive lives. You can see your grandchildren grow up. Surely that’s worth the sacrifice of getting treatment.”

She’d called his mother Nana. That’s what Anna had always called her. When he’d first introduced the two women, Anna had insisted on calling her Mrs. Atao. That had changed when they got engaged, but it warmed his soul to know she still thought of his mother as Nana.

“Child, when you’re my age, you’ll see that life is about quality rather than quantity. It’s time for me to go. You mainland people fight to the end, painfully eking out every breath. That’s not how we do it here.”

He watched Anna blow out a frustrated breath. She didn’t understand; never had.

“Thank you for looking at her chart,” Nico said. “Let me drive you back.”

She blinked up at him, then shuffled her feet. “Is there someone else who can give me a ride?”

It was just as well. They’d just fight all the way back, and it wasn’t worth it anymore. “I’ll arrange it.”

CHAPTER SIX (#ulink_b18e5fd3-720e-5d46-a748-d74bd921c46a)

“IS SHE GONE?”

Nico didn’t have to ask Maria who she meant. Even in a disaster with the phone lines and internet down, Nana had managed to inform the entire island that Anna was back. Everyone who had ever known or met Anna had stopped by or told a friend to go talk to Maria to rehash what they’d heard and to give her unsolicited advice. So, his normally levelheaded Maria had become a little paranoid about what Anna’s arrival meant.

“Yes, neni, I asked Lenny to drive her back to the field hospital.”