Their afternoon went by in a blur of testing. AJ lost track of all the acronyms that were bandied about. What he focused on was Brian. When AJ was allowed to be there he was right by his side. For other tests he had to wait right outside. But afterwards he always went right back in. Nothing was going to keep them apart for very long.
At three a nurse came and fetched Brian to the back room for his TEE test. As annoyed as AJ was by the fact, he had to wait out in the waiting room for it to be done. One of the nurses who had been assisting them all afternoon kindly told him that it would be a few hours, between prep, the medication administration, and the test itself. After that he would be allowed to go back with Brian for them to see the results, and to help him out and home. She suggested that AJ go to the cafeteria and get something to eat.
With a smile, AJ got directions from her and set off to find it, with the promise that if Brian got done before he got back, his cell phone would be paged.
Ten minutes later AJ was sitting in one of the cafeteria booths with his had pulled down low and a coffee and a muffin in front of him. He sighed and pulled out his cell phone to check the time and see how long he was going to have to wait. There were a few missed calls on there, from Nick and Howie and, surprisingly, Kevin.
Taking the safest route, AJ turned his Bluetooth device in and hooked it to his ear before dialing Howie’s number. His best friend picked up after two rings. “Hey! About time you answered your damn phone!”
“Sorry, we’ve been a bit busy around here.” AJ sighed. He added sugar to his coffee, stirring it with the straws. “We got in, grabbed some food from the store, then went-son of a bitch.” AJ cut himself off, scowling down at the muffin. He ignored Howie’s frantic ‘What?’ for a second as he racked his brain. “Well, hell.” He finally said. “I think we left our groceries in the foyer. God dammit. I’m going to have to go get more meat, now. Bri’s gonna get cranky about that.”
“AJ, you idiot, you scared me to death! God, just call a shopping service and have them send some over. He’ll never know the difference.”
“Hm, good point. Ok, sorry about that. Any who, as I was saying, we toured the house and shit. Man, D, you see his house? It’s fucking beautiful. I mean it. God, I could stay there forever.” AJ took a sip off his coffee and allowed himself to daydream for a minute.
“I’ve seen pictures Nick’s showed me. How’s Brian doing?”
AJ shook his head in an effort to come back to reality. “Oh, right. Sorry, D. Like I said, been one of those days, and really not much sleep to speak of.”
“Wait a sec, J, the others just came in. I’m going to put you on speakerphone.” There was a shuffling sound, then a small thud as the phone was set down. “Ok, you two sit down, don’t loom over the damn thing. I’ve got it turned up pretty good. All right, J, we’re here. Go ahead.”
So Kevin and Nick were there, huh? AJ bit his tongue to keep from saying something to Kevin that he would regret. “Well, we went in and saw Dr. Lorry this morning. I like the guy, he’s a real cut up. Apparently he likes me too, cause he told Bri to keep me around. But he set us up for tests, which we’ve been doing for the past three hours. I’m waiting in the cafeteria right now while they do some transesophageal echo thing where they make him swallow the echo thing and its tube and do the echo from the inside. Brian wasn’t too fond of it, but he’s doing it.”
“He hated that thing last time.” Kevin’s voice said softly. “It gave him a hell of a sore throat last time. He doesn’t typically stay groggy from anesthesia though.”
“Good to know you fucking care.” AJ snapped out before he could stop himself. Someone across the cafeteria looked at him funny and he mouthed an apology, gesturing to the Bluetooth in his ear before turning back to the muffin he was slowly breaking apart.
“AJ….I was wrong to blow at you like I did. You didn’t deserve me talking to you that way.” Kevin said gently. “I’m sorry.”
“You didn’t say anything to me that hasn’t been said a million times before. I don’t care what your opinion of me is, Kev. But you talked about Bri like he was an idiot; like he’d done some big sin just because of what he felt and all that. There he was, telling you two things that were super fucking hard for him to say and you basically shit on it.”
There was silence, and AJ thought he could barely hear Nick say “Told you so.” But then Kevin was speaking again, and AJ didn’t bother wasting time to wonder what Nick had said. “I know, Alex. You’re right. When I talk to Brian, I’ll apologize to him. But it was important to me to apologize to you too. Are we ok?”
AJ leaned back in his seat and took another drink off his coffee. “Yeah, we’re fine. Not like Bri’s pissed at you anyway. He told me you’d regret what you said by today, if not earlier. He’s nicer than I am.”
“Aint that the truth!” Howie teased.
“Yeah, shove it, D.”
“So!” Nick piped up, cutting them both off. “He’s doing ok, though? Is he ready for us to come out yet? An what does this test do, exactly?”
“Yes, no, and from what Brian told me, it’ll basically give them a clear picture of the hole and tell us how big it is. Bigger than like, 6mm and it’s open heart again. Smaller, and they can do something called key hole surgery, which is newer I guess. What that one does is go through a blood vessel in the groin of all places…”
“Fuck” Nick swore.
“…and they go up the vessel to your heart where they’re watching with x-ray and ultrasound shit. They go by the hole of your heart and open the left part of this disk, and pull it against the hole, and then open the right side, so that the hole is pinched between the two, basically. Then they detach it and pull out. It’s an outpatient procedure, with maybe an overnight stay.”
The line was silent for a minute. AJ took advantage of the moment to force his body to eat some of his crumbled muffin. He needed food, whether he liked it or not. Worry had it tasting like ashes on his tongue.
“How soon will you guys know after the test?” Howie asked. His voice was low and serious. AJ could almost see the stress lines that would be between Howie’s eyes.
“Dr. Lorry said that they can really read them pretty accurately almost immediately. If Brian’s alert enough, he’ll explain it to us today.”
“How long does the test take?” Nick, this time.
“Could be a couple hours. I’ve been waiting for, oh, about thirty minutes so far.” Already he was going insane with waiting. That was one thing AJ knew about himself. He was not a patient person. Most especially when it came to something this serious, and about the one person in the world he loved the absolute most, next to his own mother. “I’m about killing for a smoke, but I don’t want to go too far just in case something goes wrong. Coming this far was hard enough.”
A passing Nurse stopped by his table, reaching out to touch his arm. AJ tilted his head up to her with a panicked look, thinking that it had something to do with Brian. The woman was elderly, her white hair held back in a bun, and her face had the lines that showed the woman had laughed a lot through her life. “I couldn’t help overhearing you.” She said gently. “That door over there…” She pointed off to their left at a door that said ‘Employee’s Only’. “…that leads to the cafeteria back room, and in there on the right is a door outside for smoking. You just tell them Sally Pringle sent you, and they’ll let you on through, young man.”
Gratitude flowed through AJ. “Thank you, Sally.” He said. Impulsively he grabbed her hand and kissed it. “You’re a Goddess among mortals.”
“Oh, get on with you. I can’t resist a pair of sad eyes.” She gestured him away with a flush.
In his ear AJ could hear his friends laughing, but he didn’t care. He scurried over to the door with his coffee in hand. When he opened it a woman was on the other side. She opened her mouth to talk to him, but before AJ could say what the woman told him, Sally Pringle herself called out “I sent him, Jan!”
The younger woman’s frown turned to a smile and she gestured him on through. Grateful, AJ grinned and darted to the other door. Once outside he was reaching for his pocket and pulling out the little metal tin he carried his smokes and lighter in when he was out and about.
“Those’ll kill you one day, Age.” Howie said casually. He never pushed the issue, but he never failed to remind AJ from time to time either.
“Blah, blah, cancer sticks, emphysema.” AJ faked a cough for good measure as he brought the lighter up. He puffed his smoke to life. “I’ve heard it all, D, and honestly, while my other half is up there having an TEE done is not really the best time to lecture me on smoking.” AJ inhaled that first drag like it was heaven. His eyes closed and he let out a small, fake moan. “Plus, right now, I think this is almost as good as sex.”
Someone outside laughed, catching AJ’s attention. He opened his eyes to find out that he wasn’t alone. Two men and another elderly woman were sitting on a picnic table, smoking their own cigarettes. He gave them a sheepish grin. “Sorry about that. I didn’t realize anyone else was out here.”
“That’s all right, son.” The older woman said. “I heard Sally shout to Jan, so I knew someone was coming. Sally never can resist sad eyes like yours.”
“Funny, she told me the same thing.” AJ said with a grin. Quickly he told the guys that he’d call them back and powered off his Bluetooth. With a gentlemanly smile he stepped toward the crowd and held out his hand, shaking the two men’s hands, and then the woman’s. “I’m AJ, by the way, and I’m going slightly insane.”
One of the guys introduced himself as Rich and apologized for leaving as he headed inside to get back to work. The other man said his name was Mark, and the woman was Ethel. A rather old fashioned name, AJ thought to himself, but it suited her surprisingly well.
“Do you two work down here in the cafeteria?” he asked conversationally.
“I do.” Mark replied. “But this old bat works up on the cardiac floor.”
“Old bat? I swear, young man, I’ll still hurt you. Just because you’re my sister’s son, don’t think I won’t!” Ethel turned back to AJ and gave him a wide grin. “You pardon my nephew.” She said.
Someone poked their head out the door, catching their attention. “Mark? Your wife’s on the phone.”
“Excuse me.” Mark said as he quickly put out his cigarette and rushed inside. Ethel laughed and gestured for AJ to join her on the bench. He took a seat by her side, suddenly glad that he’d come out here. Talking to anyone was better than sitting around waiting. “Like I said, pardon my nephew. He just got married a month ago.”
“That’s wonderful. Congratulations to him and your family.”
“Thank you, young man.” Ethel blew her smoke up into the air before turning to look at him again. “So what’s got you going slightly insane?”
AJ took another drag while he picked at his finger with his free hand. “A friend of mine is up there getting a TEE done. Apparently an ASD that’s been under control for a while Is doing something to him, and they’re afraid that his last open heart might have caused the hole to open more.”
“Nasty business, those ASD’s. Well, I’ll say a prayer that he can qualify for the key hole surgery. Much easier on a body.” She ground her cigarette out in the ashtray, flashing him a glance from the corner of her eye. “Some friends you must be if this test has you going insane.”
“You could say that.” AJ put his smoke out as well, but immediately lit another one. His hands were shaking and that irritated him. He was not going to think about drinking. He did not have time for a craving to hit him. Sheer force of will pushed those thoughts down. “We’re all a pretty tight group.”
“I’ve seen that. You can tell your friendship’s strong in your pictures.” At AJ’s surprised look, Ethel let out the a raspy laugh of a woman who’s smoke for too many years. “Child, I knew who you were the instant you came out. Got granddaughters, don’t I? I’ve heard all about Brian and his heart problems. My sympathies to him that they’re coming back.”
AJ shook his head in wonder and smiled at this old woman. “You sneaky woman you.” He marveled.
Still chuckling, Ethel climbed to her feet. She reached a hand out to pat AJ’s cheek gently. “I saw his name on the charts earlier as well. I also saw you two before I came down here for my break. Maybe you don’t want others to know, and my lips are sealed on this, but you’ve got yourself a good man there. There’s love in his eyes when he looks at you and in you for him. You hold on to that. It’s special when you find it.” That said, she left him alone, smoking and amazed.