Is This A Side Effect? {Closed AU for OrderBeforeVirtue}
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A pale hand felt along the dresser top, searching for the cell phone vibrating across the surface. Finally coming into contact with the smooth plastic, Youmei pulled himself out from the blankets to check the caller ID, bleary eyes only barely recognizing the phone number of the hospital. Flipping the clamshell open, he placed the receiver to his ear, "this is Youmei," he answered, stifling a yawn.
"Ah, mister Cao? My name is Laura Davis, I'm the nurse coordinator at Racine Hospital," came the feminine voice from the other end, the sounds of various ringing and beeping machines in the far background. "I'm sorry to call so early in the morning--"
"It's fine," he responded automatically, looking up at the clock on the wall, only to find that it was still too dark to read. Instead, he pulled his phone from his ear briefly to read the digital time: 2:17 am. "How can I help you?"
"I'm calling to schedule your pre-operatory screening; a new donor heart has become available, and you've been selected to receive it."
He'd already been at the hospital for a few hours when the surgeon was finally called to go over the procedure, after answering a long series of questions and being placed on immunosuppressants. They went carefully over each and every step, the surgeon calmly explaining the time each step took and exactly what was going to be expected of him.
So, in the end, it was decided that he was going to have a double heart. Instead of depending completely on the new heart to support his system, his original heart was going to be left in place, and the second heart would be attached, adding an additional set of valves to to support his already weakened artificial ones.
"Do you know who the donor is?" Youmei was certain that the surgeon didn't have that kind of information, but it couldn't really hurt to ask.
Shaking her head, she shrugged, "all I know is that the donor was proclaimed brain dead four hours ago, and that the blood type matches yours. There isn't much information that goes into the transplant waiting list about individuals."
Looking down, the surgeon checked her pager, "Looks like it's en route. The anesthesiologist will be in shortly to discuss a few things with you, and then I believe the nurse has a couple of things for you to sign. I'll see you again in the OR, but do you have any family in the waiting room you'd like me to keep updated?"
Youmei shook his head, smiling lightly despite his nervousness, "No, I came on my own. There isn't really anyone to notify who lives in this area, but once I'm in recovery, I'll take a selfie and Instagram it, then wait for the messages to roll in."
It had been four days since the surgery, and Youmei had been more than restless in the ICU, but with all of the painkillers they had him pumped up on, he was hardly awake for more than a few hours a day. The first day had been excruciating, the only fuzzy memory he had was what must have been an intern with red hair at his bedside during the short hour or so he'd been conscious enough to eat a little jello and drink a little water, despite the fact that he didn't have any appetite.
The second and third days hadn't been much better, but he hated laying around in and out of consciousness when he knew there was still school work to be done. He'd requested that an email be sent to his professors, alerting them of the situation, but he hadn't followed up to see if any of them had received the message. Late into the second night, he'd seen that same volunteer, or what he assumed to have been them. Someone had stood outside of the privacy curtain for a few minutes, but Youmei couldn't remember hearing anything.
Today however, the pain was still severe, but the medications seemed to finally be working, and he was able to be awake for the last three hours without much incident. He'd recently made a post on Facebook about being in the hospital, and as expected it had reached far beyond his small social network and into the strange realm of well-wishes from distant acquaintances. It seemed that none of his family members had seen the status, however it wasn't really a point of concern. If they saw it, they saw it; if they didn't, well, there wasn't much they could do living so far away, anyway.
The ward nurse peeked into the curtained area, and Youmei waved her inside, knowing she was just here to check the various instrument panels. "Greetings, mister Cao," she chirped, stepping inside, "how are you feeling today?"
"Better than yesterday, thank you," he nodded, looking up at his IV fluid, "though I'll probably need a new IV in about twenty minutes. I can't seem to keep hydrated; is that fine?"
Nodding as she checked his pulse rate and blood pressure, the petite woman scribbled down a few numbers before answering. "It's relatively fine at this stage, your body is using a lot of water for other things, but we expect you to regulate out in the next few days. So far, you're right on schedule. Are you feeling any excessive weakness, or flu-like symptoms?"
He shook his head slowly, not wanting to aggravate the mild dizziness, "no, just sore and tired. There was someone in here the other day testing my grip strength, and it seems to have improved." He was relieved to hear that there didn't seem to be any complications, maybe there wouldn't be any side effects at all. "By the way, Angie, you're the midday shift nurse, right? Who's on the morning and graveyard shifts? I've met Loretta once, but I had no idea what time it was."
Tapping the pen to her chin as she checked another humming machine, the girl tilted her head in thought, "Well, Loretta is the morning shift, and Caroline takes evening, but sometimes she switches with Sahara for the midnight shift. Then Susanne and Raymond float from department to department to fill in wherever. Why do you ask?"
"Does Raymond have kind of... reddish hair?" he asked, tilting his head.
"No, his is short and black, he hasn't been down here in a while. But Sahara is red-haired."
That wasn't what he was expecting to hear at all. The figure he'd been seeing was definitely male, so who in the world..? "Ah, it must have been her then. I think the medication is keeping me more tired than I thought I was... do you mind turning it up a bit? I'd like to get a little more sleep."
Peeking at the instrument dial, Angie nodded, "I can turn it up, but only for a few hours because of your weight. You're too skinny, so make sure you eat a lot once you're discharged, promise?"
"I promise," he laughed quietly, pressing the button to recline a little more.
"Thank you," she grinned, obviously teasing him. "Good night, mister Cao. Sleep well."
