Austin Carlile Is My Father? (#Wattys2015)

Part 2: Be Not Afraid To Love Me

-------
Austin
-------

Austin cleared his throat as the doctor explained repeated information to him.

"The aortic artery is the main artery in the body which provides oxygenated blood to the circulatory system. It goes over the heart here," the doctor drew a line with his finger at the left side of his chest, "and goes down the front of the backbone. Sienna has something called 'Aortic Dissection', which means the artery was stretching so much because of Marfan's syndrome, that it tore, causing severe pain here," he pointed to his the center of his chest, "and it spread down here." he continued drawing the line down to rest in his stomach area. "The surgery that we had to do was go into where the aortic artery tore and we had to stitch it up with some special stitches to keep it patched together. She needs to be constantly cared for and looked after. She needs to spend at least three weeks here in the hospital, but after that, she can go home. It says here you're from California, right?"

Austin felt himself nod numbly, not knowing what to really say. Everything he had to say was taken away when he heard about how much pain his daughter must've been in.

"Do you travel by car? Or plane?" The doctor asked, scribbling down some notes on the clipboard.

"Erm, we travel by bus, actually," Austin mumbled, still anxious about seeing his daughter; but who could blame him? "But if she needs to get home immediately, we can take a plane-"

"Sienna can't travel by plane with this surgery until she is fully healed and recovered." the doctor explained, looking up at Austin. "Seeing how you're in Pennsylvania, it will be a long bus ride back to Orange County."

Austin nodded, rubbing the back of his neck, feeling a little sorry that he would be missing the New England performances, but Sienna's safety was a bigger concern for him. "We can just drive home when she can leave the hospital. I'll try to arrange a ride home or something."

"There's a train." the doctor suggested. "It goes from here to Oregon, and you could probably ride the bus through the Trinity Alps to get to the other bus station that will bring you home."

Austin nodded, taking note of the directions. "Okay. Uh, c-can I see her? Is she okay?"

The doctor looked a little weary, but he nodded. "Yes, you can see her. She's still sleeping from the surgery and she's extremely weak, so if you would just refrain from making her emotions run high, or make her heart strain, that would be best for her."

Austin felt his mouth go dry as he nodded once again, his eyes trained on the tiles on the ground. The man gave Austin his daughter's room number and he walked down the halls, deja vu running through his veins.

He remembered when Sienna attempted suicide and he had to take the longest walk to her hospital room. He remembered his heart surgery, leaving the hospital, walking down the sickeningly white halls. He remembered walking down the halls to his mother's hospital room, feeling his stomach twist in knots knowing this was his final goodbye to his own mother-

It seemed like an eternity when he reached Sienna's door, the number white and raised against the plastic blue plaque. He almost knocked out of habit, but was numbed by the epiphany that she wouldn't answer. She couldn't answer. She was still asleep. Or knocked out. Or unconscious.

He opened the door slowly, the beeping sound of his daughter's heartbeat filling his ears, causing a wave of relief wash over him. Even though he knew she was going to be okay, he was still comforted by hearing Sienna's heartbeat through the monitor.

His eyes drifted to his daughter who had on a johnny. It was backwards so the ties were loosely around her neck and her hips. Her chest was exposed at the center showing a neat alignment of little black stitches that went from an inch below the beginning of her sternum to the center of her chest. The rest of the johnny was draped on either side of her covering her breasts and coming together above her belly button. She had on some mint green scrubs for her pants and the rest of her lower half was covered with a hospital blanket.