Maxon's Revenge -BK2 TPBS - Completed 1st draft

-36-

Not edited.

Again they waited. Waiting seemed to be all that happened in a hospital. This time though there was the best kind of reason for waiting. They sat outside the doctor's office as he finished up with a patient. While they hoped he'd be quick they knew that the family he was with would be hoping just as they had been.

Maxon recognised the man Neil Davis as he walked into the small sitting room. Immediately be could see that the man was walking with a spring in his step. It seemed he was happy to bring them the news he was bringing. Thank God.

After introducing himself to everyone Neil decided to stay in the small sitting room for the seating.

He opened his mouth with words they all wanted to hear.

"Claire will get better. Surgery went really well and while she'll need to be in here for a little while we expect a full recovery."

Silence as relief started to wash over them all was broken by grateful sobbing and mile wide grins.

"What was actually wrong?" Maxon asked as he held Red's hand close to his chest.

"It's actually quite rare for a baby to have the problems she has. I know she was a few weeks premature but it usually occurs in babies born before 26 weeks. After 34 weeks, as I said, it's really rare." He looked at them all and smiled "Laymans terms or technical jargon?"

"Laymans terms." Red said quickly resulting in Neil chuckling at her quick response while he took out a diagram of the heart.

"OK so as you can see I have a picture of a heart here" they all nodded with solemn looks "well the problem was actually her heart and not her lungs or possible respiratory problem. Although her lungs were most definitely affected by it as the blood built up in them, that was apparent by her breathing." He paused before continuing.

"Claire was born with something we call Patent Ductus Arteriosus or PDA. What that means is the duct between the aorta and pulmonary artery stayed open."

"Wait... so the heart isn't actually complete when a baby's born?" Lucas asked.

"Great way to put it. For some babies it closes off in the last weeks of gestation, for most though it closes within minutes of birth but can take a day to happen. For some babies, such as Claire the opening is too big to close on its own."

"What does it actually do?"

"We all know that when a woman's pregnant her baby takes everything from her, including oxygen. The baby only creates a very small amount on their own. It's twice as common for girls than it is for boys."

"Why did Claire get so sick?" Red asked with pain filled eyes.

"What happens with PDA is that the good blood mixes with the bad blood because the wall or duct in this case doesn't separate the two. It puts a strain on the heart and can cause high blood pressure from the effect it has on the lung arteries. If left for any length of time it would cause damage to all the organs in the body."

" So what exactly did you do to Claire in surgery?" Maxon asked.

"Well in simple terms we closed off the wall. A bit more technical and what we actually did was close the duct between the aorta and pulmonary artery so now her blood's flowing through her body as it should... the good blood is separated from the bad and she's getting the right amount of oxygen she needs."

"Why did she..." Maxon couldn't bring himself to say the word.

" Have an extreme reaction shall we say?"

Maxon nodded gratefully.

"Claire's little body had simply had enough."

He watched their faces as the reality hit them of what Claire had been through.

"So what now?" Anna asked quietly.

" Claire should make a full recovery very quickly compared to some other heart conditions. There's still some treatments she needs to go through but the big one was her surgery. Because of how far the pregnancy was along Claire will need check ups over time because she's at a slightly higher risk of  something called Infective Endocartis or IE. That's an infection of the lining of the heart chambers and valves. I'd be very surprised if she ever has that problem."

He stood up after looking at his watch "I have to go for an appointment but if you have any questions at all just ask the nearest nurse to page me."

Maxon stood up from beside Red and held his hand out to shake Neils.

"Thanks doc."

Neil nodded to them all and gave Red a massive grin.

"I'll grab a nurse to take you to see your baby now."

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I PROMISE that little Claire won't fall sick again in this story or any other I write. Poor baby's been through enough.