Matters of the Heart

Chapter 4

"Abbey?"

"Hey you, I kinda expected our reunion to be a little different" Abbey tried to make the situation a bit lighter

"Abbey you're here"

"Of course I'm here." She cradled Jesse's hand in between hers. "Jess, God honey I'm so sorry. I -"

"Abbey stop. It's ok. Youre here now. That's all that matters. That's all I care about."

She tightly smiled at him. And leaned in and gently kissed him. She removed one of her hands to caress his cheek.

"I am here. And I'm not going anywhere. Ok? Not ever again. I'm here Jesse"

Jesse weakly nodded. "Abbey something's wrong."

She seriously nodded. "It's going to be ok, Jess I'm right here. We'll get through it."

"What's wrong? What happened?"

"Patrick found you in your trailer. You were unconcious. "

"Abbey you know something. Don't be a Dr right now. Just be my Abbey"

" We think there might be something going on with your heart."

"Like a heart condition?"

"Possibly. We're running some tests so we can be sure. Your heartrate is really high and your blood pressure is very low. We think that maybe your blood pressure dropped too low and your heartrate went up and your heart went into an arrhythmia which made you pass out. Talk to me. How are you feeling?"

"I don't know where to start. I'm so tired, exhausted. Like I have no energy in me whatsoever."

Abbey softly ran her hand through his hair.

"Just relax. Rest. That's what you need. Do you remember anything?"

"Yeah I remember ending my scene. Being back in the trailer, I had just changed and I was going to go home. That's all I could think about was going home and waiting for you to come home. Because you were coming home. And that's it. Wait - I remember my heart started to beat really fast, like I'd never felt before And I had this pain in my chest and that was it. I remember waking up in the ambulance a couple times then waking up here.. Abbey? You are coming back home right?"

"Absolutely. But not until you do"

He smiled at her.
"You'll be honest with me right? Don't be a Dr with me Abs"

"I promise I'll be upfront with you. I'll tell you what I know"

"Did I have a heart attack?"

"No. No you didn't. Your EKG confirmed it wasn't a heart attack but your EKG was abnormal, there is something going on so we need to figure out what it is. That's why we're running tests"

Jesse took a deep breath and closed his eyes and nodded.

"How are you feeling? Are you in pain?"

He nodded. "Yeah a little. My chest feels tight too."

"We have to wait till some of your tests come back, we can't really give you anything, your BP will bottom out. It's already too low as it is"

"My heart is pounding." He said rubbing his chest with his free hand.

And Abbeys heart was breaking. She hated seeing him like this. So vulnerable. She pulled the stethoscope from around her neck and placed it in her ears. She layed the drum of the stethoscope under his hospital gown to listen to his heart.

She could hear the fast thumping of his heart. Ba boom ba boom ba boom ba boom And then as she moved the stethoscope around she heard it. Ba boom boom. BA boom boom BA boom boom.

"Honey?"

His eyes were now closed. "Mmh?"

"Has anyone ever mentioned a heart murmur to you?"

His eyes opened and looked up at her. He shook his head. "No. But I have one don't I? You hear it?"

She nodded. "It could be anything. A heart murmur isn't always life threatening. Let's wait and see what the tests show"

But he could see it in her eyes, the concern. Just then Dr Tenney arrived back in the room

"Dr Cooper" he said authoritatively

"I'm not treating him, I just wanted to hear his heartbeat."

"And..."

"I think you should have another listen"

She wrapped the stethoscope back around her neck as Dr Tenney walked to the other side of Jesse's bed and listened to his heart. Abbey lovingly stroked Jesse's shoulder.

"I'm definitly hearing several PVCs" Dr Tenney commented.

"Focus on his aortic valve"

Dr Tenney quietly listened for a moment "Ah yep there it is. An aortic valve murmur"

"So what does that mean? What happens now?" Jesse asked looking between his Dr and his girlfriend.

"It still doesn't mean much. We run more tests. I do have the EKG results and some of the blood work"

Abbey looked up "And?"

"I wanted you to take a look..."