The Good Side of Me

Chapter Fifteen

"Has he woken yet?" I hear someone say.

"No, not yet." Anthony tells them.

"Okay, we're going to go ahead and schedule the surgery for the morning. It's going to be needed eventually and this will stop the fainting and improve his quality of life significantly. I don't like seeing his heart rate in the forty's," the man says.

"Alright, will you try and talk to him again once he's awake?" Anthony asks.

"Yes, of course. Tell one of the nurses to call me as soon as he's awake," he says, and Anthony thanks him.

I can hear what's going on around me, yet I can't seem to open my eyes. Again? I don't remember anyone having a conversation with me about a surgery. Where the hell am I? I ask myself. I try to open my eyes; I can feel them flutter. Anthony must notice as he grabs my hand.

"Blake?" I hear him say. I mumble something that doesn't sound like English in response. "I'm right here baby," he assures me. Finally, my eyes open and I realize I'm in the hospital.

"What the hell happened?" I ask.

"You fainted, twice. They need to take you in for surgery in the morning, okay?" He tells me.

"Oh, I don't remember," I say, ignoring the surgery comment, hoping if I don't acknowledge it, it won't have to happen.

"That's okay. I have to call your mom, okay?" Anthony says, giving me a sad smile. I nod in response knowing he's doing the right thing.

"Hi Kim," Anthony says.

"Anthony, what's wrong?" I hear my mother say, panic in her voice. It's two o'clock in the morning in Toronto, she knows something is wrong.

"Uh, Kim, you guys might want to come down to Santa Barbara. They are taking Blake in in the morning to put a pacemaker in," Anthony tells her, his voice breaking in the process.

"Oh my God, what happened? Chris wake up, you need to call Mike we need to go to Santa Barbara right now," my mother cries.

"He fainted, twice. We called an ambulance the second time and the doctor ran some tests, and he thinks this is ultimately the best option. Blake didn't respond well to that as you can imagine and they had to sedate him, he's just waking up," Anthony says.

"Okay sweetheart, we will be there as fast as we can. Thank you for calling me," my mother says.

"Of course, see you when you get here," Anthony says and hangs up the phone.

The doctor comes in and talks to me regarding the surgery and even though I want to panic about it, I don't have the energy to.

"How long will I live with this in?" I ask.

"This will in no way shorten your life span," he reassures me. "This will simply improve your quality of life."

"Okay," I say, although I'm not quite sure I believe him.

"Try and get some rest, we have you booked in for surgery for eight o'clock tomorrow morning," he tells me, and I close my eyes and drift off to sleep. I wake hours later to the sound of voices.

"Mom? Dad?" I say, sleep evident in my voice.

"I'm here sweetheart," my mother says as she rushes over to me, enveloping me in her arms.

"How are you feeling bud?" My father asks, placing a kiss to the top of my head.

"I'm okay, just exhausted," I tell them. We talk for about an hour, then the doctor comes in and tells me he needs to prep me for surgery.