A Love Never Forgotten

Chapter 26

The doctor hesitantly continued. "Meryl seems to have Mitral Valve Prolapse with a extremely dangerous murmur. Both of these conditions can't be fixed, but they can be helped. You see, MVP is when a valve "cap", if you will, doesn't close tightly enough. This can cause blood to drip the opposite way that it's supposed to go. Mitral Valve isn't usually dangerous but since it is being mixed with a major murmur, it is life threatening to Miss Davis. Now, to fix the valve issue, we are going to have to conduct a transplant. This isn't going to be fatal to her ice dancing career but, she will be out of training for a month or so. The murmur on the other hand is going to have to be monitored for a week or so. We haven't completely figured out where the murmur came from but I will let you know when we do." The doctor smiled and I looked over to see Cheryl sitting up straight, listening the whole time.

"So, when will the procedure be?" Cheryl asked.

"Well, considering Meryl is in a slight coma, we cannot conduct the surgery for her safety. My colleagues and I are predicting that she will wake up in no less than four days. By then we should have the donor ready."

"When can we go in and see her?" I asked feeling a little more calm.

"You should be able to see her after the surgery. Right now, she needs to be surrounded by doctors and nurses at all times just in case something goes wrong. There's a hotel right next door that is nice but fairly cheap, most of our visitors stay there when they can't see their loved one." The doctor smiled and his pager went off. "Sorry to run, but I have to check on some other patients." As he walked away, I waved politely and prayed that Meryl would wake up soon. I hated to see her in pain but it killed me even more to go so long without seeing her. I have no idea how I did it when I was with Tanith. I decided to go check out the hotel next door, so I left and rented two rooms for me and Cheryl. When I reached the room, I walked to the balcony and opened the freshly clean sliding glass door. I had a perfect view of the Roanoke Star atop Mill Mountain. (For those of you that don't know, the star was built when women were fighting for their right to vote and be equal with men. Every night the star lights up in red, white, and blue to remember the women who built it. Didn't want you guys to be completely in the dark) Tonight the star was all red, which usually meant that there was a bad car accident or a major death in Roanoke Valley. I saw a grand Tuscan style house on the mountain and instantly thought of Meryl. She would love this view. If only she were here...