DISCONTINUED - Kirstie's Heart

Chapter 16

Everyone in the room held their breath as the epi-pen went directly into Kirstie's heart. Thankfully, after the longest second of Melissa's life, Kirstie's heart started beating normally again. Kirstie took in a massive gulp of air, shooting up in the bed. One of the nurses caught her and settled her back down. Avi's heart shatters as Kirstie looked around the room and started to cry. Not caring about what the doctor might say, he move to Kirstie's side and took her hand.

"It's okay baby sister. You're alright. Just breathe. We're here." He said gently. Kirstie rolled towards him, wanting a hug. Avi didn't hesitate to lean on her bed and wrap his arms around her. Reality eventually faded back in, and Avi knew he needed to be out of the way so that the nurses could finish helping Kirstie. They put an oxygen mask on her and put some fluid in her IV, whilst hooking her back up to a bunch of monitors. As soon as they were done, Avi lay down next to Kirstie again and let her cuddle up to him.

"I got you. You're safe. I'll always be here for you baby sis. Try to sleep." He ran his hand through her hair, hoping it would help to soothe her the same way it always had.

As Avi was looking after Kirstie, the doctor asked Melissa to follow him out of the room for a quick chat.

"How is she after that?" Melissa asked.

"Stable for now. We'd have to do some scans to find out why she had a seizure. Especially one so violent. But she responded well to the medication."

"But why did her heart stop?"

"We're not sure. It could be her system adjusting to the pacemaker or the severity of the seizure triggered the attack. We'll continue to monitor her tonight. She may be weaker than usual tomorrow and have trouble speaking. But if she sleeps the rest of the night, you might not even notice."

"Thank you." Melissa was still in shock about how close she had come to losing her little girl.

"For now it looks like she has a very loving brother to protect her." the doctor said.

"Yeah. One of 5 brothers. If they all could've stayed with her tonight, they would have. Didn't want to crowd her too much though." Melissa smiled at protective her sons were of their sister.

"She's a lucky girl to have them. I'll come back every hour to check on her." The doctor gave Melissa a smile and a nod before he left to sort other patients.

Melissa went back into the room, where both Aviand Kirstie were fast asleep. They were so close together, that to theuntrained eye, you wouldn't be able to tell where one ended and the otherbegan. It was going to be hard for Avi to leave for Uni in September. The thoughtcrossed Melissa's mind that he may want to defer going for a year, in the hopethat Kirstie would get her new heart before he left. But Avi was also veryexcited to go to Uni and study with other people like him.