Chapter 3
'When does that stuff take effect?' Tails wondered while aside from soft music coming from a radio, there was silence. "Should be just about ready." Dr. Richardson said. "Can you feel this?" he asked Tails as he poked at the injection area. "Kind of." he said.
"Let's go with a little more." Dr. Richardson said as he filled another needle and injected Tails' leg. The fox braced for the sting but felt nothing. "So when does this start taking effect?"
"Can you feel that?" the doctor asked. "Nope." Tails replied. "Then we're ready." the doctor replied as he grabbed the scalpel.
"Um... why am I still awake?" the fox asked nervously.
"Oh, for a cath, we don't fully sedate. It's a local anesthetic only." Tails didn't even notice when the incision had been made in his leg. 'Alright. Just stay calm.' he told himself. His heart rate was steadily keeping within the mid 90's but he was feeling a little anxiety. He had always assumed every surgery had people fully anesthetized but he wasn't so lucky. Tails tried to lift his head to see what was going on but he still couldn't see anything. If he could, he'd have seen Dr. Richardson grabbing a length of what looked like black tubing and feeding one end into his leg.
"I'm in." he said, focusing on the line in his hands. Tails saw the white circle on the monitor turn gray, outlines of his blood vessels running everywhere. But the most noticeable thing was his heart. He could see it beating in real time, a steady contraction and expansion. 'Amazing.' he thought as he watched the monitor. Then he saw a black line snaking it's way across the screen.
"Alright, let's see what we've got." Dr. Richardson said, slowly feeding the line in. His eyes studied the monitor with laser precision, his hands gently feeding and reeling the line in with miniscule movements as he moved it closer to the top of Tails' heart; then it stopped. "Hmm..." he hummed as his eyes stayed glued to the screen.
"What is it?" Tails asked, unsure of how exactly to take that 'hmm'.
"Oh, it's nothing." he said and fed in a bit more line. Now the fox was getting more concerned. He had been brushed off so casually but that 'hmm' didn't sound casual. "Kind of hard not to."
Then there was another silence for a couple minutes as the doctor played around with the line, feeding it in, eyes focused on the screen. Every once in a while, he'd stop, reach over and fiddle around with something else. "How's it looking?" Tails asked.
"Ok." the doctor replied. 'Well that helps.' Tails thought. 'Wish he'd tell me what's going on; if he sees anything.' Julianna pressed a button on the monitor at her end and the cuff around his arm inflated. "You doing ok?" she asked.
"Yeah." he replied. "Back's getting a little sore- mmm..." he moaned lightly. His heart suddenly began pounding, although it was very light, almost like someone tapping him on the arm and lasted for just a couple seconds.
"You ok?" she asked and he nodded. "Mm-hmm." he nodded. "Just had this tapping in my chest." he said. "Any pain?" she asked and he nodded no. Julianna pressed a button on the cardiac monitor and it whirred, spitting out a strip of paper which she tore off after a few seconds and looked it over. "Don't see anything odd... you have any pain and I mean any, let me know."
"Oh, I will." he said then turned back to the monitor that displayed his heart, but the line began to retract. "Okay, we're all done." Dr. Richardson said as he pulled it completely out and began to close the wound, laying down a few squares of gauze, followed by a sticky plastic film on the fox's leg.
"Don't move that leg for at least an hour so it can close up." he said, pulling his gloves off and tossing them into a trashcan against the wall. Julianna took the BP cuff off his arm as well as unhooking the fox from the monitor. "So that's it?" he asked. The monitor made a steady beep as it lost the signal and Julianna turned it off. "That's it." Dr. Richardson said, standing up.
"You're family should be in here in a few minutes." a nurse said to Tails as she finished hooking him back up to the nurse's station's wireless cardiac monitor. "When can I eat? I'm pretty hungry." Tails said. The last meal he'd eaten was around 6 the night before and hunger was setting in. He hadn't went this long without food and he was starting to shake a bit. "We can bring you something in about an hour when you can move your leg and sit up." she said, hooking the TV remote into it's slot into the wall.
"Ok." he said. "It's just I'm starting to feel a little sick."
The nurse looked down at him with a smile on her face. "Tell you what." she said, pulling the sheet over his legs. "I'll see if I can find something for you to snack on until they can get you a tray. How's that sound?" she asked with a smile. "That'd be cool." he said, a smile on his face as well. He honestly didn't care what it was really as long as it was something. "Thank you." he said to her to which she nodded and walked out. Alone for the moment and having nowhere to go or nothing to do, he flipped the TV on. 'I wish I could get up and walk around.' he thought. His right leg was beginning to hurt from being held still for so long and when the pain got too much, he moved it to the right ever so slightly a fraction of an inch. "Oh thank God." he said as the pain disappeared.
"Hey." Sally said as she suddenly popped her head in the room and walked in, Sonic following close behind her. "How you feeling?" she asked sitting down on the side of his bed; Sonic taking the recliner this time. "Ok." he said. "They told me not to move my leg for an hour but other than that, I'm fine."
"Why'd they say that?" Sonic asked. "It's to keep the wound from opening back up." Tails replied. "All this just so they could shove a wire in there."
"You didn't feel it moving around inside did you?" Sally said. Tails laughed. "I felt this real light tapping around here." he said pointing to the right center side of his chest. "Thought maybe it was bumping into a bone or something; I don't know. But other than the needle they used to numb me with, didn't feel a thing."
*knock knock* "Hey. Managed to find you something." It was the nurse from before, this time holding a package of animal crackers and a small soda with a straw. "Sorry it's not very much. We're restocking our break room right now and this was all we had." She laid them on the table next to his bed and his eyes locked on the crackers. "Thank you." he said, grabbing them and opening the package.
"Enjoy." she said and walked out, but Tails didn't hear her. He was busy with the crackers and threw one in his mouth. His cheeks tingled as it hit his tongue. Going without food that long his tongue was more susceptible to taste and that cracker was like eating gold. "Oh, that's so good." he moaned, putting a couple more in.
Nurses came in and out to make checks on the incision site; a little embarrassing considering he was only wearing the gown and nothing else but and after an hour, they were good on their word and let Tails sit up and brought him a lunch tray. Removing the lid, it was a spaghetti lunch, topped with two small meatballs and sauce, baked zucchini and a roll. A salad sat in a separate bowl as well as a bit of fresh melon. He took a bit of the pasta and while it was indeed bland and one single packet of something labeled 'SEASONING BLEND', he didn't care. He was hungry and in a few minutes, he had it put away.
"And I thought I ate fast." Sonic said as Tails put the lid back on and laid back. "That wasn't the best but I don't care." he said with a smile.
"Feel better?" Sally asked. "Mm-hmm." he nodded. "You sure you don't want to go get something to eat?" he asked. "We'll wait for the doctor to come in." she said. "Yeah, don't worry about us." Sonic said.
Later that day
"Afternoon." Dr. John said as he finally made an appearance. "Hi." Sally said as he grabbed a rolling stool from the wall and sat down. 'Took long enough'. Tails thought. "Well, I've looked over your tests and the results of the cath and we did see several two second runs of arrhythmia as well as a couple bouts of atrial fibrillation while the cath was inside and even though they're showing up only briefly, it's only a matter of time before they get worse. But if we act now, we can control them and keep them from going out of control any further." Sally took a deep breath as she prepared to hear the worst; Sonic reached over and put a hand on her for support. "So what happens now?"
"Well, considering the number of them that showed up during the cath, I would suggest we implant the AICD as soon as possible." he said. "And that'll fix it, right?" Sonic asked. Sally tried to speak but she was fighting back tears.
Dr. John let out a sigh. "Unfortunately no. While Dr. Richardson did find several spots that were causing the natural electrical signals to become disrupted, he did attempt to burn them off and repair the damage, but it didn't work. I'm afraid the only option now is to do the implant." The fox's eyes shifted between Dr. John, Sally and Sonic. He could see the look on his face and it was one many patients and families had when they learned what would need to be done. Sally was fighting to keep her composure as well as Sonic and the reality of the situation finally getting through to Tails. Being young, the naivety of youth had fooled himself with that theory of being 'bulletproof'. However, he didn't feel depressed or any feelings of the sort; it was quite the opposite. If anything, he realized he'd managed to survive something very life threatening and a feeling of gratefulness washed over him. Fate or whatever invisible being had allowed him to live.
He looked over at Dr. John. "When do we do it?" Both Sonic and Sally looked at him and they saw a level of calmness on his face. 'He's not even scared.' she thought as she wiped her eyes. The hedgehog felt immense pride in his brother at that moment as the fox faced what would probably be the biggest trial in his life.
"In the next couple of days. In the meantime, I'd like to start you on a beta blocker to reduce the risk on any arrhythmia's until we can actually implant the device. But in the meantime," he stopped to close the folder. "there's a few papers you have to sign and I'll get some material for you to read up on."
"That should do it." the nurse said as she gathered up the papers Tails had signed. Mostly what the procedure was and that he agreed to undergo it but one that unnerved him a bit was the advanced directive in case he couldn't make decisions for himself or if he needed CPR etc. etc. Those choices had been left to Sally or Sonic naturally but it was scary to say the least at some of the things he had to decide on. If his heart stopped, would he want everything done possible to try resuscitation, CPR only or nothing at all. Of course he said do everything without a second thought, but he couldn't figure out why anyone would want nothing done. But everything was signed and dated and it was agreed to happen in two days at 10 am.
While they were signing that, a hospital worker had pushed a large TV on a cart into the room. On the bottom shelf sat a VCR and a tape. It only had one marking on it and it was 'Living with an AICD'. The nurse that brought the paperwork in went over and turned the TV on then put the tape in. "This should only be about 10 minutes and should answer any question's you might have. Course if you have more we'll be happy to answer." she said with a smile, started the tape and left.
"Anyone got popcorn?" Sonic asked and they chuckled as the tape began. It started out with an overview of what his condition was which they already knew about, then moved onto the device itself. It was a small silver object which was in a kind of egg shape; along one side was a raised section of plastic where the wires would be inserted to send out the signals. In all, it was about 5 inches long and a half inch wide. "Doesn't seem as big as I thought it was." Tails said. "I know." Sally said. "The way they were talking about it had me thinking it was the size of a remote control."
"This device," the woman narrating the video said as a picture of it popped up. "is set to monitor arrythmia's from your heart. The pacemaker portion of the device maintains a regular rhythm to keep your heart beating normally. It does this by sending a pulse through your chest that is not painful called a 'burst'. However, if an arrythmia is detected that cannot be calmed down by bursts, the defibrillator will fire until it is under control. Most patients feel no discomfort from their device, however, some do feel a sensation often associated with falling when a burst occurs. It's not uncommon to feel a couple of bursts in a row but if they are frequent, tell your doctor or cardiologist." The video faded to black, then showed an older human female standing at a sink washing dishes. "All patients can generally perform normal activities as their condition allows, however, consult with your doctor to ensure what level of activity is acceptable for your condition."
That allowed Tails to breathe a major sigh of relief. Hearing that he'd have this piece of metal inside of him, he thought that he'd be handicapped to an extent but it was nice to know that there was a good chance that he could still have a somewhat normal life; hearing that took the same amount of worry off both Sally and Sonic's mind. Tails was very active and they couldn't imagine him being forced to limit his activities. "However, there are a few precautions a patient must take with an implated device. With this device, strong magnetic fields can have an adverse effect on the device and possibly shut it off. These include magnets, security wands, CB antennas and theft prevention gates in certain businesses. If encountered, move away from the source as quickly as possible. Alert security personnel that you have an AICD and tell them their wands would disrupt your device. However, microwave ovens are permitted to be used by patients. Modern microwave's have sufficient shielding in place to keep any harmful interference at bay. Most patients worry that air travel is not possible with a device. However, there isn't sufficient magnetic..."
Hearing that he could no longer be around magnetic fields worried him. If that wasn't possible, then a good 50% of his work went out the window. Most of it had a magnetic field output or something similar that could damage the device. While some weren't magnetic fields per se, a few were similar and had the possibility of having the same effect. But, if microwaves were safe, it could be possible to have some form of shielding that would block any harmful effects. As quickly as that worry came it left as he immediately had a project to work on.
(I want to say really quick that this part was in the actual video I watched before I had my first device put in and I had to include it as, while it's funny looking back on it now, it was embarrassing to see with my family watching it along with me.)
As the video continued, it once again faded to black then a title screen faded in to a couple sitting down to a nice dinner. But what followed made things a bit uncomfortable for the three. "Most patients with a device wonder if sexual activity is no longer possible." Tails felt his face flush immediately, while both Sonic and Sally felt a level of uncomfortableness. They had already had the talk with him but it still, this kind of thing was hard to listen to with family.
"Again, in most cases you should discuss with your doctor if sex is possible with your condition. If you are cleared to do so, sexual activity could trigger an arrhythmia and your partner may feel a portion of the electrical shock. If this happens stop, wait for any shocks to stop and consult with your doctor about any further activity."
'Oh God.' Tails thought. If he could, he'd jump into a hole and hide along with Sonic and Sally but thankfully the video quickly went into medications then wrapped up.
Later that day
"We'll be back tomorrow." Sally said as she bent down to give Tails a kiss on the cheek. "Go easy on the nurses bud." Sonic said with a grin.
Tails waived and they walked out. "You think he's ok?" Sally asked as a nurse passed by. "I think so." Sonic said as they rounded a corner. "Just be there for him like we've been doing and take things one step at a time." They came up to a bank of elevators and Sonic pushed the call button.
With them gone and aside from the occasional nurse coming and going, he had his thoughts to keep him company once again and he used the opportunity to try to come up with a way to counteract any harmful interference his new device could encounter and flicked the TV on for background noise. But without any of his equipment it wasn't easy to come up with many ideas as he lacked the means to test and the only theory he could come up with was the possibility of some kind of vest that would have the means to block out anything that could be harmful to him after the surgery. 'Maybe they can bring my laptop up tomorrow.' he thought as he turned his attention to the TV. Nurses came in and out taking vitals and drawing some more blood as well as starting him on a medication to begin controlling his arrhythmia's but other than that, the rest of the day was uneventful and around 9 he fell asleep.
"Sir? I need to take some blood from you." a voice said quietly. The fox opened his eyes and yawned. "Mmm..." he murmured groggily. It was another lab tech, this one a female canine Mobian. "They did already..." he murmured, blinking from the overhead light above the bed shining into his eyes; he saw on the clock that it was barely after 10 pm. "I know they did." she said pulling out vials and a needle. "But they ordered draws every 6 hours."
"Mmm..." he moaned, offering his arm with little resistance. "Wish they would've told- hnk!" he yelped as the needle pierced his skin then subsided as quickly as it came. "Sorry." the woman said as the vial quickly filled with blood. "It's done."
"Thank you." he said as she placed a sticker on the vial and walked out. 'Kind of odd thanking her for sticking a needle in me...' he thought as he drifted off to sleep. But that was again interrupted at 4 that morning for another draw. The following day was pretty much a repeat of the previous. Sonic and Sally came for another visit, this time bringing his laptop at his request and when they left, he started looking for ways to shield the device from potential harm. After just a few minutes, he discovered AICD's had a substantial amount of shielding in place already and the only major worry would be magnets coming in close proximity to him, about 1 to 6 inches depending on the size and strength of a magnet. While the projects he was currently working on along with the force field that was in development did have a similar output, it didn't produce interference in a range that would be harmful. That took a hefty burden off his mind since it meant he wouldn't have to put any of his projects on hold or come up with some kind of outer shielding. However, that didn't mean he couldn't research something just to have as an extra means of precaution.
When they brought his dinner to him, he was in such a good mood that he didn't even care that it was a small piece of fish with lemon wedges, broccoli and plain rice. That meal however, would be his last until after the surgery tomorrow. At midnight, he would be marked 'NPO' which meant no food or water until after his procedure. But it didn't bother him as one, he didn't eat much and two, he had already eaten. Even his 10 pm blood draw went flawlessly. No pain from the needle stick, the blood flowed quickly and the tape even managed to stay stuck to his fur until the bleeding stopped. "You seem happy tonight." the tech said as he slapped the information sticker on the vial.
"Oh, you bet." Tails said with a smile. "I thought I wasn't going to be able to do what I normally do after they put that thing in me tomorrow but turns out I can. Just have to watch out for magnets."
"What're they doing?" he asked, as he wrote down something on paper. "Putting in an AICD." Tails replied. "At your age?" the tech said. "Eh." Tails shrugged. "Stuff happens." The tech nodded as he placed the vial in a box. "Least you're in good spirits. Have a good night."
"You too." Tails said as the tech walked out. The fox turned the TV off, clicked off the light and drifted off to sleep.
"Jeez..." Tails moaned quietly as he woke up. He sat up on the side of the bed, the room still dark. "Three forty eight...?" he murmured as he dragged himself into the bathroom. He had gotten sleep but it hadn't been restful. He was groggy and could tell he'd been tossing and turning all night. Walking out, he went over to the window instead of climbing back into bed. His room was on the 4th floor and it overlooked the city. Cars zipped by in the early morning darkness, white dots moving swiftly and the buildings and streetlights giving their white and yellow lights washing the ground in an orange hue; stars dotted the sky as an airplane crossed the sky, it's blinking light dancing around the sky.
"Sir?" a voice called out behind him. "Yes?" Tails turned around to see a nurse standing in the doorway. "Are you OK?" she asked. He noticed a look of concern on her face. "Fine. Why do you ask?"
"Oh. We saw on the monitor you had a run of arrhythmia for a couple seconds bout two minutes ago. Did you feel any palpitations or pain?" Tails shook his head. "No. All I did was get out of bed."
"You didn't feel anything when you woke up did you?" Again, Tails shook his head no. "Ok. Well let us know if you do." she said and walked out. The fox walked over to the bed and sat down. "Gonna be four soon. Might as well wait for them to take blood." he thought pulling out his laptop.
"Good morning." Dr. John said as he into Tails' room early that morning before 9. Sonic and Sally had gotten there just before 8 so they could spend as much time with him as they could before his procedure. However, they didn't have much time together. Dr. John came in with Dr. Richardson in tow to meet with everyone one last time, answer any final questions they had then take him back for surgery. Aside from asking how long it would take they didn't have any other questions.
After the doctors left, two nurses wearing surgical scrubs came into his room and unhooked him from the floor's wireless monitor and to a portable monitor so they could keep an eye on him until they got back in the holding area. The nurses slowly wheeled his bed out of the room, Sonic and Sally in tow close behind. Tails began to feel anticipation build in him and when they reached the double doors that led to the O.R., the nurses stopped to allow them to speak to each other before they took him in.
Sally went first, bending down and kissing him of the cheek. "We'll be here when you come out." she said with a shaky smile which he returned; he could see she was using every fiber of her being to keep from crying, however a tear fell down her cheek. Sonic went next, giving him a big hug. "See you when you get back." he said.
"Love you both." he told them then nodded at the nurses and they opened the doors and wheeled him through. Tails raised up and watched Sonic and Sally until the doors closed separating them.