Love You Through It
by Castlefan6
Authors Note: SnowKing1701 PROMPT REQUEST - They get together early in the series and a health scare tests their love, but not separate them. We may take liberties with the events and timeline from Canon and use events to make this a more believable fiction, Warning THIS IS AU, with only brief flashes of Canon. MAJOR CHARACTER ILLNESS, NO DEATH PROCEED WITH CAUTION, SENSITIVE SUBJECT MATTER
Thanks for the Prompt SnowKing1701, I hope I do it justice.
I don't own Castle; I use the characters for amusement purposes only, except the ones I create.
Previously
Just as they broke, Alexis and Lanie were back, they were only allowed to hug her and say goodbye then they started to wheel her out of the room. Rick walked with the cart, holding her hand until they reached those double doors with the sign Authorized Personnel Only, No Admittance. The cart stopped, Alexis hugged her,
"We love you Mom, we'll be here when you wake up, and I'll watch over Dad" then she kissed her cheek, and turned quickly away tears streaming down her cheek,
Lanie patted the young girl on the back then slipped into the place she just vacated,
"Hey, don't be so stubborn in there, you here, we got you out here, and I'll help Alexis take care of Writer Man, you just let the doctors take care of you," she hugged her,
"Thanks, Lanes, I'll see you soon," Kate said, beginning to relax from the IV,
Finally, Rick stepped in and kissed her, "Babe, we'll be right here, just let the doctors do their thing, OK? I love you more than life itself, remember that, I'll see you soon"
"Always" she whispered as she kissed him and then the cart was wheeled through the double doors, leaving Rick alone.
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A/N OK Hold on, here it comes, and before I get reviews about medical procedures, please don't. I researched as much as I could and as I said, I will sacrifice medical correctness any day to keep the story one that my readers care to read and get emotionally involved in. Just a warning, this is a TT or TWO TISSUE Chapter.
Chapter 11
Mt Sini Hospital
New York
9:57 AM Day of Surgery
Rick was pacing in the waiting room, the doctors had said the surgery should take approximately 45 to 90 minutes, all based on what the doctors found once they had visibility to the tumor. It had already been over two hours since the surgery began, and he had heard nothing from the doctors. He had approached the volunteer at the information desk who had called back three times trying to get some information for him.
"Mr. Rogers, sometimes the operating rooms get backed up and the surgery of your loved one gets delayed, try to stay calm and I'll have my supervisor go back and find out what is going on. I'm sure it was a scheduling conflict, it's quite common" she tried to sound reassuring, but by this time Rick was past worried. Alexis and Lanie had also reached the point of the frustration of not knowing.
"Lanie, what are you doing here, don't you work with patients once, well at another stage?
Lanie turned and grabbed the tall doctor into a bear hug, "Hi Eric, how long has it been, are you on staff here now?" Lanie asked
"Yes, I am, I transferred out once Tony and I split, we decided it was best if we didn't work together, and well Mt. Sini had an opening for me, so I took it and left him at Los Angeles General. What brings you to the surgical waiting room, hope it's not your family?"
"Oh my God where are my manners, I'm so sorry, Eric this is Rick Rogers and his daughter Alexis, his wife had a lumpectomy done earlier, actually much earlier and we can't get any information on what's going on."
"Good to meet you, let me do this, let me run back and check out Dr. Benavidez OR stats and see if I can get you an update, OK? I'll be back in a few minutes, we need to catch up Lanie, for sure."
"Thanks, Eric, we appreciate anything you can find out."
Xx
Two Hours Previously in OR 2
Doctor Benavidez had gone through the preparation of marking the actual breast tissue, following the temporary markings Ciara had applied and has isolated the area he wanted to begin to remove the tumor. Using the scan as his roadmap, he was fairly confident that he would be very close, but not on top of the tumor, that was important, it had to be removed intact along with the surrounding cell wall to prevent, or at least minimize the chance of the cancer re-occurring.
"May I have a 10 Blade please," then he began his cut, gently, pulling back the tissues, then he switched to the tool know as an electrocautery knife, which cauterized the small vessels around the area, minimizing blood loss.
"How are we doing Dr. Pike?" he asked the doctor charged with keeping track of her vital signs, blood pressure, pulse, heart rate, and oxygen levels,
"Her O2, levels are lower than I like, we can't linger I have her on full throttle, so we need to find out why her oxygen levels are so low, once you remove the tumor. We don't have a lot of time, the stats just dropped again," Dr, Pike yelled out.
Dr. Benavidez located the tumor and alerted the nurses to get Cardio on call down to the OR, Stat. He didn't like the signs he was seeing any more than Doctor Pike.
Once he removed the tumor, he quickly moved to start excising the tissue around it, but the monitors went off, loud, beeping the awful notification that someone was in distress and could die if measures weren't taken quickly. As Doctor Pike moved into position, he removed the last piece of tissue he could and placed the surgical staples as neatly as possible, then stood back transitioning into support rather than the lead physician.
Doctor Pike had the paddles from the defibrillator, preparing to send and electronic shock to restart the heart, as the nurses were performing CPR. It took three shocks, but eventually, they got Kate back to sinus rhythm, just in time to allow Doctor Benavidez to complete the original surgery, by inserting the drain tube into the breast to quicken healing.
Just as he completed that, Doctor Petrella and his associate Doctor Duhigg came rushing into the OR, scrubbed ready to take over to see what the cardiac issue was Kate had suffered to cause her to code. There wasn't time for MRI or other scans, so they re-opened her chest using the original scar line to reveal the damage to her heart. There was a pool of blood, almost like it had been back washed rather than pumped through the veins,
"Got it, do you see the aorta embolism, John?"
"I got it Doug, looks like it has been repaired once before, Nurse get the scans up on the screen,"
Once Kate's scans were displayed, there was her history of the gunshot, just 18 months ago, apparently, the stress of the radiation had deteriorated the sutures that had held the repair together. It was only a matter of time before he ruptured, and as crazy as it sounded, Kate was lucky she was in the OR at the time, or she would have bled out before she could have called 9-1-1.
Doctors Duhigg and Petrella now called for the scans, to verify, that they had completely repaired the leak.
"Doug, look at that pool of blood, she must have started the blood regurgitation weeks ago, it had to have impacted her stamina, I wonder why she didn't say anything." As he suctioned out the blood that had flowed backward instead of flowing through the veins, now that the valve leading to the aorta was repaired.
"She just got married, and I guess was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer, so perhaps she didn't even realize that the loss of energy was due to her heart, not all from her cancer treatments. Let's get her up to CCU, and have her vitals monitored every 15 minutes," as the two doctors completed closing her chest, again, with the staples, and sutures that had caused her so much pain in the original operation.
They had just completed when Doctor Eric Seminew walked in and requested an update after explaining the situation to the two Cardiologists. They decided it would be best if all of the doctors met with the family, since the simple surgery planned, turned into anything but simple.
"I'll get the family together in the chapel room if you can get Doctor B and join us there please," Eric said, dreading the walk back to face his college friend, one of the few that loved him even if he were gay, she didn't care and would smack anyone on campus who said something about it.
Xx
Lanie knew the minute she saw Eric's face from a distance that something was wrong, she took Rick's hand as he got closer, and said
"Lanie, we need to talk in the Chapel Room, can we get the Castle family and meet us there."
"Eric, please"
"Lanes, please no questions just meet us in the room in five minutes, please"
Alexis began to cry, and Rick was fighting back tears,
"She's not gone Lanie, she can't be, I mean it was a simple surgery the doctors all agreed" he wailed,
"She's not gone Rick, that's not where we talk to the families but something is wrong, we need to get over there and find out what the hell is happening with our girl" she spat out to keep from crying,
They crossed over the main lobby, to a different wing of the hospital and saw the chapel and the sign that pointed to the "Family Room". Once they got there, they could see Dr. Richardson, Dr. Benavidez, and two doctors they didn't recognize as well as Dr. Eric Seminew, Lanie's friend.
When they walked in, the mood was very somber, until Doctor Richardson spoke up,
"Rick, Alexis, we had some complications that came up during surgery, and rather than me or Doctor Benavidez relay second-hand information we thought we would allow the doctors who worked on your wife and mom speak"
"Where the hell is my mom, is she OK? Why haven't we been told anything, we should have been kept informed" Alexis was half crying, half screaming,
"Alexis, let's find out baby," Lanie replied as she pulled her into a hug,
"Where is my wife and what happened? We were told it was a 45 -90-minute surgery and she would be going home in two days, what happened" Rick was visibly upset,
"Rick, everything went smoothly during the removal of the tumor, we got the entire mass, and I'm pretty sure the wall, although she had distress and we had to revive her and call in the two cardiovascular surgeons, Doctors, Duhigg and Petrella, they repaired some damage to her heart and she is now in CCU in Critical Condition." Doctor Benavidez replied as Rick's eyes begin to fill with tears, as his grip on the chair has his knuckles turning white from the pressure he was applying.
Mr. Rogers, Miss Alexis, we think the radiation and her physical conditioning workouts may have weakened the original repair to the valve that goes to the aorta, this was the area damaged by her gunshot wound 18 months ago. It had been leaking for at least a month, has she complained about fatigue or has she taken additional naps during the day, any warning sign that she wasn't feeling well in any way? Dr. Duhigg was the spokesperson for the two,
"No, not at all, but Kate never complains, not about pain, or tiredness, anything she just pushes herself through it. Even on our short trip she was the one running up the stairs rather than take the elevator. How do you know it had been damaged weeks ago if I may ask Doctors?" Rick didn't know these two, and now his feeble trust in any doctor had just taken a huge hit.
"Well, when we opened the chest cavity, we saw the what we refer to as backwash syndrome, it manifests itself when the valve is damaged and does not seal completely, either because of injury or disease, in your wife's case it was injury and the repair did not hold. I know you're upset Mr. Rogers, but in a sense, your wife was lucky it occurred when and where it did. Had this happened, even if she were in the hospital, she would have bled to death before we could have gotten her to the operating room.
"We had less than 3-5 minutes to seal the leak and get her blood back flowing, before permanent or life-ending damage could have occurred, I'm sorry you're upset, but as I said, IF it had to happen it occurred in the ideal location at the exact time it needed for her to survive."
"So, Mom had open heart surgery again, along with the cancer surgery, or did I misunderstand you, doctors? Alexis was back in her Mom protection mode.
"You are correct Alexis, your Mom did have both surgeries, and will be extremely week for a week to ten days, so that's why we placed her in the Cardiac Critical Care Unit, or CCU, only you and your Dad are allowed to visit, and please no more than 15-20 minutes three times a day, if she feels up to it." Dr. Duhigg was clear, concise, and didn't sugar coat anything, so Rick asked him the next million-dollar question,
Dr. Duhigg, in YOUR opinion, what is the treatment plan for my wife that will net her the best chance for a complete recovery without killing her, no offense Dr. Benavidez, but you had your shot, why the hell wasn't this spotted on your pre-op testing, isn't that why she went through all that bullshit to start with? You need to find some answers quickly, Dr. Duhigg, your plan please?" Rick was using a tone that Lanie or Alexis had never heard before, but it sent chills up their spines, he was going to get answers and figure out who screwed up.
"I understand your frustration, but*" the doctor was cutoff,
"Like Hell you do, I asked you a question, what is your plan, how long will she need therapy and how long will this set her radiation and chemo treatments back? Dr. B, you and Dr. Richardson better get together and figure out a plan that will work with her therapy now, it appears as if your radiation was applied to an injury that ample consideration wasn't taken into fact when starting her treatment plan. I would like to know how it was missed, so no one else has to endure this." Rick was angry, no one had ever heard him speak in such a tone,
"Honestly Mr. Rogers, Doctor Richardson, and his team DID account for the repair, but it's normally done with a different type of suture than was used. It actually appeared as if one surgeon began the repair and was replaced rather quickly by another. It was the original sutures that gave way and allowed the leak.
"There was no way of knowing it until we actually were in the chest, I know it sounds awful, but please have any other doctor review the case, and we are confident that they will agree. We're thankful that the original doctor only placed 3 perhaps 4 sutures before he or she was replaced" Doctor Duhigg stated,
An image of the smooth, smug face of Doctor Josh Davidson flashed across his face, "Son of a bitch, she did have two surgeons the first was her ex-boyfriend, and he had to be removed from the OR to allow his boss to complete the surgery, I need to see Kate, I need to see my wife" he almost cried,
"Very well Mr. Rogers, I will take you to her but please be aware she is being supported by a number of machines, to keep her as comfortable as possible. Please only a few minutes, you can talk to her but please stay positive, no mention of the surgery, she won't remember that anyway.
" Let's get through the next 48-72 hours then we'll meet to discuss the plan, the main thing right now is to keep her alive, and with all of her functions intact." Dr. Duhigg started to lead the way and noticed that Alexis and Lanie were also following,
"I think it best if your daughter doesn't see her mother, at least just yet, it could cause her emotional problems." The doctor said,
"She wants to see her Mom, so she's going to, and Lanie is more than a friend, mark her down as her sister and no one better try to stop her from visiting, she's a doctor and knows when to let Kate rest, and when she should stay, am I clear?" He was past the point of asking, he was telling, and there were no arguments coming back from the doctors,
"Very well, you know your family better than any of us, so please excuse our concern, we're trying to make this as painless as we can for everyone realizing we can't undo what has already been done."
They walked silently into a huge room, the desk had monitors and nurses stationed about two feet apart, and the CCU was made up of 20 individual rooms each with one nurse to 2 patients 24/7 to ensure the patient was being properly cared for. Kate was in room, 227 about halfway down the hall on the right,
They paused just outside the door, Dr. Duhigg whispered, "once again, this is going to be difficult, but please if you have to cry, leave the room, it can have adverse effects on their healing. Are you ready?"
Rick looked at Lanie who had taken Alexis by the hand and she nodded, "Ready Doctor" he whispered,
No matter what or how much they were warned, nothing could have prepared them for what they saw, Kate, feeble and small in the center of the bed with tubes, running from under her sheets into containers showing bloody liquid, the sound of the ventilator which was breathing for her, and her face, it looked so small and the circles under her eyes were so dark,
Alexis took a deep breath but was right beside her Dad when he leaned over and spoke softly and sweetly,
"Kate, if you think this petty stunt is going to get you out of your marriage to me, think again, I got it in writing this time, I love you, Babe, I'll be here when you wake up, so sleep sweetheart, and get well for us, please." He stepped back
Alexis stepped up to the bed and whispered, "Mom, you need to get well soon, no one can control Dad like you, I'm trying I promise. I love you, Mom, I'll be right here with Daddy, come back to us soon, I miss you" she turned as tears fell from her eyes silently,
Lanie stepped up and said something only audible to her and Kate, but her tears were flowing as she stepped back and hugged Rick and Alexis, so much for an easy operation. This was a fight for her friends' life, and they all knew she had less than favorable odds,
TBC
