Chapter 186

As soon as the car came to a halt, Louisa threw the door open signalling to me that I should stay in the car ready for a quick departure. As soon as she had clambered in, I stepped on the gas and got on the way to Plymouth.

As soon as the narrow streets of Portwenn were behind us and I was on more open road, I dialled Dr. Green's number at Plymouth hospital. I was informed by the reception that he was not on duty today but that the doctor on call would gladly care for any emergency. In case it was not urgent, we should make an appointment with our usual OB.

As any health issue in my family was an emergency in my book, I decided to ignore the advice, kept en route to Plymouth and dialled Dr. Green's private mobile number.

After letting it ring a couple of times my colleague finally answered.

"Ellingham here. We're on the way to Plymouth. We will be there in about 50 minutes. Be ready for an ultra sound and possible further examination."

"Ah, Ellingham...in case you didn't know, that's my private number..."

"I'm very well aware of that."

"Then you probably also know that I'm not on call..."

"That's why I am calling you beforehand."

"Well, thing is, my in-laws arriving any moment and..."

"So you've got a good excuse not to meet them. See you in about 45 minutes." I rang off as I needed to concentrate on the road, as I was upping up the speed.

"That was rude." I heard my wife say disapprovingly.

"What?" I didn't quite understand why contacting a doctor in an emergency should be rude. People have done it for years at all hours during days or night when I had been a GP. As far as I remembered, Louisa had expected me to serve them at all hours without finding it rude of them to disturb my time off.

"Well, he's not on call, and maybe he had planned something nice for today."

"You heard him, the in-laws were coming. So nothing nice." I concluded, shuddering at the thought and being grateful that my in-laws were safely away at the opposite side of Europe and the other side of the prison wall, respectively.

.

The rest of the drive was fortunately rather uneventful. I arrived at the hospital exactly at the appointed time and stopped swiftly in the staff parking space, which I was fully entitled to use.

I offered to organise a wheelchair for Louisa, but she vehemently refused as she insisted I was fussing too much.

Reluctantly I gave in, but she couldn't stop me from supporting her gingerly. I shouted towards the receptionist without stopping to announce us to Dr. Green, which was acknowledged with a nod of the head and shouted information that he had just arrived. All the while I made a beeline to the lift.

Louisa still protested that she wasn't so poorly as not to be able to walk unassisted, but I wouldn't have it.

Arriving at Dr. Green's office we were already expected and he gestured us to come in.

"Ellingham, I hope you are aware that this is highly unusual procedure and that I'm only doing this because you are a colleague. So what seems to be the problem?"

"Vaginal bleeding, slightly elevated pulse and blood pressure." I responded.

My colleague looked sternly at me and then he turned to Louisa demonstratively. "Mrs. Ellingham, could you please tell me in your own words...in your own time?" Dr. Green accentuated his words with a sideway glance at me, eyebrows raised.

"Well, Martin is quite correct. When I got up this morning – I needed the loo, you see. I was having a lie-in, as Martin thought I needed a bit of rest..."

"Have you been working full time lately?" Dr. Green inquired.

"Yes." I affirmed.

"Mrs. Ellingham." The OB emphasised.

"Well, yes. I'm the head teacher, you see. I cannot simply pack up and leave. Well, and there's also a bit of a side project to raise money, but Martin got me to do everything about that from home. So no pressure there."

"Yes, but you have been busy and worried, that's correct?"

"Well, suppose so." Louisa bit her lip nervously.

"So, what happened when you got up this morning?" Dr. Green steered the consultation back to the crucial part.

"I was using the toilet and I saw a bit of blood in my knickers. I mean, quite a bit of blood."

"I see."

"And then I called for Martin, and he had a look, then he measured my pulse and my blood pressure and then he told me to get ready to come here. I'm so sorry that he ruined your day off." Louisa told him apologetically. I couldn't help but roll my eyes.

"That's quite alright. I understand that you'd rather be safe than sorry. As Ellingham has already suggested, I will first do an ultrasound to check if everything is alright with the baby and maybe we can see something about the origin of the bleeding. And then we will take it from there, OK?"

Louisa nodded and bit her lip some more, then she looked at me with pleading eyes.

To be continued...