Chapter Five

When Jin returned from work that evening, there had been no news from the doctor. The next day, Jin didn't hear from Xiaoyu at work and that night passed, as well, with no call from the doctor. As Jin and Xiaoyu waited, Xiaoyu's flu got progressively worse.

After five days of waiting and no reply from the doctor, Xiaoyu's condition had increased so much in severity that Jin had no choice but to take her to the emergency room. Xiaoyu was so weak that she could hardly sit up, her fever was so extreme, and she couldn't eat anything.

The doctor that examined Xiaoyu in the emergency room wasn't her regular physician. She was still young, probably fresh out of medical school, but didn't appear to be very nervous about the decisions that she was making about Xiaoyu's condition. Xiaoyu was placed on a hospital bed and rolled, with Jin not far behind, to a private room.

"Her condition is stable," the doctor replied. "She'll be alright, now. It appears to be a sever case of pneumonia."

"Can I stay with her?" Jin asked.

"Of course!" the doctor answered. "In fact, it's probably better that you do. Right now we're trying to obtain her medical records. I'll come back as soon as we've recovered them."

Jin sat next to Xiaoyu's bed, holding her hand. There was a hospital gown on the end of the bed and a nurse in the room. The nurse was taking Xiaoyu's blood pressure, temperature, and trying to make her comfortable.

"Mr. Kazama?" the nurse asked. "I'll be right back. I'm going to check and see if the doctor has found her medical records yet. You need to put your wife in this hospital gown and see if she is able to answer some questions for us."

"Alright," Jin responded. He waited for the nurse to leave the room before moving towards his wife. "Sweetie?" he asked. "We've got to put this on, now, ok?"

Xiaoyu weakly nodded her head. Jin gently began to undress his wife, careful not to disturb her. Her skin was on fire and she seemed to be sweating.

After her hospital gown was on, Jin began to talk to her. "It's ok now, baby. The doctors are going to take good care of you."

Xiaoyu opened her eyes and looked at Jin. She took a deep breath and tried to talk. She was too weak to make her voice work and tears of frustration spilled down her cheeks as she saw all of the pain in Jin's eyes.

"Shh," Jin whispered, holding his wife's hand. "It's ok, baby. You'll be alright in a little bit. The doctor is coming back."

Jin tried to stop his wife's tears. But there was something that she wanted to tell him. She wanted to tell him; she had to. She was trying so hard to make her voice work.

"Jin," she whispered, finally.

"Shh. Don't talk," Jin responded.

The doctor walked back into the room. She was holding a clipboard and the nurse was close behind her. The doctor sighed.

"Mr. Kazama," she said. "I'm afraid I have some bad news."

Jin prepared himself. 'Bad news,' he thought. His head was spinning.

"Your wife," the doctor started. "It appears that she is pregnant; your medical records show that you were at the doctor's office recently about the flu."

"Yes," Jin answered.

"I'm not sure how to put this," she began. "Your wife will be just fine but her immune system has been weakened by pregnancy. This is a very common occurrence, so nothing to worry about there."

Jin let out a sigh of relief. 'Xiaoyu's fine,' he thought. "So, what's the bad news, then?" he asked the doctor.

"Your wife had the flu and that virus has escalated into a severe case of pneumonia, as I warned you before," the doctor responded. "The bad news is that, in recent studies, there has been evidence to suggest that viral pneumonia, which is what we suspect your wife has, increases the risk of premature birth and even miscarriage."

Jin looked at her, a little bit confused.

"Basically, Mr. Kazama," the doctor began. "If this infection goes untreated, there is a strong chance that your wife's body will reject the pregnancy, resulting in miscarriage. But, if we do treat this infection, there is a ninety percent chance that your wife will suffer a miscarriage."

"So, we're going to lose the baby?" Jin asked.

"I'm afraid so, Mr. Kazama," the doctor began.

Xiaoyu was still so weak, but it had registered with her. She turned her head towards the pillow and cried. Jin took her hand in his and gently squeezed it.

"I'm very sorry," the doctor responded.