Title: Heart Condition
Rating: Teen
Disclaimer: I do not own West Wing or any of its characters, so please don't sue or anything rash like that.
Author's Note: We're heading into the medical stuff here, so again I apologize if my facts aren't correct. Thanks for all the wonderful feedback! I appreciate it so much!
Chapter 3"Well, that was Donna Moss. She's on her way here." Helen said to Matt as she returned to the small waiting room the ER staff had ushered them into after realizing the chaos a Presidential candidate would do to their larger waiting room in the front of the ER. Matt looked up at her with confusion.
"Why is Bob Russell's campaign spokesperson coming here now? Can't they give us a few hours peace? And how the hell did they find out about this?" Matt's already frayed nerves pushed his usually congenial side to the back burner. The very idea that his opponent would be using this situation for political gain was so distasteful he vowed to beat him for that reason only.
"What are you talking about? Josh listed Donna as his emergency contact in Rhonna's files. I just spoke to her on the phone. Did you know Josh had heart problems before?" Helen asked quietly, hoping that her husband knew the man who had turned their lives upside down better than she thought he did.
"Helen, do you think Josh and I compared medical histories before we started this campaign? Why would I know that? Josh never says much of anything about his personal life and I never ask. It's not my business." Matt's eyes never met his wife's as he continuously scanned the waiting room for Josh's doctors or worse, for signs that the press had caught wind of the situation. Helen stared at her husband in absolute shock.
"What exactly do you know about our Mr. Lyman? Other than his political genius, I mean." At her husband's blank stare, Helen sighed in frustration. "You are so lucky we are in a public place and there are several large security guards around here or I swear I would tear you limb from limb for getting us into this so blindly." Helen stalked away from him and flopped down on a hard beige vinyl bench, picking up a very old copy of People to thumb through.
Matt took a deep breath and prepared to meet his wife's wrath head on. He knelt in front of her and pulled the magazine out of her hands. Helen attempted to turn away from him to avoid his gaze, but he held her firmly by the shoulders.
"Hey, I didn't do this just for the hell of it. I may not know the details of Josh's life, but I know the kind of man he is. I trust him. He's a good man and he was willing to take a huge leap of faith in heading this campaign. That's enough for me." Matt met Helen's searching eyes head on, not flinching for a moment as she stared at him in silence. They sat like that for several moments until a woman's panicked voice was heard from the welcome desk.
"Excuse me! Excuse me! Is anyone working around here? I need help!" A tall blonde woman was pounding on the desk. Matt recognized Donna and immediately rushed out to stop her from drawing any more attention to herself than she already had.
"Donna! We're in here. Come on." Matt put his hand on Donna's lower back to lead her into the waiting area. Donna flinched at his touch and stood frozen for a moment, clearly struggling to keep her composure. At Matt's questioning stare, she took a deep breath and followed him. Once they were away from the confused and curious onlookers in the general waiting room, Donna stopped walking and turned to face Matt and Helen.
"What's going on? Has Dr. Newman stopped by? What brought this on? Hasn't Josh been taking his medication?" Donna shot questions off quicker than either Matt or Helen could process them, let alone fumble answers to them. Helen held a hand up to stop the interrogation.
"Hold on, Donna. We don't know much more than I told you on the phone. Josh and Matt and some of the other advisors were having a meeting and Josh started looking bad. At the end of the meeting, I came in and noticed he was pale, sweating a bit and he seemed a little out of it. We gave him an aspirin and Matt brought him here. He's been in the cath lab for about 30 minutes for testing. I had the nurse page Dr. Newman and he is consulting. We haven't heard anything more." Helen spoke soothingly, knowing all too well how terrifying this situation was for Donna without really knowing her relationship to Josh.
"You said something about an arrhythmia on the phone. Is that what they think is going on?" Donna asked Helen, who then looked at her husband for help.
"The doctor who took him up for testing said something about that as they left. Nobody's said anything more since then." Matt answered, glad to be of some help in this situation.
"And how did nobody notice that Josh wasn't feeling well before you had to bring him here? You're with him all day, every day. Didn't you notice he wasn't looking very well?" Donna shot back at Matt. He gaped at her audacity for a few minutes before Helen stepped in.
"Honestly Donna, Josh has been going full throttle like this for weeks. He's always stressed, always looking much more exhausted than anyone else, and never says a word about it. How were we to know there was anything to be worried about? He's a grown man, for God's sake." Helen was really trying to like the woman before her, but her accusations were hard to take. Donna stared her down for a few minutes before softening.
"I'm sorry, it isn't your job to take care of Josh. I just…I'm sorry." Donna finished weakly, lowering herself to the bench behind her. The trio sat in silence for some time, Helen and Matt exchanging perplexed looks, both trying to connect the dots in this situation. Finally Matt cleared his throat.
"Uh Donna, I hate to ask this right now, but I know it would be the first thing out of Josh's mouth if he knew you were here. Did you tell anyone on the Russell campaign anything about what's going on here?" Donna stared at him blankly at first, than irritation burned over her face.
"I told Will Bailey and he may have fired me when I left. I'm not really sure, I just had to get here. Are you afraid there's going to be a scandal of some kind because I came?" Donna raged, exasperation written all over her fine features.
"I'm sure that's not it. Matt just wanted to know if there was any chance the press would find out what's going on so we can let the hospital know to expect media interest. Right, honey?" Helen asked in a tone her husband knew far better than to disagree with. Before he had a chance to respond, a short, balding man in a white lab coat appeared at the door. Matt stood to greet him and Donna and Helen followed suit.
"Mr. and Mrs. Santos, and Miss Moss, I didn't know you were here. Mr. Lyman will be happy to see you, I'm sure. Though perhaps not as happy as the nurses will be. If I recall, you were the only one able to keep him happy during his last hospital stay." The physician spoke as if they were casual acquaintances meeting at a dinner party, not in an emergency room waiting room. Helen and Matt again exchanged questioning glances.
"Dr. Newman, how is Josh?" Donna asked, dispensing with pleasantries.
"He's stable for right now, but his heart has been beating quite erratically for some time. He said that he's been having episodes of arrhythmia for several weeks, building more in the last few days until the last, most severe one. We were able to shock his heart back into a normal rhythm, but I'm recommending we do further treatment to prevent this from occurring again. With Josh's already compromised heart, continuing episodes of this arrhythmia could be fatal." Dr. Newman paused to allow them to soak in all he had said. Matt and Helen stared at the doctor, completely dumbfounded. Donna had pulled a small notebook out of her purse and was taking copious notes.
"So what treatment are you suggesting?" Donna asked.
"Often medication such as Beta blockers will do the trick, but with Josh's haphazard history of taking his medications, I don't think that is a good choice. I would recommend inserting a pacemaker to shock the heart out of any irregular pattern."
"Didn't we discuss that after Rosslyn? Just as a precaution back then, but I remember you mentioning it then. What does it involve?" Donna was all business, taking in every detail the physician before her mentioned.
"I think after we may have discussed doing it as a precaution when we were concerned about how well the repair of his pulmonary artery was going to hold. At that time, we decided to medicate. As I said before, that is not a good choice for Josh. Inserting the pacemaker is a relatively simple procedure, he'll be awake the whole time. He'll probably be ready to go home in a day or two, assuming there are no further complications."
"What will recovery be like? Any further precautions beyond the pacemaker?" Matt asked, very concerned about what Josh's condition meant for not only the campaign, but for his mental stability. Josh without the high stress, fast paced world of politics was unfathomable.
"I'd like to have him take a few weeks to rest before going back to work full time. Certainly, a more heart friendly lifestyle would be encouraged- less stress, more regular exercise and of course a better diet." Donna, Matt and Helen exchanged dubious glances. Heart friendly and Josh's lifestyle didn't exactly go hand in hand.
"Have you discussed all of this with Josh?" Helen asked, curious to his reaction and general state of mind at the moment.
"Yes. He asked to see the Congressman. He's awake for now, but we'll be giving him something to help him sleep shortly. I've scheduled the procedure for tomorrow morning at 7 AM." Dr. Newman informed them and nodded his goodbye. "Good to see you again, Miss Moss."
Donna slapped her notebook closed and turned expectantly to Matt and Helen, who still seemed a little shell shocked by the entire situation. The couple exchanged a glance that seemed to communicate a hundred thoughts, something that drew an overwhelming wave of jealousy deep within Donna. Their intimacy, the way they knew each other's minds without speaking was something she'd longed for as long as she could remember. She'd thought at one time she might have found it with Josh, but things were pretty muddled now. Proof of that was in his asking for Matt Santos instead of her, which tore at her heart far more than it should have.
"I'll… I'll just go up to check in with our patient." Matt said, shifting his weight back and forth between feet and waiting for his wife to make the situation less awkward.
"Donna, can I buy you a cup of coffee? I'm sure you'll want to check in on Josh once Matt is finished, we may as well get acquainted in the mean time." Helen suggested brightly, trying to cover the intense curiosity she held in the woman before her and her relationship to Josh. Donna nodded mutely, suddenly so exhausted that the effort of speaking seemed beyond her. Helen linked arms with the other woman and headed towards the elevator with only a slight backwards glance at her husband.