Chapter 5
Early the next morning, Abbey was in pre-op, waiting for her surgery to begin.
"How are you feeling, Abbey?" Millie stood over the stretcher, still upset over Abbey's insistence not to call Jed. But arguing with a brick wall was not going to change things so she had agreed to come and support her best friend.
A quiet giggle was her response. Millie knew right away how Abbey was feeling.
"Abbey, how are you feeling?" Millie repeated the question, knowing that the pre-op drugs were already taking effect.
"Good. Calm. High." She knew she was in good hands. She trusted Kim with her life.
Kim and Millie had to stifle a laugh. It was quite obvious that the pre-op medicines were working very well for the First Lady.
"Well, good. The little cocktail has done its job. Are you ready?"
Abbey looked up at the two women and just grinned. "Yep."
"See you when you wake up, Abbey." Millie smiled and squeezed her hand. "I'll be right by your side. And I'll be in the OR with you, thanks to Dr. Cox. Behave yourself."
"Yep." That silly grin again.
"Let's go. You're very ready."
With that, Abbey was taken to the OR. A female agent dressed in scrubs would be with her at all times.
She was helped onto the surgical table and wired with the normal monitors. A blood pressure cuff was wrapped around one arm and a warm blanket placed on her upper body.
Dr. Carter, the anesthesiologist, leaned over and asked her if she was ready. As Abbey nodded yes, he placed the mask over her face and told her to breathe deeply. She followed the directions without fear. She knew she would wake up in a couple of hours and have some answers. He injected various medicines into her IV and Abbey quickly lost consciousness. She was intubated and placed on the ventilator.
Only then did Dr. Cox prepare her patient for the procedure.
The procedure went routinely for the first few minutes. Dr. Cox had almost completed the procedure when a stream of blood poured from her patient.
This was an unexpected and dangerous complication, and Millie instantly knew this was far from the expected outcome of this routine procedure.
Everything Dr. Cox tried to stop the bleeding was unsuccessful.
"Pressure's dropping! Increase her fluids!"
The team scrambled to respond to the crisis.
The monitor showed a rapid heartbeat as her body tried to compensate for the continuing massive loss of fluid. As Abbey's pressure continued to drop, Dr. Carter started calling for stat units of blood.
It was quickly becoming a life-threatening issue for the First Lady.