Chapter 17

Have a Heart

I slept until six and then got up, did some exercise and took my shower. When I got to the hospital, Susan was already there, standing anxiously by Greg's bed and holding his hand.

"Still wearing those granny panties?" He asked when I walked into his room.

Susan wrinkled her brow with curiosity.

"No granny panties, just a nice silk thong with black lace."

"What's going on here?" Susan asked.

"Your boyfriend called me last night and swore I was wearing a t-shirt and granny panties to bed."

"You called? What was wrong, Greg?"

"I was bored and I knew you'd be asleep."

"And you knew Finley wouldn't be?"

"You told me that she has insomnia sometimes."

"That's true." Susan said, smiling. "Thanks honey, for not waking me." She gave him a kiss.

"Oh, so it's okay that he bothered me?" I asked.

"Finley, Greg's goal in life is to make you miserable and you know that."

I looked at Greg and gave him an evil smile. "Don't forget I'm going to be poking something up your groin this afternoon!" I teased.

"Don't even joke about things like that."

At one we took Greg into pre-op. After a few kisses from Susan and lots of laughing at Greg's expense about wired up his groin, I shooed everyone out of the room. I went over to House's bed and looked down at him. Despite giving him a local anesthesia, he would remain awake for the procedure.

"Are you ready, big boy?"

"Let's roll." He said.

I turned and he grabbed my hand, stopping me in my tracks. I faced him waited for him to say something, but all he did was squeeze my hand and then drop it. I smiled at him and took off to scrub up.

Angioplasty is a run of the mill procedure these days. I sent the catheter, which has a camera on it, up with a guidewire through the artery. Once it was near the heart, I shot the artery full of dye to view on the screen. I inspected the arteries then moved on to the valves before inspecting the left ventricle to see if it was beating properly. The dye was shot several times and then I mapped out the blockages while Greg watched with us on the screen. He said very little, but did complain of being uncomfortable about half way through the procedure. We gave him a boost of anesthesia before continuing. Greg had two blockages exactly where I thought they'd be. One wasn't that bad so I decided not to stent it. I sent the balloon up, inflated it, pushing the plaque that had formed up the blockage against the walls of the artery, creating an opening that allowed the blood to flow smoothly. The second time I sent the balloon through, I sent it with a stent on the outside. Once I inflated the balloon the stent expanded too, expanding and holding the walls of the artery open. I pulled out although I left the insert in the artery for easy access. We dressed the wound and I ordered the painkiller to be given.

Half an hour later I joined him in his room. It was filled with doctors from his team, Cuddy, Wilson and Susan. I was dressed in my scrubs and have to admit very tired. "Greg, keep your right leg straight for twenty-four hours. Drink plenty of fluids to get the dye out of your system. It went well, but there was a little damage to your heart muscle, not enough that it won't heal. You must have had a cardiac incident sometime in the last few months. You really need a change in diet and more exercise. I'm recommending the Mediterranean Diet for you because I know there's no way I'll get you to follow the Eisenhower Diet."

"You've got that damn straight." He said adamantly.

"Well, I'm going to get out of here. I'm really tired."

There was a flood of grateful 'thanks' from just about everyone. Despite being an ass, it was clear that House had his supporters and they were all in one room. I ducked out and finished rounds before taking off for home. Around six I received a call.

"What are you wearing?"

I put the Stouffer's single serve lasagna that I had just heated down on the coffee table and grinned. "What do you want?"

"What are you wearing?"

"Sweat pants and a long-sleeved t-shirt."

"Wow, did you say silk gown and no panties?"

"Dream on. How are you doing?"

"Leg straight, but the damn insert is driving me nuts. When are you going to remove it?"

"Just before you go home. Where's your posse?"

"I pretended to need some sleep and so I told them to all go home."

"Well, you've had a big day, you need some sleep."

"Come down and show me the video of the procedure."

"You saw it as it was happening."

"I was groggy."

"I just put my feet up; I'm eating dinner."

"Got any for me? They tried to serve me crap tonight."

"No, I have a single serving of frozen lasagna."

"Single serving? Man, if that doesn't scream loser, I don't know what does. Come on, pick me up a cheeseburger and bring me some food."

"You just had angioplasty! I'm not enabling you so that you die on me!"

"Oh, come on; just think of it as building a client base. The more saturated fats I eat, the more work for you."

"Greg, not funny." I said it as harshly as I could.

His voice went soft. "Come on, I'm bored and you're not boring."

"I thought you had a stack of medical journals."

"Yeah, but I've been through most of them."

"I'm going to go back to eating my dinner. You have a girlfriend, call her."

"Lousy bedside manner, doctor."

"Oh, that is rich coming from you. Goodnight, Greg."

"Goodnight, Fin."

Yes, I hung up and managed not to run down to the hospital to keep him company. It took everything in me not to jump into a pair of jeans and rush to his side for a few crumbs of his time, but I didn't. I knew he was just jerking my chain. He'd shooed Wilson and Susan away and now he was bored. Rather than admit it to them, he decided to see if I'd come running back, but I held fast.