Chapter 15
The following Thursday afternoon Alessandro drew back the curtains of cubicle fifteen to find Nat chatting with his next patient, a thirty-eight-year-old woman complaining of a sore leg.
A crying, irritable baby that looked about nine months old accompanied the woman, who was valiantly trying to soothe the babe with a hip jiggle.
‘I’m sorry,’ she apologised. ‘He’s picked up a bit of a cold so he’s not exactly a happy camper at the moment.’
Alessandro smiled at the harried-looking woman. ‘No need to apologise…’ He searched for the patient’s name on her chart label ‘…Nina. What seems to be the problem?’
‘I’ve got this really sore leg.’
‘Why don’t you give the baby to Nat and hop up here so I can have a look?’
Nat smiled at Nina and held out her arms. ‘What’s his name?’
‘Benji.’
‘Come on, Benji. Let’s give Mummy a bit of a break.’
The baby went willingly enough, sneezing three times during the transfer. ‘Bless you, bless you, bless you,’ Nat cooed, as she settled him on her hip and began swaying.
Alessandro was momentarily distracted by the sight. The baby had stopped crying and was looking at her curiously, watching the swish of Nat’s ponytail as she rocked him from side to side. She chose that moment to look up at him and Alessandro shot her a lazy smile.
She looked good in her uniform. She looked good in shorts. She looked good in her night shirt. And she looked absolutely sensational out of it. He should have guessed she’d look good with a baby on her hip.
Nina, oblivious to their undercurrent, climbed up on to the gurney, swung her legs up on the mattress and proceeded to roll up her jeans. ‘That’s a bit of a climb, isn’t it?’ she puffed.
Alessandro’s wandering attention returned to his patient. ‘So, have you injured yourself in any way?’ he asked, half his brain still engaged with other thoughts. Images of Nat last night straddling him, smiling down at him.
Nina shook her head. ‘My calf’s been sore ever since I got off the plane yesterday.’
Suddenly Alessandro’s brain snapped into laser-like focus. ‘Plane?’ He frowned. Painful calf. Air travel. DVT? ‘Where did you fly from?’
Nina’s brows furrowed. ‘Perth.’
His gaze sought the area that Nina was rubbing. Perth was only a four-hour flight, which made it less likely for a blood clot to have formed in the deep veins of her leg but it wasn’t impossible.
‘But I guess that was only a day after our flight from London,’ Nina continued.
‘Boy was that an awful flight. I was stuck in my seat the whole time with Benji needing to be fed constantly because of the cold playing havoc with his ears. He drank practically all through the flight. It’s times like those I wished I’d chosen the bottle over the breast all those months ago.
At least his father could have helped out. ’
Alessandro’s antennae started twitching crazily.
Firstly, without even laying hands on her, he could see the swollen red area of Nina’s calf.
That didn’t bode well. But secondly, and perhaps most importantly, as far as the big picture went, was Benji’s cough.
It may have seemed quite innocent when Nina had walked in – just another childhood cold – but teamed with the word London it was potentially much more.
Swamp flu was prevalent now in the UK as well as the Americas.
The cases they’d had in Victoria had all been carried into the country through international air travel, although not yet from the UK.
There’d been nothing in Queensland so far but as part of their preparedness for this virus, there were procedures he had to follow.
He didn’t necessarily think that Benji had swamp flu but he knew he couldn’t let them leave without making sure.
First things first, though.
Alessandro gently examined Nina’s calf, the concentrated area of heat obvious beneath his palm. He felt for a pulse at the back of her knee and also felt for her foot pulses. ‘Can you draw your toes back towards your knee?’ he asked.
Nina complied, wincing immediately. ‘That felt like a hot arrow right to the centre of my calf.’
‘Okay.’ Alessandro nodded. ‘I’m just going to feel for a pulse in your groin.’ Satisfied when he located the full bound easily, he asked. ‘Any chest pain?’
‘Nope.’
Placing his stethoscope in his ears he ran the bell over her chest. Lung fields clear. ‘I think,’ he said, helping Nina into a sitting position, ‘you may have something called DVT. Heard of it?’
Nina’s brow furrowed. ‘That clot thingy? The one they do the talk about on planes?’
‘Uh huh,’ Alessandro confirmed. ‘You have the classic symptoms and your forced immobility on the long-haul flight definitely put you at a higher risk. We’ll get an ultrasound to confirm the diagnosis.’
Nina looked at him, a worry line between her brows. ‘I’m not going to die, am I?’
‘They are potentially very dangerous but, caught in time, they are very treatable.’
Nina looked relieved. ‘So… what happens now? Do I have to go into hospital? I have three other kids as well as Benji.’
‘I’m afraid it will mean a short hospital stay. We need to start you on a special intravenous drug that helps to thin your blood. And once you have therapeutic levels you go on to an oral form of the drug for several months.’
Nina looked at Nat. ‘Holy cow.’
‘Can your husband get time off work?’ Nat asked. ‘Or do you have family to look after the kids?’
‘My husband is still on holidays till next week. Luckily I have plenty of expressed breast milk in the freezer.’
Nat smiled. ‘I’ll refer you to our welfare worker as well. She can help with any of the logistics.’
Shooting her a grateful smile, Nina said, ‘Thanks.’
‘There’s another thing,’ Alessandro added.
‘Oh?’
Nina looked like she wasn’t up for any more bad news today but it had to be done. ‘I’m going to have to test you both for swamp flu, I’m afraid.’ Alessandro chose the common name rather than the medical term because it was easier for a non-medical person to grasp.
‘Swamp flu?’ Nina’s eyebrows practically hit her hairline. ‘You think Benji’s got swamp flu?’ She held her arms out for her baby and Nat handed him over.
‘No. I don’t think he has it. I think in all likelihood he has a common cold but I’m afraid there are certain protocols I’m governed by now because of his symptoms and the fact that he’s just come from another country where the infection is prevalent.’
Benji, who was squirming and protesting his mother’s tight hold, stopped as soon as Nina relaxed. ‘Okay sure.’ She kissed her son’s head. ‘But… what if he does have it?’
‘We’ll start him on some special antiviral medication, which will help lessen the duration and vigour of the symptoms. We’ll have to get the infectious disease team involved, who’ll track all contacts. The rest of your family will need to go into home quarantine immediately – just in case.’
‘For how long?’
‘The recommendation is seven days. But we should have the test results back by tomorrow afternoon, so hopefully only a day until they come back negative. You’ll have to be nursed in isolation too until we know the results.’
‘Hell.’ Nina puffed air out her mouth, ruffling her fringe. ‘What a mess.’
‘Yes.’ That was putting it mildly. ‘But, as I say, I really don’t think you’ve got anything to worry about.’ He patted her hand and smiled. ‘Let’s just take this one step at a time.’
Nina’s worried expression dissipated beneath the confidence Alessandro was almost one hundred per cent certain was justified.
‘One step at a time,’ Nina agreed.
Alessandro left the cubicle with Nat a few minutes later. ‘I’ll call ID and X-Ray. We’ll have to get a mobile ultrasound,’ he said. ‘Get an urgent NPA on both of them and move them to an iso cube. Limit numbers in there and make sure anyone going in wears a gown and mask.’
She didn’t question him or seek any clarification or even freak out at the potential risks; she just nodded and went about her job, for which Alessandro was grateful.
Grateful to have her by his side at work as well as in his home.
The next afternoon Nat cut open one of the few remaining boxes stacked in Alessandro’s formal lounge area. She could hear father and son chattering away as they cooked tea together and she was looking forward to the weekend.
This time with Alessandro and Juliano had been satisfying on levels she hadn’t thought possible as she’d watched their journey back to each other.
She was going to miss them when she left.
But, she didn’t want to think about that.
Her apartment was still not ready and right now there were more boxes to get through.
The progress had been slow as Nat had given priority to activities that kept Juliano and Alessandro together and focused on the future.
Going to the beach, heading to the movies, taking a ferry trip on the river, playing soccer in the park.
Sure, going through the boxes was also something they did together and helped them connect.
They talked about the things inside and it was interesting learning about their lives before they’d entered hers.
But she was more than aware that it wasn’t a task Alessandro relished – the memories, she guessed – so she found it was better in small doses.
Still, as she looked around the house she couldn’t deny the sense of accomplishment. Emptying the boxes, decorating Alessandro’s house, seeing it turn from an igloo into a warm, welcoming home, also helped by the flowering of the father–son relationship, had been immensely satisfying.
Something that had started out as a way to help, a thank-you to Alessandro for his generosity, had become much more. And seeing the dividends it was paying in every aspect of their lives was very special.