Chapter 29 #2
I quickly change back into my clothes, then find Ally in the waiting room.
“How was it?” she asks, as she hands me back my stuff.
“Fine.” I stuff my wallet and keys in my pocket but keep hold of my phone. “I’ll just text the neurologist and let him know we’re coming up to the clinic.” Unlike the MRI department, the neurology clinic isn’t usually open on Saturdays; Nilesh Patel came in especially to see me.
My phone beeps with a reply almost immediately; Nilesh isn’t ready for me yet. He probably knows I’m going to want to see the MRI, and he wants a chance to look at it without me breathing down his neck. It’s what I’d do, if I were him.
“He needs ten minutes,” I mutter to Ally. “He’s suggesting we go for coffee.” As though I’d drink coffee before being examined for a tremor.
“Oh,” she says. “Well, we could go get a drink.”
“I guess.” I lead her back down to the lobby coffee shop, where we buy two bottles of sparkling water.
“Do you know this neurologist well?” Ally asks, sipping her water.
“Just from residency,” I reply. “I had to do a neurology rotation, and he was the senior resident.”
“You didn’t like neurology?” Ally asks.
“Well, there was no surgery, Ally,” I reply, as though that says it all. “But I liked working with Nilesh. He’s a smart guy.”
Five minutes later, Nilesh texts to say he’s ready for me, and Ally and I take the elevator up to the neurology clinic.
Since the clinic’s technically closed, Nilesh is waiting at the door to let us in. I scan his face, trying to guess what he thought of my MRI, but I can’t tell.
“Hey, Nilesh,” I say. “Thanks again for doing this.”
“No problem, Drew,” he says, giving Ally a curious look.
“This is Ally Parker,” I say. “My girlfriend. Ally, this is Nilesh Patel.”
“Pleasure to meet you, Ally,” Nilesh says, shaking her hand. “Come on in, guys.”
Ally takes a seat in the empty waiting room, and Nilesh leads me down the hall to an exam room.
“Good news,” he says, sitting down in front of the computer. “Your MRI looks totally normal to me. You want to see it?”
I’m speechless with relief, so I just nod. Nilesh pulls up the scan on the computer and scrolls slowly through the images. No tumors. No vascular problems. No white matter lesions to suggest multiple sclerosis. Just normal, healthy brain.
“Normal,” I finally mutter.
Nilesh grins. “Yeah. I thought we should get that out of the way first. The radiologist still has to read it, and I’ll let you know if they see anything different, but—”
“It looks normal,” I repeat.
Nilesh’s smile broadens. “Yeah. You want to tell me a bit more about your symptoms?”
I’d given him the short version on the phone, but now I give him the details.
All about the insomnia and the tremor, and wondering if I was imagining it.
About giving up alcohol and caffeine, and not knowing if it helped.
About going for a check-up for the first time in years, and being told my blood pressure was high.
Then I tell him that for the past few weeks, things have seemed better. I’ve been getting more sleep, and I can’t remember when I last noticed the tremor.
I don’t share Ally’s theory about sugar, sleep, trashy TV and sex. But there’s no doubt that I felt better when I started getting more of those things.
Nilesh checks my blood pressure next, and today, that’s normal too. The neurological exam comes next, and I’d forgotten how thorough neurologists are. He shines a light in my eyes, tests the strength in my limbs, and watches me walk a straight line. Pokes me with a pin to test sensation.
When he’s finished, he sits across from me and looks me in the eye. “Your examination is normal too,” he says. “And the bloodwork you forwarded all looked fine. My guess is you’ve been working too hard. It’s burnout, Drew.”
I’m hit with a wave of relief. “You’re sure?”
Nilesh shrugs. “Pretty sure, yeah. Knowing you, you’re probably still working stupid hours. Did I hear you’re the chief of surgery in Somerset now?”
I nod. “Yeah. But I’m not working as much as I was as a resident—”
“You’re also not twenty-five anymore,” Nilesh says bluntly. “You need to slow down, or you really will get sick.”
“I know,” I say with a sigh. “I’ll try.”
He grins. “Take Ally to the beach for a week, and turn off your phone.”
“I wish I could,” I reply, imagining a week on a beach with Ally. I’ve always wanted to try windsurfing, and I bet Ally knows how. Even if she doesn’t, I’m sure she’d be a natural. And I’m sure she’d look stunning in a bathing suit.
I look up and see Nilesh watching me with a grin. “You guys are serious, eh?”
“Pretty serious,” I admit. There’s no point denying it; Nilesh knows you don’t bring a casual date to this kind of appointment.
“Good for you, man,” he says. “You should go relieve her mind.”
It takes me a second to realize what he means. “You think Ally’s worried?”
Nilesh looks at me like I’m an idiot. “Of course she is, Drew. She was trying to hide it, but it was pretty obvious.”
“Hmm.” I stand and shake his hand. “Right. Thanks, Nilesh.”
“Anytime. Is your family doctor the guy who ordered the lab work? Do you want me to send him a report?”
I open my mouth to say no, then change my mind. “Dr. Barrett. Yeah. Sure. Thanks again.”
Nilesh nods and turns back to his computer to finish his report. I walk down the hall to find Ally, who jumps to her feet as soon as she sees me coming.
Nilesh was right. She was worried.
“I’m fine,” I say quickly, and some of the tension leaves her face.
“Really?” she asks, as though she’s afraid to believe it.
“Yeah,” I reassure her. “Everything looks normal. Nilesh thinks I was just working too much.”
Ally throws her arms around my neck, and I pull her in for a hug.
“Drew, I’m so glad,” she murmurs into my shoulder.
“Yeah. Me too,” I admit.
“So he really thought it was all stress?” she asks, as we walk out of the clinic to the elevators.
“Uh huh. Even my blood pressure was normal today.”
“Really?”
“Yep. Now I can go back to the family doctor for follow-up.”
She giggles. “You realize that doesn’t make sense? Your blood pressure’s normal, so you’re going for follow-up?”
“It makes perfect sense. I don’t want to go to the doctor if he might say there’s a problem.”
“This is why everyone says doctors make the worst patients.”
“No one says that, Ally.”
“Right,” she says with a knowing smile.
We walk out of the hospital into the sunshine, and I feel happy enough to float off the sidewalk.
“Come on, I’ll take you to lunch,” I tell Ally. “There’s a place around the corner with amazing fried chicken.”
“Sounds good.”
We get there just as the restaurant’s opening, and they give us a table immediately. After the waitress takes our order, I think back to Nilesh’s suggestion that I take Ally away for a week on the beach. I can’t manage a week off, but we have the rest of the weekend.
“Let’s get a hotel room tonight,” I say, pulling out my phone. I’ll book a room in the nicest place I can find, somewhere that’ll arrange for roses and champagne in the room. We’ll spend the afternoon wandering the city, then I’ll take Ally back to the hotel and tell her how I see our relationship.
But Ally hesitates, and I can tell she’s searching for a graceful way to say no.
“We don’t have to, obviously,” I say, trying to hide my disappointment.
“No, I’d really like to, Drew,” she says quickly. “It’s just . . . my family’s going out for dinner tonight to celebrate my sister’s graduation. I told them I couldn’t make it, but since we’re done early, I should probably go back for it. It’s not until seven, so I could take the train—”
“No, I’ll drive you back,” I interrupt.
“Thanks, Drew.”
“So . . . you wouldn’t have told me about this dinner if I got bad news this morning.” It’s more of a statement than a question, because the truth is obvious. She wanted to be around to scrape me off the floor if the news was bad, and she didn’t tell me about the dinner so I wouldn’t feel guilty.
“It’s not that big a deal, Drew,” she says quickly.
“And I’m not really looking forward to it, but I should probably go if I can.
” She pulls out her phone. “I’ll just text my mom to ask if I can still come.
They’re going to Nico’s, and they may have already changed the number of people on the reservation.
If they can’t change it back, we may as well stay in Toronto. ”
Nico’s is one of the fanciest restaurants in Somerset, so it seems like this dinner is a pretty big deal to her family.
“What did you tell your family? About why you couldn’t go?”
“I said I was sick,” Ally admits. “It was the best excuse I could come up with.”
“So now you’ll say you’ve had a miraculous recovery?” I ask. “Will they believe it?”
“Yeah,” Ally’s lips curve into a rueful little smile. “They’ll believe it.”
“What do you mean?”
She toys with her napkin. “I don’t think they believed I was sick in the first place,” she admits. “They thought I was staying away because I was jealous of Hayley.”
“What? Why?”
“Oh, lots of reasons,” she says lightly. “She finished her physio degree, and she’s already got a job lined up at her boyfriend’s clinic.” She pauses. “And apparently Hayley thinks I’m jealous of her boyfriend.”
I struggle to keep my expression neutral. “Why does she think that?”
Ally looks down at the table. “I only met the guy once, at a dinner at my parents’,” she explains. “But I caught him staring at me, so I stared back. I was hoping if he knew I noticed, he’d stop. But I guess Hayley interpreted it differently.”
“Uh huh.” I can read between those lines easily enough; Hayley’s dating a creep who was ogling Ally.
“And her boyfriend’s coming to this dinner?”
“Yep.” Ally’s phone pings, and she glances down at it. “Mom says they didn’t change the reservation, so I can go.”
I do some quick math. “So the reservation’s for five people?”
Ally nods.
“Tell your mom to change it to six,” I tell her. “I want to come with you.”
“Really?” Ally asks skeptically. “You want to meet my family?”
“Yep.” It isn’t a lie; I’d really like to meet these people.
“Okay,” she says reluctantly. “You’ll be the first guy I’ve introduced to parents.”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah,” Ally nods. “I mean, I’ve dated, of course. But I went to the tennis academy when I was fifteen, and then I was on the tour, and there was never anyone serious enough to bring home. And since I’ve been back in Somerset, I haven’t really had anyone serious either.”
“So I’ll be the first,” I say, trying not to show how much I like the idea.
“If you’re still up for it, yeah,” she says, giving me a questioning look.
“I’m up for it.”
“Okay.” She taps her phone. “I’ll ask my mom if she can change the reservation.”
“I don’t think Nico’s has tables for five, Ally,” I point out. “The table will seat six, they’ll just need another place setting.”
“You’re right.” Ally looks up from her phone. “What should I tell them? Do I say you’re my boyfriend, or . . .”
“We can tell them whatever you want, Ally, but boyfriend’s probably simplest.”
As she finishes her text, I decide that this is probably for the best. Instead of staying in Toronto tonight, I’ll book something for next weekend and surprise her.