Divorced! Now what?

Chapter 52

Bethany POV



After we left Cynthia behind, all I could think about was how she was going to get her claws into my life again and if she could hurt me at all, she wouldn't let her cash cow out of her clutches if she could help it. Theo managed well under that pressure and handled the whole interaction better than I did. 

The night was a lot of tossing and turning. In the end, I headed to the pool and tried to do laps till I got tired, but after I had exhausted my body and fell back into bed, my mind refused to shut off. I am usually good at blocking things out, but she had managed to get under my skin for some reason.

So I did the only thing I could do. I got up and headed off to work. I ate at the all-night food hall, drank extra coffee, and entered my lab. The compound was ready for me to work on. I molded it into my desired shapes and created a nice new heart. I had a monkey to put this heart in to see how well it would work. The poor monkey was in bad shape, and I was surprised it had lasted this long.

The staff came and went. I had a dummy who worked as my patient before I finished getting the heart ready and making a few changes so I could fine-tune the computer component of the heart, the part that kept it beating at a regular rate.

I left the heart beating in the dummy. When I went and grabbed lunch in the cafeteria, Saun came in and sat with me. We talked about Mr. Green and the next step of following up with him. He would visit daily, later weekly, then monthly, slowly lessening how often he visited, depending on the viewer's interest in following Mr. Green's progress, or should we say the heart?

He was keen on seeing the monkey, and following that progression, if the monkey manages to go a month without either dying or showing signs of rejection, we would start looking at using it on humans. We laughed a little longer, Saun being good company. It's a pity he would prefer to date Drake than me, but I was okay with that. He had a wicked sense of humor and turned down my offer to join us for our sports day. He loves to watch those sweaty men running around, but he had a date with Drake and would like to see where that would lead.

'Katie, can you get Drake in here? I would like you and Drake to assist me. It's time to put the heart in the monkey.' Katie rushed out to get Drake. I double-checked the theater setup before bringing the now-sleeping monkey into the room, and we got to work on implanting the new heart. Four hours later, the monkey was in recovery. 

I did not stay up all night this time. I had the nurses monitor him and the junior doctor. He was pleased to get the night shift and the extra overtime hours. Robson said tomorrow, we should, as a team, review the operation on the monkey and see if there is anything that can be improved and how the monkey was responding to the new heart. Yeah, it was videoed. I am getting better at accepting how I am being videotaped. It was hard to put it out of my mind at first, but now I hardly even acknowledge that I am being recorded, talking into the mic, explaining what I was doing and what I was expecting. Robson said it was good. He intended to use it as a training video and, after a bit of editing to reduce the film length, would use it in some of the classes. It was an honor that my operations would be used for training without the monkey's permission. Robson laughed when I said that, and in my attempt to be funny, I must have been getting tired.

I spent that night alone, watching the video of the monkey operation, taking extra note of the heart and any changes that occurred during the operation. As it had in the simulator dummy, everything went the same way. I fell asleep on the floor in front of the television, with the operation on pause as a place I had wanted to look closely, but I fell asleep.

The following day, I grabbed the video and headed back to work. I knocked at Robson's office and waited.

'Enter.' it was early, only seven o'clock, and it did not surprise me that Robson was already there in his office.

I pushed the door open and handed Robson a coffee, a muffin, and the video.

'Thank you. Have you been able to see your patient yet?'

'No, I came here first. I thought you might like to join me.'

'Certainly, anything on the video?'

'All went well, no surprises that I could find.' I was seated in his office, about half an hour into our talk about the operation and expectations, when a knock came, and in walked Theo. It seemed he was an early bird today, too. He, too, carried coffee and muffins. I am going to gain a lot of weight with all these morning muffins.

'We were about to go check on the patient. Would you care to join us?' Robson asked Theo before he managed to get comfortable.

'Sure, I have nothing new to discuss. I am interested to see how he fared overnight.'

Theo placed his hand on my lower back as I walked out of the office and kept it there all the way to my wing and the waiting monkey. We had kept it sedated with the hope that it would make for a quicker recovery. I was still experimenting with the best treatment post-operation. Some patients slept and were groggy for days, while others bounced back quickly. For the safety of the monkey, we kept him sleeping. I did not wish for him to be jumping around too soon; he just had major surgery, and animals don't understand how to lie down and rest.

Katie left some excellent notes on how our patient went through the night. Overall, it was very promising.

'I am happy with this progress. How many can you churn out in a week?' Robson asked, already seeing this as a success, to start making more.

'Six.' the number may not sound like many, but that was a large number of hearts to make and test before putting them on a person, and I needed to make different sizes. 

'Perfect. Theo, you have a few clients who wish to get a new heart and have signed waivers, you might want to start checking on them and get them to make pre-operative changes in medication and lifestyle so they are giving themselves the best chance of survival.'

'On it. I will call a few for a check-up and talk to them then.'

Robson returned to his office while Theo stayed for a bit longer.

'Have you had a chance to talk to your Dad about next Sunday?'

'No, not yet. I was going to meet up with him tonight and have dinner with him.' 

'Can you let me know, so I can let Mum know?'

'I can cook some pies and stuff and take it over. Less pressure on your mother then.'

'Nope, you bring the drinks, it's our turn.' 

'Okay, I will talk to Dad tonight and tell you tomorrow.' Theo left and started his ward rounds. He did not have any surgery today. It was check-up day. He keeps reviewing patients and anyone who has had an issue two days a week and wants to speak with him.

I am lucky and have nothing to worry about, not yet, anyway. I had planned on seeing Mr. Green on my way home to see how he is coping at home and how he is doing his exercises. I am told he has an indoor pool, which would be perfect for him to walk laps as he gets stronger.

Chapter 53 - Divorced! Now what?