Gavin, Hannah, and Gran were now sitting in one of the patient rooms at the St. Griswald's Hospital in Lexington, waiting for Doctor Nate to come and get started on the check up. She was laying down in the patient's chair, feeling drowsy and not fully conscious. Nate had asked Gran to not drink or eat anything before coming in, so this made her impatient on top of everything else she was feeling.
The clock was ticking by slowly and just like her grandmother, Hannah wasn't fully awake. She wanted to get some caffeine in her system before coming here, but Gavin insisted on getting checked in and settled before doing anything else. There was a drool stain on the shoulder of his shirt and noticed that Hannah had fallen asleep again. She might as well stay asleep right now since Nate will be here in twenty minutes, he thought to himself. He was starting to feel a little unnerved, but then he smiled as he looked at his girlfriend and kissed her gently on the cheek.
The analogue clock next to the door read 11:00 am. Gavin was starting to get a little hungry, but before he was able to get up, Doctor Nate came into the room and smiled in his direction. "It's nice that you're able to be here for Hannah," he said. "She's had it rough the past few days."
"I know," Gavin said calmly. He gently shook Hannah's shoulder to wake her up. "Nate is here, love," he whispered in her ear. "You might want to get yourself cleaned up."
It took her a minute to adjust to the fluorescent lights in the room, but once Hannah washed her face in the room's provided sink with the doctor's permission, she felt somewhat better and was able to see clearly.
"So I'm going to take your grandmother back to the lab and do some blood tests," Nate said with a reassuring smile. "And after that we're going to perform some X-rays and figure out if there's anything blocking her lungs. I suggest that you guys go back into the waiting room. One of the nurses will let you know once we're done with these procedures."
"Thank you, Nate," Hannah said, feeling slightly relieved. Suddenly her stomach growled and Gavin turned to face her. "I guess the first order of business is to get some food," he said with a smile. "I'm starting to get hungry as well."
They both stood up out of their seats and headed towards the waiting room entrance.
"So what do you want to eat?," Gavin asked Hannah as she made her way to one of the chairs.
"How about a burger with fries?," she said. "Oh, and I'd like extra cheese on the burger and a Sprite."
Gavin smiled and said, "Coming right up! I'll be back in about fifteen minutes."
"Thank you," she responded with a smile. She then reached for her bag and pulled out her cell phone and headphones.
It felt good for Hannah to just sit back and relax for a while. She thought back ten years ago when she and Nate had spent one afternoon in the backyard jumping on his trampoline. He was teaching her how to do backflips. He first did one himself; every backflip that he did seemed so effortless. He then asked her to try it. She was nervous at first, so he held her waist while she sprung herself up into the air.
"You awake, Hannah?," Gavin asked. He had come back with two McDonald's bags in his hands. Once he sat them down on the floor, he sat down and patted the ground, gesturing her to sit with him. Hannah got herself up out the chair, rubbed her eyes, and then sat down on the floor across from her boyfriend. They both ate in silence and enjoyed their time together despite what was going on around them. Once they were done eating and had picked up their trash, they decided to kid around and have fun on the toddler slide.
"Hey!" Hannah exclaimed, kneeling on the floor. "You're hogging the slide. Let me have a turn." Gavin was sitting backwards on the slide, his feet propped up on the seat. He kissed her, grinned at her mischievously, then made her tumble down with him to the ground back first. They laid down in a comfortable hug for a few minutes, but then Gavin reached to tickle Hannah's ribcage. This made her laugh hard enough to snort which amused him very much. The nurse then appeared into the waiting room and called out their names. The two of them stood up, regained their composure, then made their way to see Gran in the patient's room.
Nate was sitting in his chair checking her blood pressure one last time when Gavin and Hannah came inside. "Please sit," he said softly. Hannah felt a smile creeping up onto her face, and when Gavin noticed that, he kissed her on the cheek. He then took her hand into his and Hannah rested her head on his shoulder. For a moment Nate lost his focus and looked at the two of them, smiling like a proud father. He shook out of it though and put his focus back on Gran. He cleared his throat and said, "So after getting back the test results and X-rays, it seems like Helena's physical shape isn't as bad as we thought. However, her backbone is slightly bent and the bones in her arms and legs are fragile. She's not getting any calcium in her system, so I'll be prescribing her some special vitamins that should be able to help with that. As for her backbone, it's possible that she might need surgery to straighten it out." He paused for a moment and looked in Hannah's direction. "Your grandmother is strong, so you have no reason to worry," he said with a reassuring smile.
"What about her breathing problems, Nate?" she eagerly asked.
He looked back on the files he had in his hand. "I didn't see anything wrong when we got back the X-ray results. Perhaps she was just in a panic and her breathing shorted out."
That eased Hannah's mind some, but it was still sad for her to see her grandmother in this position. She inadvertently put her arms around Gavin and buried her face in his chest. She was trying to calm herself down and not over-think the situation.
"It's okay, love," Gavin said in a calm voice. "I need to get up now, though."
She released her grip and he stood up to shake Nate's hand. "Thanks for everything," he said. "Will this be paid for on her own account?"
"Yes. All you have to do is go the check-in desk and reschedule for her to come back in three months." Nate lead them out of the room and towards the desk which was in the middle of the intersecting hallways. A middle-aged woman stood up out of her seat and motioned for Hannah to come towards her.
"Here is your grandmother's appointment card for March 15th," she said as she sat back down and handed her the card. "And also, a word of encouragement: Helena has always come to this hospital whenever she felt something was wrong with her. Nate's a good guy and is great at what he does, so she has always felt safe here." The woman smiled at her for a brief moment and then shifted her focus back to the computer.
One of the male nurses had helped Gran get into a wheelchair so that she wouldn't have to strain herself walking back to the parking lot. The four of them had just gotten off the elevator and while Hannah and Gavin were feeling tired from the long day, the nurse was making small talk with Gran, so they were walking at a slower pace. "So how old is your granddaughter?" he asked in a gentle tone, staring in Hannah's direction. Helena cocked her head to the left so that the nurse could hear her. "She's seventeen and a junior in high school," she said proudly. "She is so bright and smart. I think she would make a fine lawyer or attorney some day. She's definitely got the attitude for it." Gran chuckled after making that comment and the nurse chimed in with her.
Hannah and Gavin were holding hands and walking at double pace towards the car, but they both stopped midway so that the nurse and Gran could catch up to them. Once they made their way up to the car, he helped her get inside and into her seat. The nurse then put his grip on the wheelchair, saluted to Gran, then headed back towards the parking garage exit/entrance. Gavin shut the door behind Gran then got into the driver's seat.
"So what do we want to do for dinner?" he asked before turning the car on. Gran was already fast asleep in the back seat, so Hannah suggested that they just go to the grocery store to pick up a few things then head home.
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