Miracle Drug by Mabry M.D. Richard L

Author:Mabry M.D., Richard L.
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Abingdon Press
Published: 2015-09-15T04:00:00+00:00

16

Rachel was surprised to see the door to her room open and Josh enter. Not that she was surprised to see him—for the past four days, since the crisis had passed, he’d visited several times a day. But this time there was no mask obscuring Josh’s face, no plastic shield that made it difficult to see his sparkling blue eyes. And since no yellow isolation gown covered his clothes, she could see he looked quite handsome in a fresh white coat over a pale blue dress shirt and tie with blue and yellow stripes.

Force of habit made her place her index finger on the bandage that covered the site over her windpipe where the tracheotomy tube had been removed three days earlier. But that incision had already closed to the size of a pinhead, and she knew in a few days it would be fully healed over. Maybe a minor surgical procedure to minimize the scar would be necessary, but she’d worry about that later. In the meantime, she had no trouble speaking normally.

“Josh, am I officially out of isolation?”

“You are indeed. It looks like you’re recovering well, and the only reason we’ll continue treating you for a full ten days is because we don’t have any hard data saying a shorter course is enough.”

“How’s Mr. Madison?”

“He’s recovering as well. We’ll probably keep you both here until we stop the RP-78. After that, you can be discharged, but we’ll continue to keep an eye on you.”

“Why is that?” Rachel asked.

“Just being cautious,” Josh replied. “Our problem is that we don’t know if there are any long-term effects of the medication.”

Rachel thought about that for a moment. What a roller-coaster ride this had been. A trip overseas, a potentially fatal infection, her life saved at the last minute by what amounted to an experimental drug, and now the prospect of waiting to see if there were any long-term ill effects from that treatment. “I guess I should be—”

Josh held up his hand and reached into his pocket for his cell phone, which was buzzing. “Dr. Pearson.”

Rachel could hear only one side of the conversation, but the frown on Josh’s face told her what she needed to know. Finally, he said, “I’m on my way. Are Drs. Neeves, Johnson, and Chavez aware of this? They should be at the meeting as well.”

Josh stowed the phone and said, “Rachel, I came in here to tell you something important, but it’s not anything I want to rush. I’ll be back as soon as I deal with this situation. And we’ll talk then.”

As Josh left the room, Rachel smiled. I’ve already heard it, Josh. I don’t know if it was a fever dream or if it was real, but in either case, I’m pretty sure I know what you’re going to say.

***

Josh had practically lived at the hospital for the past week, and during that time this room had been his office. He’d sat behind that desk, used that phone and computer. But today he wasn’t the man in charge.

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