Chapter Thirty-Five
JACK
This was the worst part for me: the waiting. I was an impatient person, especially when it came to saving Hannah’s life.
It had been six hours since they took over twenty vials of blood from me. Hannah was hooked up to every tube and machine possible, and it was too heartbreaking to look at her, so her mother and I just sat on either side of her, holding two of her fingers each. The others were bandaged or trapped under an IV or wires.
Some more time passed, and they kicked us out of the ICU after only a thirty-minute visit. When we stepped into the waiting room, there was a doctor that was really well dressed and looked out of place. His salt-and-pepper hair was slicked back into a perfect swoop, and he wore dark-wash jeans and a crisp white button-down shirt with a doctor coat over that. But my eyes went to his shoes.
Prada.
He didn’t seem to fit in in Boise, Idaho, and when our gazes locked, he smiled and headed for me like he knew me.
“Jack Marrow?” he asked, glancing down at a printout with my picture on it.
Interesting.
“Yes,” I said as Claire stepped up beside me.
“I’m Doctor Andrews from the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona. Your assistant, Chloe, just paid me an eye-watering sum of money for me to take the next week off of my vacation and fly up here to help consult on your situation.”
I felt relief spread throughout my limbs.God bless Chloe. She knew what I needed before I did. I was totally giving her a raise, even if she wouldn’t take it.
“What kind of doctor are you?” Claire asked.
“I’m a surgeon specializing in kidney transplants,” he said. “I don’t want to step on anyone’s toes here, but?—”
“Step away,” Claire said. “I want my daughter to have the best care possible.”
Good. She could be a mama bear when she needed to be. I might need her to fight like that when the time came to get this guy in the O.R. and not Mr. Negative one in 100,000.
“Thank you so much for coming.” I shook his hand and introduced Claire.
We stepped into the quiet room and explained what we knew. He winced when we told him that Chloe was currently without her spleen, gallbladder, and both kidneys. And on dialysis.
“Even if we can find a partial match, I can get her on anti-rejection meds. How many people are we testing to find a match?” He looked at Claire, probably assuming she had been tested as her mother.
But she looked at me.
I cleared my throat. “Just me. And I’msureI’m going to be a match,” I declared. I didn’t know a lot about God yet, and I admittedly hadn’t read the Bible, but I knew that Christianity was a religion based on faith, so I was clinging to that with everything I had.
I would be a match. A perfect match.
He was silent, appearing conflicted with my answer and obviously not waiting to rain on my parade. I glanced down at his chest and saw a small silver cross pendent hanging from a chain at his neck, so I knew then that God was in control and he’d sent this man.
“We’re walking in faith right now, Doctor Andrews,” Claire said, and I noticed her staring at the same cross necklace I was.
He nodded then, as if he understood. “Alright, have they done a C.T. scan to make sure you don’t have polycystic kidney disease or anything?” he asked me. “I always check that on my donors before we go into surgery.”
I shook my head, and he stood.
“Let’s do it,” I said.
He then looked at Claire. “I’m going to need you to sign permission for me to consult on Hannah’s case. They won’t like some fancy doctor from Scottsdale coming in here, telling them how to do their job, but I am licensed in Idaho because I have a vacation home in Sandpoint, so legally, I can do this surgery if they are willing.”
With that, we approached the nurses’ desk and eventually were referred to administration. We then got embroiled in two hours of paperwork and red tape. In the end, Dr. Andrews, Claire, and I had to sign waivers saying we wouldn’t sue the hospital for anything he did. Then Dr. Andrews had to call his insurance company and get some extra coverage. And finally, Dr. Negative, who I’d learned was named Dr. Carter, had to approve Dr. Andrews. I guessed Dr. Andrews was a big deal in the medical community and the local Boise doctors were honored to watch him work and ask questions.
After all that, I was finally taken for my C.T. We were still awaiting the blood results to see if I was a match. By the time I got back from the C.T. scan, I found the waiting room empty ofClaire. Dr. Andrews was off familiarizing himself with the staff and Hannah’s case.
