“Overbearing men.” I huffed, but without any heat. It felt silly to be admitted over a fainting spell, but I couldn’t deny that it felt nice that Griffin cared enough to make sure that I was attended to quickly. I looked at the clock on the wall and grimaced. Okay, quickly was a bit of a stretch.
How the heck has it been four hours since the paramedics picked me up?
“I’ll have to give the boy a call when we are all done here.” My father said gruffly.
A knock on the door turned all of our heads, and we watched as a new doctor entered the room. He was a tall man—probably just over six feet, with thick, stylish brown hair, a full day’s worth of stubble on his face, warm brown eyes, and a surprisingly well-built physique that even the white coat couldn’t hide.
“Hello, I’m Dr. Teller. I’m the Chief of Obstetrics and Gynecology here at Sanford.” His lips pulled into an easy smile that made his eyes light up.
He glanced at the chart in his hand and then looked at me again, “I’m going to guess that the one in the hospital bed is Melanie Landon?”
“That’s me.” I sighed.
“What brings you in today? This paper says you came in the ambulance after a fall, and that you are pregnant, is that correct?”
“I had a fainting spell.” My cheeks reddened, and I looked away.
“That’s very common in early pregnancy.” He assured me. “Do you have any idea what triggered the episode?”
“Heightened emotions.” I said flatly.
“Ahh.” He nodded and stared at me. “Do you mind if we speak alone for just a moment?” he let his eyes shift to my parents and waited for their reply.
“Oh, uhh…” my mother stammered. “Melanie?” My father had a cross look on his face and didn’t say anything.
“It’s okay guys, maybe you could see how awful the cafeteria coffee is?”
They both stood up slowly after they exchanged uncomfortable looks and assured me they’d be back soon.
“Thank you, sometimes it’s easier for patients to speak without their family in the room.” He said and pulled my mother’s empty seat to a spot a few feet away from the bed. “Could you explain what occurred that caused the heightened emotions?”
“It’s been a stressful couple of weeks,” I admitted. “My grandmother passed away a few weeks ago, and when I returned home from her funeral, I found my husband inmyhot tub," a distinction that for some reason felt relevant to the story, "with his bosses secretary.” He winced at the imagery.
“And that’s when you fainted?” he asked without any judgment.
“No, I puked that time.” I joked. “Uh, this morning I learned that my grandmother had learned of his cheating before shepassed and didn’t tell me. Instead, she left it in a letter for my mother.”
He nodded slowly and watched me.
“That is a lot to have thrown at you in just a few weeks.”
I shrugged and looked down at my fingers. I noticed that I had picked the skin around the nails to the point that they were bleeding.
Damn it.
“What was happening inside your body right before you passed out?” he asked.
“I felt like my skin was too restrictive and my heart was going so fast that I briefly wondered if I was having a heart attack. Then my vision got fuzzy, and it felt like the ground tilted.”
His warm eyes held no judgment or pity; he acknowledged my discomfort with quiet compassion.
“In my medical opinion, it sounds like you had a panic attack. Which is understandable given the amount of stress being shoved at you without a way to escape it. Add that to the physical stress pregnancy puts on the body and I think anyones body would be demanding a time out." His words eased some of my embarrassment. "But I’m still going to run a few tests to make sure that we aren’t overlooking anything by assuming it was a panic attack.”
I nodded and waited for him to continue.
“The ER doctor already ordered an ultrasound and someone from the lab to come up and get some samples, I’m going toadd a couple of blood tests to the order but if all of that comes back good then I will let you decide if you’d like to spend the night here or in your own bed. Sometimes it can be nice to get away from home and be somewhere with strict visiting hours.” He winked at me, and I laughed.
“Thankfully, my family is wonderful, but I understand exactly what you mean.”
