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On Monday morning, Ron was driving them both in the Range Rover to Sandhills hospital for an appointment with Dr Young. As their appointment was at 9.40 a.m., they had been caught by the end of the rush hour. The journey was taking longer than before and Ron was getting increasingly agitated.
‘God, I’m so lucky to be able to work from home most days,’ he muttered as they were stopped at some lights. ‘I could have gone through then if that stupid woman in front had put her foot down.’
‘Yes, she would have been stupid if she’d been hit by a car coming through the junction,’ said Maureen. ‘We’ve plenty of time, there’s no need to be so impatient.’
‘Sorry, it’s just frustrating. I hate wasting time.’
Just then a call came through. Ron answered it on hands-free.
‘Morning, Brett. I’m driving so if it cuts out don’t worry.’
‘Oh, OK, I’ll be brief. I just wanted to let you know that I’ve emailed you some details about the equity in PersCure. There is some more available as one of the investors wants to sell his stake.’
‘Ron, be careful!’ shouted Maureen as Ron nearly clipped the opening door of a parked car. He suddenly pulled the car over and Maureen grabbed the handle on the door.
‘Everything OK?’ asked Brett.
‘Sorry, a stupid idiot just pulled out on me, You wouldn’t believe the standard of driving nowadays.’
‘Anyway, it’s all in the email but I wanted to let you know to look out for it and get back to me if there’s anything you need to discuss.’
‘OK, thanks, I will. Shit! Move it, you wanker!’ shouted Ron.
Maureen wondered whether they were going to end up in A&E rather than Sandhills hospital. Despite not being particularly comfortable driving the large car she would insist on driving them back home. Ron was far too distracted to drive safely.
**
Jake Marsfield had the usual team meeting to start the week followed by a couple of meetings with high net worth clients. His mind simply wasn’t on his work today. He was hoping to hear about the sale of his stake in PersCure. Unlike the sale of shares on the stockmarket where you could deal at a specified price and then receive the money a few days later, after the settlement period, this was an entirely different matter. If the existing investors weren’t interested, it might take a while to sell his stake. On the advice of his solicitor, he sold some other shares which would net him around fifty thousand pounds. The tax people had agreed to accept this as a deposit allowing him a few weeks to raise the rest of the money to pay the fine.
He’d chatted with Theo Henchard over the weekend about financial matters and though they were both disappointed that they had been caught, they were also relieved that only part of their total offshore investments had come to light. Theo was now in the process of muddying the trail in order to bury the remaining money.
Of course, his seniors at BondFin had been informed of his misdemeanours and he’d suffered what could only be described as an embarrassing bollocking from the CEO. Had his track record to date not been exemplary, then he would have certainly been out on his ear. The fact that he had recently been going through an acrimonious divorce had helped slightly and fortune had shone on him when his father had suffered a heart attack. The board had been lenient in this instance as he pleaded emotional distraction. Luckily, they hadn’t been able to check with his immediate family members who would have revealed that he hadn’t recently been near his estranged father nor had shown the slightest concern for his well-being.
His mind drifted back to the team meeting as he noticed the room had fallen silent.
‘Jake? Do you think we should increase our percentage in emerging markets or hold our position as the markets appear to be peaking?’
‘Oh, yes, that’s fine,’ he replied to Marcus one of his protégés.
‘Er, sorry, which?’
‘Which what?’
‘Which do you think is best under current market conditions?’
Jake realised he’d been in another world. He needed to end this meeting before he made a complete fool of himself.
‘The first option, he said, hoping that this wouldn’t prove to be disastrous.
‘OK, cool,’ said Marcus. ‘That’s what I was thinking.’
**
To Maureen’s relief, they arrived at the hospital without further incident. She opened the car door but Ron sat behind the wheel trying to access his emails on his phone.
‘Shall we go in?’ asked Maureen.
‘I’m trying to see this email which Brett sent.’
‘Your appointment is in five minutes, we should go.’
‘Ha, I bet we’ll be kept waiting like the last time.’
‘Ron, let’s go, please, you can check that email in reception.’
Ron climbed slowly out of the car still looking at his mobile.
‘Watch out!’ shouted Maureen as they walked up towards the entrance and Ron almost collided with a bollard. He was still reading his email.
Maureen gave Ron’s name to the receptionist as he was still engrossed and took a seat whilst Ron stood by the door, presumably to get better reception.
After only a couple of minutes, a nurse appeared from within and called out his name. Maureen got up and smiled at the nurse. ‘Ron!’ she called, ‘they are ready for you.’
Ron wandered over slowly, tapping at some areas of the screen. Maureen was so embarrassed. It was like accompanying a truculent teenager who was addicted to social media.
‘Mr Radford,’ said Dr Young, ‘Please take a seat. Good morning,’ she said to Maureen.
Ron sat down and appeared to be gazing past the doctor, his eyes fixed on a point in the distance through the window behind her.
‘How have you been feeling?’ she asked.
‘Er, oh, fine,’ he replied, non-committally.
‘Really? So no chest pains, no use of your angina spray?’
‘Occasionally,’ he replied.
Maureen knew this to be a blatant lie. She couldn’t remember a day when he’d not used it. She was thinking of intervening when the doctor opened his file and began to report on the recent CT angiogram.
‘Well, that is most surprising, in view of the results from your angiogram. We found a couple of arteries which are severely narrowed and that is certainly the cause of your chest pain. The blood is having trouble getting to the heart to supply it when there is increased demand. Also, I’m afraid to report it looks like the heart muscles aren’t working as efficiently as they could, in particular, the left ventricle is showing weakness.’
‘So, can you give me some pills?’ asked Ron. ‘I might as well have some more then I won’t need food, I can just take pills.’
‘I’m afraid that pills won’t be the answer on their own. You will need a surgical procedure.’
‘Rubbish. I’ve not time for that,’ said Ron. ‘It will have to wait.’
‘I strongly advise you to have this procedure as soon as we can fit you in. In the next couple of weeks, if possible.’
‘I’m getting married very soon, it will have to wait. Anyway, what does it involve?’
‘We will clear the furring of the arteries and we may need to insert a stent to keep the artery open. It will be a special sort which slowly releases drugs to help the functioning of the heart.’
‘Well, I think we should wait a bit and see how I get on.’
‘Ron, you must do as the doctor advises. It sounds serious,’ interjected Maureen.
He exhaled and remained silent. Waving his hand at Maureen as if batting away her comments like an annoying fly.
‘I’d like to examine you before you go,’ said Dr Young. ‘Please lie down on the examination couch.’
Just at that moment, Ron’s mobile rang. To Maureen’s horror, he took it out and actually answered it. ‘Phone you in ten minutes,’ he said gruffly and then stuffed the phone back in his pocket.
‘Undo your shirt please,’ he was instructed.
The doctor listened carefully with her stethoscope. She then asked him to sit up and tapped his back and listened carefully again. She took his blood pressure.
‘Please lie back again,’ she said. ‘I’m just going to feel your ankles.’
Maureen looked on with concern. She was no medical expert but the news hadn’t been good. The most worrying thing was that Ron refused to take matters seriously. She could tell from the expression on his face that he was in another world, totally consumed by the email from Brett Chandler and planning his next investment in PersCure.
‘Your ankles look slightly swollen. Have you noticed this before?’
‘What? No, I don’t think so. It’s a hot day, that’s probably the reason,’ said Ron.
‘It could also be a sign that your heart isn’t working efficiently. I’m going to prescribe some diuretic tablets.’
‘See I told you I’d be taking more pills,’ said Ron to Maureen. ‘I’m a walking pharmacy.’
‘It’s for your own good,’ said Maureen without meeting his gaze.
‘It’s a pity PersCure doesn’t make all my pills, I’d be helping their profits out,’ laughed Ron.
Dr Young was back at her desk making some notes and writing a prescription.
She handed it over and looked straight at Ron. ‘We will learn more when we insert the stent but I feel you should be prepared to have further surgery. A bypass operation may well be needed.’
‘Not that you are being pessimistic,’ countered Ron. ‘I’ll need anti-depressants as well soon.’
‘If you feel you need them then I advise you to go back to your GP, that is not my area of expertise.’
Maureen admired Dr Young. Not many people could stand up to Ron whilst he treated them with complete hostility and disdain, along with a dash of utter rudeness. She remained completely unflappable throughout. It was a masterly performance and Maureen wished she had half her confidence.
‘So, I assume I’ll be peeing all the time with these tablets,’ said Ron, holding it at arm’s length to read it without his reading glasses.
‘Probably slightly more often than usual, she said flatly. ‘I’m afraid you’ll have to pay for this prescription and I’ll write to your GP to get them added to your medication list.’
‘Hardly matters compared with what I’m paying to come to this hospital,’ said Ron, rudely. ‘Drop in the ocean compared with your fees!’
‘It was your choice to see me privately,’ replied the doctor making some additional notes in his folder.
Maureen vowed that this would be the last time she would accompany Ron if he was going to behave like this. The whole twenty minutes had been acutely embarrassing. Ron was sitting up on the examination couch and appeared to be tapping in numbers to the calculator function. It was quite unbelievable.
‘My secretary will be in touch with a date for the balloon angioplasty and stent procedure.’
‘Thank you, doctor,’ replied Maureen. ‘Is it a day case or will Ron have to stay in hospital?’
‘It depends what time of day the procedure is performed. If it’s a morning appointment the patient is usually well enough to go home later in the day but sometimes with an afternoon one we advise they stay in overnight.’
‘I see, well, thank you,’ said Maureen. She picked up her bag whilst Ron continued to scroll through his messages.
‘I would also add that stress can be very damaging to a heart in your condition, Mr Radford. You should take all steps possible to ease off on your workload.’
‘Really,’ said Ron. ‘Well, thanks for the advice,’ and he wandered out without saying goodbye.
Once they were at a distance from the building and out of earshot, Maureen could contain herself no longer.
‘Ron, that was so embarrassing! What’s got into you? You were so rude. I could not believe how you behaved! I’m so angry with you!’
‘Listen, there’s a chance of getting some more equity in PersCure. We need to have a chat. It could be really huge. It’s so exciting!’
‘Did you hear what I just said? Sod the equity! You might not live to invest any more money! Your heart is struggling!’
‘No it’s not! It’s that doctor, she annoys me, puts my blood pressure up.’
‘But the angiogram! It wasn’t good. You need treatment.’
‘I bet I do according to them. It will be a nice little earner for them. Look, can you drive? I need to phone Sidney and a few other people.’
Maureen took the keys and sighed. Suddenly she felt depressed. She realised that despite Ron’s affections and his generosity towards her with gifts and material luxuries she would always come second to his businesses. Had she made a huge mistake or had she expected too much from the relationship? They headed home in silence. She had a lot to think about and this afternoon they were supposed to be speaking to Pamela. It was turning out to be a horrendous day.
