| |
The next few weeks were torture for Marla. The heartache she had felt over her divorce was nothing compared to the pain she felt from losing Micah. Most days, she wondered how she would go on. Her only distraction was work, so she added several shifts to keep her mind busy. Her stomach ached constantly, and she started to lose weight because she had no appetite. Marla had finally broken down and told Delaney what had happened. Delaney could hardly believe the story. When Marla told her how she had been the one to try to save Allie, Delaney had cupped her hands over her mouth and gasped.
“I can’t believe this. What are the odds that you were the doctor to care for Allie three years ago in the ER in Cincinnati when she died—and that you and Micah would both end up here in Guntersville, Alabama, in love with each other? This just isn’t fair. There has to be a way to make this work. I see it as destiny. I think God is at work here,” said Delaney.
Marla cried fresh tears when she relayed the story. She felt as if she was crying fresh tears every day now. “My face is going to turn into one big poof ball, and my heart will never mend,” she cried.
Marla was grateful for Delaney’s friendship. Delaney made it a point to stop over several times a week to check on Marla. Sometimes she would just sit with her. Other times, she would bring food over and force-feed Marla. Delaney had become concerned with Marla’s weight loss. “If it helps, you should know that Micah looks as bad and as sad as you do. It’s a shame that you two can’t just find a way to work this out,” said Delaney.
“I would give anything to find a way,” whispered Marla.
On the one hand, it comforted Marla a little to know that Micah was hurting for her the way she was hurting for him. On the other hand, it only made the pain worse.
“I might have to move away,” Marla said.
Delaney replied, “Give this some time and keep praying. This will work out. I’m certain that God has a plan. Don’t give up.”
During each of Delaney’s visits, Marla would have to force herself to stop crying and put on an “I’m okay” face before Delaney would leave and go home. Although Marla felt tortured to put on that happy face for Delaney, she was thankful for Delaney’s friendship because she had no one else.
As Christmas approached, Marla worked as much as she could. Anytime at home alone had become a time of despair for her. She needed to be distracted.
One evening during the week of Christmas, Marla was feeling particularly exhausted as the end of the day approached. Her shift hadn’t been that challenging, so she wasn’t sure why she felt so bad. On her way home, she started having a strange pain in her right side. She shrugged it off and attributed it to stress, sleep deprivation, and a poor diet. When she arrived home that morning, the pain worsened, and she started feeling nauseated. She sat down in the kitchen and tried to eat, but she was unable to. When she was unable to drink coffee, she knew something was wrong. Feeling awful, she figured she just needed rest, so she slipped into her pajamas and lay down to go to sleep.
Around noon, she awoke with severe pain in her right side. She tried to sit up, but the pain was too intense. She rolled to her side, and tears immediately fell from her eyes. Not long after the pain began, she also started vomiting. Being an ER doctor, appendicitis was high on her list of possible diagnoses. She checked her temperature, and it was 103. Picking up her cell phone, she called Delaney.
“Hello?” Delaney answered.
“Hey, it’s me. I think I have appendicitis,” said Marla. Marla paused to throw up again and then came back to the phone. “Sorry, I feel terrible. I have a fever to 103, my side hurts, and I keep vomiting.”
“Are you home?” Delaney asked.
“Yes,” Marla replied.
“I’ll send Ben right over. He’ll take you to the hospital,” Delaney said.
Marla didn’t respond.
“Marla, are you there?” Delaney asked.
There was no response again.
“Marla!” Delaney yelled into the phone.
Marla still didn’t respond.
“Marla, I don’t know if you can hear me or not, but I’m going to hang up and dial 911,” yelled Delaney.
The emergency medical workers arrived at Marla’s house about twenty minutes later. After several minutes of knocking with no reply, the workers kicked the front door in. They found Marla in her bed pale, sweating, unconscious, and covered in bile. The medics took her to the hospital, where Doc Paine assessed her. During the assessment, Marla was in and out of consciousness, occasionally crying out in pain. She had several episodes of vomiting. He called in the general surgeon, who immediately took her to surgery for emergent removal of her appendix.
Delaney arrived at the hospital during the surgery. She was thankful that Millie could come over to watch the kids. Ben had been on call and had helped prepare the operating room for Marla’s surgery. Delaney found Ben in his office. “How is she?”
“I’m glad she called you when she did and that you called 911. She’s very sick. The surgeon said she’s septic because her appendix ruptured, and he’s still very concerned about her even with her appendix out. She’s in recovery, but her blood pressure is going down. I think they’re putting her in the intensive care unit, and she needs presser support,” he said, looking frazzled.
“ICU? Sepsis? Oh my gosh, is she going to be okay?” Delaney asked, already knowing the possibilities for an outcome.
“We’ll just have to wait and see ... and pray,” he said.
“Does Micah know?” She asked Ben.
“I haven’t said anything yet. I wanted to have more information before I talked to him. He’s going to be upset.”
“You have to call him, now,” she stated. “I mean, what if she doesn’t make it?” Her eyes watered. “This is so serious, Ben. You have to let him know now before something worse happens.”
Ben nodded and picked up the hospital phone. He called Micah but got his voicemail. Ben left a message that he needed to talk to him urgently about Marla. “I’ll send him a text, too. I think he’s working at the fire station tonight,” Ben said.
Ben stood and walked over to Delaney. He held her and whispered a small prayer for Marla as they stood there embracing.