pick up a murmur...’
‘Do you think that it’s cardiac related?’
‘I’m sure that it is,’ his father said. ‘That’s why I’m calling you.’
Zack went through everything. There was some sweating but the temperatures were sky-high back home, and there was also a slight reduction in peripheral perfusion, his father felt, though that was more on instinct.
‘I should get him seen but on all the guidelines he’s non-urgent at this stage.’
‘Dad, if he’s got a ductal dependent lesion...’ Zack didn’t need to spell it out that these babies were all too often diagnosed at post-mortem. ‘If you’re worried then he needs to be seen straight away.’
‘There’s been a train crash and the air ambulances have to prioritise.’
‘I don’t think you called me for a chat,’ Zack said.
‘No.’
‘He needs to be seen by Cale. I’ll call him now and he’ll put the baby’s transfer as a priority.’
‘There’s not much to go on.’
‘Yes, there is,’ Zack said. ‘You have forty years’ experience, I’d take that any time. What’s the baby’s name?’
‘Max,’ his father answered. ‘Zack, what if I’m wrong?’
‘Then I’ll be more than happy to wear it. I’ll call you back when I’ve spoken with Cale. You tell them to send the air ambulance as a priority.’
Zack no longer felt tired now.
Freya sat on the couch as he rang his mentor and then called his father back.
‘It’s all sorted in Brisbane—they’re expecting him. Cale’s coming in and will be there when the baby arrives.’
‘Thanks, Zack. We’ve got clearance for the air ambulance.’
Zack breathed out as he ended the call.
His head couldn’t take it. The very thought of Tara going through what Maria had today brought it all too close to a personal level, which Zack did his best to avoid.
‘That was my father...’
‘I heard,’ Freya said.
‘Tara’s my ex.’ He shook his head. ‘Too much?’
‘No, I think it’s nice that you care.’ Freya really did, as the impression given by Zack was that he always walked away without a second glance.
‘Well, my parents don’t think that I do. They’ve both asked if I remember her, as if I’ve cut off the first eighteen years of my life. In fairness they never knew we were on together, but as if I’d forget a friend!’ He was not going to spill it all out just because he was tired, and anyway PICU rang at that moment to alter some drug doses for Paulo.
‘He’s doing all the right things,’ Zack said, leaning back. ‘I’ll go and review him at midnight, unless there’s any change before then.’ He glanced at his phone and Freya saw that he was looking at the time in Australia.
‘What does your father think is wrong with the baby’s heart?’ Freya asked.
‘Some defects aren’t picked up at birth but when the ducts close at around a couple of weeks old... It might be nothing, it might be a small lesion that could have waited, but if my father’s ringing me that means he’s seriously worried because nothing would get that proud old bugger to call me otherwise.
‘Hell, I still can’t believe that he did.’
‘Well, you are a cardiac surgeon.’
‘Ah, but he’d prefer...’
Zack stopped and then handed her the phone. ‘If PICU calls...’
‘Sure.’
‘Or are you going home?’
‘I’m staying tonight.’
‘You don’t usually.’
‘No.’ Freya didn’t know what to say—she was here because she wanted to be and Zack didn’t know what to say because it was actually a help to him that she was.
He didn’t like leaving his pagers with others, though he had to at times, of course.
He looked at Freya and he told her more about Paulo’s operation. ‘I thought twice I’d lost him,’ he said, and for the first time he told another person what he usually put in his reports, though he gave Freya a far less comprehensive version.
‘And if you put any of this in your press releases...’
‘I never would,’ Freya said. ‘I’ll email them to you first if you prefer.’
Zack nodded. It felt odd to be unloading thoughts that he usually kept in his head and he was grateful that Freya, when he was too tired to do so, drew a very firm line to ensure that nothing he said he could live to regret.
‘I called a colleague last night to go through the surgery I planned and also to check that it wasn’t my ego taking him to Theatre. He agreed that Paulo had a chance and that he’d proceed. It’s actually the guy Tara’s baby has gone to. I spent a year working on his team.’
‘So the baby’s in good hands.’ Freya smiled.
‘The best of hands,’ Zack said, and then continued to talk about the surgery he’d performed. ‘When I first opened him up I was just going to close him and then five hours in I actually wished that I had. I was just going through the motions for the last hours, repairing what I could, remembering all I’d been taught. When they took him off bypass and I saw that heart fill...’ The adrenaline that had kept him going through surgery and again when his father had called was still surging through his veins.
‘I can’t switch off,’ Zack admitted.
‘When are your days off?’ Freya asked.
‘I’m not going to get out of this place for the next couple of days.’
‘Do you want to come riding at the weekend?’ It just popped into her head and then she realised that it might be open to misinterpretation. ‘I meant horses.’
He grinned. ‘I got that. Do you ride?’
‘Not very well,’ Freya said, ‘but I love it when I do, it helps me to unwind... It was a part of my rehab.’
‘Really?’
Zack was about to say no but then thought about it and, yep, a few hours on horseback to look forward to sounded like a good way of staying sane during these coming days.
Freya could see, though, that he was hesitant.
‘No
