Moon Lake General Hospital had every possible amenity and ward that was generally needed, mostly to cover the Normals that did live in the town. However, because of the naturally healthy numbers that all weres seemed to have, cardiac issues weren't a major concern. Cholesterol numbers seemed to stay healthy regardless of what weres ate, and as such the need for a specific cardiac unit was not as pressing in Moon Lake as it was anywhere else. The result was that the cardiac unit was smaller than what one would expect for a city of Moon Lake's size, and at the same time, many of Moon Lake's physicians often had to work in ways that went beyond their specialization.
Tora Tachibana was among them. In terms of his original training had education, he actually specialized in head and spinal injuries, partially for the reason of providing Moon Lake's Normals with someone who could deal with those sorts of injuries when it came up, and even weres from time to time. But that didn't give Tora enough cases that he could focus solely in that area. This often meant that he had cases like the present one, trying to save the life of a man, who from what he'd heard, was really anything but a good man. And at the same time, there was also the potential issue of grief from Elizabeth Harper. The woman seemed quite willing to put up with the worst that he'd heard about James Harper Senior and even support it at times. Tora supposed that meant that the marriage was truly "loving," despite all the flaws that James Harper Senior had.
"How long as she been there, doctor?" Tora heard a voice ask, making him turn to see one of the nurses arriving to do some of the standard checks on the systems presently keeping James Harper Senior alive.
"I'd think about since I'd reported to her what her husband has endured," Tora commented, "but that was a couple of hours ago..."
"Should I..." the nurse began to wonder, knowing full well that James Harper Sr. was in a pretty dire position. Tora had done all that he could to clear the blockage that had caused the heart attack as well as the smaller clot that the larger one had gotten caught on, however, the man's heartbeat was weak enough that if James Harper Sr. was to live, they would have to wait and see if he had the strength to pull through. There was a fair amount of official monitoring that would need to be done, and while this could be done without Elizabeth Harper having to leave, that didn't mean that there weren't policies that were in place to try and preserve patient privacy in these sorts of situations.
"Do your best," Tora spoke, "I'll try to see if Mrs. Harper might want something to eat. I have my pager, let me know if ANYTHING changes with him."
The nurse nodded and the two then made their way into the room. Tora gave small knock on the door as they entered which brought Elizabeth's eyes up from looking toward the presently unconscious James Harper Sr.
"Doctor?" Elizabeth said slowly.
"The nurse just needs to go through some monitoring," Tora spoke, "it's pretty standard, however, we are reaching a point where it might be a good idea to get some lunch."
"Lunch?" Elizabeth asked.
"Yes," Tora nodded, "it's well after noon... and I can understand that it's been a trying day so far..."
"But... James..." Elizabeth began.
"Will still be here," Tora answered, "and I have my pager on. If anything changes in his condition, the staff will let me know. Now, why don't we go and get something to eat. The hospital does have a small cafeteria. I can't promise a five star restaurant, but it isn't bad... And you'll want to be strong for him..."
With that, Elizabeth did rise to her feet and slowly followed Tora out of the room. They walked along the hallways, though as they passed the waiting room where rest of the Harper and Jenkins family had been, Elizabeth noted that it was presently empty.
"The others..." Elizabeth spoke in some surprise.
"I think they've already gone to lunch with the Twists," Tora spoke, "though I cannot say where."
Elizabeth sighed and followed Tora along through the hospital's hallways. They eventually came to an elevator and Tora noted that Elizabeth almost instinctively demurred and stood to a side to let him operate the buttons. Now this was needed, as Tora knew that Elizabeth Harper wouldn't know the layout of Moon Lake General, but something told Tora that this was more than just letting him lead her through the hallways that he knew and she didn't. Eventually as they felt the elevator begin to carry them up, heard her speak up and breaking the almost eerie silence that hung in the air.
"He is a good man, James Harper," Elizabeth spoke, "He's worked hard to keep our family fed, clothed, and sheltered."
"I'm sure all fathers work hard to support their families," Tora commented, "Many mothers, too."
Elizabeth only looked down on that. She'd often talked to James about the possibility of her working, as there had been a sewing store in Centre that had needed help at the time, and while she didn't have a real college education, the shop wasn't requiring someone with a college degree. Elizabeth had felt she could have helped there and provided enough that may they could afford day care for the children and maybe help improve their circumstances that way. But James had said no to that.
"So... wouldn't it be unfair to just talk back to some one that had done all that for you?" Elizabeth asked, "cared for you? Raised you? Protected you?"
"Perhaps," Tora answered, "perhaps not. One cannot treat parenthood as a means of complete control..."
Tora paused and thought back to his own childhood. While he wasn't as old as his mother, Akane no Tachibana, with his birthdate around 1910, neither was he a young man by human standards. By were standards he was a still relatively young man, but a were's naturally lengthy lifespan would mean that meant that in talking with Normals things regarding age had to be handled carefully. As he had been raised in an atmosphere that was fairly typical among Japanese noble families for the time-frame around 1910. But, he didn't look like he was that old and explaining that would only complicate matters, and ideas on parenting had gone on since 1910.
"After all... there are many birds that are quite beautiful and sing beautiful songs," Tora commented, "and while one may wish to protect them from cats or hawks that may eat them, just to hear their songs... that doesn't make putting the bird in cage and denying it its freedom is any better. Yes, it is alive... but without its freedom... it is not happy."
"But... some birds do quite well as pets," Elizabeth commented.
"But some of the most beautiful songs are by birds that AREN'T sold as pets," Tora answered as the reached the floor where the hospital's cafeteria was, "and even with the birds kept as pets... you can't control when they sing. In that sense you still need to give them some element of freedom. Deny them that... and the response you get won't be to YOUR liking."
Elizabeth sighed heavily. This was something that did strike her as something that would need to come, as at some point her children would grow up and head out. The thing she hoped for at least was that her children would at least be grateful for the protection and care that they'd been given. She resumed following Tora as he lead her to the hospital's cafeteria. It was a modest but very clean looking room with a red tile floor and with a series of small round tables. They entered and approached a counter that had a series of trays with cooked food sitting on it. There seemed to be a small heater that kept the food warm and while Tora took a tray of what looked like roast beef with mashed potatoes and chopped carrots. Elizabeth settled for a plate of chicken with macaroni and cheese and some biscuits.
"I'm not sure I'm strong enough... I've had James there for so long..." Elizabeth said softly after Tora paid for both of them.
"You may have to," Tora spoke, "there isn't much more we can do besides wait with regard to your husband, but as I said before... His condition is critical and even if he lives... he's going to be very weak for quite awhile. And unless he has a low stress office job..."
"He works as a lineman for the power company in Cherokee County that Mr. Wilhelm runs," Elizabeth informed him.
Tora sighed, "His employer's arrest aside... He probably won't be able to work as a lineman any more. His heart won't handle the physical stress of the work and definitely won't take dealing with electricity. If he has any management or office skills, perhaps he could apply for a position that will keep him away from the physical work that his heart can no longer take... And if not... you may have to pick up the slack and take the lead..."
"But..." Elizabeth began.
"Think of it as caring for him," Tora commented, "even nursing him, if need be. For as I said... if he lives, he's going to be very weak for quite awhile."
And Tora was fairly certain of that. The chest x-rays and so on had found the blockage that he'd had to remove from James Harper's heart, and from what he could observe when he went in during the surgery was that James Harper Sr. had damage to his heart muscle that was quite consistent with severe cases of heart disease. He rushed some blood samples to the lab, and the results came back at the end of the surgery that proved what Tora feared, that James Harper Senior's cholesterol levels were extremely elevated with regard to the bad cholesterol, low with the good cholesterol, and high in triglycerides. Had they done the physical examination tests as part of a routine physical, they would have found a massively accelerated pulse but high blood pressure. However, they hadn't been able to do that as James Sr. had had a massive heart attack. While James Sr. might not be overweight, the heart attack made it clear that he was suffering from heart disease, and from what Tora had found had also hidden it from his family. And while Tora had little real care for the man based on what he knew, that didn't change his dedication to healing people, and in that, Tora knew that if James Harper Senior survived, he'd be a very broken man.
Elizabeth didn't answer him after his last comment and the two ate their lunch in relative quiet. Elizabeth Harper retained the nervous look that Tora had noted regarding her worry for her husband. In many ways it was odd in a few ways given James Harper's behavior, but Tora still wrote that as some sign that the marriage between Elizabeth and James Senior was loving in its odd way. And at the same time, it wasn't his place to truly make any judgement with regard to "how things should be." It was for that reason that he kept his answers rather cryptic and more in the way of metaphors, which might allow for Elizabeth to see reason to see things differently with how she dealt with her family and kept his points that were more "judgmental" based on medicine and what he knew.
After eating, Tora lead Elizabeth back to the ward where James Harper Senior rested, hooked up to life support and so on. As they approached they came across the nurse coming out from the room that James Harper Sr. was in. She looked like she was about to activate a small pager, but noticed Tora approaching and put it back in her pants pocket.
"Has there been any change?" Tora asked as he approached.
"Yes... and in a sense a good change," the nurse answered, "his pulse is still rather weak... but I did notice some movement with his eye-lids... He hasn't regained consciousness, yet, but it would look like he'll pull through."
"JAMES!" Elizabeth declared and rushed into the room leaving Tora and the nurse in the doorway.
"Thank you," Tora said to the nurse and made his way into the room.
He entered to find Elizabeth sitting beside her husband, who Tora noted was starting to respond to her holding his hand. After a few moments his eyes opened and he began to take note of his surroundings. His movements were weak and slow, which was to be expected, but eventually he did manage to speak weakly.
"What... happened?" James Harper Sr. spoke weakly and slowly.
"You had a massive heart attack," Tora said to him, "You're presently at Moon Lake General and given how close you actually came to passing on to the next world, it's in your best interest that you stay here for the next few days.
"How will it...?" James Harper Sf. said slowly.
"Your employer should provide health insurance that will cover you in the case of such actions," Tora answered, "and if your insurance has been bought and provided through the market place, then the cost of the treatment should easily have gone over the aspects of your policy that would then turn to covering most if not all of your costs. If that isn't the case, that's either a poor choice with regard to what was offered on the market place or what your employer has offered. In that we can arrange a payment plan that is beneficial to lower income families with regard to low monthly instalments, though for warning that if actual medical costs rise, those costs would be included as interest with that monthly payment plan. Which could well mean that you'd pay more in total even with lower monthly costs. Regardless, how you pay for this is something to be handled later. Right now... the important thing is to make sure you live to see another day. Learn from mistakes, and so."
Tora was only greeted with a silence. James Harper Sr. managed a deep breath and looked down before slumping into the bed. Elizabeth Harper looked to her husband and gave a small frown at his sigh and then patted his hand. In this, Tora figured that the two had accepted the situation, though that could be because they had no choice. And in this, James Harper Sr. was very much a broken man, which might help Jennifer Jenkins in her plans, but Tora also knew that such an his broken state could well lead to further complications. In that, they still had issues of time.