Six Sexy Doctors Part 2. Joanna Neil

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ they could arrange for her to start treatment. It probably wouldn’t give her much more time, but every minute longer she had with her young children would be precious. She felt her throat close and she blinked away tears. However upset she felt, she didn’t want Cameron to see it. But it seemed she couldn’t hide her feelings quickly enough.

      ‘Hey,’ he said, ‘let’s not get ahead of ourselves.’ For a moment it looked as if he was going to reach out to her, but he let his hands drop to his side.

      ‘But she has three young children. How can any woman cope with the thought of leaving them? Why is life so cruel?’

      ‘We’ll do out best for her, Meagan. You picked it up, and at least she has a chance to prepare herself. Let’s go and see her and then we’ll talk again.’

      Rhona was waiting in the consulting room, feeding her baby. The baby was sucking contentedly and the three adults watched as her eyes closed and she fell asleep.

      ‘Well?’ Rhona asked as she settled her child in her buggy. ‘Can I go?’

      ‘I’m afraid you can’t. Not yet at any rate,’ Cameron said gently.

      ‘Why? What is it?’ She looked at the two doctors. ‘What is it?’ she said again, her voice rising. ‘There’s something you’re not telling me. C’mon, Cameron Stuart. You’ve known me for years. You know I like straight talking.’ Despite her brave words, Meagan could hear the fear in her voice.

      ‘We found something on your chest X-ray that worries us a little.’ Cameron said. ‘I want to examine you again, if that’s all right? But first do you think you could manage to give us a urine specimen?’

      ‘Sure,’ Rhona replied. ‘But I think you should tell me what this is about.’

      ‘Urine first,’ Cameron said firmly. Once the nurse had taken away the sample for testing, Cameron examined Rhona again while Meagan looked on.

      ‘Any lumps or bumps anywhere? In your breasts?’

      ‘Not that I’ve noticed.’

      ‘Any chance you could be pregnant?’ Cameron asked.

      Rhona laughed. ‘You know as well as I do that the answer to that is no.’

      Meagan was still none the wiser. Where was Cameron going with this? Could Rhona be pregnant? She had heard of cases where women had fallen pregnant even after having their tubes tied. That would make it all even worse. She couldn’t have treatment while pregnant. The pregnancy would have to be terminated.

      ‘Any other symptoms apart from the breathlessness?’

      ‘No, except for feeling tired all the time—but I put that down to years of sleepless nights.’ She laughed nervously. ‘You don’t think I could be pregnant, do you? Even if I hadn’t been sterilized, it wouldn’t be possible.’ She blushed furiously. ‘You know, with having three small children we haven’t…not since—I mean I am just so darned exhausted all the time. It’s not as if I don’t love my husband. Oh, dear…’ She tailed off.

      ‘No, I don’t think you’re pregnant,’ Cameron said. ‘I think there’s a chance it’s something else, but I won’t be sure until I get the result of the urine test. We’ll have the results shortly. In the meantime, you can get dressed. I’ll be back in to see you in a minute.’

      Even more confused, Meagan followed Cameron out of the room. He looked satisfied, even cheerful. Didn’t he care that they were about to deliver a death sentence to a woman who had three young children depending on her?

      Before she had a chance to question him, the nurse arrived back.

      ‘The pregnancy test is strongly positive,’ She told Cameron. ‘Good news?’

      ‘You could say that,’ Cameron said, smiling.

      ‘How can you possibly think it’s good news?’ Meagan burst out, unable to contain herself any longer. ‘If she decides not to terminate then she’ll die more quickly and then there will be four children left without a mother.’

      Cameron placed a hand on Meagan’s shoulder. Something in his expression stopped her in her tracks.

      ‘Have you ever heard of a condition called choriocarcinoma?’ Cameron asked.

      Meagan shook her head, although somewhere deep in the recesses of her mind the term sounded familiar.

      ‘Well, it’s a type of cancer that originates in the placental tissue after a pregnancy or miscarriage,’ Cameron explained. ‘As far as Rhona’s concerned, it is really good news. The tumours will respond quickly to treatment and there is every chance she will make a complete recovery.’

      ‘Are you sure?’ Meagan asked, wanting desperately to believe him. But what if he was wrong?

      ‘I’m positive. We’ll need to do further tests, of course, but I have no doubt that is what we are seeing here.’

      Meagan felt herself sag with relief. If he was right and she had no reason to doubt him, there was every chance Rhona would be around for many years to come. She grinned at him.

      ‘What made you think of it?’

      ‘When I saw the X-ray and the magnitude of the tumours, it got me thinking. With that kind of invasion Rhona should have been much sicker than she is. Then when I examined her and there was no obvious primary source of the tumours, I began to think of choriocarcinoma. I remember reading about it in one of the medical journals a year or so ago. The positive pregnancy test all but confirms the diagnosis. It’s still a serious condition, but thankfully it responds extremely well to chemotherapy.’

      ‘Thank God you thought of it. Imagine if you hadn’t. We would have told Rhona she was going to die and put her through torment. She might even have decided not to have treatment, in which case she would have died.’ Meagan shivered. ‘She’s a very lucky woman to have you around. I would have missed it if it hadn’t been for you.’

      ‘Don’t beat yourself up. You did the right thing by discussing her with me and thinking of the chest X-ray. Someone else might just have given her more antibiotics and sent her home. If you hadn’t insisted on investigating further when you did, the condition could have advanced quickly to a point where we would have been too late to help Rhona.’

      Meagan shuddered. It had been a close call. Thank God she had decided to investigate further and thank God Cameron had been there to look at the X-ray with her. Otherwise she might be having an entirely different conversation with Rhona right now.

      ‘You did well, as did Sophie, by insisting Rhona see you. That’s what general practice is all about. A team effort where everyone pulls together. It seems we made the right decision taking you on after all. Well done. Again.’

      When Cameron smiled at Meagan, she felt her stomach flip. She smiled back. She couldn’t help but feel pleased at his praise. More than anything else she wanted his respect and approval—as a doctor, of course.

      ‘Let’s go and tell her the good news, shall we?’ he said.

      A few days later, on a Saturday afternoon, as Meagan sat outside her cottage, coffee in hand, marvelling at how the sun lit the sky and СКАЧАТЬ