Page 1 of Lessons in Love at the Cornish Country Hospital

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As soon as Danni had got the call to say there’d been a major incident at a building site in Port Tremellien, the adrenaline begun surging through her veins. Her recent promotion to the post of emergency medicine consultant meant she was the most senior doctor on shift. The timing of her new role might not have been perfect, given her personal circumstances, but it was something she’d been working towards for a long time. It also meant the buck stopped with her, and the team needed to be ready to respond to whatever came through the doors.

They’d been told that a dumper truck had demolished the wall of a partially constructed building, where several other contractors had been working. It was the type of emergency that could result in multiple serious casualties, and she’d instructed her team to prepare themselves for that eventuality. They’d faced similar situations before and had been almost overwhelmed by the amount of patients needing their support, but this time the demand on their services had been far less than Danni had anticipated. The driver of the dumper truck had been airlifted to another hospital, and it had been a relief to discoverthat none of the patients transferred to St Piran’s by ambulance appeared to be seriously injured.

Within an hour of the call, the department didn’t feel any busier than on a normal day, and the patient Danni was treating in cubicle seven seemed to have escaped relatively unscathed from the accident too. She had been admitted with what appeared to be minor abrasions and was waiting to be taken down for an X-ray as a precaution, but she was clearly struggling to come to terms with what had almost happened.

‘I heard the most horrific bang and the wall was already starting to fall by the time I looked up. I was running, but I didn’t seem to be moving and I was sure the whole thing was going to come down on top of me.’

‘It’s okay, Hannah.’ Danni reached out as the woman’s eyes filled with tears. But this was the reality of emergency medicine. It wasn’t all life and death drama, although there was plenty of that. A lot of it involved being there for patients and their loved ones on some of the toughest days of their lives, and as far as Danni was concerned, that was just as important. ‘You’ve been through something really scary, and you can’t expect to just brush that off like it was nothing.’

‘I just keep thinking about what would have happened if the wall had fallen the other way. It would have killed me for sure, and then Mason would have been left to raise Jessica on his own.’

‘Are they your family?’

Hannah nodded. ‘My husband and my daughter. Jessie is nine months old, and I’ve only been back at work for three weeks. I could have left her without a mother.’ Her voice caught on the final word and a tear rolled down her face.

‘But you didn’t.’ Danni squeezed her hand, suddenly able to identify so closely with the woman in front of her that she had to swallow hard to stop her own emotions from bubbling up.She’d expected pregnancy to heighten those feelings, but there were moments like this that completely took her by surprise. She could almost feel the terror Hannah had experienced in that moment, and the heartbreak she’d felt at the possibility of never seeing her baby again. The love Danni felt for her unborn son was something she couldn’t even have put into words, it felt as if it was in every cell of her body. No wonder her patient was so distraught at the thought of leaving her daughter behind.

‘I know you’re right.’ Hannah closed her eyes for a moment. ‘And all I want to do now is to get back to her as soon as possible.’

‘You’ll be next to go down for X-ray, but I’d like to monitor your blood pressure for a little while longer. It was a bit raised when you got here, which is no surprise, but it’s not going down as quickly as I’d like.’ Danni gave Hannah what she hoped was a reassuring smile. ‘I’m sure it’s just everything that’s happened today, but like I said earlier, if there are any other symptoms you’ve been having, even before today, however small they might seem, it’s important that you tell me.’

‘I know, but I really can’t think of anything. Other than the usual stresses of trying to organise childcare and get into work on time. Is this your first?’ Hannah gestured towards Danni’s obvious bump and smiled as she nodded in response. ‘You’ll find out about all of that soon enough then! Although I can imagine your job is pretty stressful as it is.’

‘I must admit I’m trying not to think too hard about that just yet.’

‘I’m sure you’ll do a great job, and it’s easy to see that you’ll be a lovely mum. You’ve been so kind.’ Hannah sighed. ‘But as nice as you’ve been, I just want to get back to Jessie and Mason.’

‘I’ll see what I can do to chase up your X-ray, and then I’m going to talk to a colleague about whether we need to keep you here if your blood pressure reading stays where it is, or whetherwe think it’s safe to send you home to continue monitoring it.’ Hannah’s blood pressure had been 140/90 when she’d arrived and had dipped down slightly in the last hour, which meant it had gone from the lower end of a high reading, to pre-hypertension levels. But Danni wanted to see it continuing to fall before she’d feel confident about releasing her. If it didn’t reach a normal level, there’d be further tests they needed to run, and Hannah might be sent home with a device to monitor her blood pressure until they were sure it was nothing to be concerned about.

‘Thank you, I really can’t wait to get out. The light in here is making my eyes feel weird.’ In an instant, Hannah’s expression changed completely, twisting into the kind of grimace that made it look as though her face was frozen in a scream.

‘Hannah, are you okay? What’s happening?’ Even as Danni asked the question a wave of fear washed over her, as the younger woman started clutching her head.

‘It feels like my head is exploding, and I think I’m going to be—’ She didn’t even manage to finish the sentence before the sickness started. Danni grabbed a disposable kidney bowl and handed it to Hannah.

‘It’s okay sweetheart, I’m going to get some help.’ Yanking back the curtain of the cubicle, Danni’s heart started to race as she tried to hold on to the hope that she might be wrong about what was happening.

‘I need help in cubicle seven, now.’ As soon as she called out, two of the nurses, Aidan and Esther, started running towards her.

‘I think it could be an aneurysm.’ Danni kept her voice low. ‘Hannah needs a scan right now and we need the neurosurgical team down here. If it’s burst she’ll need nimodipine to try and maintain blood supply to the brain.’

‘I’ll get the scan sorted.’ Aidan was already halfway out of the cubicle.

‘I can take care of Hannah if you want to talk to the neurosurgeons?’ Esther looked at Danni, but she shook her head.

‘No, I’m staying with her. She’s got a baby at home.’ Danni and Esther had been best friends for more than ten years and Esther knew her well enough not to need to ask any more. Danni tried not to picture herself in a patient’s position, to prevent her emotions from clouding her professionalism. But the woman in front of her had a young baby, and it was impossible to stop herself from going there.

‘Okay, I’ll put in the call and I’ll send someone else up to help until I get back.’ Esther reached out and squeezed her hand, before Danni moved back towards Hannah, gently pushing her hair away from her face, and giving her a second kidney bowl.

‘Jessie.’ Hannah managed the single word before another wave of nausea took hold.

‘It’s going to be okay. I’m going to give you something to help with the pain and some oxygen, until we can get you down for a scan. Then we’ll get whatever is causing your pain sorted.’ Danni tried never to make promises she couldn’t keep, but just this once she refused to let her thoughts go beyond what she needed to do, which included setting up IV access for any medication Hannah might need, and trying to ensure that her brain wasn’t being starved of oxygen. Sudden crises were something Danni would never get used to, but as hard as they were, being there for the patients who needed her was what mattered the most. She’d been just ten years old when she’d lost her father, after he’d suffered a massive heart attack at work and there’d been no one around to save him. Over the course of her career she’d learnt to cope with how high the stakes in those kinds of situations were, so that she could do her job, but it never got any easier. Andwith a patient as young as Hannah, who’d seemed so well just minutes earlier, and who had so much to live for, it was even harder. Especially when Danni knew only too well the impact that losing a parent could have on a young child. She couldn’t let Hannah die, she wouldn’t. Jessie needed her mother and Danni refused to consider any other outcome. She couldn’t let either of them down.

The first time Danni had felt her baby move, it had taken her breath away. The tiny life she and Charlie had created suddenly had a power all of its own and she already loved her unborn son with an intensity she couldn’t even have tried to explain. But the tears that filled her eyes weren’t just tears of joy, there was a sadness she wished she didn’t feel too. It seemed horribly ungrateful when she’d been blessed with falling pregnant as easily as she had. But the connection she felt so strongly with a child she hadn’t even met yet was a reminder that she’d never experienced anything like that with her own mother, and it hurt more than she wanted it to. It shouldn’t matter any more, not now she’d found someone as wonderful as Charlie and they were starting a family of their own, but it did. And as the weeks continued to race towards her delivery date, she just couldn’t quite shake off that feeling.

‘Is there any room on that sofa for me?’ Charlie smiled as he came into the lounge, and Danni shrugged her shoulders.

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