Page 17 of Lessons in Love at the Cornish Country Hospital

The maternity department was unusually quiet when they arrived and Danni was immediately checked over, before being hooked up to a foetal monitor, all of which gave reassuring results. Her blood was taken, and she was asked to provide a urine sample, and within minutes, Heike, the midwife looking after her, had come up with a possible reason for why Danni had fainted.

‘There’s a trace of some blood in your urine, which indicates an infection, probably caused by the baby getting bigger and putting more pressure on your bladder.’ She gave Danni a reassuring smile. ‘It’s fairly common in pregnancy, but you’re going to need some antibiotics to make sure it doesn’t get worse. There’s a chance the fainting was caused by something else, like anaemia, but we’ll know more once we get the results of the blood test.’

‘But she needs to rest either way, doesn’t she?’ Esther’s tone was insistent and it had taken all Danni’s powers of persuasion to stop her calling Charlie back from Bristol, where he’d gone to consult on set with the TV company who were making one of his books into a Christmas special.

‘Rest would be a good idea at this stage, but I know that’s difficult in your job.’ Heike was still smiling, but Esther frowned.

‘Perhaps it’s time you put yourself first and started your maternity leave now.’

‘Anyone would think you wanted to get rid of me.’ Danni grinned, but there was still no softening in Esther’s expression.

‘I just want to make sure you and the baby are okay.’

‘I know.’ Danni sighed. ‘But sitting at home overthinking all the things that could go wrong between now and the baby arriving sounds like hell to me. Not to mention how guilty it will make me feel. I’d rather be at the hospital with all of my friends looking out for me, and covering for me if I need a slightly longer break. I just forgot to eat this morning, that’s all, and that, along with a bit of a UTI, must have done it. But I promise I won’t skip any more meals, and that I’ll tell you or Aidan if I feel even a little bit dizzy again.’

Esther narrowed her eyes for a moment, and then turned to Heike. ‘What do you think? Is it safe for Danni and the baby if she continues working?’

‘There’s no problem with your blood pressure, so as long as you take breaks whenever you need them, and make sure you eat regularly, you should be okay with lighter duties. I’m guessing that’s what was suggested during the risk assessment?’

‘Yes, I’ve been taken off the list for the in-hospital cardiac response team, and I’m not doing any pre-hospital shifts with the paramedics now either. But I can still deal with all the minor issues; burns, broken toes, lacerations, that kind of thing. I can even do some of that sitting down if I need to.’

‘Nothing I say is going to change your mind, is it?’ Esther sighed as Danni shook her head. ‘Just know I’m going to be watching you like a hawk and, if anything like this happens again, I’m getting you straight home, even if I have to carry you over my shoulder.’

‘I’d like to see you try.’ Danni had a good eight or nine inches on her friend, but she still wouldn’t have bet against Esther if it came down to it, and she was clearly backing herself too.

‘You know I could if I had to.’

‘You probably could, but you won’t need to. Once I’ve had those chips, I’ll be ready to tackle anything that comes through the doors.’

‘As long as it’s a minor injury.’ Esther gave her another pointed look.

‘Yes, Mum.’ Danni laughed again and a warm feeling settled in her chest. She might not have a real mum who loved her the way mums were supposed to, but she had a best friend who cared about her in a way many people never experienced, and that was a blessing which needed to be counted.

Being on lighter duties meant that Danni saw a quicker succession of patients than she might normally have done. There were some who definitely should have gone to their GP instead of turning up in A&E, including Sam, a rugby player who’d been brought to tears when she’d examined his foot, shortly before diagnosing him with an ingrowing toenail. Then there were the others whose injuries made it clear from the moment they arrived that A&E was the right place for them. Clifford was one of those people. His face was obviously swollen, and he was wincing in pain before Danni even had the chance to ask him what was wrong.

‘Just put me down, doc, can you? I’ve had enough. I can’t sleep for the pain, but if I could close my eyes and not wake up, and all the pain would be gone, that would be all right by me.’ Clifford sat down with a thud, grimacing and clutching the side of his jaw. His records showed he was eighty-two, and she’d heard this sort of remark from patients before, when a catalogue of illnesses had become too much for them to bear. But Clifford’s records didn’t reveal any serious health complaints, so if theycould get to the bottom of what was causing the pain, there was every chance his desire to find a permanent way out of his current agony would pass too.

‘I’m really sorry you’re in so much pain, Clifford, but hopefully we can sort that out. I just need to ask you a bit more about what’s been going on, if that’s okay. It’s dental pain, is that right?’

‘It’s more than pain. I’ve snapped a tooth and I think it’s infected.’ Clifford grimaced again.

‘That sounds horrible. Have you seen a dentist?’ Danni braced herself for the response she was almost certain was coming. Over the past few years, she’d seen more and more patients arriving for emergency care with problems that should have been dealt with by a dentist, but there just weren’t enough of them, especially in more rural areas. She’d been told about people who’d had their name down on waiting lists for years to get an NHS dentist, because every practice in their area was closed to new patients. For those people who couldn’t afford to go private, it ended up leaving a gap for emergency medicine to fill, or worse still for the patients themselves to try and fill. She’d had one patient, in London, who’d attempted to fill his own tooth cavities with a compound he’d bought online, and who’d ended up poisoning himself. So, Clifford’s answer to her question came as no surprise.

‘I haven’t got one. I stopped going after my wife, Blanche, died. She used to make all the appointments, but I didn’t realise it was more than two years since I’d been, until I rang them up and they told me they’d taken me off their list.’

‘I’m so sorry to hear that you lost your wife.’ It had always touched Danni’s heart when a patient talked about their loss, but that was something else that hit her even harder these days. The thought of something happening to Charlie woke her up in the night too. The idea of Danni’s life without him in it wasunthinkable. And, despite her forcing them to talk through what would happen if one of them died, what still scared her most of all was the idea of their child being robbed of having Charlie around. She knew only too well what that was like. There was no time to dwell on the irrational fears that she couldn’t shake just lately, Clifford needed the full focus of her attention. ‘How are you coping with everything else at home? The admission notes said you damaged your tooth in a fall? Did you sustain any other injuries?’

‘No, I tripped on the corner of the rug and hit the side of my face on the edge of a coffee table. It’s just as well I didn’t knock myself out or I’d still be lying there. There’d be no bugger to come by and find me.’ Clifford attempted to laugh, but it came out as more of a strangled sob, and Danni couldn’t tell whether it was because of the physical pain he was in, or the emotional kind.

‘So you’re living alone, and you don’t have any regular visitors?’ Another little piece of Danni’s heart felt like it was breaking for the man in front of her and, when she looked at him again, his eyes had gone glassy.

‘It’s my own fault. When I split up with my children’s mother, I should have fought harder to see them. Instead, I took the easy route, met Blanche and made her my whole world. I told myself that Tracey and Darren were better off without me. Maybe they were, but either way I’m reaping what I’ve sewn. There’s no one who’ll check if I’m knocked out on the floor, or even to care if I’m dead or alive.’

Danni didn’t trust herself to speak for a moment; the emotion that was rising up in her throat felt as though it might overwhelm her. Her mother had chosen a new life with her partner, Paul, instead of spending time with her children. But maybe there’d been a reason for her doing so, even if it was only in Nicola’s head. For the first time Danni questioned whetherher mother had thought the same thing; that her children were now better off without her. Whatever the history with Clifford and his kids, she’d have to have a heart made of stone not to feel sad for someone who believed no one left in the world cared about him. She might not be able to change how he felt, but she wanted Clifford to know there were people who would care enough to check on him.

‘I’m going to have a look in your mouth now, because I suspect from the swelling on your face that there’s an infection. If there is I’ll prescribe you some different painkillers and a course of antibiotics, which should help alleviate some of the symptoms and allow you to get some rest. I’ll also refer you to one of the dental surgeons to discuss options for extraction or further treatment.’ Danni took a breath. ‘I think it would be a good idea to run some blood tests, just to make sure there’s nothing else going on that might have contributed to your fall. I know you said you tripped, but it’s better to err on the side of caution. I’d also like to make a welfare referral for you, so you can get some support with things like finding a new dentist, and looking at whether there might be any hazards in your house that could cause another accident. They can discuss whether you might like to be part of a befriending service too, where volunteers come in for a chat on a regular basis, so you have someone keeping a bit of an eye on you, and caring that you’re doing okay. How would you feel about that?’

For a moment Clifford didn’t say anything, and if she’d had to guess how he was going to respond, she wasn’t sure she could have done. She’d experienced every kind of reaction to that kind of offer in the past, from outright refusal to even discuss it, to being told where she could stick her referral and to stop being an interfering busybody, by a ninety-three-year-old lady who said she had no intention of letting other interfering busybodies overher threshold, since she was perfectly capable of looking after herself. But Clifford’s eyes had gone glassy again.

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