Secrets and Lies | ✔️

Chapter 34 - Charlie

Ch.34 - Charlie

"A cardiac arrest?" Charlie repeated after the doctor. He felt the color drain from his face. They were standing in the same Emergency Room he'd been a patient in only a couple days before, the stark white walls and smell of antiseptic all too familiar. "Is that the same as a heart attack?"

The doctor was young, about the same age as Charlie, with kind eyes and an easy smile. His jet-black hair was cut short and with his sharp Mediterranean features, he looked like he should be sipping cocktails on an exotic beach somewhere instead of standing here in the hospital.

"Not exactly. The term heart attack, or myocardial infarction, refers to the death of heart muscle due to a lack of blood supply. In other words, blood flow to the heart has been blocked for some reason. It's possible for the heart muscle to heal after an attack but scar tissue will form over the damaged area," he said, balling his hand into a fist to demonstrate. "And the new scar tissue will not be able to contract, therefore the heart's ability to pump decreases. Unfortunately, your mother's condition is more serious than that. Sudden Cardiac Arrest happens when the heart stops beating all together, without warning. It--"

Charlie cut him off mid-sentence. "But why would it do that? Mom's a healthy woman. And she's not even old! She's only in her early fifties."

"I understand," the doctor said patiently. "A person of any age can experience this. Sometimes we'll hear about it on the news. They will report a story about a young high school kid who's collapsed and died while on the football field. Most likely he's suffered from Sudden Cardiac Arrest. We even had an eleven-month-old baby in last month with the same thing. Age is irrelevant."

Charlie's eyes darted to Carter sitting exhausted in Talia's arms and his stomach twisted into knots. An eleven-month-old child with a cardiac arrest? He wanted to ask if the baby pulled through but found he couldn't bring himself to say the words out loud. Not because they wouldn't come, the question sat on the tip of his tongue, he just couldn't bear to hear the answer.

"The heart has an electrical system that controls the rate and rhythm of the heartbeat," the doctor continued. "When a problem occurs, the electrical system can create an arrhythmia. That means the heart can beat too fast, too slow, or with an irregular rhythm. The arrhythmia can then cause the heart to stop pumping blood to the body, which results in a cardiac arrest. Your mother was lucky she was with someone who knew CPR."

Charlie glanced at Talia before turning his eyes back to the doctor. "You mean the paramedics?"

The doctor shook his head. "The report I received stated she was with a man. After she collapsed, this man called 911 and performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation until help arrived. He most likely saved her life. She's extremely fortunate to have been with him."

Charlie felt Talia's hand on his arm. "Jackson."

He shook his head in disbelief. "Why didn't he say anything?"

Talia's voice was soft. "There really wasn't any time. He told us what happened and then we left."

The irony wasn't lost on him. Earlier that week Jackson had nearly killed him--something he still hadn't admitted to Talia--now he'd possibly saved his mother's life. "I can't believe this." Charlie moved a hand through his hair and let out a ragged sigh. "I just don't understand how this could have happen. She's never had any trouble before. I don't even think there's a family history of heart problems."

"It's hard to say," the doctor replied with a shrug. "Many conditions can cause the electrical problems that lead to cardiac arrest; such as severe physical stress, coronary heart disease, inherited disorders or structural changes in the heart. The doctors working on her case should be able to determine what happened. Eventually, they'll have some answers for you."