Читать книгу It Started At Christmas... - Janice Lynn, Janice Lynn - Страница 13

CHAPTER FOUR

EDITH WINTERS CAME into the clinic at least once a month, always with a new chief complaint. Although she had all the usual aging complaints that were all too real, most of the time McKenzie thought the eighty-year-old was lonely and came in to be around other humans who cared about her.

The woman lived alone, had no local family, and her only relative as far as McKenzie knew was a son who lived in Florida and rarely came home to visit.

“How long have these symptoms been bothering you, Mrs. Winters?”

“Since last week.”

Last week. Because when you had severe abdominal pain and no bowel movements for four days it was normal to wait a week to seek care. Not.

“I didn’t want to bother anyone.”

“Any time a symptom is severe and persistent, you need to be checked further.”

“I would have come sooner if I’d gotten worse.”

Seriously, she’d seen Edith less than a month ago and it had only been two weeks prior to that she’d been in the clinic for medication refills. Severe abdominal pain and no bowel movement was a lot more than what usually prompted her to come to the clinic. “What made you decide you needed to be seen?”

The woman had called and, although McKenzie’s schedule had been full, she’d agreed for the woman to be checked. She’d grown quite fond of the little lady and figured she’d be prescribing a hug and reassurance that everything was fine.

“There was blood when I spit up this morning.”

McKenzie’s gaze lifted from her laptop. “What do you mean, when you spat up?”

Her nurse had said nothing about spitting up blood.

“It wasn’t really a throw-up, but I heaved and there was bright red blood mixed in with the stuff that came up.”