Dante and Beth had driven home in silence. There had been
nothing more that Doctor McQuillen had been able to tell them than Doc Mike
hadn't, except that surgery might give Nathan back some of his sight. He
might be able to see afterward, or he might only be able to make out shapes,
perhaps only shadows. There was no guarantee that it would restore his
sight at all. He'd sent the young parents home to think about whether
they wanted to try the operation. He was of the opinion that the
sooner they tried the better, but he was concerned about the baby's age and how
he would react to the anesthesia.
After breaking the news to the family that night, they discussed
their options over dinner at the Rossi Senior household. Oddly, Amadeo's
eyes felt extra dry and he ran a hand over them until he saw red circles. He
wondered if his nephew would ever see that much. Natie put a hand on his
shoulder but he reassured her that he was fine, 'Shaken, not stirred.' to
paraphrase James Bond." he quipped with a little smile that didn't reach
his eyes.
Gabe silently propped his forehead on his fingers and closed his
eyes, trying to think of what life without sight would be like. Con, who
always had a comment ready for anything, had been unnaturally quiet
during the conversation. He also closed his eyes, hands on his lap.
Imagining.
Carmie tried unsuccessfully not to cry and her sister and sister
in law comforted her. "This is wrong," Carmie laughed, wiping
away tears. "I should be the one comforting you." she said,
putting an arm each around Beth and Terri.
"I've had all day to get used to the idea." Beth
said quietly. "We just sort of dropped a bomb on the rest of you,
but we weren't sure how else to say it."
"So, he can have surgery, but there's no guarantee."
Gabe repeated softly, opening his eyes and looking at his family.
He wondered what it would have been like if he'd grown up never seeing
the faces of the people he loved. Even his little brothers, though he'd
have to be threatened with a hot poker before he would admit how much he
actually loved Con and Amadeo.
"No. No guarantees." Dante said.
"So now we have to decide if it's worth the risk. If we try
and the surgery fails then Nathan hasn't lost anything, he won't even have the
memory of it so he won't feel the frustration or upset that he might if we
waited until he was older. But then there's the problem with the
anesthesia. Doctor McQuillen told us that there was the chance that
Nathan might not wake up from it."
Everyone went silent as they thought about that. Johnny took
a forkful of food, but his wife's normally perfect dinner seemed tasteless and
had no texture. He put his fork down.
"If you do wait until he's older and stronger, what then?"
he asked. "Did he say?"
"Only that the sooner we do it the better. The scarring
behind his retina could thicken and become harder to remove the older he gets,
and his chances of regaining sight are lowered."
"But they're low now." Gabe said, a slight tone of
desperation in his voice. "And no guarantees. And the possibility
that he could d... that he could... No! Please Bethie, Dan.
No? We went through that already. Once was more than any of
us ever want to experience again."
"But there's a chance he could see." Con
said, finally speaking. "Did the doctor say what the chances are
of... of the anesthesia having a... a bad effect?"
"No, not in percentages." Beth Ann replied.
"How will they know if it works?" Con asked.
"I mean, he can't say, 'Yes I see that.' I'm sorry I know I'm
being dumb but..."
"You're not dumb until you say you're dumb." Dante
tried to joke with a little smile for his brother. "Nathan is at the
age now where if he can see he can focus on things. If you hold a toy up
to him he can focus on it and follow it left to right and such... that's how
we'd know. The question would be how well he sees, and we
won't know that until he can talk."
"In another few weeks his vision would be almost where an
adult's vision is. The girls will be able to focus on more and their
range will be further. Doctor McQuillen suggested that we do the surgery
within the next month and a half. He has Nathan scheduled for the surgery
tentatively for September 25th, the babies will be ten weeks old by then."
"Two and half to three months old." Con said
thoughtfully. "And the doctor will be able to tell what he needs to
know by then?"
"We could wait until he's six months old," Dante said,
"That's why he scheduled it tentatively. We can cancel it all
together or reschedule it. We just have to weigh the risks and the
possible outcomes and make a decision. But six months is the oldest he
suggests we do it. There are doctors who will do surgeries when the kids
are older, depending on the cause of blindness, and there may be some out there
who think Nathan has a chance even later, but Doctor McQuillen is not convinced
that the outcome would be any better by then. He gave us the name of another
ophthalmologist we could go to for a second opinion. He even gave us a
list that we could go through and choose ourselves if we felt more comfortable
doing that."
"Why'd he do that? Wasn't he sure of his own
diagnosis?" Con asked.
"No, hon,” Beth Ann replied patiently, “He just wanted
us to get another opinion so that we could make up our own minds without him
influencing us in any way. He said he'd told us what he thought but if we
would feel better asking another doctor then that was our right and he
certainly wouldn't take it personally. He told us that when he faced the
same situation with his nephew Carter, he told his brother and sister in law to
get a second opinion, and he gave them a list as well. He said that if we
were willing, he'd ask them to give us a call and tell us what decision they
made, and how things worked out, but he couldn't tell us anything himself.
We allowed him to give them our names and number."
"May I see the list?" Natie asked.
"Of course, mamma, one moment,” replied Beth Ann, getting up
to get her pocketbook. She came back with the list. It was a
depressingly short one. Ten names were on the list, five of those were in
Georgia. She looked at it again. Macon, where they'd just been, Athens,
Atlanta, Decatur and Camden. The rest were even further away, Maryland,
Connecticut, Pennsylvania, New York, Chicago.
"Doctor McQuillen said that there are other places but
they're all on the west coast and the ones on the list were the closest to
us.
Natie put down the list, trying not to show the frustration she
felt. Even the doctors in Georgia were a fair distance to drive with a
cranky two-and-a-half-month old baby. "Well," she said with a
brightness she didn't really feel, "You have options here, and you know
we're here to help. The boys start school in a few days... that reminds me we
have to go buy your school clothes and supplies, we'll go tomorrow" she
added absently as an aside to her two younger sons, “But you make your
decision and whatever you decide we're behind you and you know we'll help in
any way we can." she reassured her daughter in law and oldest son.
Natie belonged to several lady’s clubs but she had no problem withdrawing
from all of them if her children needed her.
"We know, mamma. We don't know what we'd do without you
and dad." Dante said, blushing slightly as he made his admission.
He loved is parents but he was upset that his family were left taking so
much upon themselves. He was very angry with Beth Ann's parents and
brothers, who hadn't called or written or tried to keep in touch since the day
at the hospital. Beth Ann had tried to call but her parents, ever mindful
of having to 'Keep up with the Jones’ as the saying went, had an Ansaphone and
allowed that to take all calls.
So far they'd been ignoring all calls from the younger Rossi's but
Dante had left one earlier that day when Beth had been upstairs dressing Nathan
that should have burned their ears right off. Yet another soap-able
offense if his parent's ever heard. He and Bethie didn't have an Ansaphone and
he smiled when he thought about his in laws trying to get through to give him
an ear full and getting nothing but a ring tone in response. He imagined them
driving all the way from Screven to confront them and finding the house empty
and locked, and found himself viciously enjoying the picture.
"I don't know what you're smiling about but you look like the
cat that got the cream." Bethie said with a wry little smile toward
her husband, who hadn't been as quiet during his phone call as he would like to
have believed.
"Better,” Dante said, leaning toward his wife and
kissing her soundly, “I got the golden goose. And I'm starving, lets
eat before it gets too cold!" he said with a grin, digging into the
chicken fried steak.
Stunned by his sudden about face and heartened by his flash of
humor the other Rossi's dug into the food, which even cool tasted better than
the finest the Drover had to offer.
**********
NOTES
'Shaken and not stirred.' James Bond movie, Dr. No, by Ian
Fleming 1958
Ansaphone, created by inventor Dr. Kazuo Hashimoto, and
marketed by Phonetel in 1960.
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