Capturing the Single Dad’s Heart by Kate Hardy Read Free Book Online Page A

can’t feel anything from here down.’ She pointed to the middle of her chest. ‘Dr Norton said it might be inflamed nerves in my neck, or it might be a prolapsed disc.’
    â€˜That’s very possible,’ Nate said, ‘but we need to carry out some more tests to help us narrow everything down. I want to do an MRI scan of your spine—that’s a special kind of X-ray using magnets and radio waves, and it doesn’t hurt but you do have to lie as still as you can in a kind of tunnel for a few minutes, and it can be a bit noisy. Depending on what the scan shows us, I’d like Erin here to do a lumbar puncture.’
    â€˜That’s a lot less scary than it sounds,’ Erin said. ‘It means I’ll ask you to lie on your side and I’ll put a needle into the space between two bones at the bottom of your spine and draw off a little bit of fluid from around your spine so I can run some tests on it.’
    â€˜Does it hurt?’
    â€˜No. I’ll numb the area with a local anaesthetic first,’ Erin said. ‘It takes about half an hour, and you can have someone with you if you like.’
    Judy bit her lip again. ‘Dr Norton said he’d call my husband.’
    â€˜Good. I’ll make sure the department’s contacted him,’ Erin said, ‘and if you’d rather we waited until he’s here before we do any of the tests, that’s absolutely fine.’
    â€˜I’d like James to be with me, please.’ She dragged in a breath. ‘I’m so scared I’m not going to walk ever again.’
    â€˜I know it’s pretty frightening for you right now,’ Erin said, squeezing Judy’s hand, ‘but until we’ve done some more tests we can’t give you any proper answers about why you can’t stand up at the moment or what we can do to treat you. What I think we should do now is take you up to our department and settle you in with a cup of tea, and then we’ll wait for your husband to arrive before we do the tests. Is that OK with you?’
    Judy nodded.
    Erin had a quick word with Joe Norton to explain what they were going to do, and the Emergency Department reception confirmed that James Watson would be there in half an hour and they’d direct him up to the spinal unit.
    Once James had arrived and Erin had explained the situation to him, they sent Judy for her scan.
    Nate looked at the results on his computer. ‘I can’t see any signs of a prolapsed disc or any compressive lesions,’ he said to Erin.
    â€˜I’ll need to do a lumbar puncture, then,’ she said. ‘Obviously I’ll get the lab to test for signs of lupus, neurosarcoidosis and Sjögren’s as well, but it’s looking more and more like TM to me.’
    Nate was in Theatre when the results of the lumbar puncture came back. Just as Erin had half expected, Judy’s white blood cell counts were elevated, and so was her immunoglobulin G index. So she and Nate had been right from the start. She knew that her patient was waiting anxiously for a diagnosis, and anyway this particular condition was her area rather than Nate’s, so she decided not to wait for Nate to come out of Theatre to break the news.
    Judy and James looked up anxiously when she walked into the room.
    â€˜So do you know what’s wrong?’ Judy asked.
    â€˜Yes. It’s something called transverse myelitis,’ Erin explained. ‘Basically it’s a problem caused by inflammation of your spinal cord. It’s quite rare so your GP probably hasn’t even seen a case before, so I quite understand why he thought it might be a problem with your neck or your carpal tunnel. It’s called “transverse” because the swelling’s across the width of your spinal cord, and “myelitis” because it’s to do with the myelin sheath that covers the nerves in your spine.’
    Judy looked stunned. ‘How did I get