Adolescent

Jimmy sat near his phone, tapping his fingers quickly along the island counter top. He was nervous beyond belief about what his results were going to be. He had gone to the cardiologist three days ago, taking all sorts of tests that he’s never even heard of. They first had him take an xray, but upon reaching no conclusion, they moved on to the next step.

He was brought into a room and was asked to remove his clothing, just to step into one of those ugly hospital gowns that opened wide in the back. He wrapped it around himself multiple times, waiting for the doctor to explain what was going to happen from then on. He was told he would be going through an electrocardiogram, but who knew what that was?

Dr. Ryven explained to him that he would be placing “sticky circles” along his chest in order to read his heart through the monitor by his left. It would easily pick up his heart rhythm and any damage that had been done over the many years he’s walked the earth. With a nervous shake of his head, they began.

Both Jimmy and Dr. Ryven were shocked with what they had found. Through Jimmy’s many years of drug and alcohol abuse, he had plenty of scar tissue around his heart. It must have worried the doctor some, because he was going to order Jimmy in for a stress test. Stress tests were to study how your heart formed under physical exercise.

He had done nearly three hours of work at the doctor’s office between xrays and running on a treadmill for a few minutes. His blood pressure had been very high and his heart’s rhythm was off just slightly. Dr. Ryven could only shake his head, which worried Jimmy much more. Dr. Ryven would look up and ask Jimmy’s permission for one last test.

He went on to the final test, that being an echocardiogram. That test would use the sound waves his heart created to get a clear picture of his heart. It would show any past heart attacks, see if his heart was pumping correctly and see what else the doctor could come up with.

Jimmy had learned that he had three heart attacks in the past, but they weren’t severe. He may have felt a tightness in his chest for a slight amount of time, but they caused more damage than Jimmy could have hoped for. His most recent attack was only a few days ago, when he had fainted trying to reach the phone.

Jimmy’s pocket suddenly started to go off and he jumped, nearly having another attack in the process. He dug his hand into his pocket and starred down at the screen. Hillari had been calling, not the doctor. He answered, trying to calm himself down before something else happened to him.

“How are you, sweetheart?”He felt horrible for not telling her what was wrong with him.

“I’m good. How are you, Jimmy?”She seemed in such a good mood; how could he ruin that?

“Great.”His smile grew weak and his eyes started to well in tears.”Hillari,”

He stopped for a moment, trying to hold back his sobs. He had reached such a great time in his life and now something had come around to ruin it. He was determined to do everything he could to prevent any more heart attacks, but his body had a mind of it’s own sometimes. He couldn’t help it.

“Let me call you back, hon.”He said softly.”I’ve got an important calling coming in any second. I’ll call you as soon as I’m done, okay?”

“Okay,”She sounded like she was holding back a question.”Jimmy, I have to ask you something.”

“Shoot.”He tried his best to force a smile.

“Are you okay?”She asked quietly.

“Why wouldn’t I be?”Play it soft and cool.

“I don’t know. I had a weird feeling when we were at the studio the other day. It just scared me, was all.”She said.”I’m just being curious.”

“Well, thank you for your concern, sweetheart.”Jimmy chuckled gently.”But I’ll give you a call in a couple minutes, alright? Maybe we can meet up again soon.”

“That sounds good,”She stopped for a moment.”except tomorrow. I’m going on a road trip with Devin.”

“Okay. I’ll make sure we hang out tomorrow.”He grinned.

“I’ll talk to you later, Jimmy.”He said his goodbyes and rested his head against the counter top.

What could be going on that caused him to gain back his health problems? He had to call the guys, but he had to find out what was wrong first. He didn’t want to work anyone up if he didn’t know what was wrong. Especially if it was something simple. The guys would kill him if he scared them for no reason.

As Jimmy finally calmed himself down, his phone began buzzing once more. He knew that it wasn’t Hillari and something irked at the edge of his skin. As he looked down, he found the cardiologist’s number ringing back at him. He took in a deep breath and answered, hoping they held only good news.

“Hello?”He choked.

Mr. Sullivan, this is Dr. Ryven. Would be you able to come in as soon as possible? I need to talk to you right away.

It was always bad news that plagued Jimmy. With a shake of his head, like the doctor could see him, he replied with, “Yes. I’m on my way.”

He hung up, hands sweating and shaking as he grabbed hold of his keys. As he got into his car he lit a cigarette, praying to whatever God was out there that he would be okay. He had just gotten his life on track, thanks to his friends, and planned on going straight from now on. Why take that away from him?

When he stepped into the doctor’s office, Dr. Ryven had met him in the waiting room. He motioned for Jimmy to follow him back into a separate room, where he sat on the bed. Dr. Ryven placed his clipboard in his lap and took in a deep breath. It had to be bad, because he was hesitating.

“Mr. Sullivan,”He said quietly.

“J -James.”He stuttered.”You can call me James.”

“James,”He looked up, pushing his glasses further up his nose.

His eyes were soft and caring, unlike most doctor’s he had come in contact with.

“I’ve gone over your tests over and over again. I tried to find something that could tell me what happened, but it all revolved around one thing.”He pulled his glasses from his eyes, looking Jimmy right in the eyes.”James, you have a Cardiomegaly. You have an enlarged heart.”

Jimmy stayed silent, trying to picture what the doctor had meant. He had a larger heart than normal, but that wasn’t so bad, was it? To Jimmy it meant his heart was so big because he had so much love for his friends and family, but in doctor’s terms, it was a death waiting to happen.

“There are few treatments for an enlarged heart, Jimmy.”He said softly.”I can put you on some medication to try and even things out, but other than that, it’s irreversible.”

“What causes it?”He whispered.

“Family history. You can be born with it. There’s multiple causes.”Dr. Ryven stood, reaching his hand out to Jimmy.

Jimmy looked from the floor to his eyes and forced a hurt smile. He took the doctor’s hand, but before he could pull away, Dr. Ryven said, “I’m going to take care of you, Jimmy. I promise.”