Sequel: Family Goals

Keep It Kasual

Chapter 27

*January 29th, 2014* *Kris' POV*

Today was the start of our mother's trip. My mom was so excited to see how we dealt with being on the road and honestly I was excited to have her with me. I got out of bed, letting Kallie sleep in a little bit and suddenly felt not good. I was dizzy and felt like I was going to hurl. No, I couldn't get the flu now!

Suddenly I was on the floor and the Kallie was over me. "Kris? Kris?!" I couldn't answer her. I couldn't move! I heard Kallie start to panic and then leave the bedroom. When she came back her mom was with her, followed quickly by mine who turned on the overhead light.

Julie was looking me over. "Kalista do you have any aspirin?" Of course we did, it was what I first took when I felt a migraine coming on. Not that I could say that. Kallie brought out the bottle and handed it to her mom. I couldn't see what she did with it but I found that she was giving me it crushed as finely as she could.

It took a while and then I started to feel more like myself again. Both Kallie and my mom were crying. I could have jumped for joy when my arm finally responded to my brain and reached for Kalista. With a sob she clutched my hand and then my mom's. In another five minutes I was able to sit up and speak again. When I could move fully Julie insisted on helping me do so slowly. I was leaned against the end of our bed. Then Kallie sighed in relief, tears still in her eyes.

*Kallie's POV*

I didn't hear Kris get out of bed, didn't even feel it but rather I was woken by hearing a large thud at the end of our bed. I quickly got out of bed and found Kris laying on the floor, eyes open. "Kris? Kris?!" Oh shit something was wrong. Knowing that mom had been a nurse when we were all younger I went and woke her. "Something's wrong with Kris!" I stammered out quickly. "He's on the floor in our room not moving." Of course my panic kicked in her training.

"Come, let me look at him." She led the way back into our room and I found out I had woken Christiane as well. Mom did a quick assessment. "Kallie do you have any aspirin?" I knew we did due to his migraines so I went and grabbed it from the counter. I watched helplessly as she crushed two tablets and carefully fed them to the man I loved. This couldn't be happening! I couldn't lose him now!

Christiane was holding her hands tightly as we both prayed that he would be ok. Then God gave us a miracle, he moved! Kris held out his arm to me and I quickly clutched onto his hand. His mom was quick to grab mine as well. I glanced at her and found we were both crying.

Soon my mom was helping him sit up against the end of the bed. That's when I sighed with relief. I had been terrified that I was going to lose him and have to raise our son without him. He reached his other hand up and moved the lock of hair that had fallen in my face. "Ne pleure pas mon amour. Je me sens mieux maintenant, grâce à votre maman. (Do not cry my love. I feel better now, thanks to your mom.)"

Hearing that lovely voice again made more tears fall. "Promise me Kristopher. Promise me you will tell the team doctors about this." Looking at him with what I knew was still terrified eyes I willed him to make this promise. I had never asked him to check with them but I had to know he would be ok.

He leaned forward and tenderly kissed my lips. "I promise mon amour. They will know right away. Maybe we should call 911 to take the fear from your eyes as well." Just that relieved my mind so I shook my head.

My mom chuckled. "They would be pretty redundant right now. You seem fine after the aspirin. Just tell the team docs and follow their advice Kris." She then stood and headed out of the room.

The routine kicked in for all of us soon after. While I couldn't quite shake the blast of fear I had woken to, by the time Kris and his mom left for Consol to let the team docs know I was able to hide it well from Alex. Little boys need to see their papas as invincible, even if the rest of us know better.

*Kris' POV*

True to my word mom and I took off for Consol before heading to the airport. I knew that at least Stewie would be there doing his last minute checks. What I hadn't counted on was this being the trip that Dr. Dharmesh Vyas would also be on. "Hey Stewie can I talk to you? Oh, hello Dr. Vyas." Mom nudged me, yeah he would need to know.

"Sure Tanger. What's up?" Stewie said as I sat on one of the exam tables. Mom took a chair nearby.

I took a deep breath and dove right in. "I had something odd happen this morning. I got up and wasn't feeling too hot and the next thing I knew Kallie was over me and I couldn't move." I didn't miss the look that went between the two medical professionals. "Kallie got her mom who got some aspirin into me and now I feel ok but I promised I would let you guys know." To be honest I felt a bit silly saying this now but I knew mom would rat me out if I didn't tell them, out of love and concern.

Stewie called the house and put Julie on speaker. "Mrs. Brassard. Kris just told us you helped him this morning. We need to know what you saw and did." Dr. Vyas had a pen and notepad.

I heard the smile on Julie's face as she spoke. "Of course. At 7:35 this morning my daughter woke me in a panic as something was wrong with Kris. Upon entering their bedroom I found him on his back, eyes open and reactive but otherwise unable to function. I asked Kalista for some aspirin and crushed two tablets carefully. I then worked them into Kris who quickly began to respond. By now both my daughter and his mother were very upset and understandably so. When Kris was able to touch Kallie I carefully moved him to sit against the end of their bed while I observed him further. In my observations I saw no signs of what the cause was of his collapse and Kalista extracted a promise that he would see you before leaving on the trip. Which she is very happy he has kept." It was much more clinical than I had ever heard Julie speak.

Dr. Vyas then spoke. "How did you know what treatment to start with?"

Julie chuckled a little bit. "I am a nurse in Ottawa. I was much more hands on when my children were small and now I am in the management side of things but I still keep my training current. Once I saw his pupils react to the light being thrown on when his mother came into the room I knew we had a small window to prevent damage. I took a chance and gave him what I knew he had and knew would help prevent further damage of any kind. I'm not sure what happened but aspirin is almost always a good first step if they are breathing and just unable to function."

Stewie looked at me. "Did you call 911 at all?" I shook my head no and he nodded. "Thank you Mrs. Brassard." Once they had hung up with her they conferred for a moment. "Kris because Dr. Vyas is going to be with us we're going to go ahead and bring you and your mom on the trip. We'll do some more testing during it. We do need to tell Dan and we will be monitoring you for any changes." I breathed a sigh of relief of my own. Nothing worse than not being able to go on this trip.

They said they would speak with Dan and that I could go ahead and head to the airport. Mom was a bit tense as we left Consol. "What if this happens when you're alone Mon Cher?" I could hear the worry in her voice.

"I will give you the extra key to my room so if I don't check in you can come check for yourself. Would this give you peace?" She nodded as we drove.

Once on the plane I had Sid come up to me and quietly tell me that he and Aleks knew something was going on but they would keep quiet about it until we knew what it really was. I appreciated that not only did my friends have my back on this but that my Captain and Defensive Partner did as well.

When we touched down in LA we all went to have practice. I got a maintenance day officially but unofficially we were going through my medical history with myself and maman. We were all looking for a reason for what might have happened, but found nothing besides my migraines that was even recurring in my medical files. In fact once Kallie and I had gone through the pain of finding what triggered my migraines I was avoiding freshly baked bread.

Wednesday evening we as a group had dinner with the other co-owner of the team, Ron Burkle. I was surprised to find Mario and Nathalie here, I hadn't seen them on the plane. Then again I was kind of busy. But now I was trying to put my mind past what happened earlier and enjoying the extra time with maman. I knew that I still had potential for continuing issues but until we had a firmer clue as to what happened I was on hold.

*January 30, 2014*

This morning I was allowed to go through morning skate even though I still felt a little off. Afterward a few of us and our moms went out for lunch. The French Contingent all went to Lawry's Carvery. That being Duper, Flower, Gummy (Simon), myself and our moms of course. We didn't talk about the upcoming games, no I actually got questioned about the wedding plans by the moms. "So Kristopher, my son tells me that you and your beloved are getting married this summer. Are you helping her or has she told you to leave it all to her?"

I smiled, this was an easy one. "While it is true that she is doing most of the talking to our wedding planner, we make the decisions together. I also have taken some of the things completely off of her plate; like the DJ, making sure that we all have a place to stay and a way to get to the ceremony and back to the hotels." I knew in the grand scheme it didn't sound like a lot that I was doing but I was doing my best. It did get mom off and running though.

"Oh France I can not wait until this wedding. Alexander will walk with Kalista's other god daughter, Ava. He will have a sign and Ava will have their rings. The children will look so smart in their wedding finery." What was mom more excited about gaining a daughter or watching her grandson? Who was I kidding I knew I was second behind my son now.

"Oh that sounds so cute! There is no flower girl then? Maybe Estelle could help with that..." I eyed Flower. He had been hinting at this exact thing for weeks now. How it would be très adorable and then no one else would have to watch her. He didn't even have the gall to look guilty!

I took out my phone. It was 12:30 here which meant it was 3:30 at home. Kallie would probably be there but Alex would not. Dialing I managed to not curse my friend out in front of so many mothers. "Hey babe. Do they know yet?"

She sounded stressed, not that I blamed her. "Non, Flower's mom just had a question. Why we are not using Estelle in the wedding too." I put her on speaker so everyone could hear her.

I heard her huff. "Drat that sneaky bastard! He's got Vero asking too." A ha! There was the guilty look from him. "I was going to ask you what you thought when you called tonight. She and Alex get along really well, especially for being so close in age. Paula has no problem with helping Ava guide them down either. I guess we can go see if we can get a small enough dress for her when we go looking for mom's. Oh speaking of, please have your mom look while you guys are out there. If she finds something she loves we can get it here and have it worked on if it needs it." I glanced at my mom who beamed at the idea.

I sighed. "Did not find anything on Sunday huh? I think we can arrange a trip to find a dress for her. What color would you like her to wear?" I knew Kallie well enough to ask. I saw mom nodding in approval as I did.

Kallie's voice brightened considerably. "Well we talked about that on Sunday. My mom is going to wear teal and yours is going to wear silver. We did look at the reverse but neither of them shone like I want them to." Then she got hit with an idea. "Oh Vero what about tutu dresses for Ava and Estelle? We can put them in silver too, wouldn't that look good with Alex's tux."

I heard the unmistakable laugh of Veronique. "I knew you could not say no to her cute chubby face! Oh! We can look for the girls' dresses online so Paula can help!" I just shook my head.

"We'll let you go mon amour. It sounds like your afternoon is booked." We said our goodbyes and hung up. I looked at Flower critically. "Happy now?"

He popped his last fry into his mouth and nodded while he munched. When his mouth was clear he grinned at me. "Of course! The entire Fleury family is finally in!" I rolled my eyes at him. "That is important! Or else Estelle might want to stand with one of us."

I sighed. "What makes you think we would stop her? She is well behaved." Duper sighed and I changed topics back to my mother's dress. "So maman do you know what kind of dress you want?"

The guys groaned at this but all of the moms smiled. "I am not 100% sure yet. I know that Julie wants something off her shoulders but I do not want to be that brave. If you are going to nap today I will find a computer and start looking for ones I like. I know I want to look as young as I feel so overly matronly ones are out for sure."

I mulled over what she said. I knew I was not going to be playing until we figured out what was wrong with me so should I nap when I wasn't going to expend extra energy? Duper saved me from answering right then by pulling out pictures of his brood and making the mothers happy.

After lunch the guys did have to get back and nap but I decided that I wasn't going to. This meant I could help her look for the right dress. I knocked on mother's door and was quickly let in. I had brought my computer so we could look at dresses online before making a big trip to a store. Turns out several moms were in the room and all were more than happy to give their opinions. Moms who style was impeccable on top of it.

We started by just googling mother of the groom dresses and looking at the images. Oh my god was that a mistake! Quickly I let mom take over the search and watched as she refined it and ended up finding a designer she liked the dresses of. The problem was that all of the dresses she liked were on Pinterest, or so she thought. I moved over and logged into my account. It was how Kallie and I shared wedding ideas and other things. Mom looked until she gasped. "I love this designer and more importantly I love the style of her Jade line. Kristopher find me the website."

I did as I was bade and then went searching for a nearby store so we could go look at the two she liked in person. I found out it would be a quick ride from here to the closest shop and so mom wrote down the style numbers and we went downstairs to find a cab.

After a 20 minute cab ride we were in front of Karoza Designs. Inside we found a friendly staff. Mom told them that at the moment we were window shopping but that she had two dresses she wanted to try on. Giving them the style numbers we found out that they only had one of them at the moment. Mom was a trooper and tried on the one they did have. She looked good in it but not wow. I wanted her to look wow. "Tu es très belle maman. (You look beautiful maman.)"

She dropped her chin and looked at me critically. "Ne me mens pas Kristopher. Ce est la robe la plus importante de mon été. (Do not lie to me Kristopher. This is the most important dress of my summer.)" I sighed. "Tell me the truth. What do you think?"

Steeling myself for her anger just in case I told her. "Maman you _do_ look beautiful in that, however I know you can look even better." She smiled softly at me and I got an idea. Turning to the woman helping maman, I asked. "You know what the other dress my mom wanted to try looks like yes?"

"Oh yes. I ordered one for an evening wedding I've been invited to." Eileen said happily.

"Would it be possible to show my mother some of the parts of the dress to make sure she likes them? In other dress that is." It was a long shot but if it worked.

Eileen thought for a moment. "We have three dresses that would approximate the style she wants to try. I'll go pull them so she can get an idea."

An hour and a half later not only was Maman sure the dress she didn't get a chance to actually try on was her dress, we had an appointment at a store in Phoenix to try on that dress tomorrow afternoon.

*January 31, 2014*

The win was nice to get, even if I wasn't on the ice. So far today I had several appointments set up for tomorrow at the hospital here. Dr. Vyas he been thorough with the things he as been looking for but so at everything has come up negative. I can't tell mom or Kallie how frightened I actually am. I need a diagnosis.

After practice, which I was allowed to watch and skate beforehand with Kades, mom and I headed for her appointment. I know that we had made it clear that this was not going to end in a sale as we lived further from Arizona than they would ship. That didn't mean we were interested in looking at the things they had. I was looking for some things for the guys and the kids or maybe even something for Kallie to let her know I always think of her.

Maman was shown into the dressing room and helped into the chosen dress. I waited with baited breath for her to show me. I always thought she was beautiful but I also knew she wanted to shine a little. After all it's not every day your son finds and marries the woman of his dreams. I looked up to see her coming back into the room I had been waiting in. My breath was taken away. "Maman elle est parfaite! Vous regardez si élégant et pourtant vous-même. Michel devra lutter pour vous garder à ses côtés. (Maman is perfect! You look so elegant and yet yourself. Michel will have to fight to keep you at his side.)" I was up and moving before I quite realized it. My mother looked incredible in this dress!

"Arrêtez Kristopher. Michel ne aura pas à se battre pour moi du tout. Je veux simplement être cool et danser facilement, et je serai en train de danser. (Stop Kristopher. Michel will not have to fight for me at all. I just want to be cool and easy to dance, and I'll be dancing.)" She actually blushed. I hadn't seen her blush in years. "Do you think Kalista will like it?"

I took her into my arms, kissed her cheek and took a photo of her. I sent it to Kallie with the caption of, Found Maman's dress! What do you think? Not two minutes after I sent it, I got an enthusiastic reply. Wow! Looks magnifique! Send designer, style number and color! Mom laughed and took my phone to send the information. That's when it hit me. We had so done else to worry about too, Julienne!

I texted her when I got my phone back from mom. Jules, mom has found her dress for the wedding. Do you need one and if so what should we look for?

Seconds after I sent that Julienne was ringing me. "Of course I need a dress! Wait, are you out with mom right now? Aren't you in Arizona?"

I chuckled. "It is the mother's trip so we are together in Arizona. Mom found a dress that makes her shine in silver. What would my sister like?"

I heard keys clicking. "Kalista and I were looking together via Skype yesterday. I like Alfred Angelo's designs. So I will let my brother and mother approve of the dress. Find me something fun brother mine!" I sighed and started looking at the online shop. I gave Jules the website so she would know what I was talking about.

Within minutes Julienne and I had narrowed it down to two dresses. Then mom stepped in. "Julienne wearing so many ruffles will make you look very young. Maybe an older appearance would be better?" I looked again at the ones we had agreed on.

"She is right Jules. You would look even better if your dress was sleeker. I honestly don't even mind the back of it." Julienne quickly giggled and said she would get final approval from the bride and hung up. I chuckled and remarked to the attendant. "Well it seems you helped not only my mother find her dress but also my sister as well." That brightened her day.

As we went back to the hotel something else hit me. "Maman what should I get Kallie for a bridal gift? I want to give her something she can use more than once a year. Something she will love." I continued to think on it while we went along.

Nearly back maman spoke. "You have given her some jewelry non?" I nodded, she knew this. "Does that set have a bracelet?" I paused. "There you go. It does not have to match exactly just in general." That gave me an idea.

Back in my room I showed pictures of the jewelry I had given to her and maman laughed. "Did you give those to her the day you met or was it only the same week?" I know she was teasing but still... "Seriously she loves that set. If you can add to that she will wear it forever." I then went to Tiffany and Company's website and began searching for something that I could put together to make my love a bracelet. Searching I found the perfect compilation, now I would have to get it set properly. That probably meant going to New York and getting it done in the store. Then I searched for stores closer to home and found one. Then I found one in Scottsdale. I looked up and grinned at mom. She shook her head, sighed and spoke. "I will get my purse, but I would like to bring at least one other pair of mother and son."

In the end I was alone with 3 beautiful women as the only free pair was Aleks and her mom. Aleks just laughed when she found out what we were going for. "God Kris! Wasn't it enough when I helped with the ring from Alex?" I couldn't help but blush as she then explained what she helped with to our moms.

"I wondered how he thought of that. She loves that both of her men gave her a ring that happy day." My mom gushed. We soon pulled into the parking lot for Tiffany's.

While the ladies went to look at another case I found the bracelet I wanted. A rose gold infinity symbol. Noting where it was I started looking for the right heart to put with it. It took me a while but I did find a diamond heart that was perfect for what I had in mind. Now I had to find out if how I wanted them was possible.

After talking to the manager I found out that the best they could do was to maybe put it on the clasp side. Then again they were just one store maybe another could do what I really wanted. I thanked him and went to find out what had gotten my mom so enthralled. Turned out to be several necklaces. I made note of which she was looking at and decided Alex would get his Mamie something special.

*February 1st, 2014*

Today started all of the tests. I told maman to go ahead and go shopping with the other mothers as I was going to be in testing for hours. She didn't like that idea. "I need to know what has happened my son. Maybe there is something about when you were small that I can help with." It's hard to argue with that logic, besides I didn't know all of my injuries from when I was young.

Once we were at the Arizona branch of the Mayo Clinic my testing began. First I was introduced to Dr. James Gruden in the Radiology Department. He started by telling me that I would be getting a full workup from them as Dr. Vyas and Stewie couldn't find anything physically wrong with me. I was now even more glad I hadn't argued with mom.

While the blood they took went to the lab for tests I was put into a gown and got to be scanned by the CT scanner and then the MRI machine. While Dr. Gruben was looking those over I was handed off to another tech for some sonograms of various parts of my anatomy. It was during one of those tests that the tech inhaled sharply. "What? What did you find?" I asked, hoping that a reason had been found.

"Excuse me for a moment. I have to go confer with Dr. Gruben." The tech took the wand off of me and locked the machine before exiting the room we were in.

We looked at each other blankly before Dr. Gruben came in, fired up the sonogram again and the tech directed him to whatever was seen. Then quietly he spoke. "Go call cardiology and ask if Dr. Pajaro is able to consult on a case." The tech left to go do that I guessed and Dr. Gruben looked at us. "We might have found something. Of course it will mean more tests but Dr. Pajaro is one of the best cardiac docs here."

A few minutes later another doctor came in. "You wanted to see me Jamie?" He sat on another stool and smiled.

"I did. This is Kris Letang and his mom. Last Wednesday he had some sort of episode where he lost all function for a little while. Nothing physically wrong with him that his team doctor can find so we're doing other tests. Take a look at what we think we found."

The silence was deafening. Then Dr. Pajaro turned to us. "If it would be alright with you I would like to do a stress test and a EEG. To see if what we think might be happening is correct."

Mom clutched my hand. "You're the doc. We just want answers as to what happened and how we can treat it."

"Sounds perfect. Let's get you over to cardiology so we can start those while Dr. Gruben continues to decode your CT and MRI." He walked us up to cardiology and set us up with one of his techs. "What do you do for a living Mr. Letang?"

I was a bit stunned but I answered. "I play hockey for the Pittsburgh Penguins."

He nodded. "For safety we'll do this without having you exercise and I suspect it will take a lot for anything out of the ordinary to register." He directed me onto a table and gave me something to increase my heart rate. "Do you have anyone else besides your mom that we need to know about? Any other family?"

I sighed. "My wife and our two year old son are at home. My wife found me when whatever it is happened. Her mother is a nurse and helped me." Again I thanked God that Julie had been there and knew what to do.

By this time Dr. Vyas had joined us and gotten an update. Not that either of them shared with us just yet. Then Dr. Pajaro looked at me seriously. "We think we might know what is wrong. The next test will either confirm it in my mind or we start looking at other options. The electrocardiogram will let me know if there's any arrhythmia which might have caused the issue you experienced."

I lay on the table hooked up to all sorts of wires and let the professionals do their job. Could I have something wrong with my heart? Could it be serious enough that I might need surgery? Those questions and many more floated to my thoughts while I waited to see what was said. When it was over Dr. Pajaro looked perturbed. "No arrhythmia but there is something going on. Let's check with an echocardiogram." He looked at his tech and spoke. "Set up for the Color Flow Doppler. I'm going to go get Dr. Gruben."

My chest was smeared with more gel and when the docs got back the procedure began. I had no idea what they were looking for but a few minutes in I heard Dr. Pajaro gasp. Dr. Gruben leaned closer. "My god you were right PFO." He then exhaled and seemed to relax.

I was cleaned up and allowed to put my clothes back on. Then Dr. Pajaro gave me the look. You know the one, the one where the doctor has some unpleasant and possibly life changing news. "Mr. Letang you have a PFO or patent foramen ovale."

I stopped him there. "Can I call my wife so she can hear this too? She might understand better than I." I was given a nod and called Kallie. "Hi babe, no I need to put you on speaker so you can hear what they think they found." She agreed and we continued.

"As I was saying patent foramen ovale or PFO for short. It's where the hole in your heart doesn't close after birth, like it does most of the time. Right now we know that you probably never knew about this and it shouldn't end up affecting your overall health long term. For now we will send all of these scans and such with you and your Team Doctor back to your hometown so you can get a second opinion and if it's confirmed begin treatment. For safety we will put you on warfarin here so we can thin your blood and hopefully stave off another stroke. That is what happened. You had an unusual stroke due to this PFO. Your chart says that you get migraines as well so you should also be made aware that those are mildly linked to PFO right now, research is ongoing and many think that it's controversial to even tell people until they are done. So where you stand is for now not playing or practicing until your doctors back in Pittsburgh have a chance to check you over and being put on one of the oldest blood thinners known to man." He leaned back and grabbed a booklet. "This is how warfarin might affect you and what to watch for. Hopefully nothing will go wrong but it is better to know than not."

I was stunned. They had a possible cause for my stroke and my migraines. I heard Kallie ask a question and get her answer but it didn't register what those were. Mom grabbed my hand and squeezed it tightly. "Thank you." She said carefully. We were let go from all of the testing soon after. Now I would have to find a second opinion back home. How would this affect our trip I wondered.

That night Kallie explained some of what I didn't quite understand. This could ground me over the break but we hoped not. We couldn't do anything until we knew what I would be allowed to do. We decided not to tell Alex until we knew what we could do. We poured out our love for each other before I let her go for the night. This was going to be a long journey back to full health.
♠ ♠ ♠
I used the Pens website for some of the info in this chapter as well as the following pages for the medical things.
Mayo Clinic Arizona PFO Information
Cardiovascular Clinic in Mayo Clinic Arizona
Cleveland Clinic PFO Information
Texas Heart Journal Article on PFO Stroke and Migraines

You can find the dress that was chosen for Christiane on the Pinterest Board for the wedding. As well as the one chosen for Julienne. If you want to see Christiane's dress in the correct color you can go here to the Jasmine Bridal website, choose the silver option on the bottom row.

As usual I love to hear what you guys think! Drop me a line either in the comments section or privately.