Chapter 8 - Revelations
Caitlyn withdrew from her family and Gabriel after the doctor came and spoke to her. Physically, she hadn't moved but they knew she shut herself away mentally to deal with the news. It had shocked the family but they had accepted it while she was unconscious. It was a lot to absorb on top of her losing so many days, including Christmas. The best thing they could do for her now was to let her be. So they congregated outside her room and left her with Gabriel for the time being. He never left her side anyways.
After she had been admitted to the hospital, the standard tests were run since she didn't wake up right away. Some result called for further testing. What they found shocked everyone. Even though Caitlyn seemed to be in great shape, she was sick. She had a heart condition that had somehow been undiagnosed all these years. There was a hole in her heart which allowed crossing of blood between the two chambers. It wasn't very big, but it was the main reason she was always tired. The doctor believed that it was congenital, but so small that no one detected it at any of her wellness visits. Yet now it was large enough to affect her health and needed to be corrected.
By chance, she had never been very active as a child. She preferred solitary quiet activities. Even as a baby, she was very calm and tended to be still. Her parents had enough trouble with her brothers so they indulged her. When she started school, the short gym time during school hours didn't affect her enough to cause alarm. As she got older, the times increased in which she participated in draining physical activity. She did tire easily after a short amount of time, but no one paid much attention to it as they figured it was because she wasn't used to it. To this day, everyone attributed her tiredness to stress, lack of sleep, etc – not something this serious.
The course of action was surgery. It frightened Caitlyn immensely. She understood everything the doctor had said about the procedure. She knew the risks and what it entailed. She knew it had to be done. But she had never been in the hospital for this long. She had never broken a bone, had stitches, sprained anything, etc. And now there was this. Just the thought of being cut open had her on the verge of passing out or throwing up. She couldn't decide which so she just closed her eyes and withdrew from the world.
Thoughts of Gabriel came to mind. She loved him. She knew he would never leave her. Even now, he held her hand and stroked her arm comfortingly. But she felt guilty. She worried him too much. She saw how disheveled he looked. She knew how scared he had been until she woke up. I can't put him through that again, she thought to herself. But the thought of pushing him away brought pain so sharp she felt she couldn't breathe. She thought of her family on the same note, but it was different. She pushed them away all the time yet in the end they were family – together always. It wasn't the same with Gabriel. He meant more to her.
