We're a Wonderful Wife Ch. 10

"That's it? One pill?" Andi gasped. Her world was collapsing around her.

"It's the only treatment available for CTEPH, there are surgical procedures that we can discuss, neither one is pretty, and there's very few places that can do them." Andi paused, she's losing Lanh, the poor little Asian woman looked emotionally destroyed. "The closest place is the Mayo Clinic," she added but that cheered up Lanh.

"We're moving back to Minnesota," sighed Lanh. "Rochester isn't far!" As soon as they get home their problems will be over!

"There you go, don't make any decisions until you have both read through the material."

"Doc, when we went back to Minnesota I felt fine, I didn't actually feel any problems until we got on the airplane to come back," said Don. "When I got off the plane they didn't go away."

"That's part of the Pulmonary Hypertension," said Andi Roberts, "the change in altitude causes a change in air pressure. I advise my patients who have Pulmonary Hypertension to move to sea level."

"Is that what you tell your patients with CTEPH?" asked Lanh.

Andi looked at Lanh who was on the verge of tears. She needs to tell Lanh the truth, but how much more can she take? Might as well give it to her now so she's not hit with a surprise later. "CTEPH is incredibly rare, most pulmonologists never see it. We have a saying in our medical career, "When you hear hoofbeats, think of horses, not zebras."

"Occam's Razor," said Don.

"Exactly," said Andi. "It's a reminder to rule out the common causes before looking at more exotic causes. Unfortunately, when I heard hoofbeats with Don I found not just zebras, I found checkered zebras. The occurrence of CTEPH is one in a million. I encourage you to research, but also use the Pulmonary Hypertension website as the gold standard. There's some bad information out there on the internet, there's still some websites that still insist you have two years to live. I assure you that this isn't the case."

Later as they stood under the awning of the main entrance trying to remember where they parked their car, the enormity of Don's diagnosis struck, and they were both numb with fear. Just as they decided which direction to walk, they heard a voice call, "Doctor Campbell?"

Lanh turned and there was a tall slim woman that looked like she may have been beautiful at one time, now something looks strange about her face. "I'm sorry, I know you're not one of my students or patients, I practice under my maiden name. You have me at a loss."

"The last time we spoke was in New Mexico, I'm Wendy..."

"Wendy Addams!" Don cried, he turned and although he barely recognized her face, he recognized her voice. How many times did she interrupt his roll calls with an unintentionally silly question that caused the entire maintenance team to break up laughing? "Oh my God Wendy!" Don nearly wept as they hugged. Her face was still twisted but she looked so much better than she did before. Her long jet-black hair was bright purple now and her left eyeball had been replaced with a false eye, this one was yellow with a smiling face emoji.

"It's Wendy Daniels now, I don't know if you met my husband, Clark?"

Don remembered Clark Daniels, how bravely he stood holding his infant son and his toddler daughter while they lowered his wife Cynthia into the ground, and Lanh remembered him from when he was a member of the Spouses Club. "We were just going to get lunch; can you join us?"

"Not hospital food, ok?"

They found themselves at a Fish & Chips joint on Colfax Avenue that had family seating, so they ended up on a picnic table. "I thought you guys couldn't have kids," said Wendy as she tried to tickle a smile out of Krissy.

"We can't," said Lanh, "this one is a loaner."

"Lanh!" gasped Don, "A baby joke! I am so proud of you!"

"Laughing hurts less than crying," she said softly.

The two couples caught up. Clark was alone with two small children and Wendy was abandoned by her husband who was expecting a beauty queen to step off the medevac plane. Wendy and Clark leaned on each other for support and stayed together, eventually falling in love. "I'm so happy for you guys!" said Don after hearing their story. What are you guys up to?

"What else," Wendy shrugged, "I'm working on jet engines for Rolls Royce in Centennial."

"She's their lead Quality Assurance inspector at the test stand," said Clark,

"We are so happy you found each other," said Lanh.

"How are you doing with the nightmares," Don asked Wendy quietly.

She pursed her lips and finally said, "I get some sleep most nights now."

"Me too."

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Getting used to his new malady was trying on both Don and Lanh but studying the information and reading data from other sources Don found that his vascular condition was operable. "In your condition I would say that chances are good you would be a candidate for a Pulmonary Thromboendarterectomy," said Doctor Andi at their next appointment.

"Ugh, the word just sounds nasty," said Don.

"It is nasty," said Andi. "I won't hold back. They shut off your heart, put you on a heart and lung machine, slice your lungs open and scrape out the blood clots."

Lanh looked like she was going to swoon, she attempts to go to each appointment Don has so that she is there for these kinds of talks. "We were thinking of balloon angioplasty," said Don. It's a procedure where the clots are pushed out of the way by a balloon that is pushed into the artery and inflated.

"That's also very doable," said Andi. "We can reach out to the Mayo when you are ready, and you can speak to their team."

Heading home they had a new excitement that they hadn't felt since the first time they attempted to adopt a baby. They were almost home when Don noticed the myriad of cars and vans around Karole's house. "What the hell is going on?" gasped Don. There were police cars, vans, a SWAT van, and a lot of unmarked cars. Karole was standing outside of her house in handcuffs weeping openly. Don handed the baby carrier that contained Krissy to Lanh and said, "Get Krissy settled down, it looks like she's spending the night here."

"Don't cause trouble!" Lanh warned.

"I'm not going to cause trouble; I'm going to see what is going on. Probably something that asshole Jayce did," assured Don as he started across the lawn leaning heavily on his cane, his back was really hurting today.

He got about six steps toward Karole's house when one of the men over there turned, saw Don and Lanh and started running toward them. He was a scruffy, long haired hippy looking guy in a denim jacket, torn blue jeans and combat boots. Don immediately thought he was a prisoner who now escaped because half a dozen uniformed cops were chasing him. Don stopped, raised his free hand and said, "Relax buddy, we're just the neighbors," but the man pulled a gun and screamed something that sounded like lay down.

The man ignored Don and pulled a pistol and aimed it at Lanh. Immediately time slowed almost to a stop for Don, all he saw was the guy that was going to charge him, his gun was drawn, and he was raising the gun to point it at Lanh and the baby. Don immediately thought of Joshua Grimes, the beast that was going to rape Lanh in high school, he thought of all the chances to have a baby that were denied them, and something snapped.

Don moved toward the escaped prisoner and raised the end of his cane and brought it between the running man's ankles causing the man to trip and fall forward landing face first on the snow-covered muddy lawn. He dropped his gun, and it landed just a foot away from his outstretched hand, but as he grabbed for it, Don reached forward with the tip of his cane and flicked it out of the way.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" demanded Don.

"DEA!" shouted the man as he tried to get up.

"Traditionally you say that first, you ignorant piece of..." at that moment three other DEA agents slammed into Don driving him to the ground and after that things got a bit hazy for Don.

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Don opened his eyes, and he was back in the Wiesbaden hospital in Germany, he looked and Lanh was sitting next to him reading a book, he could hear Cynthia's labored breathing and Wendy groaning in pain. At the end of the bed there was a translucent apparition, vaguely woman shaped, tall, long flowing silver/gold hair but the ends were purple, it was Lanh's angel. Another angel walked through the curtains that separated his bed from Wendy and Cynthia, this angel was very similar to the other angel, but the hair was all silver/gold, there was no purple.

The angel with purple in its hair was glaring at Lanh and snarled, "We could do it here."

The other angel was looking at Don and he could tell it was looking at him with pity, even though he was loopy out of his skull on pain killers he could tell that was what the angel was doing. It said, "Do what here?"

"Yeah, do what here?" mumbled Don.

"He heard you!" gasped the purple tipped angel and suddenly the angels disappeared.

"Did you say something honey?" said Lanh who leaned over him concerned but soon he slipped back into unconsciousness.

"What the fuck?" Don shot up gasping for air. He's only had it for weeks, but the CPAP was the best thing he's ever used and now he misses it. But a question filled his mind, was that a dream or was that a memory? He looked around his cell, the light was still on, it's always on. The tiny ten-foot by ten-foot cinder block cell has been his home for two days now, he hasn't heard from anyone except Huy who simply said, "Hang on, I can't practice law in Colorado, but I know someone who can." That was the last communication he heard from the outside world for two days.

"Da fuck man, what da hell is wrong wit you?" said Don's cell mate Darius. Darius is huge, black, and pissed off most of the time.

"I don't know, I had this dream of when I was all fucked up and in the hospital at Wiesbaden..."

"You was at Wiesbaden?" Darius asked. "I was there hittin' on the ladies. What did you do?"

"I was in a truck that got hit by jet blast and dropped into a ravine, then another truck landed on me, then a 150 pound purple K fire extinguisher which exploded. It was a bad day."

"No wonder why you're limpin' around like you' a hunnert years old," said Darius. "What was your AFSC man?"

"Two Alpha Six, aircraft electrical and environmental for fighters. Were you in?" asked Don.

Two Whiskey Zero, I was ammo. Spent four years building bombs and haulin' em out to d' planes, den haulin' em all back to da WSA."

"Were you injured? Is that how you know Wiesbaden hospital?"

"No man, I was at Ramstein, we'd go over to Wiesbaden and hit on the ladies over there."

Don chuckled, "You ammo guys..."

Before Don could finish his thought, his cell door swung open and Deputy Larry Henderson called, "Hey Don, your lawyer's here. She sprung you."

Don looked up. "She? Oh crap, is it Ahnjong?"

Larry looked at the card that the lawyer handed him. "Ahnjong Park Nu-guy-en."

"Close enough, her last name is pronounced n'Win, and I'm sorry dude."

"What do you mean sorry?" The guard asked as Don limped out of the cell.

"Annie is burn happy, if she gave you her card it means you've been marked. Did she take your picture?" When the guard nodded, Don continued, "It's for sure that she'll name you in the lawsuit. I'll vouch for you; you treated me nicely. Your union should cover you."

"Us Hams gotta stick together." Larry was K6ARP and someone both Don and Lanh had talked to in the past on the air when Don was stationed in New Mexico. "It's a shame we had to meet face to face like this."

Larry opened the last door and was met by Lanh and Ahnjong who hugged him at the same time. "Where's your oxygen?" demanded Annie.

"They took it," said Don as he leaned to kiss Lanh.

"They took your medical equipment?" demanded Annie in a very loud voice. "Congratulations Don, Weld County just made you a millionaire." She furiously began writing in her notebook.

The property sergeant placed Don's personal items on the desk, including his oxygen tank and canula. "We didn't want him to hang himself," said the sergeant.

"He isn't Jeffery Epstein," snarled Ahnjong and she took a picture of the property sergeant as he handed the oxygen tank to Don.

"I told you not to do that anymore," said Lanh as she hugged Don from behind.

"He pulled a gun on you, that stupid move did not put me in a happy place," said Don as he pulled on his vest. Like many Coloradans, Don wears an insulated vest rather than a large uncomfortable parka when the temperature is moderately cold. It's nowhere near Minnesota cold here on the Northern Colorado prairie.

Behind him a voice bellowed, "You attacked a cop!" Don turned and some guy in a business suit was glaring at him. His minions that surrounded him held him back and Don was sure that this was all part of a show. It was tempting to push back just to see how far the show was going to go by simply acting smug. He made a show of going through his pockets and possessions to ensure nothing was missing.

Ahnjong positioned herself between Don and the suit. "Your informant attacked my client's wife."

"He was undercover!" Snarled the suit. He advanced on Ahnjong and glared at her, but Annie knew how the game was played.

"He failed to identify himself as a law enforcement officer, in fact he has yet to identify himself." She didn't move, in fact her posture and attitude dared the suit to touch her. She leaned forward into his personal space silently daring him to touch her. Her husband Huy was a brilliant lawyer, but he was "business class," Ahnjong lived in the "danger zone."

For his part Don ignored them and began collecting his belongings, loose change, car keys, wallet, but the suit couldn't let it go. "I'm going to see to it that you spend the rest of your life in prison," He shouted over Annie's head.

Don smiled and said, "Hey buddy, hold that thought," he reached into his vest pocket and said, "I've got something to show you," and he pulled out his hand clenched in a fist, the middle finger pointing straight down. "Here, let me turn it up so you can hear it better." And he rotated his arm bringing his middle finger straight up.

"Yeah? Fuck you too!" the man shouted but Don held his single finger salute then waved bye-bye and turned to leave.

"Doctor Campbell," sighed Don's brother-in-law and husband of his attorney Huy Nguyen. "Do you realize that you just told the head of the central region of the DEA to get fucked?"

"Oh really?" said Don, a look of surprise on his face. "You should have told me; I would have used both hands."

"Please stop," groaned Lanh.

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As they rode home in Huy's rental SUV he cuddled tightly with Lanh, "I'm sorry honey, but I couldn't let him attack you, all I could think of was Joshua Grimes."

"You can't protect me all the time," she whimpered. She felt weak and helpless, and she hated feeling that way, but all she could do when that filthy bearded man pulled a gun was shriek in terror.

Don held her close and kissed her temple, "Look at the bright side, your diction hasn't fallen apart." That is an improvement.

"You should have heard her when she called me yesterday, "He lock up twenty for hour, you fix!" laughed Huy.

"Huy, please. I know she's your kid sister but YOU ALL sound like that when you're stressed," scolded Don, then imitating his brother-in-law's voice almost perfectly, "Annie she have twin baby!" causing Annie's melodious laughter to ring through the SUV.

"He's right," said Ahnjong, family has been here four generations and their accent was more of a Chicago accent.

"Thank you," sniffed Lanh. He even protects her from her brothers, even though they spent their lives ignoring her. "Love you," she whispered. She simply tipped her head up and they kissed.

When they got home Karole was in a state of panic, she sat in the dark living room and was desperately trying to calm Krissy, but her nerves were causing Krissy to cry. Lanh had explained everything to Don as they brought him home. Karole's ex-fiancé Jayce was caught selling meth in Newfoundland Canada and he gave the RCMP Karole's name and address as his source for crystal methamphetamine. The drug dogs keyed on the corner of the garage where Don had stacked the boxes that Jayce had sprayed with "skunk piss" and they found a weak scent in the middle of the living room where they were stacked for about one day.

After they returned from the police station it was tempting for Huy and Ahnjong to take Krissy and calm the infant, but Karole wouldn't learn to calm Krissy that way, so Don and Lanh concentrated on calming Karole. She was in tears about her home being invaded by a squad of DEA agents who were right now going through every piece of her personal belongings leaving nothing untouched. "Ah even forgot to get diapers for ma' baby."

Don gave Karole a pad of legal-size paper and a pencil and said, "Make a list of everything you need from the house, ok? You're staying here as long as you need to, so include everything."

"K," Karole sniffed and with a trembling hand she drew up a simple list which Don took along with her keys to her house and headed out the front door.

"Where are you going?" asked Huy.

"Next door to get her belongings," said Don making sure to leave his cane behind.

"That's a crime scene, you're not allowed in there," said Huy who walked next door with Don. Karole's front door and garage door were covered with yellow CRIME SCENE tape. "As your lawyer I advise you not to disturb the crime scene tape, besides, they double locked the door." Huy pointed out a metal bar stretching top to bottom in the door frame, and it had a u-shaped bolt around the doorknob.

"I'm not going in the front door." They went around the back of the house and the back door was covered with CRIME SCENE tape also. Don led Huy to a piece of plywood lying next to the house, it was covered with a few bricks and a stack of about 15 sacks of topsoil. Don moved the bricks and soil and lifted the plywood exposing the doors to the exterior basement steps. Huy grinned at Don and Don said "What - she did a nice job painting these doors, I covered them up so they wouldn't get messed up before the paint dried."

"God, I love farmers," chuckled Huy. Don gave him a withering look, but Huy said, "You guys are so practical. Those cops never thought to look."

Don unlocked the doors and they went down the stairs leading to the basement. "I don't understand this Huy, in one month I became a father, I discover I've got a fatal lung condition, then I find my neighbor's house surrounded by feds and I spend three nights in jail... what's next?"

"What's really bothering you?" Huy suspected that there was something deep down that Don wasn't talking about. Huy was terrified that it was something he couldn't deal with at all, something like Lanh cheating on him or something like that.

"This dream I keep having!" Don thumped the heel of his palm into his forehead several times. "God, it's horrible!"

"The dream where you're trapped on a desert island with Shaniah Twain?" grinned Huy Don unlocked the basement door and they entered Karole's house. He was relieved that it was just a dream that was bothering Don.

"No, the one where I'm on the Bikini Atoll with Curtis LeMay, do you ever read my emails?"

"Just trying to lighten the mood, you woulda done the same for me," said Huy.

Of all of Lanh's siblings, other than Kim-ly, Don was closest to Huy and his wife Ahnjong. Neither man knows why but Don and Huy hit it off the day they met and have been as close to each other as a pair of friends could be. They made their way through the basement and up the stair into the kitchen where Don opened the refrigerator.