Revenge of the Hideous Lady

“WE’RE here in front of St. Ignacio hospital where the former beauty queen turned actress Riza Andalio was brought after her housekeeper found her unconscious and almost lifeless inside her bathroom. According to some sources, this is the hospital where her rumored husband is currently working as a cardio-thoracic surgeon…”

“Doc, Dr. Zamora said that he’ll perform the operation.”

From the large TV screen hanging on his office’s wall, Pablo turned to the resident anesthesiologist, who informed him about the sudden surgery assignment changes. “No,” he refused in a stern voice. “I will perform the operation—”

“No, you will not do anything under my watch Pablo,” a familiar voice told him in an authoritative tone. “Do you think the hospital will just allow you to do a major surgery in that condition?”

Pablo clenched his fist and looked at his colleague, “I should do it, right?” he asked in a surprisingly steady voice. “Of all the doctors here, I, as the cardio surgeon, should perform that operation!”

“No, Pablo. We’ve talked about this, and I will do the operation for Riza,” Rico told him with finality in his voice. “And, please do not intervene in our operation—”

He grabbed Rico’s collar and lifted him on his feet. “Riza is my wife, and I should save her! I will do the operation! I will do anything to save her life!”

Timmy, the anesthesiologist, pulled him away from Rico. “Dr. Alcaraz, calm down, please.”

“How will I calm down if my wife is in the emergency room with an open chest cavity, but none of the doctors here could save her?!” Pablo pushed Rico away and swept everything inside his office. “Even I, a heart doctor, couldn’t do anything for her because all of you are stopping me!”

“Pablo, you have to understand that it’s in our protocol,” Rico told him, but it didn’t help him to calm down. “With your current state now, you can’t handle an operation. Your emotion will just affect your performance. And, I know that you’re aware of that, Pablo.”

Pablo raked his fingers through his hair. Tears flowed from his eyes endlessly, and the pain inside his chest is almost unbearable. How could he be so useless? What’s the use of his license if he couldn’t even save the life of his wife?

“Tell me, Rico…” he said in a calmer tone. “What’s the findings?” He went on his knees and lowered his head as if begging him to tell all the truth to him. “Tell me!”

“Your wife has…” Rico hesitated. When he looked up at him, the struggle that he saw in his face just added a burden to his chest. Still, he wanted to know everything. “Riza has a severe case of stable angina, Pablo.”

Pablo felt as if he was hit in the chest with a large rock with what he heard. He can’t breathe, and everything around him darkened. “S-stable angina…?”

Rico nodded. “It can be done through bypass surgery, but her coronary arteries have already developed atherosclerosis,” he said and shook his head. “And, because plaques were all over the elastic linings of her heart’s right and left ventricle, her case reached chronic total occlusion.”

Pablo’s brows furrowed. “H-how come that she developed such heart disease?” he asked him questioningly. “Riza doesn’t smoke nor drink alcohol—”

“Maybe she’s just hiding it from you, Pablo,” Rico told him apologetically. “Dr. Zamora found out that her arteries have been completely obstructed for more than five months—”