brother, Dr. Haynes?â
Ian joined in the fun. âShe likes to be called Dr. Kendall, Griffin. The MA told me.â
âWhatever works for your brother is fine with me.â She tucked her stethoscope in the pocket of her lab coat. âSo howâs school going?â
âFine. Iâve got this stupid biology project.â
âThat was my favorite subject in high school.â
âReally? Were you good at it?â
âOf course.â She went to the door and looked for Renee, speaking to Ian over her shoulder. âIâm going to have my medical assistant administer a breathing test. I want to evaluate your lung function.â
âHis what?â Griffinâs question jerked her attention back to him. If the guy ever smiled, heâd be quite handsome in a rough-around-the-edges kind of way. Not that she was noticingânot really.
âIâll explain it all after Ian takes the test. Suffice it to say, I want to see how well Ianâs perception of his breathing matches up to reality. Iâll be back in a few minutes to discuss Ianâs results with you.â
While Renee worked with Ian, Kendall checked with a radiologist about the results of an X-ray. As she talked on the phone, she could hear Renee chanting, âBlow, blow, blow, blow!â to encourage Ian to exhale as hard and as long as he could. About ten minutes later, she was back with Ian and Griffin.
Griffin stood leaning against a wall. âIâve got to admit, I enjoyed watching someone yell at my brother.â
âVery funny.â Ian rolled his eyes.
Kendall motioned for Griffin to sit in a chair beside Ian, turning the computer screen full of numbers and a graph so they could easily see the information.
âIanâs breathing test scores werenât as good as Iâd like.â She pointed out the numbers marked on the chart. âNormally, you want a range of eighty to a hundred twenty percent of normal. Ianâs hitting about seventy-one percent.â
âSo what does that mean?â Griffin moved closer, and Kendall repositioned the screen.
âWe need to treat him more aggressively so his numbers come into a normal range. People get used to breathing at a less-than-optimal capacityâbut they consider it normal. If we put Ian on a daily inhaler treatment, his lungs will improve over time. Then weâll establish whatâs called a âpersonal bestâ peak flow by using a handheld meter at home every day for a while. Then later, he can check it at home if he thinks heâs getting into problems.â Kendall forced herself to stay focused. This was no time to wonder if the man across from her wore aftershave or stuck with good, old-fashioned soap.
Soap. She was betting on soap.
âAnd even though Ian says his asthma is no big deal, I recommend that we start him on a daily steroid inhaler.â
âWhat does that do?â
âHmmm? It helps decrease lung inflammation.â
âBut Iâm fine.â Ian twisted his cap around so that it sat on his head backward.
âI believe you were fine, most of the time, in the climate back in Florida.â Kendall tapped the papers with her pen. âBut these numbers indicate that youâre not fine here. A lot of people who have no problems living in, say, North Carolina or Tennessee have breathing problems when they move to Colorado because of the drier, colder air. I also suggest having an inhaler on hand in emergency situations.â
Ian nodded agreement. âYouâre the doc.â
âLetâs talk about your allergies.â This was going to be the tricky part. âYou know what youâre allergic to, right?â
âSure.â
âRemind me how old you were when you were diagnosed with those allergies?â
âFirst grade. It was right around the time Mom and Dad adopted me.â
She really needed to get his medical records. âWith your latex
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