The Major Dissonance: Keynotes, #4

By Ruth Hay

With everything in Australia thrown into turmoil, can Rosalie's friends far away in Canada, come to her rescue in time to save lives?


 

Jean and Margaret, Carlos and James, must play significant roles, but it may be Thomas Kent who brings all their efforts together.


 

Big decisions wait for Rosalie Frobisher and the Frobisher family, in this final challenging book in the Keynotes series.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ruth Hay
• Release date: Dec 11, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201734046

Book preview

ONE

Dr. Adrian Radawanski had nothing to prove.

As the pre-eminent Perinatologist in New South Wales, he had clients lined up for his services for the next year.

Young doctors from all over the country competed to work and study at his brilliant seminars or his online master classes. The fact that there were usually more female than male doctors vying for positions in his domain on the seventh floor of Sydney’s Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, was no surprise to anyone who noticed the eminent doctor’s stunning tall frame and dark good looks.

The staff called him Dr. Rad, as in radical, incomparably gorgeous … but only behind his back.

He was a stickler for proper procedures and protocols and he had been known to demote an aspiring doctor for the crime of failure to completely reassure a pregnant woman that her doctor would bring her and her unborn baby safely through to birth and beyond.

The entire Sydney area was approaching the tenth week of this third wave of lockdown.

The general sense of unease at the persistent Delta variant had reached Camperdown City four kilometres south-west of Sydney’s central business district and the home of the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital.

COVID-19’s earlier waves had produced an exceptional number of pregnancies. All that extra time confined within four walls at home had been put to good use, or so it seemed.

Certainly, there was no lack of problem pregnancies or of postpartum depression cases. It was generally thought the uncertain times contributed to such upsets.

And yet, Adrian Radawanski could never resist a real challenge to his skillset.

Rosalie Frobisher, recent arrival in Australia, single mother in her thirties, unresponsive and suffering from the symptoms of the more rare, and problematic Postpartum Psychosis, was a challenge indeed.

Her father, Kevin Frobisher, had prevailed upon his fame as a conductor in Sydney’s Opera House, to have his daughter moved to the Royal Prince Alfred.

Adrian recognized the name and decided to personally interview the conductor. In his few leisure hours, Adrian was a music lover but nothing could have prepared the doctor for the tale of woe that poured from Kevin Frobisher’s lips.

"I can’t begin to thank you enough for seeing me Dr. Radawanski. I don’t know where to turn.

My wife Hazel is at home with a fretful baby boy, a preemie who has never seen his mother or felt the warmth of her arms.

My daughter, Rosalie, does not respond to either of us, rejects her son, and seems trapped in a nightmare world she cannot escape.

You are our last hope, doctor.

Can you help us?

Have you ever encountered a case like this before?"

Adrian took a moment to review Rosalie Frobisher’s discharge papers from the Emergency Department of the previous General Hospital.

What was remarkable was the lack of information that might account for the sudden onset of psychosis. He had antidepressant and psychosis-specific drugs he could use but it would be necessary for him to know much more about this patient before deciding on an appropriate course of therapy.

"Perhaps not a case, exactly like this one, Mr. Frobisher, so I need you to tell me everything you know about your daughter, and her pregnancy."

The fact that Kevin Frobisher greeted this news with a look of pain on his worried face, rather than unmitigated joy, told Adrian this would be a more challenging case than even he suspected.

Kevin moved around in his chair and gazed at the wall rather than at his questioner.

"I am ashamed to confess, doctor, that my information about Rosalie is far from complete.

She declined to move with the rest of our family to Sydney two years ago. That period of her life in Toronto, Canada is a mystery to me still.

She arrived here five months ago, quite suddenly, and it was only then I learned about her pregnancy. She has not divulged the name of the father. As she was clearly unwell, my wife and I chose not to press her for details but, rather, to concentrate on her health in hopes she would, in time, feel comfortable enough to tell us her story.

Rosalie did tell her younger sister about the man she was living with and who she described briefly as ‘a deceiver and a criminal’.

That is all I know."

Adrian placed the fingers of his left hand over his mouth and began to beat a silent tattoo on his cheek. Any of his staff would recognize this gesture as one of his thinking postures.

"I see your difficulty, Mr. Frobisher.

Is there anyone in Canada who could fill in some of the missing information? Obviously, there must be more to tell in order to propel your daughter into such a dangerous state of psychosis."

Anxious to help, Kevin immediately scoured his memory for a clue.

Well, I do have one lead although I do not know this person or what his connection is to my Rosie. My phone has the number for the man in Canada who left the message alerting me to Rosalie’s unconscious condition. His timely intercession on her behalf led to her admission to the ER and the caesarian section that was necessary.

Kevin though it advisable to omit the role he played in getting the ambulance into the hospital in time to do that operation.

Adrian was all action now there was a plan.

Right! he said. "Get me all the information you can, as soon as possible.

Time is of the essence. Can your wife cope with the infant by herself?"

"She will not be on her own. The opening performance at the Opera House will now be online instead of with a live audience.

Once that is over, I intend to take a leave in order to help with our grandson."

"Good! Better that he’s with close family.

Forward any relevant information to my private line.

I do not need to tell you Mr. Frobisher, Rosalie is sinking further away from us with every passing hour."

Kevin Frobisher nodded in acknowledgement of the seriousness of the situation.

He had tried to reach the Toronto number several times without success. The messages he left were not returned.

His every instinct told him to get on an airplane and go to find this Thomas Kent.

But that was impossible for so many reasons. He could, however, continue to try the phone number at all hours of the day or night until he was successful.

Please God it was soon.

TWO

Hazel Frobisher knew she held in her arms the tiny boy who was the link to her daughter’s recovery and to her family’s future.

The responsibility would be overwhelming had she not been required to focus every iota of her energy on keeping the babe close to her beating heart every moment. Any interruption caused him to such squalls of panic that she quickly learned to cradle him in a sling while she prepared formula and fetched fresh clothes for him.

A preemie diaper service had been contracted to help and a nurse arrived once or twice a day to ensure Hazel could shower and eat.

Kevin was staying in Mark’s rental flat near the Opera House for the time being.

Hazel was alone with the child and she did not know the hour or the day.

Neither did she care.

She stepped out of one set of pajamas leaving them on the bathroom floor, and into another set she found hanging on a hook behind the door. She never questioned where the clean clothes came from.

---

One day to her surprise, her husband appeared. She expressed no concern, merely handing over the sling, the baby bottle and the child.

She was asleep before her feet reached the couch cushions.

When she woke up again, Kevin was still there quietly humming a lullaby, Brahms’ she thought.

Then she automatically reached for the un-named boy and donned the sling.

What? she asked her husband.

"I have news from Canada. Remember the man who called about Rosalie that day to tell us she was in trouble? Well, I finally made a connection with him. We had been playing telephone tag with me being out of touch at the Opera House and travelling between there and home so much.

Kevin, don’t tell me any information unless it directly helps this baby. Just tell me you passed it on to Rosalie’s doctor at RPAH and he says it is helpful for her.

Kevin was relieved to be excused from re-telling the dire events that propelled their daughter into such a dreadful state of disassociation. In truth, he could scarcely comprehend it yet