Mustn't Fall for the Patient

The night went on and I fell asleep shortly after Alex did, but again I was rudely awaken by a loud beeping sound, I sat up and checked my pager but it wasn’t that. I looked up and Jack was crashing. I shot up and hit his code blue button.
“I need a crash cart!” I yelled to the nurses.
Alex sat up and looked at me frightened, I just held my hands up and a nurse came in with the crash cart.
“Charge to two fifty.” I said grabbing the paddles.
“Charged.” The nurse said.
“Clear!” I yelled.
I pushed the buttons on the paddles and Jack’s body jumped.
“Still no pulse. Charge to three fifty.” I said.
“Charged.” The nurse said.
“Clear!” I yelled.
I pushed the paddles and his body jumped again.
“I have a pulse.” I said.
The nurses sighed and took the crash cart out and Alex was suddenly standing next to me.
“Lex, I need you to get back in bed.” I said.
“Tell me what just happened.” He said.
“His heart momentarily stopped, it’s back and his pulse is strong.” I said.
He nodded and went back to his bed and sat down.
“I fell asleep, I’m so sorry Jack, I am so sorry.” I said sitting down by his bed and taking his hand.
“He forgives you.” Alex said.
I turned and looked at him and smiled.
“How’s your pain?” I asked.
“I hurt, some. I shouldn’t have gotten out of bed.” He said.
“Do you want me to up your morphine?” I asked.
I just looked at him and smiled, I got up and upped his dosage.
“Try and get some sleep. I’m going to sit with Jack.” I said.
He nodded and I went back and sat next to Jack and held his hand. When I knew Alex was asleep I started stroking it with my hand.
“Jack, I know you don’t know me or what the hell is going on, but I need you to wake up soon.” I whispered.
I laid my head down on my arms on the mattress and put my head down on that, I sighed into my arms and closed my eyes. I continued to stoke the back of his hand.
“Aussie.” I heard someone whisper touching my shoulder.
I moved and suddenly I was hitting an extra hard surface.
“Aussie!” Someone squealed
I opened my eyes and Ana was standing over me and I was on the floor; I groaned and held my hands up.
“I fell asleep, I didn’t mean to.” I said
“You fell asleep next to him.” She said
I sighed and I stood straight up and dusted off my back and butt.
“How’s he doing?” I asked
She shrugged and held her hand to him, I sat back in the chair and held his hand.
“Hey.” He said
“Oh my god!” I yelled
He just blinked.
“When did you wake up?” I asked
“He woke up about ten minutes ago. I felt like I should wake you.” Ana said
“Is Lex up?” I asked
She shook her head.
“Thanks for waking me.” I said to her.
“I’ve got to get to my OR.” She said
I nodded and she left.
“Do you remember what happened?” I asked
He looked at me and smiled.
“Sort of. I remember the bus blowing up and terrible pain but that’s it. Then I woke up.” He said
“You got hurt the most in the explosion. Fifteen broken bones, I bleed in your brain, and some internal stuff from your ribs shattering.” I said
“I got fucked up.” He said
I smiled.
“I’m your doctor. I’m Doctor Ashmore, but call me Aussie.” I said
“Aussie? That’s pretty cool. So is it after the hair product or just something your parents liked?” He asked
“You’re very chatty for someone who was blown up.” I said
“Are you embarrassed?” He asked
“No, I like my name. I’ve become at one with it.” I said
He nodded pursing his lips.
“How’s my people?” He asked
“Alex is sleeping right there.” I pointed
“Zack and Rian?” He asked
“Rian had a small brain contusion that will heal itself and Zack had some internal bleeding, I fixed that. I fixed you too.” I said
“Miss. Fix it.” He said
“I’m a surgeon it’s what I do.” I said
“Jack?” Alex said
“He’s awake. I said
Jack looked over at Alex and smiled.
“Why do you look so scared?” Jack asked
“You died last night.” He said
Jack looked at me.
“You coded; your heart stopped.” I said
“She saved you.” Alex said
Jack smiled at me.
“Okay, now that you’re awake I am going to go take care of my rounds and I’ll be back.” I said
They both nodded and I walked out and started my rounds with my interns.
“Ashmore you look like crap.” My rudest intern said after rounds while we were in the ER.
“I know.” I said
“Why do you look like crap?” He asked
“Did you get to go home last night Len?” I asked
“Yeah.” He said
“Well I didn’t, I had a patient. Maybe when you get your ego out of your ass and you become a big boy doctor you might get patients severe enough to have to watch over night. Now you can stop telling doctors that they look like crap and go do some rectal exams.” I said
He just looked at me.
“Are you serious?” He asked
“Any resident or intern who has rectal exams that need to be done give them all to Doctor Wells. Okay! He gets them all!” I yelled throughout the ER.
I looked over at him.
“Yes I’m serious now get to work.” I said
I looked over and at my other five interns and they were laughing.
“Anyone else have anything to say?” I asked
They all shook their head and we went on to treating the ER patients.
“Ashmore! Pit now!” Our trauma surgeon yelled running past me
“Steven you’re in charge.” I said to my favorite intern.
I ran after our trauma surgeon Carl to the pit.
“What’s going on?” I asked
“We have three traumas coming in.” He said
“What happened?” I asked
“There was a car accident and the driver had a gun and when the car crashed it shot into his chest.” He said
“What about the other two?” I asked
“The guys’ wife went through the windshield, peeled her scalp down so we’ll need plastics.” He said
Before I could ask about the third one the ambulances showed up, I ran to the far right one.
“What do we got?” I asked
“Margret Untermeyer, seven years old, slung from the car upon impact, trauma to the head and a medium impalement to the abdomen and chest.” The paramedic said
I pulled the blanket off of the little girl and there was a huge chunk of glass in her abdomen and a small steak knife in her chest.
“Medium?!” I squealed
He shrugged and I started running into the ER.
“I need an OR and Peds!” I yelled
“OR two is open. I’ll just go talk to my patient.” My intern said
I ran with the girl and pushed her into OR two and peds was already there.
“Her name is Margret, she’s seven and she was thrown from the car on impact with the other car. She has a huge chunk of glass in her abdomen and a small steak knife in her chest.” I said
“How’d she get a knife in her chest?” Our peds surgeon Nyla asked
“I’m going to go question the parents now.” I said
She nodded and began to help the little girl and I ran back to the ER.
“Are Margret Untermeyer’s parents in the room?” I asked
Two squirrelly people stood up and walked over to me.
“I have one question. How in the world did your seven year old daughter get a steak knife in her chest?” I asked
“The knife is in her chest! Oh my god!” Her mother screamed.
“The knife?” I asked
“We were on our way from the store, we had to buy a new steak knife because my husband broke ours.” The mother said
“Steak knives come in hard plastic cases. How did it get imbedded in our daughter’s chest?” The father asked
“Can we take this into the conference room?” I asked
The nodded and followed me into the ER conference room and I closed the door.
“I need an answer Mrs. Untermeyer.” I said
“I had opened it when we got into the car, so I could easily just put it in the drawer.” She said
“What the fuck.” Mr. Untermeyer said
I sighed and dropped my hand on the table.
“I’m sorry, I’m going to have to call Protective Services.” I said
“Why?!” The mother cried
“You opened a knife in the car.” Her husband said
“How could I predict that someone was going to crash into us?” She asked
“You crashed into them for one, for two she was in the front seat which is child endangerment because she’s not heavy enough to sit up front, and three you opened a knife on top of all of that.” I said
“So if you call them will they qualify her as an unfit parent will I get her?” He asked
“Sean!” The mother yelled
“Penny she could be dying and it’s your fucking fault.” He said
I hate dealing with parents of hurt kids.
“Doctor call them. I will take my daughter and she will be safe. I’ve been planning to leave her for a while, she’s a terrible mother.” Sean said
“I’m going to check on Margret, I will leave you two talk about this.” I said
“Are you going to call them?” He asked
“Yes. I’ll send them in along with an attending who is caught up on everything.” I said
“Why not you?” She asked
“I have lives to save.” I said
They nodded and I jogged to OR two, I pushed the door in and they were attempting to stop the bleeding.
“Help, no time to scrub in.” Our peds surgeon said
I ran over and started pushing lap pads into the chest cavity.
“What is causing all of this?” I asked
“The glass punctured her stomach but we got the fixed, I hope. The knife went into her heart…” Our cardio surgeon said
“Is she going to make it?” I asked
“I don’t think so.” He said
“I can’t be in here.” I said
“We need you in here.” He said
“I can’t.” I said
“You will. I am your attending and you will listen.” He said
I felt tears travel down my face as I tried to stop this little girl from bleeding out.
“Everyone stop. She’s done.” He said
Everyone stopped and I looked around.
“Call it Ashmore.” He said
I just shook my head and left the OR, I pulled me scrub cap off and my mask. I violently wiped my tears off and walked into the ER conference room.
“Margret?” The mother asked
“She didn’t make it.” I said
They started crying and I ran out and started walking down the hallway.
“Why are you being so insensitive?” I heard Margret’s mother asked
“I am not being insensitive!” I yelled
“My daughter just died and you’re crying and running away. You’re supposed to be telling me what happened to her not walking away!” She yelled
“You killed her, your recklessness killed her!” I yelled.
I looked around and Alex and Jack were sitting up watching me, of course I would get stopped here.
“The knife went through her heart, this is what happens when you open a knife in the car.” I said
“You don’t know what it’s like to lose a child!” She yelled
“Yes! Yes Penny I do!” I yelled walking away
I started to run away and went straight into the resident’s locker room. I slid down on to the ground and out my head on my knees.
“Aussie. Calm down.” I heard Ana's soothing voice
I looked up and she was kneeling down in front of me.
“Sweetie breathe. I know it's hard. Do the trick.” She said
I nodded and ran my thumb over my wrist tattoo and deeply breathed. I looked up at her and she wiped the tears from my face.
“Let's get back to our patients.” She said helping me off the floor.
I sighed and we walked back to Jacks room.
“Man that was intense.” Jack said
“She goes through that a lot…” Ana said
I nodded and smiled.
“I'm going to pull your curtain closed. I'm going to check your incisions.” I said to Jack.
He shrugged and I pulled the curtain closed.
“Lay back.” I said
“Is this naughty doctors?” He smiled
I chuckled and just looked at him. He had the most inviting smile. He laid back and I lifted up his gown and checked his abdominal incision. It looked good for one day post op.
“Looks good.” I said.
He nodded and I checked his head.
“This one looks a little weird. I'm going to touch around it, I need you to tell me how bad it hurts.” I said
“Okay.” He said
I touched around it and he flinched.
“On a scale of one to ten?” I asked
“Five.” He said
“Okay, I'm going have to keep an eye on it.” I said
He nodded and smiled.
“Oh my god Alex. I was so worried.” I hear another girl voice
“Keep the curtain closed please. Just go a little bit.” Jack whispered
“Alex's girlfriend?” I asked
“Yep.” He said
“She pretty?” I asked sitting on the side of his bed
“Very. I've seen prettier.” He said
“Oh really?” I asked
“She's got very pretty very long red hair that I'm still trying to figure out how she fits it under this cap she wears sometimes.” He said
“So you like redheads.” I smiled
“Not normally. It's usually girls like Lisa.” He said
“What's she look like?” I asked
“Her hair is brown like Alex's doctor. But her eyes are a pretty blue green. Very light.” He said.
“I dyed my hair brown once.” I said
He just looked at me.
“It was a phase.” I smiled
“We thought Lisa was a phase. Her and Alex were together sometime in high school, then she moved. Thought that was the end of that. But Lisa Ruocco returned.” He said
“Lisa Ruocco. Lisa Noel Ruocco?” I asked
He nodded.
“Cabbage patch.” I whispered to myself
“What?” He asked
I got out of his bed and peered on the other side of the curtain.
“Cabbage patch.” I said
Alex looked up at me with a confused expression and she slowly turned her head and looked at me.
“Carrot top?” She asked
I nodded and she got up and tackled me with a hug.
“It's been years.” She said
“You lost touch with me when you went to college.” I said
“I know. What are you doing here?” She asked
“She's my doctor.” Jack said
I pulled the curtain back and he smiled at her.
“You look like shit.” She said to him
“That’s what happens when a bus explodes and you get the worst of it.” He said
“You two know each other?” Alex asked
“This is carrot top. My friend from forever ago.” Lisa said
Alex just stared at her.
“Never mind.” Lisa said
Alex smiled at her and she walked over and kissed him, I just looked over at Jack and he made a gagging motion. I smiled and Alex cleared his throat, I looked over and wiped the smile off my face.
“How’s Lizzi?” Lisa asked.
I felt all the blood rush out of my face.
“Aussie?” She asked
I looked up at her.
“How’s Lizzi?” She repeated.
“Can… can I talk to you out in the hall?” I asked
She nodded and I sped walked out of the room, she was on my tail. I waited until the door closed and some tears escaped.
“What?” She asked
“I lost her.” I said
“Child services?” She asked
“Drunk driver on Christmas.” I said
“Why didn’t you call me?!” She yelled
“Your number was changed.” I said
Her face fell.
“When was this?” She asked
“I was twenty.” I said
“So she was only five?” She asked
I nodded and worked hard to keep myself composed.
“Were you here or in California?” She asked
“Neither, we were in Colorado. The driver skidded into our yard.” I said
Lisa sighed so hard her body shook.
“I’m so sorry you couldn’t get a hold of me. Carrot I am so sorry.” She said almost crying.
I nodded and ran my hand through my hair, she pulled me into a hug.
“I’m a terrible god mother. I shouldn’t have left you for school.” She said
“No, it was the right thing to do. You wanted to go to college.” I said
“So did you.” She said
“I got pregnant, I was happy. And did go to college. I’m a surgeon now.” I said
“But are you as happy as you were?” She asked
“I’m really happy here, I miss her but I am really happy.” I said
“That’s what counts.” She said
“I’ll let you get back in there, tell Jack I’ll be back a little later. I have to go check on something.” I sighed
She nodded and kissed my cheek.
“Oh, I’ve missed you.” She said
“You too.” I smiled
I walked away and into the ER, Margret’s parents were still in the conference room. I took a breath and walked in.
“This! This is the insensitive doctor!” Penny yelled
I looked over at the Social worker and the hospital chief. I gave him a look.
“Now, I don’t think she was being insensitive.” Chief said
I sighed and took a seat across from Penny.
“Mrs. Untermeyer, I am sorry for just running. I couldn’t really take it at that point in time. I am sorry for yelling.” I said
“Don’t apologize. This was her fault; technically.” The social worker said
“I have to say I’m sorry. I could have been more professional about giving them the news. It’s hit too hard in my personal life and I am sorry for letting that shine through my professional ability.” I said
“I want to know how you know.” She said
“Penny, that’s none of your business.” The social worker and her husband said
“No, it’s okay. Mothers want to know that other people have gone through the same pain. I lost my daughter when she was five, to a drunk driver in Colorado. They skidded up into our yard while we were attempting to build in igloo.” I said
Penny nodded and I looked at the Chief and he gave me a look of sorrow and I just smiled.
“What’s going to happen?” Penny asked looking at the social worker
“You are going to jail for a little bit.” He said
“Am I excused?” I asked
Chief nodded and I walked away and into the on-call room.

Notes

So?