Smoke Inhalation
A/N I wanted to add a bit more drama to the Season 13 finale and ended up picking Jackson for my target. I hope you like it, please read, and review. I own nothing of Grey's Anatomy and am getting nothing from this.
Jackson staggered out of the hospital holding onto the woman that he pulled out despite all her protesting that she was fine, he nearly drops her as he struggles to keep hold of her but luckily some EMTs had turned up so he manages to make it look like he meant to do that and puts her onto the bed. He tries to follow them with the bed knowing he should check that she is alright but his stumbling gait halts his progress before he gets too far. Suddenly… someone is in his face shouting and he can't really work out who it is because his eyes are watering too much from the smoke and he can barely breathe between the coughs that are shaking his frame. "I need some O2" he manages to choke out, and he's still not sure who it is that's speaking but trying to figure out who it is is quickly forgotten because of the more important issue that he can't damn well breathe. He's coughing desperately and doing everything he can to clear his chest after all that smoke but it just doesn't seem to be working. He knows technically that he's surrounded by doctors now and he's one himself so he will be fine now but he can't focus on that enough to calm down.
April grabs hold of Jacksons elbow and pulls him over towards the back of the rig to get him some oxygen, too busy shouting at him for how stupid he's been, to really assess him, Maggie is on the other side also shouting at him and neither can believe how stupid he's just been. "You scared the crap outta me Jackson".
Jackson heard that bit of what was said and finally realises that it must be April next to him on his right side and looking to the other side realises that the other pair of hands are Maggie's, well at least he knows who it is now. April finally presses the oxygen mask over his face, but he's realising that it may have been too late cause he's starting to notice black dots floating round the edges of his vision and he desperately tries to pull in more air from the mask.
April pauses in her shouting and finally starts to look properly at Jackson, he's covered in soot, it doesn't look like he has any burns, but he has taken in a lot of smoke and she notices just how pale he looks under all that soot. "Hey… Jackson maybe you should sit down for a second?" she says drawing Maggie's attention away from shouting at Jackson as well.
Jackson is dimly aware of what they said but all he can think about is the way that the ground seems to be bucking like a ship under his feet and his head is starting to feel very light, his head starts to fall forwards onto his chest and the oxygen mask falls to the floor. He tries desperately to hold himself but it's the light sensation spreads down from his head and he realises that his knees are giving way and as hard as he fights he can't move any of his muscles, if April or Maggie don't catch him he's going to face plant into the floor while they're still shouting, but soon even the flashing of the ambulances around him have died away and he's left floating in the blackness that's closed in from the edge of his eyes.
April makes eye contact with Maggie across the front of Jackson, both realising that Jackson is less than ok, but this has drawn their attention from Jackson for a little too long. April snaps back to face Jackson when the oxygen mask drops to the floor, looking back to his face she sees his face has lost any colour that it might have had before and his eyes are closed. She barely gets time to process this before his head has tipped forwards and she grabs hold of him under his armpits, Maggie following suit on the other side and between the two of them they manage to keep him upright just about. "Can we get some help over here?!" April yells panic gripping her tone as she desperately tries to keep hold of him. Luckily Ben and Bailey appear just as he's starting to slip from their grasp and Ben quickly steps in behind taking Jackson under the arms and helping them lift him up onto a gurney that Bailey has brought over.
"What the hell happened here?" Bailey says to them staring in shock at the unconscious form of Jackson. April picks up the oxygen mask from where it had fallen to the floor and puts it back on him this time gently lifting his head up to put the elastic over his head to hold it in place.
"He pulled a lady out and took in a lot of smoke, he seemed ok at first but he just went down, I barely even caught him in time." April says shakily still panicking even though she has him in a more stable position. Bailey nods taking in that information and pulls her stethoscope from round her neck, she reaches up pulling Jackson's lab coat aside and starts pushing his scrub top up so that she can listen to his chest, it's at this point that he starts to stir.
Jackson slowly pushes his way back through the inky blackness fighting back to the surface, and slowly he starts to make out sounds and just about makes out April talking to someone, and he realises that he's now lying on something softer than the hard floor he was expecting. It's when he feels hands around his abdomen and chest that he finally manages to break through and opens his eyes to find Bailey leaning over him looking concerned as she pushes up his shirt. He tries to fidget and push her off but soon realises that she is too efficient and has pushed his hands down again with practiced ease and she's already got his shirt up, he feels the cold metal of the stethoscope against his skin.
"Hey, Jackson are you back with us, ok calm down you're alright I need to check you over" Bailey says comfortingly, grabbing his wrists as he tries futilely to fight her. April and Maggie step up at this point from where they'd been stood staring at him, and take hold of his hands to stop him from resisting. Miranda's not at all happy with what she hears of Jackson's lungs, he's wheezing loudly and obviously having trouble getting air in.
"I'm fine… I can… help, let… me up" he says gasping between words and continuing to try and fight his way up. He doesn't understand why they're holding onto him because he's completely fine, just needs to catch his breath, then he can help patients like he should be. As he starts to come around fully he somehow manages to get almost upright and starts to step off the gurney but he gets dizzy again and suddenly everyone around him seems to be shouting, but they've blurred together. Suddenly he hears Ben's voice in his ear and feels himself getting grabbed at the shoulders and legs and forced back down onto the gurney not that he's struggling much now.
Ben sees that he is fighting but stays back knowing that the others have the situation under control and that he would just be in the way, but suddenly Jackson has managed to almost get off the gurney and even without his medical knowledge he can see that Jackson is going to pass out again. He jumps forward the step away that he had been and for the second time takes hold of Jackson from behind lifting him back up while April and Maggie take his legs putting him back on the gurney. "Come on mate you're not fine so just stay down and let us help you" he says into Jackson's ear hoping he's still conscious enough to hear it, before again stepping back to let the others get to him.
Bailey sees that Jackson is still conscious this time and decides he may be easier to deal with if she sits him up a bit so she reaches round pulling the head of the gurney up and pushes him firmly into the mattress. "Now Jackson I don't know why you're so desperate to get away from us but I practically didn't need the stethoscope to hear you wheezing, so you are going to stay there and let us help you or I will be forced to tie you to it, do I make myself clear".
Jackson freezes he didn't even realize he was wheezing but now she points it out he can his lungs rattling a bit and he is still light-headed even just sitting against the gurney. He decides that he might as well stay here for now and so nods at Bailey from behind the oxygen mask that he hadn't even noticed he was wearing up till this point.
"Good" Bailey says before reaching over and grabbing a pulse oximeter and putting it over his fingers, frowning at the result of 88%. She walks back to the ambulance and starts going through the cupboards in the back before she finds what she is looking for and grabs another oxygen tank and goes back over to where Jackson sits surrounded by the other doctors who are still stood around. It's starting to draw the attention of others and she decides enough is enough. "Come on everyone go back to what you're doing, Ben I think we've got this from here and Maggie you should go check on other patients no sense all of us hanging around".
Jackson recognises the nebulizer mask that Bailey has in her hands and watches as she dismisses everyone except April and starts setting up the mask, connecting it to get oxygen and the nebulizer mixed together, looking closely he sees she's turned the oxygen right up, his oxygen must have been bad then. He pulls off the oxygen mask he has on now, knowing it wasn't doing much anyway. Bailey scowls at him for this but he doesn't really care, she's soon putting the new mask on and wrapping the strap round the back of his head, it's tighter over his face than the last one and with each intake he can feel it actively pushing more air into him. It's disconcerting to be on the receiving end of what he has done countless times for other people and he must have shown his distress somehow because April rubs his shoulder and smiles at him though he can still see the concern in her eyes. He sits there for probably another 10 minutes and is amazed at how effective the mask is, the nebulizing gas is opening his airway and allowing him to get more air in and the high-pressure oxygen flow makes it feel like his lungs are being pushed open further, he starts to relax against the gurney enjoying the feeling of his lungs finally doing what they're meant to finally.
April watches his face carefully seeing him slowly regaining some colour and he seems to finally relax after the initial stress he had when the mask went on but she understood it must be weird from him. She puts the oximeter back on his finger and after the reading earlier which Bailey had told her she's relieved by the reading of 97%. Once he's been on the nebulizer for about 20 minutes she reaches up and undoes the strap holding it on his head and takes it off switching him onto a simple nasal cannula seeing him watch her every move. When she's done he relaxes even more and slips off to sleep, finally she knows he's going to be ok.