Today was an intense, exciting and extremely eye-opening day. I had helped take care of a pregnant mother, helped deliver her breech baby and it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen in my career as a doctor. And then I got the chance to save her life when there was extreme complications when it was determined that the mother's placenta was attached to the wall of the uterus.
I ended up rushing her into emergency surgery, but not before I caught Dr. Kalfas with a needle in his arm in the men's bathroom, which probably meant he was high when he delivered the baby. As mad as I was at him; blamed myself for not listening to my gut, I did the surgery and felt confident with what I had to do afterwards.
"Dr. Lin." Dawn Bell greeted as she sat busily typing on her computer. "Word has it you saved a young mother's uterus today."
"Word travels fast." I stated quietly, suddenly not feeling like I deserved the credit. I was coming down from my adrenaline rush, which had me feeling drained and all I wanted to do was go home and sleep.
"You probably also saved her life." Dawn congratulated, now leaning against her desk. "Well done. What can I do for you?"
"There's no easy way to say this." I hesitated, trying to find the right words and use complete sentences in my head. "Umm...Dr. Kalfas."
"Yes. What about him?" Dawn looked at me expectedly as she cupped her hands tightly together.
"He's abusing narcotics." I revealed, which she didn't look too surprised as she gave a long sigh and stood so she was facing me.
"This isn't just a rumor?"
"I saw him." It was my turn to twist my hands together as I was nervous and honestly it didn't feel as good as I thought it would be to walk up here, especially since Dr. Kalfas' could have further put his patients at risk. "I caught him. It's uh, not a rumor."
"It was very brave of you to tell me. Thank you. I'll take it from here."
"Okay, thank you." I felt relieved as I began to walk out of her office. The first thing I was going to do when I got home was take a hot shower. No, a hot bath. Bubble bath, perhaps?
"Maggie. Word to the wise. Next time you come in here, you might want to change your scrubs first. The blood's not such a great touch."
"I did change-" I looked down at my scrubs, feeling my stomach drop as I saw the blood soaked between my legs.
"Maggie, are you okay?" I heard Dawn ask me with growing concern as she stepped towards me. This was the last place I wanted something like this to happen, especially in front of the chief of surgery. I groaned internally, feeling a little more than rattled. Here I was thinking about going home and relaxing and then this happened.
"Yeah." I nodded, suddenly not feeling the same confidence I had come in to the office with; then cleared my throat when I couldn't put the words together. "I'm good, thanks."
"Okay, well. Let me know if there's anything I can do."
"I will. Goodnight, Dr. Bell."
"Goodnight." She said, sitting back down behind her desk and continued typing on her computer as I walked past her office towards the elevators. I called the elevator then sat down on the bench to wait-my head spinning with thoughts of what I could have done to prevent this from happening. If I was truly losing the baby, or I was just feeling like I stepped into a nightmare.
Before I knew it, Dawn was standing next to me with her phone in her hand and purse on her shoulder. "Maggie? Have you been sitting here the whole time since you left my office?" When I didn't respond, she took that as an invitation to sit beside me on the bench.
"How long exactly have I been sitting here?"
"Almost twenty minutes." Dawn revealed after glancing down at the time on her phone. "Do you want to tell me what's really going on."
I closed my eyes momentarily, trying to wash away the nausea that was now rising inside of me as I opened my mouth to speak. Why didn't I tell her sooner? "I think I'm having a miscarriage."
"I take it you haven't called anyone yet?"
"No, not yet."
"I figured as much." Dawn grinned, humor in her voice. "Let me guess—if you had called Alex, she would have already dragged you down to OB."
"Mmm...yes she would have."
"Which is why you know what I'm going to say next—"
"You want me to get checked out."
"I do." Dawn let her hands rest in her own lap., "But I'm also aware you're in shock—maybe not so much by the blood loss but by the situation at hand. So if you'd let me, I would like to see that you get down to OB safely."
"Something tells me you wouldn't let me do anything otherwise." I stood up slowly, trying to find my balance after sitting here so long.
"No I wouldn't." Dawn said with satisfaction, standing up herself. "At least nothing Alex wouldn't do herself." Adjusting her purse over her shoulder, she leaned forward to push the button for the elevator.
"I do have to ask. Why are you doing this?"
"Believe it or not, I do care about all the doctors and nurses—and staff—in this hospital."
"And you're responsible for everyone."
"That too." The metal doors opened and she made sure I entered before stepping into the elevator as well.
"Well, thank you." I leaned my head against the back of the cool metal as the slight tug of the elevator pulled us down to the next level. " I know this isn't how you wanted to spend your night."
"Trust me. I'm right where I want to be." She touched my arm lightly with a gentle smile in my direction. It was quiet until the doors slid open again. "Okay. We're going to get you through this." We walked out of the elevator together. "I'll fill in the nurse, okay?"
"Thanks." I wiped away a tear running down my cheek and pulled my phone out of my pocket; listened to the phone ring on the other end.
This is Dr. Alex Reid. Please leave a message and I will get back to you as soon as possible. Thanks!
Beep!
"Alex? When you get a minute, please call me. I could really use a friend right now." Placing my phone back in my pocket, Dawn returned with the nurse she had been talking to a few minutes earlier.
"Maggie. This is Jordan. She's going to be taking care of you." Dawn introduced me to the nurse who had beautiful olive skin and piercing blue eyes.
"Hi."
"Hi, Maggie. Dr. Bell tells me you've been experiencing some bleeding during your pregnancy." She pulled a wheelchair around from the side of the nurse's desk. "How far along are you?"
"Twelve weeks." I looked over at Dr. Bell and panic began to set in. This was really happening. I was going to see the fate of my baby. I was alone. Alex wasn't answering. Gavin wasn't here. Gavin! I needed to call him.
"Maggie?" Dawn tried to grab my attention but I couldn't stop to catch my breath to answer her. "Give us a minute."
"Sure." Jordan went back behind the nurse's desk to answer the phone so it was just us again.
"Come here." She led me towards the bench and we both sat. "You call Alex?"
"She didn't answer."
"Is there anyone you want me to call to be with you?"
"Gavin."
"Gavin Murphy?"
"Yeah."
"I can do that." Dawn pulled her phone out of her purse and set it in her lap. "Look, I know we don't know each other that well, but I would be more than happy to stay here until someone shows up to be with you."
I considered telling her no, but what came out of my mouth even surprised me. "That would be great, thank you." I could feel my heart rate lowering, and realized Dr. Bell had given me something I hadn't even known I needed. No wonder she was the Chief of Surgery. She was good.
"Of course." Just at that moment, the nurse hung up the phone and walked back over to us. "Now go get checked out so I don't have to keep worrying about you." With that final word, I finally relented before sitting down in the wheelchair and was wheeled down the hall.