Hi everyone! I have really enjoyed reading all the 'Emily Owens, M.D' fan fiction here! Everyone is so wonderful and the stories are awesome because they're all going in their own direction. I just find it amazing how many people truly love this show and want to keep it alive. That includes me: I will be forever a fan and I am very sad to see this show come to an abrupt end. I'm going to give writing a shot. Forgive me if you spot any errors or the flow isn't all that great. This is my first time writing fiction! I've always had to write term papers so I hope this becomes something beautiful and fun for me : )
The premise for my story is going to continue from the series' finale. My goal for each chapter is going to resemble an episode. I want to try to write about medical problems and about the drama between the different characters in the show. I'm also trying to figure out how I want to approach this story so I may experiment with different perspectives/point of views. I have also watched the entire series of 'House, M.D.' and I'm currently all caught up with 'Grey's Anatomy' so you may be familiar with some cases that I write about since they are part of my inspiration.
I'm afraid each 'chapter/episode' will be long then if I decide to do this so bear with me! It'll be worth it, I promise : )
*** Please don't hesitate to leave me feedback and comments! I would really appreciate any suggestions you may have for me. I would love to hear what you all think! Thanks and here we go! It's a long one haha.
"February 14th. Valentine's Day. This year, it falls on a Thursday. It is the one day out of the entire year that can make every single person out there feel like the loneliest person ever. So why is it that everyone thinks I'm lonely and that I'm desperate to find that special someone? Hmm, I actually like being alone. To be honest, there is a huge difference between being alone and being lonely. I am not lonely. I like to think of it as my 'me time'. Emily time. And I don't need a guy or anyone else for that matter to make me happy. Well, there are days where having a boyfriend would be nice. Or a puppy. Or a box of Godiva chocolate truffles."
Emily was lying there awake in her bed, just staring at the ceiling. The thought of chocolate made her stomach growl. She sighed and looked over at her alarm clock to the left of her bed. 4:11 AM. She pulled the covers over her head and groaned. Two more hours until she had to officially be up and to get ready for her long and probably exhausting day at Denver Memorial.
Emily tossed and turned until she was on comfortably on her side. She then started thinking about her situation. The Will situation. The Micah situation too. After the little discussion she had several days ago with Micah about why he picked Cassandra and not her for the surgery that he was in charge of, Emily felt she wasn't in the wrong for hesitating to pursue a relationship with him.
"I mean, this is why interns shouldn't date their residents. It has trouble written all over it! My career is the only thing I have going for me. God knows how hard I have worked to get to this point and to possibly think I could mess things up because I have a thing for my resident? My mentor? My best friend - "
Emily stopped in the middle of her rant. She sighed and began replaying all her favorite moments she shared with Micah. "Her first cut in surgery with him. Their lunch breaks on the rooftop. Laughing with Joyce about his nickname 'Micah Mouse.' That unexpected kiss." She knew deep inside that Micah was the main person keeping her sane in the midst of everything going on in her life. So why couldn't she think of him that way? Why couldn't she see him the way he sees her?
She winced in pain, thinking about how hurt Micah would be if he had found out about what happened between her and Will a few days ago. Emily has the tendency to feel extremely guilty in almost all situations.
"Where do I even begin with Will? He's been my best friend throughout all of medical school. Despite everything we've been through, it's always been him. Will. It's always going to be him." Emily turned to her other side and stared out the window this time. It was still dark outside. She then started thinking about all the moments she shared with Will. This time, Emily began to realize that there were more bad moments than good. "He rejected me when I confessed my love for him. He dated my arch nemesis. He picked her over me."
She thought she was completely over Will after Cassandra lashed out at her for getting the research assistant position. But somehow that switch was flipped on again and all her suppressed feelings came rushing back to her after that conversation in the bar when Will confided in her about the mistake he made with his patient.
Emily smiled and giggled to herself when she thought about that wonderful night. Will had come over and chose her. He finally chose her. The moment she had been waiting for who knows how long for had happened. The passion was there. The love was there. The longing and desire for one another was there. She didn't regret what they did at all. For once, Emily felt everything was going her way for once. But then her heart and head began aching for Micah…
"What am I going to do? Does this mean Will and I are together now? Oh, please don't tell me that was a one-night stand! I am so not that kind of girl! Wait, or was I the rebound girl?!" Emily gasped and started kicking in bed and shaking her head.
Her alarm went off and she immediately turned it off. Emily couldn't believe she spent the last two hours thinking about Will and Micah.
"Emily! I call the bathroom first!" Tyra yelled out, followed by the slamming of the door.
Emily laughed and no longer was she thinking about her complicated situations. She got up out of bed and began folding her bed sheets.
It was Tyra's turn to drive them to the hospital.
"My dad would be so proud of me for remembering to fill up the gas tank! Remember when I told you he gave me so much crap for forgetting that one time?! I can't believe he called me a child –" Tyra went on and on about her dad and how she's trying to prove to her parents that she's not a little girl anymore. Emily nodded and acknowledged her curly haired best girl friend. She continued to be deep into her thoughts though.
"Hello? Earth to Emily? I feel like I'm talking to myself!" Tyra came to an abrupt stop at the intersection. Emily jerked forward and cried out loud, "Hey! I was paying attention. You were talking about your dad and the gas tank and moving out. You didn't have to slam on your brakes to get my attention." Tyra glared at her and they both started laughing. They could never take each other too seriously.
"I truly do enjoy Tyra's company. She constantly tries to get me out of my comfort zone and I have become a stronger and better person because of her. Which reminds me. I still haven't told her about Will. Ugh, I already feel like I know what she's going to say. She hasn't been Will's biggest fan since day one but she's my friend. She should support me and my decisions right?" Emily debated about possibly confessing to Tyra but then she knew she had to prepare herself for the long lecture and disappointing looks and remarks from her. "Maybe later tonight since we don't have any plans for Valentine's Day. Yup, that sounds good. I will tell her tonight. I should buy her a box of chocolate so she'll go easy on me."
The two finally arrived at the hospital in one piece. When they reached the intern locker room, Will was on his way out. Will quickly shot Emily a smile as they passed each other. The smile that makes her weak in the knees, that makes her heart skip a beat. As his back was facing her, Emily gazed happily at him with her 'lovey-dovey-Will eyes' as Tyra describes it.
"What has gotten into you? I thought the Will switch was off for good this time." Questioned Tyra.
Emily quickly composed herself and cleared her throat. "Oh, I wasn't staring at Will. I was looking at –"
"Mhmm… Whatever you say Emily. I'm telling you, he's no good for you but I'll say no more. I don't want to be the one lecturing you." Tyra sighed. "Okay, let's go now or we'll be late. Dr. Bandari is still on her vacation and Micah isn't going to cut us any slack." Tyra grabbed Emily's arm and muttered under her breath, "Even if he's totally in love with you."
Emily and Tyra were standing in the back of the room during the consultation.
"Dr. Kopleson, please present." Micah stated, quickly handing Cassandra the patient's chart. He looked over at Emily and then at Will who was directly across the room from her. He noticed she was looking at Will but he wasn't looking back at her. Micah's heart began aching a little.
"Randall Jacobson, 34, admitted to the hospital yesterday after collapsing in a grand mal seizure. Labs and tox screen came back clean…"
Emily wasn't fully paying attention to what the case was about. All she could about was Will. "He hasn't been able to look me in the eye ever since… our encounter." She frowned and let out a sigh that was louder than she expected it to be.
"Dr. Owens, are we boring you?" Micah asked which startled Emily.
"I'm so sorry, no you aren't. I was just –" stammered Emily. She couldn't finish her sentence before Micah interrupted her and said, "Dr. Owens, what course of action do you recommend to take with Randall?"
"Call me Randy if that isn't too much trouble," the patient chimed in, "Dr. Barnes, go easy on her. She didn't mean it." He looked at Emily and gave her a reassuring smile. Emily couldn't help but return a smile back but quickly looked at Micah and answered his question.
"I recommend that we follow up the labs with an additional blood test for encephalopathy. We should also rule out the possibility of an aneurysm, epilepsy, or cancer. For now, we should administer steroids just in case," Emily quietly said, looking down at her feet as she finished her answer. She was embarrassed to look at Micah. Anyone else for that matter. Tyra rubbed Emily's arm for support.
Micah was surprised at Emily's recommendation. He was certain she wasn't listening and was probably thinking about Will… His heart ached once more. Micah smiled at Emily then looked over at Randy, "We're going to figure this out Randy. We're not going to give up on you. Dr. Owens, Dr. Dupre. Please do the blood workup and run the test." Micah couldn't look at Emily anymore so he started walking out of the room as quickly as he could. "I need to get some air," thought Micah.
All the interns had left the room, leaving only Tyra and Emily with Randy. They both put on gloves and Tyra went over to the supply cabinet. Emily walked over to Randy and began asking him about his pictures on the windowsill.
"I know I got on the wrong foot with Micah this morning. I hope he isn't too upset with me and nothing else is bothering him… I can't believe I actually sighed that loudly!" Emily was kicking herself for what happened earlier as she was reading Randy's vital signs.
"Okay Randy, we're done so far and we got everything we needed to conduct the test. Is there anything else you need or do you have any questions for us?" Tyra asked as Emily was hanging up the steroids IV bag.
"Actually, you could do me one thing. I've been dying for a good ol' pork chop or some ribs! Is there any way you could grant me this one request? I'm sick of this hospital food," Randy nudged Emily and the three of them laughed.
Tyra answered regretfully, "I'm sorry Randy, we're trying to monitor every possible thing we can and that includes what you're eating. We promise you that pork chop as soon as we figure out what's causing your seizures."
"Oh well, it was worth a try!," Randy laughed.
Tyra asked if Emily still needed her and Emily shook her head and waved goodbye to her friend. She was taking off his blood pressure cuff. Emily was interested in the picture on the windowsill with Randy and several pigs.
"Who are those cute little piggies in that picture with you?" she smiled.
"Oh that? I had gone to San Diego for one of their fairs last summer. It's funny, I actually love me some pork! Bacon, pork chops, baby back ribs, you name anything pork-related, I'd eat it!" Randy laughed and his stomach growled at the thought of all the delicious food he was missing out on. "I can't wait until I can eat again instead of being 'NPO' or whatever," he said and rubbed his stomach.
Emily laughed and said, "Soon, once we figure this out. I love bacon a lot too. Did you know the best way to cook bacon is to –" Before Emily could finish her sentence, Randy jumped in and said, "Bake it in the oven! Yes Dr. Owens, I know. I do it all the time! It most definitely helps with rendering out the fat." They both smiled and laughed their bacon-cooking tidbit.
"I'll be back later to check in on you but feel free to call or page me if anything changes," informed Emily. Randy thanked her with a huge grin on his face and turned on the T.V. and started watching one of the basketball games.
Emily walked out of Randy's room and started walking towards the main nurses' station. Tyra was there, going over her small stack of patient charts.
"Emily, something's clearly bothering you. You never doze off during consultations! I knew something was up ever since this morning. You're acting weirder than usual. Spill." exclaimed Tyra with general concern beaming from her brown eyes and stern expression.
Emily sighed, "Tyra, it's a long story and I promise to tell you everything but not right now. I don't want to talk or think about it. I want to focus on Randy and our other patients. We'll talk at home, I pinky swear."
They had reached the nurses' station and Tyra turned to face Emily straight on. She placed her hands on Emily's shoulders and looked her in the eyes, "Whatever it is, you're a survivor. I'm holding you to your promise. I expect a full, detailed account of your ordeal tonight. Hmm, I forgot it's Valentine's Day," Tyra looked at the paper hearts taped to the wall in disgust. Emily knew she was still hurting after the Hot Molly rejection. Tyra left to tend to her other assigned patients.
Riddled with guilt, Emily couldn't face Micah. It was weird, knowing that she had slept with Will, someone Micah wasn't too particularly fond of. They two have been talking to each other less, which was on purpose for Emily anyways. She wasn't sure how Micah was feeling about it. She loved Will but she started developing strong feelings for Micah as well…
Sunny the nurse startled Emily's inner monologue by handing her a patient file and said, "Don't look so down in the dumps Dr. Owens, it's Valentine's Day!" Sunny giggled with another nurse as Dr. Aquino walked on over and stood next to Emily.
"Dr. Owens," greeted AJ.
Emily didn't take her eyes off her patient's file but acknowledged him. "Dr. Aquino."
AJ continued to talk to Emily even though she wasn't in the mood to interact with the gorgeous doctor standing only a few inches away from her. "So I heard you were bored today during Dr. Barnes' consultation." He stifled a laugh and smiled.
"I wasn't bored!" Emily said in her defense, "I was –" AJ held up his hand to her, surprising Emily.
"Why was everyone cutting me off mid-sentence today? Is it 'cut off Emily while she's talking' day?" thought Emily.
"I'm just teasing. Doesn't matter, I get bored myself sometimes too. Just don't be so obvious about it next time," AJ jokingly let out a big, exaggerated sigh, which made Emily laugh. AJ smiled and then proceeded to ask Emily about a case he was working on, "Since you're oh so bored, how about you assist me on a case today?"
Emily had reviewed the patient file that Sunny had given to her before AJ came over and that's where she had to be next.
"There's a patient I have to see Dr. Aquino. I would have loved to work with you today but –"
AJ took the yellow patient file out of Emily's hands and looked around the floor. Emily rolled her eyes but made sure it was when AJ wasn't looking at her. He saw Will and motioned him over. Will came over, again avoiding any eye contact with Emily.
"Dr. Aquino, Dr. Owens. What can I do for you?"
"I actually need Dr. Owens to assist with a case of mine. I was hoping if you could take care of this patient for her," AJ kindly asked.
"Uh, yeah… sure. I'm not that busy today I guess," Will said while rubbing the back of his head with his right hand. He continued to avoid eye contact with Emily.
"What is his problem? I really don't understand what's going on… Will, why are you being like this?" Emily remained quiet during this conversation.
AJ handed the patient file over to Will, "Thanks Dr. Collins. Okay, Dr. Owens, shall we?" AJ started walking away and Emily followed. Will watched as Emily left and he couldn't help but feel guilty and sad. He shook his head and was on his way to his new patient in room 612.
Micah had gone outside to grab a cup of coffee from the cart. He needed to get out of the hospital for a few minutes and to clear his head. As Micah was paying, Cassandra was behind him and tapped him on his shoulder.
"Dr. Kopleson, hello."
"Dr. Barnes, could I speak with you for a moment?" asked Cassandra.
Micah waited for her to get her coffee and they walked over to one of the hospital benches that wasn't wet with condensation.
"So, what can I do for you Dr. Kopleson?"
"I wanted to ask you about the surgery that I assisted you with a few days ago," Cassandra started.
"Okay, go on," Micah listened attentively.
"Why did you choose me? I thought Emily was going to assist you."
Micah looked at Cassandra in shock for a nanosecond and quickly changed his facial expression. "Don't let her know that you're in love with Emily."
"I have always been impressed with you and your problem solving skills. You are a great doctor and I admire your determination and ambition. I felt that surgery was an amazing opportunity for you to have and I haven't been able to work closely with you yet. I assure you, there wasn't any other reason aside from what I had just given you," Micah replied as professionally and calmly as he could.
Cassandra's face looked puzzled and she continued, "I could have sworn it was about Em-" She paused. For a split second, she forgot who she was talking to and quickly recovered, "Never mind, thank you for your reassurance and confidence in me. I really appreciate it and hope to work with you again in the future." Cassandra got up from the bench and said good-bye to Micah and briskly walked back to the hospital. She was out of line for mentioning Emily. What Micah said about her was true, she deserved it as much as Emily did. Even if Micah was obviously in love with her. Her confidence was still shaken after not getting the research assistant position and her breakup with Will. Cassandra was still heart broken but she didn't allow anyone else to know or see her pain.
Meanwhile, Micah was left stunned, still sitting on the cold bench. "Am I that obvious?" He stood up, drank the remaining of his coffee and threw it away as he made his way back to the hospital. "So much for clearing my head."
Emily was just about caught up with AJ's patient. She was actually glad she decided to work with AJ today. "Uh, forced was more like it," Emily thought. All she could see in AJ was that he is Micah's best friend. "He probably knows what's going on between Micah and I. Oh my gosh, he probably hates me and he's spying on me for Micah! I'm stuck with him the rest of my shift…" her thought was interrupted by AJ's warm greeting to the patient and her mother.
"Dr. Owens, this is Alexis. Alexis, this is Dr. Owens. She's going to be helping me with you today. Does that sound okay? Hello Mrs. Henderson!" One smile and look from AJ and Alexis was acting as if she was melted putty in his hands. Alexis could only respond with an eager nod, as she looked at AJ with her love struck eyes. Alexis's mom seemed un-phased by AJ and his charms.
"Alexis, I'm going to lift up part of your gown so I can show Dr. Owens what we're dealing with. It'll be a quick look, I promise."
Alexis answered with a silent nod once more and pulled off her bed sheet. AJ lifted her blue hospital gown and Emily's eyes widened with curiosity.
There was a large lump protruding on her side.
Alexis finally said something while looking at Emily, "It doesn't hurt when you touch it. I'm scared an alien will pop out of it or something like in the movie." AJ and Alexis laughed, which caused Emily to loosen up and to laugh as well.
"Oh Alexis, I don't think anything scary is going to come out of it. Don't worry, you have Dr. Aquino to take care of you," reassured Emily. Alexis smiled and continued looking at AJ.
"This girl is in love. I can't blame him, he is pretty handsome. No, wait! He's the potential enemy or spy right now!" Emily smiled as AJ as she was going through different scenarios about how the rest of the day would turn out.
"Excuse me, I don't want you to be encouraging my daughter with nonsense. She's sick right now. She doesn't need jokes and doctors who aren't serious about her current condition. Alexis, stop messing around and compose yourself. You're in a hospital for goodness's sake!" her mother barked at them three, "Alexis, speak up! You have to actually talk in order to tell the doctors what and how you're feeling. They aren't mind readers! I swear, she gets her shyness and quietness from her father…"
Alexis, AJ, and Emily immediately stopped laughing and smiling the instant Mrs. Henderson spoke.
After clearing his throat, AJ said as professionally as he could, "Alexis, your surgery to remove the lump is in a couple of hours. You're going to get prepped in just a moment. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask." He gave her a smile to ease her nerves, especially after her mother's outburst.
Mrs. Henderson shook her head and resumed her seat next to Alexis's bed.
"Dr. Owens, a moment outside."
Emily frowned as AJ walked out of Alexis's room, not sure what she did this time.
"So, now that you're all caught up with Alexis and the situation, you're going to be going into the surgery with me."
Emily was shocked, she thought she was just shadowing and tagging along with AJ today, not to assist with a surgery! Emily managed to get a few words out, "Do you know what it is and how to proceed?"
"X-rays and scans weren't able to tell us anything definitively but as far as we can tell, it is a mass of some kind. We won't really know until we cut and get in there. I am hoping it isn't cancerous and some kind of tumor," AJ simply said. Emily nodded and remained silent. She didn't know what to else to say. "I will page you before the surgery begins. You can go check on your other patients." This was Emily's cue to go see Randy and catch up with Tyra in the meantime. She quickly dismissed herself and headed towards the elevator.
Little did Emily know, AJ was actually excited to work with her this time because he never really had the chance to talk or get to know her. Micah had spent all this time talking about her and it was so obvious to him that his best friend was in love with this girl. However, AJ couldn't read Emily. Usually, he could tell what girls are thinking because they were open books to him. He was a ladies' man, as everyone in the hospital knew him as that. With Alexis, he knew the little girl was love struck with him. AJ had that power over women. All sorts of women… even the cold, seemingly-heartless Dr. Gina Bandari. He had missed her the entire time he was away from Denver Memorial but ever since he came back, she keeps refusing to talk to him or even see him. AJ stopped himself from reminiscing any further and texted Micah to see where he was.
"I can't believe you're scrubbing into surgery today with AJ! I haven't seen the inside of an OR room in ages…" Tyra rambled on.
"You were in OR just last week, with your dad remember?" Emily reminded her.
"You know what I mean. Anyways, how's working with AJ? Tell me! I'm dying to know what he's like. Besides Dr. Putnam, AJ is like the biggest flirt at the hospital!" Emily could tell Tyra couldn't contain herself and kept bombarding her with questions.
"AJ's a nice guy. He's funny too. I don't know what else to tell you. He seemed pretty insistent to work with me today, which I thought was weird," admitted Emily. She still couldn't figure out what he was up to or if he was actually up to anything. "I need to stop overthinking things. It just creates a bigger mess…"
Tyra rolled her eyes at Emily, "C'mon, did you forget he's Micah's BFF? Maybe he's digging up some dirt on you."
"He never brought up anything about me and Micah. We just joked with each other a lot from what I recall. I really don't know Tyra. I'm stumped." It was true, Emily was stumped.
"Maybe it's nothing. Maybe he just wanted to work with an intern today and he picked you. Stop overthinking things Emily, I keep telling you that," snickered Tyra. Emily playfully punched Tyra in the arm.
"Oh, did you get Randy's test results yet? They should be done by now," asked Emily.
"Ugh, I don't want to go get them. I have to see Hot Molly and you know I'm not trying to see her after what happened. Emily, can you go get them?" Tyra pleaded. She has been avoiding Hot Molly at all costs, especially after their little spat in the parking lot the night of Dr. Bandari's fundraiser.
Emily went to the labs and picked up the results. Negative. What could be wrong with Randall? Back to the drawing board.
Sitting on the roof was the best part of the day for Emily. She couldn't speak for Tyra but it was her favorite thing to do. It was her refuge from all the hustle-and-bustle of the hospital. Even if it was for a few minutes, it gave her peace of mind and time to clear her head. This was the perfect opportunity for her and Tyra to discuss about Randall.
As Tyra was taking the crust off her chicken salad sandwich, Emily pondered out loud, "Was there anything we could have missed? All the tests and lab results have been inconclusive so far. There is clearly something causing Randy's seizures. What do you think?"
"It could be a neurological problem. We didn't rule out stroke or epilepsy yet," Tyra tried to answer clearly with food in her mouth.
"He has no history of that kind of problem. We're missing something, we just don't know what…." Emily sighed and bit into her apple.
Suddenly, both Tyra and Emily's pagers went off. Something was happening to Randy. The two threw away their lunches and bolted down the stairs.
Randy was experiencing another grand mal seizure. Sunny and Will were already in the room, trying to stabilize Randy as he was shaking violently on the bed.
"It just started a few minutes ago, I came in to talk to Randy and then he started seizing!" Will managed to get the words out as he continued to hold Randy on his side with Sunny across from him.
Emily ordered Martha, one of the nurses, to give him phenobarbital. It was very tense in the room. No one knew what was going to happen next.
Randy's seizure had finally subsided but then, his heart rate had skyrocketed and he went into cardiac arrest.
"Code blue! Start compressions!" commanded Emily. The nurses rushed to grab the crash cart as Will began the compressions. He grabbed the paddles and yelled out "Clear!" and shocked Randy's heart. After a few tries, he wasn't coming back but on the fourth attempt, his heart began beating again. Randy eventually regained consciousness.
"Wh-Wh-What happened?" stuttered Randy.
Tyra took out of her mini flashlight and checked his visual responses.
"You had another seizure, which may have caused your heart to stop Randy but it's over now," Emily gently reassured him with a smile.
Tears began to form at the corners of Randy's eyes. Emily could tell he was extremely scared. No one knew what was causing his seizures and what was wrong with him. Everyone but Tyra and Emily left the room to give Randy space.
Concerned with how long Randy was unconscious, Emily whispered to Tyra asking if they should conduct a neurological test to see if there was any brain damage. Tyra answered with a nod and stepped outside to call the neurologist.
The neurologist had recommended the interns to have Randy arrange set of pictures to form a cohesive story. Randy wasn't able to do it but a few minutes later, he was able to pass the test. Tyra and Emily looked at each other, unable to fathom what just happened.
"Okay. Page Dr. Barnes," Emily asked Sunny.
Micah came rushing into the hallway, immediately asking what had happened. Emily filled Micah in as they rushed Randy to get an MRI.
"Randy had another grand mal seizure but this time, he went into cardiac arrest. He was gone for maybe twenty minutes so Tyra and I checked for any brain damage. Weird thing was that he failed the test the neurologist Dr. Lee recommended but a few moments later, he passed. That is why we paged you, it has to be something neurological," Emily informed Micah.
Micah nodded at Emily and then turned to Tyra, "Page me when you get the results of the MRI. Good work you two." He sighed and turned to leave, all the while trying to avoid Emily's eyes.
Emily shrugged Micah's sudden departure and was a little relieved to not talk to him since she still felt guilty as heck. Even Tyra noticed it too. She rubbed Emily's shoulder and told her it was going to be okay.
"The focus is on Randy now," Emily bluntly said.
As they positioned Randy from the gurney and into the MRI machine, the two doctors awaited the results.
"I can't go much longer without talking to Micah again. The whole situation with Kelly a few months ago were pure torture. I had missed him a lot. I have to tell him what happened." She had lost her train of thought as Tyra said there was some swelling in her brain.
"What the heck is wrong with Randy?!" she cried out in frustration. Emily went over to see the results and agreed with Tyra, there was swelling in Randy's brain but it wasn't bad enough to go in and relieve the pressure.
Before Emily could reach the phone, Tyra picked it up instead and paged Micah. She gave Emily a small smile, knowing she wasn't really up to talk to Micah after his odd behavior earlier. Emily's pager went off and it was AJ.
Emily went down to the OR and began scrubbing in next to AJ.
"Hey, I heard about your other patient. Were you able to figure out what was wrong with him yet?" AJ was curious.
Emily shook her head and sighed, "We're all stumped at the moment. Everything that has happened so far points to some sort of neurological problem but there isn't anything abnormal in the brain." Frustrated with Randy's medical puzzle, she furiously scrubbed way at her hands, moving up her arms.
"The answer will come to you, it's right there in front of your face. You just have to think about everything as a whole. But for now, it's Alexis's surgery. Try to focus on that. This should be a textbook procedure," AJ tried to change the subject to get Emily's other patient off her mind.
Emily nodded and smiled, "Okay, that's good. I'm glad it isn't something crazy or intense but I hope it's just a benign mass or tumor and that little girl will leave the OR in better shape than when she came in."
Both doctors were finished and gowned up once they stepped inside the sterile OR. Everything and everyone was prepped and ready to go. AJ had motioned Emily to make the first cut. Instead of questioning his methods, Emily confidently grabbed the scalpel from one of the surgical nurses. "Beginning with a five-inch incision in the lower left quadrant of the abdomen." AJ was surprised by her immediate coolness and confidence.
As the doctors was able to get a better visualization of what the mass was, AJ was shocked to see what it was. Emily looked as well and her eyes grew bigger as AJ grabbed the mass with a pair of surgical tongs.
"Dr. Aquino, what is that? It looks like –"
"—hairball. What do you call this Dr. Owens?"
"It appears to be a pseudo-bezoar made out of hair. It kinda looks like a heart," Emily was still in shock that something like that was lodged in Alexis's stomach.
"Oh, it actually does look like a heart. How appropriate with today being Valentine's Day." The doctors and the rest of the surgical team let out a laugh. AJ continued, "I think Alexis may have trichophagia. That's the only explanation I have for this. She ate her own hair," AJ placed the hairball in the metal tray that one of the nurses held out.
Suddenly, it hit Emily like a ton of bricks. "That's what we missed. We didn't think about what Randy ate. He had went on and on about his favorite type of meat which was pork. It had to be a parasite." Emily excused herself from the OR and thanked AJ for letting her assist with Alexis's surgery. She rushed out of the room and her mask, gloves, and gown. Emily took a deep breath and paged Micah to see what he thought of her diagnosis.
Randy was fast asleep in his bed but groggily woke up to the faces of Micah, Emily, and Tyra. He rubbed his eyes and greeted the doctors, "Hey guys, what's up?"
Micah started talking first, "Hey Randy. We have good news. We were able to figure out what was causing all of your symptoms. Remember when we went to took that x-ray of your leg?"
Randy answered with a nod of his head, "Yeah, I thought that was weird. I thought there was something wrong with my head but then you go and take an x-ray of my leg. What's going on?" Randy was apprehensive to hear what was coming next.
Micah motioned Emily to talk, "Randy, I had remembered our conversation about pork and bacon. Well, I came to the conclusion that you may have eaten contaminated pork and ingested a tape worm." Emily paused to gauge Randy's reaction: he was shocked.
"When we started you on steroids, you initially got better but then you started getting worse. This explains your seizures and the cardiac arrest. It turns out that tape worms can live for long periods of time within the human host but sometimes they can die. The eggs they produce can pass into the bloodstream from stomach and intestines. They are able to survive pretty much anywhere in the body, including the brain. In your case, the eggs made their way to your brain which explains the swelling."
Randy stopped Emily in the middle of her explanation. "Wait, all this was caused by a friggin' worm?!"
Emily nodded, "Yes. We believe the tape worm may have died and triggered a response in your immune system and caused the swelling in your brain. When we ran your labs and tox screen, the parasite test was actually a false negative. There is really no way to test for parasites because it's quite difficult. The only thing we can do now is to treat it and see you get better."
Micah smiled at Emily in approval of her explanation but it quickly disappeared. He motioned Tyra to speak next, "Hi Randy. To continue what Dr. Barnes was saying earlier about the x-ray of your leg, we wanted to see if some worm larva was present in your leg muscle. The parasite eggs are hard to detect as Dr. Owens mentioned because they have the same density as cerebro-spinal fluid but they aren't the same density as the muscle where they could be located. Turns out there actually were worm larva."
"And the prognosis Dr. Dupre?" followed up by Micah.
"We are going to start you on oral medication to flush the parasite out of your system. It's going to take a while but you're going to be taking two pills every day for a month. By then, your body should be parasite-free and your seizures and everything else should stop," Tyra ended.
Randy was still in shock as Emily could tell. He thanked the doctors for all that they did. Micah and Tyra left his room, while Emily stayed behind to talk to Randy some more.
Emily sat in the chair next to Randy's bed. She grabbed his hand and said, "Randy, I know everything about this was scary but know that you're going to be cured in just a month. Now we gotta talk about your pork addition," Emily sternly said and shook her finger at Randy as if he was a child. They both laughed and she continued, "You have to cook pork thoroughly so you can prevent any future parasitic problems. Do you want to ask me anything else?"
Randy smiled and shook his head, "Thank you for everything Dr. Owens. My love for pork and I thank you so much! Now, can I get some real food now that we know what's wrong with me?" Emily couldn't help but laugh and grabbed him the hospital menu. She was getting hungry herself.
Emily made her way to Alexis's room after AJ had paged her once again. She entered the room out of breath but quickly composed herself.
"Hi Alexis, how are you feeling?" asked Emily.
Alexis smiled and told her everything was fine but she felt a little groggy.
"Your anesthesia is wearing off so it'll be maybe another hour or so till you're back to normal," Emily reassured the little girl.
"So what was it?" Mrs. Henderson asked with great concern.
Emily and AJ looked at each other and he nodded, signaling to her that he would answer this question.
"It turns out that it was a pseudo-bezoar. Basically, it is a mass that was trapped in the stomach area. It is harmless and scarring should be minimal."
"What could have caused that?"
AJ sighed as he wanted to avoid the following explanation. "We believe your daughter may have trichophagia. It is a condition where one pulls out their hair and eats it. Maybe over time, Alexis continued to do this and it resulted in the mass found in her stomach but it is harmless."
Mrs. Henderson eyes were bulging and began criticizing her daughter.
"Why on earth would you do something like that? Why are you eating your hair?! I can't believe you would do such a thing. I swear, you're more like your father—"
Alexis slumped down in her bed and finally shouted back at her mother.
"Did you ever stop to think why I may have done that! All of your remarks and criticism stressed me out! You're lucky I'm not bald at this point. Mom, I love you but you are so discouraging towards me. You make me feel like I won't ever amount to anything." Alexis said without looking at her mom in the eyes.
Mrs. Henderson calmed down and went over to her daughter. "Could we have a moment please? Thank you doctors for everything." The two doctors saw the mother embrace her daughter in a hug.
"Everything is working out the way it should", Emily thought to herself. She was happy with solving the problems for her two patients for the day. Looking at the block, Emily couldn't believe it was 12 hours into her shift already. She realized she barely ate today and Valentine's Day was almost over. She clocked out and texted Tyra to see where she was. After all, she was her ride home.
Her iPhone chimed. She read the text message.
Tyra: Hey I'm in the car already, walk out to the front and I'll be there
Emily texted back.
Emily: Ok see u in a bit
Tyra: Hey lets grab food I'm starving!
Emily's stomach growled. Food sounded good right about now. She closed her locker and started heading out towards the front entrance. Without looking, she and Will bumped into each other and did that awkward dance.
"Oh. Uh sorry Will, I didn't see you there. Have a good night. Thanks again for taking care of my patient in 612," Emily quickly said and tried to bolt out the door.
Will replied, "It's okay Emily. So, any plans for tonight?"
"I'm just going to stay in with Tyra and probably eat take out and watch some chick flicks." Emily wasn't sure of what Will was trying to get at.
"Oh, okay. I was wondering if you wanted to hang out but you already have plans. Maybe next time. Oh, I forgot to tell you, my patient's wife from a few days ago. She decided not to sue me for malpractice, which is a total relief of course but I'm still pretty messed up about what happened. Have fun tonight Emily," Will smiled and then left before Emily could react to what Will had just said. It was time for girl talk with Tyra. Drinks are a must.
Cassandra was hiding behind the lockers the entire time and had overheard the conversation between Will and Emily. She didn't know how much more pain Will could put her through. Some tears began to fall down her cheek but she immediately wiped them away. "Lighten up Cassandra. You have a hot date later. Forget about that jerkface Will!" She grabbed her bag and left the locker room finally, with her eyes with every intention of hooking up with her date later that night.
Micah and AJ were at the bar, drinking beers together. They were both alone for the dreadful holiday.
"Another round please," Micah motioned to the bartender.
AJ laughed and asked his tipsy friend, "How was your day? I heard about your patient through the grape vine."
"What don't you hear in that hospital? Did Emily tell you? I know she was on your service today. So it's true that you pulled out a huge hairball from that girl?"
"Dude, yes! I've never seen anything like that before. It was pretty huge and it looked like a heart. I hope she works things out with her mother and gets help for her condition," AJ took another sip from his beer, shook it seeing that it was already empty and asked for another. "So, why have you been acting weirder than usual? Did something happen between you and Emily?"
Micah continued drinking his second beer and sighed. "I don't know, I think something's starting up again with Will. Emily has been avoiding me but not really. I don't know, she's not acting her usual self ever since Liz visited."
AJ wasn't sure of what to say to Micah. He decided to break the awkward silence.
"Girls."
Micah laughed, and they finished their beer and asked for another one.
"It'll work out Micah, just give it some time. She'll eventually talk to you about it." AJ reassured him.
All Micah could do was think about what could he have possibly said or done to make Emily act weird towards him. "Here's to another lonely Valentine's Day," he thought.
Tyra and Emily had finally got their Chinese take-out and started making their way towards the couch.
"What movie shall we watch tonight? 'How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days?' Tyra suggested.
"Eh, I don't even have a guy to lose in the first place. What else is there?" Emily said.
Tyra looked through her DVD collection and picked out 'He's Just Not That Into You.' "This one?" she held it up.
"That movie sounds perfect. It's been a while since I watched it. I should learn a thing or two about guys and relationships. Maybe Will is just not that into me…" Emily pondered. She answered Tyra with a nod and she put the DVD in the player and sat down next to Emily on the couch. The two started eating right away.
The movie was finally over and the girls were stuffed. Emily brought out chocolate and Tyra was excited, "My favorite! Oh Emily, you shouldn't have!"
Emily smiled and they both started digging into the chocolate truffles.
"So, remember your promise to me today?"
Emily had forgotten about her scheduled confession tonight.
"Oh uhm, where do I even begin?"
Tyra started bombarding Emily with questions, left and right. She asked about the kiss between her and Micah the other day. Why she was acting all obsessive about Will again. The list went on.
Emily tried her best to answer everything in as much detail as she could. She took a deep breath and told Tyra about that night with Will.
After Emily had given Tyra the play by play of that night, she waited anxiously about what Tyra would say. For once, she was speechless. Tyra looked at Emily in awe and tried to find the right words to go about this sudden change of course in the conversation.
"Emily. I-I- I can't believe you finally got laid! I'm so happy for you because you definitely need that. But…" Tyra paused.
"But what?" Emily was confused with what her friend was trying to get say.
Tyra sighed and prepared herself to be brutally honest with Emily. "I didn't expect it to be Will. You know how I feel about the two of you. He's not good for you Emily. I know you've been pining over him since med school but when are you going to wake up and realize how wrong all of this is?!"
"Tyra, I—"
"Emily, c'mon. You know Micah is in love with you. Everyone sees it but you. You don't feel anything towards Micah?"
"I do, I do like Micah but it's complicated. You of all people should know that Tyra," That's all Emily could say.
"No Emily, it's really not. Remember you said you wanted to be someone's first choice? Well Micah chose you. Will chose Cassandra. Yeah yeah, they're broken up but that doesn't mean he chose you Emily. Okay, I know what you're thinking. You guys slept together but that could have been a 'rebound' thing. I'm sorry but it's true, maybe you're thinking of that night as something more than Will had intended." Tyra couldn't believe how honest she was being and how calm Emily was reacting to what she was saying.
Emily didn't say anything because she was thinking about what her friend had made her realize.
"I really don't know anymore… I'm so confused about everything and it sucks. Why am I feeling this way?" Emily groaned as she stuffed another truffle into her mouth.
Tyra gave Emily a one-armed hug. "Sex makes things more complicated."
Emily laughed, "You're telling me.." She sighed. "I need to figure out my life."
"I'm still figuring out mines," remarked Tyra. "Keep me in the loop, okay? I know I haven't been the most supportive person but I'm always on your side Emily. If Will makes you happy then who am I to say otherwise? I just don't want to see you get hurt again, you know?"
Tyra continues to surprise Emily. Beneath her wild hair and outrageous personality, Tyra was a gentle soul at heart. She gave Tyra a hug and thanked her for hearing her out and for her advice.
The girls cleaned up the mess they made and headed for bed.
"I call dibbs on the bathroom!" Tyra laughed out loud as she ran past Emily and into the bathroom.
Emily smiled in response to that and started changing into her pajamas in the mean time.