I've decided to post this before the next episode of Grey's Anatomy airs ,as I'm afraid if I watch the episode first before writing this prompt, it might influence the way I write the prompt. Enjoy!
Amelia Sheperd sighed as she leaned against the nurses counter sipping her cup of latte she brought from the hospital caferia. She hasn't slept the whole night, as a result of her youngest niece Ellie keeping her awake all night. Ellie had been running a fever all night, and had awoken several times in the night crying. Her wails had awoken the entire household, and even Meredith rocking her to sleep and singing lullabies to her did not help calm her down. Amelia, having finally given up on sleep, had offered to sing to her, and Ellie fell asleep before the end of the song, much to Meredith's relief. She had thanked Amelia profusely, but Amelia just shrugged it off, saying that she would do anything for her favourite niece.
But right now, she is paying dearly for the lost sleep, and is feeling cranky. The latte soothed the crankiness somewhat. She closed her eyes, savouring the sweet taste of the coffee going down her throat.
Her brief moment of bliss was cut short when she heard someone clearing their throat beside her. Opening her eyes, she groaned internally when she saw none other than Penny Blake standing in front of her. Penny was the last person she wanted to see today. Penny is one of the reasons her beloved brother Derek isn't here today. Penny failed to save Derek. So no, she didn't want to associate with Penny ever again.
' Ermm...Dr. Sheperd - looks like I'm on your service today' Penny says softly, her gaze diverted downwards at the floor. She didn't dare to meet Amelia's gaze, as she knew that if looks could kill, she would be lying on the floor dead by now.
Amelia cursed internally. Just her luck today. Of all residents, why must it be Penny on her service? She missed Stephanie, and even Jo wouldn't be too bad. But why Penny?
Amelia picked up the electronic charts of several patients of hers and passed them to the resident. ' Go do rounds on these patients of mine- I'll be there in about half an hours time' she said curtly. ' Please make sure you know every single detail about each patient when you present to me later', she added.
Penny nodded and scurried off holding the charts.
Amelia sighed again, rubbing her temples. It's going to be a long day indeed.
' So who do we have here?' Amelia asked as she entered the room of the first patient with Penny.
' Patient is...ermm...' Penny cleared her throat and tried again.
' Patient is a ..a ...65 year old male who was diagnosed with ..' suddenly the word subarachnoid haemorrhage escaped from Penny's mind. She stood still and stared blankly at the patient.
Amelia snatched the electronic chart from Penny annoyed. Clearly it wasn't enough that she failed to save her brother, she couldn't even present properly during rounds.
' Do you know what subarachnoid haemorrhage is, Blake?' she asked. ' Have you heard of it before during your 3 years of residency?
' Yes... yes...I've heard of it before...it's just that I blanked out a little' Penny tried to explain.
' I'm giving you a second chance' said Amelia as they walked out he room into the next room.
' Patient is a 12 year old boy who had a fall after riding the bicycle and hit his head. He...he' Penny began again.
' You know what? I can actually do he rounds after by myself.' Amelia mutters, snatching the chart away from Penny.
An hour later, Amelia was staring intently at the brain CT of a patient. It was a 72 year old female who complained of frequent headaches and dizziness with near fainting episodes for the past few months. She ordered a CT brain to rule out multiple strokes in the brain causing these symptoms in the patient.
She stared and stared again at the CT. It seems perfectly fine, there wasn't any sign of brain infarct anywhere in the CT. What could possibly be causing the patient's symptoms?
Just then, Penny cleared her throat from behind her. Amelia had forgotten that she was standing beside her, in fact she had totally ignored Penny for the rest of the rounds, reading all the patient's charts herself. It was more efficient that way, she didn't need the stammering resident to present the cases to her, she could read the patient's charts and study them herself
' Excuse me Dr. Sheperd' Penny said.' Do you want to order an MRI on the patient?'
Amelia turned sharply to look at Penny. ' What are you saying? An MRI?' she narrowed her eyes. ' Why would this lady need an MRI?'
Penny suddenly gained some newfound courage. She is not going to make the same mistake twice. The last time she was afraid to speak up to her superior- a patient ended up dying ( ironically the patient's family member is standing in front of her right now).
So she wouldn't take the risk anymore. She had to speak up no matter what.
' Because we want to rule out a brain tumour' Penny says slowly but clearly.
' A brain tumour? But don't you see the CT? There is absolutely nothing on the CT.'
Amelia said incredulously.
' I know Dr. Sheperd, but some tumours could be missed on CT and can only by seen by MRI' says Penny calmly.
Amelia opened her mouth to retort but no words came out of her mouth.
They stood in silence staring at the scans once more time, before Amelia finally said
' Ok, let's order the MRI'.
An hour later, Amelia was back in the scan room, staring at the patient's MRI, with Penny by her side, not behind her this time.
Low and behold, she spotted it in an instant. The tumour wasn't too big, but it was definitely of a significant size, located near the frontal lobe of the patient. That definitely explained the frequent episodes of headaches and near fainting in the patient. Fortunately, it was an operable tumour. Damn, she hated to admit it, but Penny Blake was right!
She suddenly felt bad for dismissing the resident earlier on in the morning. Penny isn't that bad of a resident after all. In fact, had it not been because of Penny suggesting an MRI for the patient, the tumour would've eventually grown bigger and taken this patient's life.
Amelia turned from the scan to look at Penny, finally meeting the resident in the eye for the first time the entire morning.
' Blake, would you want to scrub in with me?'
' Of course Dr. Sheperd, I would love to scrub in with you!' Penny tried to no avail to cover her enthusiasm. Inside, she was leaping for joy. She was scrubbing in on a brain surgery with Dr. Amelia Sheperd! This has got to be the best day ever.
A few hours later, they were both scrubbing out of the surgery, which was a huge success. Amelia managed to remove the entire tumour from the patient's brain, and now after scrubbing out she was going to deliver the good news to the family members.
' Dr. Sheperd' Penny said suddenly. 'Thank you so much for letting me scrub into your surgery. It's the first time I've seen this type of brain tumour. Your technique is flawless, I ...I love how confident you are in the OR.'
' No thank you' Amelia said suddenly, to Penny's surprise. ' Because of you we diagnosed the patient with a brain tumour and removed it. You saved the patient's life.
You did a great job in the OR too, you knew to anticipate my every move'.
Penny looked down to her hands, scrubbing more furiously than intended. She couldn't believe Amelia Sheperd was now praising her. She couldn't believe her ears.
' You know Dr. Sheperd' Penny said as they dried their hands and walked out of the scrub room. ' Ever since the night your brother died on my watch, I've decided to pursue Neurosurgery as my specialty. I told myself that I didn't want to let another patient die just because I failed to diagnosed a brain haemorrhage. I scrubbed in to numerous brain surgeries to gain more experience about neurosurgery. It's your brother who inspired me to choose neurosurgery. I know it's too early in residency now to decide, but I really can't think of any other specialty to specialize in.'
Amelia suddenly felt her eyes water at the mention of her brother.
' I'm sorry Dr. Sheperd' Penny said panicked as she saw the tears glistening in her mentor's eyes. ' I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to mention him again. I'm so sorry if I upset you.'
' No, no...it's just that...his legacy still lives on until today. I'm glad that he still inspires people to do Neurosurgery even after he is gone' Amelia said softly, smiling.
Penny smiled back. ' Your brother taught me a lot. He taught me to be better at managing patients, to be a stronger surgeon and person. I will forever remember him and vow to be better because of him.'
Amelia suddenly pulled Penny into a hug.
' I'm sorry... I'm sorry for the way I've treated you for the past few days. I know it's not your fault that my brother is dead, it was too late to save him, my sister-in-law said. It's just that I was so upset about not being able to see him for one last time...' her voice quivered.
' It's ok' Penny said softly, still in Amelia's embrace. ' He is fine now. He is fine and smiling down at you. You'll be fine too.'
From a nearby nurses' counter, Owen Hunt watched the entire exchange between Head of Neurosurgery and resident with a smile on his face.
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