The Flying Doctors – Small Steps of Recovery

Chapter One – Home

Doctor Chris Randall sighed as she followed the two medics wheeling in the stretcher into one of the examination rooms. She cast a quick glance over her shoulder to see Geoff and Emma practically dead on their feet with Pharlap and Carbine's old and worn jacket's draped over their shoulders. Next to them stood a shaken and worried Violet Carnegie and covered her mouth with her hand.

Chris swallowed and took a deep breath as she slipped through the door of the examination room, unconsciously hesitating inside for a moment. The man lying on the stretcher wasn't just a patient but a friend and colleague. It made her life so much harder.

She knew there would have to be times like this but she had dreaded them ever since David Gibson had died in the aircraft on the way to Broken Hill for further treatment. They'd saved Dave temporarily and everyone had thought he was going to make it but instead his condition had deteriorated to a point of no return. Now it was Sam who'd been brought back from the brink of death. Chris could only hope there wouldn't be any complications.

The door opened behind her and an exhausted Doctor Geoff Standish walked into the room.

"Go get some sleep," Chris ordered sternly.

"I need-" he began but was cut short.

"What you need is to sleep. I'll tend to Sam," she assured him curtly, leaving no room for argument.

"He might have internal injuries I haven't seen," Geoff reasoned wearily.

Chris let out a deep breath. "Please, Geoff, go now. I'll see you later."

He nodded absentmindedly his attention no longer on her but on their injured friend behind her. "Wake me if you need me," he whispered.

Chris watched him leave and refocused on her patient. Sam was oblivious to the world and connected to a portable respirator that forced air into his lungs, inflating and reflating the bruised lungs inside the broken ribcage. Even in his unconscious state she could see the lines of pain in his face.

She quickly checked his vitals and gave him another dose of painkillers while she waited for the nurse she'd sent to prep for an x-ray. Normally when it came to broken ribs an x-ray would be wasted since the machine usually failed to pick up on the fracture. Instead you talked to the patient, palpated the area and began the necessary treatment based on your conclusion of the diagnosis. However, Sam was experiencing shortness of breath due to severe loss of respiratory function caused by paradoxical pressure. There was no other diagnosis to make other than extensive flail chest due to severe chest trauma. Geoff had put an intercostal drain in and it didn't appear to be any complications in terms of lung collapse or internal bleeds but Chris wanted to be sure. She refused to let the life of her colleague slip between her fingers if she could prevent it. Even though it had been almost seven months the memory of losing David and, in a sense, losing Tom as well suddenly flared to the surface of her mind. She would not lose Sam too.

Chris studied the pale face of the pilot in silence for a moment, zooning out on the beeping machines. "Sam," she whispered. "Why?"

OOOOOO

Vic Buckley looked grim as he walked into the pub, not at all as cheerful as Nancy had thought he would be.

The bar suddenly turned eerie quiet, like the little town was mourning. Everyone had stopped talking while eagerly awaiting news.

"Vic?" Nancy called softly with an undertone of uncertainty and concern in her voice.

He met her eyes briefly and then cast a glance at young Zoe who twisted uncomfortably in the bar stool while her hands unconsciously gripped the beer towel on the counter.

Vic shook his head sadly as he rounded the counter. "Doc's are positive, Nance," he said cryptically.

"Then why do you look like it's the end of the world," she admonished kindly with a relieved smile.

"I caught a glimpse of him briefly while they unloaded him from the ambulance," Vic explained darkly. "It wasn't our easygoing Sam. He looked- He looked dead, Nance and he was white as a sheet."

"I'm sure that's a natural thing," Zoe reasoned carefully. "If Geoff and Chris said he will be all right, then there is no reason not to believe them."

"Oh, Zoe," Nancy said as she gently reached over the counter to squeeze the young woman's shoulder. "You are probably right, love. It's just that we thought that once before in a similar situation and-"

Vic glared at her. "Let it rest, Nance. I know what you're thinking, you're thinking of Dave, but that's not going to happen to Sam," he assured her.

OOOOOO

Emma hastily got up as Sam was rolled out of the examination room and away from her in a rather quick pace. She moved to follow in confusion as a tight knot formed in her stomach.

"Sam?" she asked worriedly.

Chris gently took her by the shoulders as she walked up from behind, having come from the examination room. "Emma," she said kindly.

The mechanic looked stricken as she kept glancing over Chris's shoulder to follow the stretcher as it rounded the corner. She took a step forward.

"Emma," Chris reasoned lightly. "Emma, he will be all right-"

She made a hand gesture toward the deserted corridor and sniffed. "Then why the sudden rush? Geoff said-"

"It's a standard procedure, Emma, now calm down and take a seat," she suggested warmly.

Emma still looked skeptical but after a moment of hesitation she did as she was told and to her surprise Chris sat down next to her.

"It's not easy for me either," the doctor reasoned. "He's my friend and colleague you know. I'm the one who has to put up with his jokes all day."

They shared a small and nervous laugh.

"We just want to make sure there's no internal injuries that needs tending to," Chris informed seriously.

"And what if there is?" Emma asked, afraid of the answer.

"Let's not go there yet," Chris answered and squeezed her shoulder gently before she rose to follow the stretcher.

Emma sighed as she leaned forward to rest her head in her hands.

"Emma?" a soft yet demanding voice called suddenly. "Was that Chris I saw walking away from you?

The mechanic plastered a smile on her face. "Yes, Violet," she answered wearily as she greedily accepted the fresh cup of coffee in the older woman's hand.

"Well," she began and hastily glanced around the immediate area. "Where is he?"

"They whisked him away for further examinations, Violet," Emma returned with a calmness she didn't know she possessed at the moment.

OOOOOO

Sr. Kate Wellings couldn't help but to smile as she glanced through the round window in the door leading to examination room two. There, sprawled haplessly on the bed, lay an exhausted blond doctor. Her lips curled upwards at the sight but she made no move to enter the room. She didn't have the heart to wake him just yet. He looked like he was in desperate need of a few more hours of sleep before he was ready to face a new day.

Kate sighed as she ran a hand through her hair and headed down the hallway to a section of the hospital she'd hardly left during the first hours of the shift. The events of last night still felt surreal and out of place, like they'd been taken out of a bad dream. She let out a shaky breath and felt a knot forming in her stomach as she stopped just outside the first cubicle of the ward and gently yanked the privacy curtain to the side.

Emma Plimpton's head rested gently against Sam's uninjured left side while the pilot had his left hand supportively on her shoulder. Kate swallowed but her mouth was dry. She hated seeing a close colleague in pain and in need of hospitalization. It all seemed wrong. Sam, for instance, wasn't supposed to be in a hospital bed, white as a sheet and hooked up to a respirator. He was supposed to share a laugh with her over at the base and fly them around the countryside to various clinics.

The nurse let out a relieved breath. Thank goodness the x-ray hadn't shown any more damage that needed attention. It seemed enough to recover from the damage already known. He could have been killed in the explosion.

Emma stirred and let out a yawn as the curtain opened and slowly straightened to work out the kinks in her back. The young mechanic sighed wearily, having had little to no sleep over the last few hours, and then reached up to rub her tired eyes.

"What time is it?" she whispered.

"A little over half past four," Kate said with a soft smile.

Emma made a face. "I should go over to the garage. I'm sure Uncle Hurtle is working on some half-crazed idea that needs sorting out," she said with a lazy smile and then, as her eyes strayed over to the sleeping pilot, sobered up.

"Sam," Emma whispered as she gently reached out to touch his clammy forehead.

He didn't stir, didn't respond to her touch at all, but Emma continued to brush her fingers through his unruly and damp hair, unperturbed by the lack of response.

"He scared me Kate," she said sadly as she looked directly at her friend. "I thought he was going to die."

"Sam's tough, Emma," Kate reassured her and moved over to stand beside her to give her a comfortable squeeze on the shoulder.

"You didn't see him out there Kate," Emma said in a subdued voice as she redirected her focus on Sam. "I'm glad he's alive so I can kill him myself."

Slowly dull brown eyes blinked open to finally focus on her as if the statement had awoken him from his medically induced sleep.

Kate instinctively moved around the bed to check up on the IV pole and bag of saline hanging from it. "Hi Sam," she greeted. "I'm glad you're back."

He eyed her curiously but was unable to reply as he was still attached to the respirator and would be for at least another twenty-four hours according to Chris.

"How's the pain?" she asked softly. "Do you want me to increase the level of pain medication?"

He slowly shook his head.

Kate placed a hand on his shoulder. "Good on you," she appraised him. "I'll come by regularly to check up on you."

She took a few steps away from him before turning to face him again. "And Sam?"

He fought to keep his eyes open.

"Please don't scare us like that again," she finished softly.

The pilot blinked mischievously at her before returning to oblivion once again.

Kate's eyes darted from the patient to the weary mechanic close by his side and shook her head. "Emma," she admonished. "Come on, let's get you out of here and into bed."

OOOOOO

To be continued