My lunch
Dr Cox, JD and Elliot rushed to the aid of their patients but they were too late. The doctors gathered around Mrs Sikes' bed, their facial expressions were bland. They watched on as one of the nurses disconnected her from the life support machine before removing her oxygen.
We did everything we could over the next few days to keep the transplant patients going, but odds were against us.
Dr Cox took hold of the end of the bed sheet and then lifted up her faded blue sheet and laid it over her face. There was a glint of sadness in his eyes as he looked down on the recently deceased.
First we lost Mrs Sikes…
The doctors and nurses walked away with one another whilst the coroners came and collected Mrs Sikes' body. In the end, all that was left was an empty bed with crumpled sheets where a happy mother once lay in wait for a liver.
Turk was in Mr Dennison's room, a man who he had recently operated on giving him a new heart valve. Only, the heart valve came from a woman infected with rabies. Turk's eyes seemed vacant and his usual flamboyant and fun loving self was gone.
He slowly switched off the heart monitor and began to remove electrodes from the man's cold corpse. A surgical intern lifted the oxygen mask from the man's face and placed it beside him. She looked up at Turk with concern.
Once the man's body had been cleaned of medical equipment, all that remained was a bandage down the middle of his chest. A bandage that covered his infected heart.
…And then Mr Dennison.
The doctors left their patient to the coroners who would transport the body to the morgue, leaving behind an empty bed just waiting to be filled with the next patient.
Dr Cox was sat in the doctor's lounge. His mouth was covered by his hand whilst his other arm lay across his knee. He slowly rubbed his stubbled chin whilst staring vacantly into the distance. Something was on his mind.
And I knew that Dr Cox needed me the exact same way I needed him earlier.
That was when JD walked in carrying a paper bag, "Hey. Hungry?" he asked, holding the paper bag a few inches higher in the air.
Dr Cox kept his eyes fixated on one spot in the room, he didn't turn to answer JD but instead he plainly replied, "No."
He took his hand away from his mouth and folded his arms across his chest indicating he didn't want to talk.
JD opened the paper bag and looked inside at the lunch he had brought the two of them. Still trying to cheer Dr Cox up he spoke in his usual happy tone, "I guess that lunch was kind of a one time thing, huh?"
Dr Cox's face was full of pain and it seemed as though he was trying to hold back tears. In fear of his voice croaking he ignored JD and continued to stare ahead.
The young doctor seated himself next to Dr Cox and watched him for a moment. Seeing how traumatised Dr Cox was by the freak deaths he knew he had to boost his confidence and remind him that he made the right choice.
"There's no way you could have seen that coming. I mean, rabies? Come on, there's, like, three reported cases a year. In fact testing for it would have been irresponsible. You would have wasted time those people didn't have."
Still keeping his eyes looking straight ahead he quietly replied, "I was … obsessed with getting those organs."
JD gave Dr Cox a little nod, "You have to be, the fact is, those people were going to die in a number of hours and you had to make a call. I would have made the same call."
This caught Dr Cox's attention and he slowly turned his head to face JD, "Yeah?" he asked, hope returning to his voice.
JD nodded at him sincerely, "Yes." He then looked at the lunch before returning his gaze back to Dr Cox, "Now I got us lunch and I think we should eat it."
He took the paper bag and proceeded to remove its contents. He placed a wrapped burger in front of Dr Cox who was now rubbing his eyes with the palms of his hands.
Right then I knew I was going to pull him out of this. But unfortunately, sometimes the hospital picks a day where it's just going to pile it on.
Just as JD reached inside the bag to retrieve his own burger, his and Dr Cox's pagers went off. Seeing who it was Dr Cox closed his eyes and slowly shook his head, "Oh, God. Come on." He said to himself in dismay.
In Mr Bradford's room the alarms were sounding and his heart monitor was flat lining. Carla was in Mr Bradford's room, a patient of whom Dr Cox had grown fond to. She was holding an ambu bag on his nose and mouth and was squeezing it to the rhythm of someone breathing.
On the other side of the bed was Dr Cox who had two paddles in his hand and he was watching the defibrillator charge to the required voltage. Once fully charged he shouted, "Clear." to the room and placed the paddles on Mr Bradford's chest. His body jolted up and then fell back into the bed. His heart rate remained flat and Carla placed the ambu bag back over his nose and mouth.
Dr Cox read the ECG on the defibrillator and recharged the paddles.
"Still in v-tach, clear!" He announced to the room before placing the paddles back on Mr Bradford's chest and shocking the man once more.
Seeing no change on the defibrillator Dr Cox became weary, "Ah, come on. Come on." Becoming frustrated he threw the paddles at the defibrillator, "Come on!" seeing there was no way of saving this man he smashed the machine into the wall leaving Carla to watch on, stunned. "God! God! God"
He clamped his fingers together and rested them on the back of his head, his elbows sticking outwards. He was panting as he looked down at the dead patient he had befriended.
Carla could feel tears forming in her eyes and her bottom lip began to quiver as she watched the emotion displayed by Dr Cox. She reluctantly put the ambu bag down and removed her gloves. The rest of the nurses, Carla included, left the room leaving only Dr Cox and the patient.
The patient was taken away, leaving only Dr Cox left in the room to look down at the bed that once held his friend.
JD walked into the room behind Dr Cox and looked to where his mentor had his eyes set.
Releasing his fingers from their clasps on one another he lowered his hands from his head slowly and turned to look at JD.
"He wasn't about to die, was he, Newbie?" His voice was a hushed whisper but you could still here it croak, "He could've waited another month for a kidney."
Receiving no reply from JD he began to leave the room. He carried on walking down the corridor, taking his gloves off as he did so and flinging them to the side.
"Where are you going, your shifts not over?" asked JD
Dr Cox ignored the question from his colleague and continued to make way for the door.
JD called after him "Hey! Remember what you told me?" Dr Cox stopped dead in his tracks, his back still to JD, "The second you start blaming yourself for people's deaths … there's no coming back."
Dr Cox turned around slowly to face JD, tears in his eyes, "Yeah. You're right." He turned back around and walked out of the ward, closing the door behind him.
