::Until The Sun Shines Again::
::Part1::
Suzuki Miho tugged off her white coat, shoved it unceremoniously in her locker, and then slammed the door shut with a satisfied sigh. It had been a long, stressful shift and all she wanted to do was to go home and sink into a deep, warm bath perhaps maybe with a novel and some beer or wine. With her head formulating this plan, she wandered over to admissions to sign out, signifying that she was officially off duty. With her hand poised above the doctor's log, she heard the words she dreaded.
"Miho? Tomoyuki just called. He's come down with some kind of 'stomach flu'," reported Sasaki Reiko, the formiddable head nurse in ER.
"That's a real shame, Reiko. Be sure to give him my best," she mumbled, intent on getting her name signed so she could leave. But the clipboard was snatched out from under her hand and the older woman fixed her with a no-nonsense glare.
"He's not coming in," Reiko stated. "And Shigure is still in surgery. Looks like you have to come to cover".
"Can't you get someone else?," whined Miho, but Reiko's raised eyebrow told her not to bother. No one would come in and work this graveyard shift at this late notice. Miho saw her dream of relaxing in a hot bath fade away into the sunset. She tried to give it one last shot. "I've just worked all day, Reiko, and I'm not doing the night shift too. I'm not an intern anymore, remember?"
"What do you expect me to do then?" said Reiko in a tone that was annoyingly patronizing. She was the self-proclaimed boss of the emergency room, having worked for the last 25 years. But it still irked Miho how she treated the doctors like inferiors, and expected them to do as they were told.
"Isn't Yuuki still here?"
"I'm not having an intern here without any resident".
Miho sighed and gave up trying to argue. She saw the self-satisfied gleam in the nurse's eyes and knew she was defeated.
"Fine, okay, I'm staying. But I'm going to the doctor's lounge to grab something to eat and then I'm planning to sleep. I don't want to be disturbed except for an all out catastrope. Let Yuuki handle the walk-ins and drunks".
"Yes, doctor," Reiko smiled sarcastically. "I'll be sure to do that".
Miho ignored her mock submission and stomped back to the doctor's lounge, settling for a soda instead of a burgundy. She flopped into an armchair and wondered what the hell she had done to deserve a double shift. Determined to try and forget that she was on duty, she reach for the tv remote control and settled back on her chair. After several minutes, just as she was starting to get comfortable, Sasaki Reiko was at the door.
"We've got an MVA casualty coming in, ambulance is a few minutes out," she reported.
"I'm not supposed to be here, Reiko," she said evenly, eyes still plastered on the tv.
"Suspected SCI. I thought you might want to take it instead of your intern," Reiko snapped her head back and disappeared into the ER.
Miho sighed tiredly again and shut her eyes for a few seconds. There were no time to relax yet, not with a car accident victim coming in. Spinal injuries were the worst. She had a feeling that this was going to be a long night.
* * *
Miho pulled on a fresh coat and a pair of gloves and joined the staffs waiting by the ambulance door. Sasaki Reiko had all of them trained for such emergencies, and all preparations had been made in the exam room to treat a spinal cord injury.
"Have you warned them upstairs?," Miho asked as they waited imptiently, straining to hear the first sound of the sirens that would herald the sign of the approaching ambulance.
"Of course," Reiko answered indulgently. As if she needed reminding of the ER procedures.
Finally they heard the sirens and not long later they saw its flashing lights. The emergency medical technicians pulled open the doors and snapped into attention as the ambulance made its way into the bay. Its back doors flew open and the paramedics were there to ease out the gurney with the prone victim strapped onto it. Miho immediately saw the backboard, neck brace and hand air pump, and looked around for any sign of the other doctor on duty.
The young intern ran up the corridor and panted a breathless apology to the resident, having been in the cafetaria when the call came in.
"Nice of you to join us, Dr. Yuuki," Miho said dismissively as the ambulance officers wheeled in the gurney and began their rundown. "What do we have here?"
"19 year old male, car he was driving was hit side-on with a truck. We have a helluva time getting him out. Blunt chest trauma, suspected SCI, possible broken ribs. BP's down to 70 over 40, pulse 120. Accident happened about one hour ago and he hasn't regained consciousness. Pupils are equal and reactive. Resps 15 and shallow, and there are decreased breath sound, so we start bagging him in the ambulance. Multiple lacerations and abrasions. He's got 20 mg of morphine on site and an IV of normal saline."
By the time the paramedic had completed his report, they were in the exam room, and the ER staff went about their respective duty automatically. They positioned themselves on the either side of the backboard in preparation to move him onto a waiting ER gurney. Miho waited to see that everyone was ready.
"Okay? On my count, people, nice and gently. One…two…three…lift," The transition went smoothly and the staff flew into action once more. Miho had to admit that eventhough Sasaki Reiko was a tyrant, she ran an extremely efficient unit. She gave the boy the once over herself while keeping an eye on the intern who was checking reflexes and the nurse confirming vitals.
"Yuuki?"
"No reflexes".
"Breath sounds are poor. Intubate him and start another line, continue the normal saline".
"BP's still 70 over 40, pulse ox 80".
"Do we have a name?" Miho addressed the paramedics again.
"According to his friend, it's Hidaka Ken".
"Mei, contact his next of kin," Miho said to an EMT. Turning her attention towards the patient, she tried for a response. "Ken? Ken, can you hear me?"
When there was no response, she began firing off rapid instructions to various staff. "Do a cross-table C-spine and get Ryohei down here. Tell him we are looking for a possible cervical-thoraric injury and collapsed lung. Start him on dexamethasone on an IV push and order a CT scan. Do some blood work…CBC, Chem-7, type and cross-match. Start him on some O Neg, we don't know about any internal injuries yet. We'll also need catether…Yuuki?"
"I'm in," the intern reported, having completed the intubation. "GCS is 5"
"Okay, put him on the vent. We expecting any other victim?" she asked the nearest ambulance officer.
"Truck driver's okay, 21 year old passanger in the car has lacs and and a suspected concussion. Toga is bringing him in now. He wouldn't come until we brought this one in first".
"Yuuki, you take him," she said brusquely as the portable X-Ray machine was wheeled forward. As the ER team donned lead vests, she nodded to the paramedics that they could go.
Yuuki Nobe backed out of the room as he ripped off his gloves and trotted down the corridor to meet the next ambulance. A flame-haired young man was wheeled into the ER, fully conscious and looking petrified over his neck-brace. The right saide of his face was covered in blood but even from the first glance he could see that the boy's injury was minor compared to the driver's. He allowed the paramedics to go ahead with his report.
"Fujimiya Aya, 21 years old passanger in the car. Facial lacerations and multiple abrasions. Says he lost consciousness briefly after the accident. Possible concussions, BP 100 over 80".
"Let's get him into exam two".
They moved the young man onto the hospital gurney and Yuuhi smiled down at him.
"Hey, Aya. I'm Dr. Yuuki. How are you feeling?". He shone a light into his eyes and inspected the gash over his forehead without waiting for a response.
"Is Ken all right?"
"He's fine. They're taking care of him next door. What about you Aya? Do you know what day today is?"
"Sunday".
"Good. Can you tell me where it hurts?"
"Is he really okay? He didn't wake up after….after…" Aya's words trailed off as he regarded the doctor carefully, looking for contradiction in his eyes.
"Hidaka-san's injuries are serious, but we are doing everything we can to make sure that he's okay," he said calmly. Aya eyed him suspiciously and Yuuki wished he were a better liar. "Let me worry about you for a moment, then I'll go and checked on your friend, okay? Where does it hurt?"
Aya stalled his response, but then decided to trust the doctor. "My head hurts".
"Anywhere else?"
"My chest, a little".
Yuuki cut his shirt away and inspected the bruising on his fairly pale skin. He could see the oblique red mark from the seat belt he had been wearing. After carefully prodding his abdomen, Yuuki concluded that the young man was very lucky, there didn't appear to be any internal injury.
"Get the portable X-Ray after Suzuki finish with it, and I still want a CXR," he said quietly over the gurney to the nurse who was standing opposite him. He turned his attention back to Aya and gently eased the cervical colar off. Another nurse began cleaning the blood from his face.
"Okay, Aya, we're just going to make sure that you don't have any broken ribs or anything else. That cut on your head is going to need some stitches and we are going to keep you here to make sure you don't have any concussion".
Aya nodded while an EMT walked over to Yuuki. "Doctor, it's strange, but I can't find the patient name on the computer. I don't see any Ken Hidaka, so I can't contact his next of kin".
Aya overheard the words and realized that their name wouldn't be on the computer, because they didn't exist on the list. "He don't have any family," he said quietly, making the doctor and nurse's attention snapped back at him. "He doesn't have any family. He's staying with me. Just call this number, and tell whoever answered the phone about us," he said and then gave out the number of their apartment.
Yuuki nodded. "Okay, if you say so," he then nodded to the EMT to go back to her work.
Aya closed her eyes. He tried not to think how Youji and Omi would react when they got the call. They must be worry sick about him and Ken now. The last mission had been more than two hours over and they were supposed to meet Youji and Omi back there in the apartment.
But now it wasn't his main concern. He was too busy worrying about Ken, and he turned his attention back to the young doctor who was tending him.
"You said you'd find out how Ken is".
"We're going to take an X-Ray on your chest first, Aya, then…"
"Please," he interrupted him, his violet eyes unsually pleading. Yuuki softened, seeing his frantic worry, and acquiesced.
"Okay, I'll go and find out how he is doing. But then the X-Ray and stitches, okay? No argument".
"Okay," Aya said, relaxing slightly at his friendly tone. But it didn't alleviate the fear in his heart. He remembered looking over at Ken in the car and seeing his body slumped against the door like a rag doll. He had called his name repeatedly, but he didn't answer him… Aya blinked back the tears of fear that threatened to come as the doctor smiled back at him and walked away. He had to know that Ken was all right.
~end of part 1~