A/N Hey I'm a little nervous about posting this. I've recently become obsessed with the Night Shift having been/ still a huge ER fan, one of my fav epsiode of ER was the one where a women has a stroke and it showed her reaction to it. I've been itching to write a story based on this epsiode but in the setting of the night shift. I'm not sure about it tbh I don't know if it's too cringe or if it's too close to the original script.I Have tried to put a twist on it. I'm sorry if characters are OOC I really tried to get into their psyche but I'm not very good at that as a writer, I'm really trying to improve.
At first it was going to be a one shot, but now I'm thinking about making a multiple chap fic. Let me know if you think that's a good idea as well as any feedback, positive and conctrucitve criticism. Sorry for the long note anyway thanks for reading! Hope you enjoy :-) tbh I'll probably end up deleting this out of embarrassment it's that shit but still many thanks for stopping by!
Chapter One: Help!
"Hey you sure you don't want me to take you to the ER" Johnny asks me as he gathers up his bag for his night-time training.
"No it's fine, I'm going to take a couple of painkillers and have an early night I think, you have more important things to do than take me to hospital over a little headache, I'm fine" my voice cracks slightly as the throbbing pain in my head increases. I should probably accept his offer to take me to a doctor but I don't want to waste his and the hospitals time.
Johnny looks suspiciously at me for a second before pulling me into a tight hug.
"Promise me you'll call me if it gets worse and if you can't get a hold of me go straight to the ER" he exclaims as he pulls away from the embrace, proceeding to ruffle my hair.
"Sir Yes sir" I mockingly retort raising my hand into a salute as he steps towards the door. A grin erupts onto his face as he walks backwardly.
"Well I'll see you in the morning. Goodnight darlin" Johnny opens the front door. "Stay safe, I love you little sis" he yells as he steps outside.
"Love you too bro" I shout back as I sit on the sofa, the pain in my head increases intensely now. I hear the door close and lock followed by the ignition and the sound of the car pulling off the driveway. I let out a sigh and bring my fingertips to my aching temple. This pain is becoming unbearable. Stumbling to my feet I head to the medicine cabinet in the bathroom. Opening up the little mirrored door, my eyes scan the contents. Shit I forgot to buy more pain meds. So much for an early night. Looks like I'll have to get a bus then. Making my way towards the porch I glance at the analog clock on the kitchen wall, if I hurry I might catch the 7 o'clock bus. Grabbing the front door key and my bag I make my way way towards the bus stop.. As I turn the key in the lock the worst pain of my life shoots through me. Holy shit. The contents of my hands drop to the floor, as what feels like a thousand hot knives pierce into my brain. My vision blurs as I slump to the ground, everything turning black.
Where am I? Are those sirens? Did I pass out? At least the pains gone, but why can't I open my eyes?! Struggling to regain consciousness fully I eventually manage to will my reluctant eyes open, taking far longer than it should. As my eyes focus from the bright light above me I notice a female with an EMT uniform on, her long hair pulled into a high ponytail, I wonder how she makes it look so nice, when I try to do a ponytail my hair looks horrible. Shit focus Polly! Blinking a few times I observe my surroundings. This is an ambulance, my body is strapped to the gurney and the paramedic is fiddling with various items around me. All this fuss is unnecessary I just hope they haven't contacted Johnny, he will just worry and drop work for this and there is no need. I better tell the woman that I'm fine and would like to go home.
"Y'know, I'm…I'm feeling fine now I don't need all this fuss… I had a really bad headache and now it's gone." I exclaim but the EMT doesn't reply instead gives me a look that is a mix between confusion, pity and concentration. She looks at me for s few more seconds then opens her mouth to speak.
"Hey its ok sweetie, you passed out and we're taking you to the hospital" she says as she checks a machine next to the gurney. "Pulse ox, 98 on 2 liters!"
"Like I said I just had mild headache and now I'm fine, so I can go home, thanks for the help and all" She once again gives me a funny look as the truck pulls to a stop and she disappears out of my view as the gurney is wheeled down the ramp more faces, four in total including the paramedics appear before me. A male nurse and two male doctors make up the other faces. All three look muscular, definitely hiding abs under their scrubs. Probably ex-military, the two doctors do look rugged, well one of them does with his messy hair and stubbly beard, the other is clean-shaven with short hair. Damn medical guys always turn me on.
"Hey I'm Dr Callahan" the messy hair guy interrupts my trailing thoughts, for fuck sake Polly get it together. Before I can tell they guys that I'm fine, the doctor looks away from my eyes toward the paramedic.
"What happened?"
"Well I had a headache but I don't know why I passed out but could I please go home" I try to make my tone casual masking my slight annoyance relating to all this unnecessary attention.
"She was found by her neighbor face down outside her door, she has aphasia and hemiparesis" hey I was talking no need to acknowledge me. Oh and I wonder which neighbor it was. I hope they haven't called Johnny.
"Possible CVA, she'll need a head CT ASAP, Is she hypertensive?" The other doctor speaks up as they roll my bed through the double doors.
"Funny you should mention that my dad actually had high blood pressure but my mother had low blood pressure." I explain.
"Well last BP was 131 over 77." Everyone ignoring me again I see, great am I invisible?!
"What rooms open?"
"Trauma room 2" the nurse speaks for the first time.
They wheel my bed into an empty hospital room, like the ones you see on medical dramas, the room where the doctors battle to save the patient's life. I really don't need to be here to be honest I just fainted due to a headache all this fuss is stupid.
"Miss, can you tells what your name is?" Doctor Callahan asks whilst the others start to prod me with needles and do various tasks around me. He looks at me expectantly.
"Polly, Polly Marsh"
"Sorry, can you repeat that please?" Either I'm speaking Martian or this doctor is deaf.
"I'm Polly Marsh and I'd like to go home now please!" I near but shout; well I think that it should sound like a shout but judging by the confused and concerned faces of the doctors and nurses I think it wasn't.
"Does anyone understand what she said?" the nurse asks the group. They all shake their heads. For fuck sake is this some elaborate practical joke. This is not funny.
"Hey watch it man that's kind of bright y'know" I bite back annoyed as Dr Callahan shines an overly bright light into my eyes.
"Her pupils are equal and reactive." He glances over to the other doctor and shares a look. As he puts the pocket torch away he starts to prod my face. "She has facial droop" Well come to think of it, it does feel funny, almost numb. In fact I do feel a bit strange.
"Hello, hello. Please will you just let me go home, I'm fine and my brother will start to worry if I'm not back before he is" Why is no one listening to me and am I slurring, have they drugged me. Oh my god I think they've drugged me. Oh fuck they have, that's the only reason I would slur, and I've not been drinking tonight.
"She's not hypoglycemic"
I feel something cold on my chest. Glancing down I register a stethoscope and a hospital gown I am now miraculously wearing. I don't recall them ever putting it on me the man connected to the stethoscope, the clean-shaven one speaks up whilst glancing between me and his three colleagues.
"She has a normal rhythm and no murmur and lungs are clear"
"Please can I just leave this place now god dammit! Wait where exactly is this place anyway?"
"Miss please don't be alarmed you're at San Antonio Memorial Hospital" Callahan says comfortingly. Man is this guy psychic?
"We will take good care of you" the nurse head adds in an equally comforting tone whilst making eye contact with me. A warm calloused hand then grasps mine.
"Can you squeeze my hand for me?" the owner of the hand the other doctor asks and I oblige, squeezing as hard as I can, well not too hard, I wouldn't want or break his hand!
"She has good grip on the left"
"Ok this has gone too far now I'm fine. Just let me go home, please." Dr Callahan picks up my right hand and grasps it like his colleague did. Oh shit this arm looks different it looks limp.
"Now just do the same again for me, but squeeze with your right hand."
I attempt to but my hand feels weird it's like when you wake up in the morning with a dead arm, pins and needles and you have to wake it up. Perhaps if I try hard it will ease. Is it because of the drugs they have given me?
"Can you squeeze as hard as you can again for me?" I try with all my might but nothing happens.
"Did you feel anything?" the nurse asks, Callahan shakes his head. He let's go of my arm and it drops like a stone, making a muffled thud as it impacts with the sheets of the gurney. Oh god what did you do I can't feel my arm, oh god. Oh Jesus. Shit.
"DTRs absent on the right"
"What's wrong with me? Please answer me? What is wrong with my legs?" I'm panicking I should stay calm but who can blame me for panicking.
"Positive Babinski"
The more I think about the lack of feeling in my arm I realize that I can't feel my leg, or foot or anything on my right side for that matter.
"Oh my god how did I not notice this? Help me please."
The two doctors are discussing stuff whilst the nurse starts to fumble with something down by my crotch. That's when I realize what he is doing.
"Hey they were my favorite jeans! Did you just cut my pants off? You have haven't you how embarrassing." He hands the jeans and panties over to a person I can't see. With a rather large looking tube in his gloved hands he looks me in the eyes.
"I'm going to insert a catheter in your bladder, I'll be as gentle as I can but there may be some slight discomfort as it passes. I know it's hard but just try to relax ok?" He says it so kindly, as if it's normal for me to be in this situation. It doesn't take long for me to feel it. Oh shit that hurt. Slight discomfort he said, bloody painful more like. Oh shit have the hot doctors seen me naked now. Great I don't think I waxed, trust me to worry about such things at this time. Staring at the ceiling I think about the current situation. I don't feel ill. I don't feel anything really, yet I do.
I'm vaguely aware of the clean-shaven doc placing a stethoscope on my neck "No carotid bruits, PT, PTT's normal and her platelets are good"
"What do you think is wrong with her?" Callaghan questions his co-worker.
There's nothing wrong with me, there can't be, I'm 22, healthy and young. I'm fit.
"Hypercoagulable state could be the cause, AVM or an aneurysm also but I don't think it's a tumor onset was too quick"
The nurse who was on the phone to someone steps back towards the group around my body "Neurology are busy and can't come down until a at least half an hour. CT said they can fit her in around ten minute's time. We also know who she is, her name is Polly Marsh and she is 22 years old"
The doctor's nod as Dr Callaghan turns to face me again then reaches over his hand coming within inches of my eyes.
"Hey Polly can I just close your eyes for a second?"
"No I won't I have to call someone!" Despite my protests he lightly presses on my eye lids and closes them. After a few seconds I open them again.
"Orbicularis oculi deficit" he informs the other man who once again nods and scribbles something down on a chart. "I think it's embolic to the proximal MCA"
"Yeah I think your right all symptoms point towards that" Perhaps I should get them to call Johnny now. It sounds bad.
"Hey can someone please call my brother Jonathan and tell him what happened?" shit talking is no use, no one can hear me. The two doctors are engrossed in their medical discussion. I notice the nurse doing something and catch his eye, maybe writing this down will make it clearer. I try my best to mime writing and he looks at me with a confused and pitiful expression. What's with that look from everyone? Is my face funny?
"Guys it looks like she wants to write something" He draws the attention of the men and Dr Callaghan nods and hands me a tablet. I type down the contact details for Johnny, his cell phone number, his unit's number.
"TPA is a possibility then if there isn't a bleed and it's within three hours" the doctors continue their discussion.
"Well yes but that's the issue we don't know how long it's been since she collapsed so it could be too dangerous" Callaghan then directs his attention to me again. "Hey Polly can you hear?" The tablet is taken from my grip.
"Yes I can just ring Johnny please he'd want to know what has happened, he's in the army and is on a training exercise"
"It may come as a shock to you due to your age but you've had a stroke. This stroke has affected your ability to express language, basically you can hear use and understand us but we cannot understand you" All faces are looking at me now sympathy in their gazes. He shows me the tablet once again and the document I just typed up. It's a load of random letters and numbers. That was not what I had written, surely not. They've switched it. "We are waiting on CT so we can take scans to determine what type of stroke has happened, this will make treating it easier and more effective" He looks towards the group again and mentioned something about family. I have no one other than my brother. Hopefully they'll track him down. That's irrelevant at the moment though. I've had a stroke. A stroke at 22. Old people have strokes not young people like me. Well I've heard of the horror stories of it happening to them at a young age but I never thought it would happen to me. Oh god will I ever regain speech and movement. Will I ever be able to express myself?
"TC CT said we should take her up now" the nurse breaks my chain of thought.
"Ok Drew put her on a monitor, Kenny use the suction on the secretion from her mouth" Doctor Callaghan instructs, well now I know his first name, TC I wonder what that is short for or is that his whole name? And what the hell is mouth secretion? Oh crap its drool, great I'm drooling, I bet if I didn't have that tube up my bladder I would've wet myself by now as well. This is so mortifyingly embarrassing.
"You'll feel more comfortable now" the nurse, or should I say Kenny smiles, yes smiles.
"No gag reflex and weak muscles on the right, we need to tube her before we take her to CT" the other doctor, or as TC called him Drew, says seriously. TC nods at Drew's statement before he turns towards me.
"Ok Polly we need to protect your airway and the only way to do that is to put a tube in your throat and hook you…"
"Hey T can her brother come in?" A mystery female interrupts from the door. TC looks towards the direction of the voice and nods. Oh thank god they've manage to reach Johnny.
"Polly?" Johnny's voice sounds scared. My brave, strong brother sounds panicked. I've never heard him like this before. He strides towards me, still in his dusty uniform. I wonder what time it is, I think it's late at night, maybe early hours; they must have pulled him from the training exercise.
"It's best if you stand on her left side as her right side is affected" TC says to Johnny. Johnny nods and takes my left hand in his. I squeeze it tightly as he does the same in return.
"Hey Johnny, don't look so scared, I'm fine hunny" He grimaces when I say that.
"What kind of stroke has she had?" he questions the doctors.
"We are not sure yet, she is going for a CT now. When did you last see her?" Drew asks.
"A couple hours ago just as I left for work. She complained of a headache, I told her she should see a doctor but she's always stubborn. Jesus she can't die." Johnny raises his voice slightly in anger. I try to assure him that it isn't his fault, I squeeze his hands. But the situation fully dawns on me. I'm not dying. Oh shit am I dying? I don't want to die! The annoying beeping of the heart monitor increases. I start to cough, convulse even. I can't breathe. Oh god I can't breathe. Help me please.
"You should step outside sir we need to intubate her and get a CT; I'll come and speak with you when she's stable" TC orders as he glances between the heart monitor and me.
"Please she can't die, promise me you'll save her" Johnny says as he is reluctantly escorted out of the door, my breathing becoming even more painful by the second.
"Sir I promise I will do everything I can to help your sister" with that the doors slam and the medics spring into action.
"We need to push the etomidate and sux now!" Drew shouts as the beeping of the machines suddenly become more erratic. Oh shit I'm dying. The bed is lowered. TC's face hovers over mine.
"Ok Polly you are going to go to sleep now, when you wake up you will be breathing through a ventilator" as he says that my grip on reality is lost.
Where am I? I remember collapsing and waking in the ambulance and coming into hospital but I don't know where in the hospital I am now. I can hear a mechanical sound. What's going on? I can't see. Multiple hands touch me.
"On my count 1, 2, 3"
My body is lifted and placed on something soft, a bed. Why can't I see, am I blind? Oh god I'm blind. I can't move either. I'm dying this is it.
"So you and Gwen?" why are they having chitchat when I'm dying here
"What about me and Gwen?" Help someone help me please
"Come on Kenny I'm not stupid… wait is she crying?" finally you notice me.
"Heart rates up to 143 and BP's 175 over 93" I think Kenny says. Shit I don't want to die in some hospital corridor.
"Let's get her back to the ER now" that doctor, Drew exclaims. I'm sorry Johnny, I'm sorry that I'm dying.
"You need to calm down Polly" Drew says. I can't calm down; I'm freaking blind why would I be calm about this.
"Everything's going to be all right we've got you!" Kenny tries to calm me down too.
"We need some help over here" Kenny shouts.
"What's happening?" Oh it's TC again.
"She's tachy and hypertensive. I think she's panicking" Drew explains.
"Get her into trauma 3" TC shouts.
"Her pulse is up to 197"
"She's throwing SVTs"
"Dammit get the crash cart and chase up Neurology she needs surgery now!"
"Heart rates still increasing we need to…"
A sharp pain shoots through my chest. Everything goes dark.