F is for Flu
Featuring: Dr. Joe Early
Author's Note: Just want to say a quick thank you to all my readers out there. I cannot express in words how important you are. Thank you to all who review or send me PMs. I'm pretty bad about answering but I appreciate each and every one of them. Another thank you goes out to my beta reader, Mary, and my other three friends that keep me writing, Donna, Shirley Jean, and Sarah. You guys know who you are. ;)
~Day 1~
The flu epidemic had hit the staff at Rampart General Hospital. The whole staff had saw it coming when the number of calls for squads bring in patients with flu related symptoms. Now, the staff and paramedics were starting to fall victim to the epidemic. Many nurses were calling in sick, Dr. Brackett had fallen ill, and there was already at least five paramedics from various stations and shifts that had fallen ill.
Joe was standing by the base station, having some coffee with Dixie when the red light signaling that a call had come in from a squad over the base station.
Walking in Joe could hear the voice of Captain Hank Stanley over the biophone, "Rampart this is Squad 51. How do you read?"
"Squad 51 this is Rampart. We read you loud and clear. Go ahead," Joe answered back.
"Rampart, we have a male patient, 29 years of age, a Code I. Victim collapsed at the station approximately 5 minutes ago. Victim has flu-like symptoms: fever, chills, nausea, headache, chest pain, and muscle soreness. Temperature is 102.6. Vital signs are BP 120/80, pulse rate 120, and respirations are 18 and shallow. Victim is diaphoretic. Victims is also having difficulty breathing and is on O2. Rampart, be advised that victim is Johnny Gage."
*Damn,* Joe thought, *With Johnny's spleen removed he could be in for big trouble.* Joe then answered over the biophone, "10-4 51. Start an IV with D5W and transport as soon as possible."
"10-4 Rampart. IV with D5W and transport. Ambulance is at scene. ETA is about 10 minutes. 51 out."
Stepping outside the room, Joe then spoke to Dixie, "Dix, Roy is bring Johnny in. Flu symptoms but he probably has pneumonia developing along with it. What rooms are set up?"
"1 is set up Joe," Dixie answered, "How bad is it?"
Grimly Joe said, "Bad enough."
Soon the ambulance carrying Johnny had arrived, and Joe rushed him into the treatment room, Roy following him in. The dark-haired paramedic's face was flushed with fever, and Joe could see the sweat clinging to his body. That last time John had looked like this was when he and Brackett had gotten the Koki Fever Virus.
Joe pressed his stethoscope against John's chest, grimacing silently when he heard the congestion that was starting. "Dix, call X-ray and tell them we need a chest x-ray done." Dix had put a thermometer in Johnny's mouth to get a new temperature reading, so Joe took it out to look at the reading. "103.4. Dix we're going to need cooling blankets. Oh and Dix call ICU, Johnny is going to need to be monitored while this goes through his system."
"Right away Joe," Dixie answered automatically.
Soon Johnny had been moved to the ICU with cooling blankets placed over his feverish body. Broad spectrum antibiotics hung to fight off the pneumonia that was starting to set in.
Joe and Dixie were sitting around the base station, drinking cups of coffee when Bob Bellingham and Craig Brice walked up to get supplies. "Hey doc ya got a minute?" Bob asked with a slight smile on his face.
"Sure, Bob. What's up?" I answered.
"Well Brice here is coming down with the flu. Except he won't admit it. He says it's just allergies."
"That's because it is allergies!" Brice exclaimed, sounding a bit hoarse.
"Why don't you let me be the judge of that." I said, looking at Dixie who was trying hard not to laugh.
Brice sulked to the treatment room, and grumpily got up onto the treatment table. "Put this in your mouth," I ordered, referring to the thermometer.
"I am not sick," Brice said again, "I practice perfect hygiene unlike my partner over there."
"I'm not the one on the treatment table," Bellingham smirked, rather enjoying watching Brice get examined.
I removed the thermometer from Brice's mouth and read it out loud, "101.4. You're running a fever. And judging by the way you have been talking you have a sore throat and a stuffy nose. Have you been congested at all?"
"Yes," he answered.
"How about a cough?"
"A slight one."
"Muscle aches? Chills?"
"Yes and Yes."
"Well my friend. You have the flu. I'm sending a note to your captain excusing you from duty. Go home and rest and drink plenty of fluids. If the symptoms start getting worse come back and see me." I told him, laughing to myself. The "perfect paramedic" had been struck down.
Bellingham burst out laughing, "Hey Brice, not so perfect anymore are you?"
"Shut up Bellingham," he replied, looking quite upset that he was sick and his partner wasn't.
After the two paramedics had left, I finally let out a laugh. Out of all the paramedics that came through Rampart, Brice was the one I least expected to come down with the flu. He wasn't called the "Perfect Paramedic" for nothing.
The rest of the day went by fairly smoothly, no more paramedics were brought in with the flu. I hoped that not many more would be brought in, because the fire department was starting to get short-staffed. At the end of my shift I went to check on Johnny, to see how he was faring. Which wasn't very good. His fever was continuing to rise. Without his spleen he was so vulnerable to infections and his body had to work harder to fight them off. He was sounding more and more congested, so I decided to put him on the non-rebreather oxygen mask, instead of the nasal cannula. I silently said a quick prayer for my friend, praying that he would get through this alright. He had already used up so many of his nine lives that we teased him about having. Not just any person would go through the stuff Johnny goes through and still come out okay.
After leaving Rampart, I stopped by Kel's to see to see how he was doing. He was just lying on his bed, too weak to move. He was dehydrated, and shivering from the chills that were going through his body. "Kel, you're going to Rampart," I said. As he started to protest I argued back to him, "It's obvious that you're too weak to move. How do you expect to keep yourself hydrated if you can't move? You need an IV and you're sure as hell not going to get it here. It's either me or Dix." With that threat he complied, although he wasn't very happy about it.
After Kel was settled at Rampart, I went home for some sleep. If things kept going the way they were going I was going to be pulling some overtime.
~Day 2~
Today was supposed to be my day off, but as I predicted I was needed at Rampart. *Oh well,* I thought, *I was going to check on Johnny and Kel today anyways.*
The day was filled with the usual things we see around Rampart. And more people coming in with the flu. Some actually needed to be brought in, they had such a severe case that they needed an IV. Most of those were the elderly and small children, but most just needed to stay at home for a few days and rest and drink plenty of fluids.
After my shift was over I went to check on Johnny in the ICU and Kel in a regular room. Kel was sleeping peacefully, the IV in his arm replacing the fluids that he was losing. His temperature hadn't gone down any though. Johnny had looked a little better too, the antibiotics effectively fighting the pneumonia. "You did it again Johnny," I whispered to him, "You still have your nine lives."
~Day 3~
Johnny was doing well enough that he was switched to a regular room, and lucky him, his roommate was Kel. I chuckled at that one when I heard it from Dix. The last time they shared the same hospital room was when they both had the Koki Fever Virus, and they drove each crazy. When it was time for them to leave they were even happier than usual to leave, just to get some space from each other. Johnny was still on the non-rebreather mask, because although his lungs were improving, they still sounded very congested. So they wouldn't be driving each other crazy just yet. And they still slept for most of the day too. But it wouldn't be very long before they both started feeling better and started driving each other up the walls. And I couldn't wait for that, because then I would be assured that they were going to be okay.
~Day 4~
I removed Johnny from the non-rebreather mask, and put him back on the nasal cannula. His lungs were sounding better and better. His temperature had gone way down as well. It was now hovering around 101. Kel looked a lot better too, and I knew he was feeling better because he was starting to give the nurses a hard time.
~Day 5~
When I went in to check on my two friends today, I found a welcomed surprise. Johnny was telling some story to some nurses crowded around his bed. He still was weak, and still running a slight fever, but he was feeling okay enough to be telling stories to the nurses. Kel was sitting across from him rolling his eyes, having heard this story before. I sat down on the edge of Kel's bed to chat with him to save him to become bored to death with John's story. Johnny's story was interrupted when Roy stepped into the room, clearly relieved to see that his partner was doing much better. "Hey Johnny, Doc," he said, "How ya guys feeling." And that launched a whole discussion about rooming together again. I smiled at the debate, glad that my friends were going to be okay.
Author's Note: Sorry that this update took so long, I was being my usual disastrous self and knocked my laptop off my bed and broke the screen. So I had to send it in to get it fixed, which took a long time.