To Save a Life
By: Selene Jeager
Author Note: This was written for a commissioner for five dollars and based completely on her desires for a story. This is based in an AU (alternate universe) where both Minako and Makoto are attending medical school. If you are interested in a commission feel free to visit my profile, information is available there.
Was the Commissioner Pleased: The Sailor Moon fanfiction commission that i ordered was well written, very interesting and exciting to read. The characters where well thought and written to suit the another universe. The facts about the subject of the story where realistic and correct. Humor was placed on a key locations giving the story some brightness even if the story subject was dark.
With the weekend finally making its rounds again Usagi took it fully upon herself to relax. All of her rigorous studies for her college were draining her dry. It was at times like these when she had to ask herself how she had actually made it through High School but the answer always came quickly; if it hadn't of been for her friends she would have failed miserably. Through thick and thin they had always done a marvelous job in the motivation and cramming department!
Cutting the television off she reached for a magazine that had been placed precariously atop a disorganized heap and began to read. Nothing was on and, by some miracle, she had finished her report on time and had absolutely nothing to do for once. Looking across the room she spotted a bag of chocolate chip cookies and a malicious grin crossed her face followed by internal conflict. She would only get fat if she pigged out on the things but maybe just one wouldn't kill her…
Seven cookies later and three pages half-heartedly read there was a knock at the door.
"Now who could that be…?" she mused.
After all, she was basically lying low this weekend to take a load off and she hadn't made plans that she knew of.
Stumbling to her feet, she tossed the magazine back atop of the coffee table which caused the whole pile to topple over. Hearing the noise she twisted throwing herself off balance as she toppled forward arms flailing as she hit the floor. Sprawled on the ground she whined catching sight of Makoto poking her head though the front door. Usagi quickly darted to her feet, face ablaze in embarrassment as she jogged towards her.
"Makoto-chan! What are you doing here?" she grabbed the door holding it open to see Minako as well.
"Usagi, did you seriously forget about today after driving us crazy for the last month?" she stared in disbelief.
Usagi, clueless tilted her head slightly, "Um, what did I forget this time..." she sighed.
Minako cut in, "Yeah! Does the word resuscitate ring a bell?"
"I remember now!" Usagi smiled, "I'm so sorry guys, I honestly forgot with all the school work I've been doing here lately. My brain feels like a fried egg…"
True to their word both Makoto and Minako had, what appeared to be, realistic looking doctor bags.
Makoto crossed her arms, bag draped at her elbow, "Do you at least remember the scenario we decided on?"
"Yes! I was supposed to have been on the swim team and been doing laps when I had a cramp, right?"
"Exactly," the quiet Minako nodded, "you hadn't stretched before you began laps, cramped up, lost consciousness and your heart had stopped due to lack of oxygen. You were then dragged to the side of the pool and within several minutes an ambulance arrives. Your swim coach had already started CPR, seeing as how at least one person on campus is normally qualified. By the time the EMS (Emergency Medical Service) had arrived your coach would have become exhausted and the paramedics would have taken over."
Remembering the situation she remembered the skepticism over the situation, "Wouldn't you guys think at that point that I would have gone too long to be revived? I mean it would be at least ten minute before the emergency vehicle arrived on the scene."
"Maybe so Usagi-chan, but I have faith that we could bring you around. Unlike the coach who probably just has first responder skills we would have a defibrillator and would come in a team of two so procedures from here out would be a lot smoother."
As Minako shut the door behind her continued, "Usagi does have a point though, she might not possibly be one of the lucky ones. You know as well as I that over one hundred thousand people die worldwide annually of drowning each year and even with training we may not be able to do it. Especially since at this point she would, indeed, have been unconscious for several minutes."
"Well let's put it to the test!" Mokoto smiled as she slammed her fist into the other palm, "we'll let Usagi decide if she lives or dies…"
Swallowing Usagi simply nodded, "Alright, my swim suits upstairs guys, you two can come upstairs and take turns changing in the bathroom and I'll head to my room, alright?"
The two nodded in response as Usagi felt the tension behind her as they walked in silence up the stairs. She almost swore Mokoto had transformed into Sailor Jupiter and was trying to zap Minako with the tension in the air. The two were obviously voicing very different opinions and Usagi felt she might have to hide before the end of the exercise.
When they reached upstairs Usagi ducked out of the way of the two who were in a bitter, wordless, stand off now.
"Guys…" she muttered. Silence. "Um, guys? "
"WHAT!" the both exclaimed at the same time.
"It's just a training exercise…chill out, alright? Don't take this so seriously…" she drew a fake, crooked smile on herself hoping it would ease some of the tension which undoubtedly dropped a little.
She could only imagine how the two acted when it came to home work together these days. Mokoto had always been the competitive type and normally Minako's logic was a little sounder so the visual placed in her mind was of them trying to strangle one another while she lay dying. Frowning internally she whimpered, 'That's not comforting….'
Moving into her room she moved straight for her closet where her black, one-piece hung intertwined messily with her others articles of clothing. Throwing her lounge pants to the side she opted to just leave her undergarments on; after all, it wasn't like they were going to use a real defibrillator on her. Typically they would remove undergarments, especially bras since they ran the risk of having supportive wire in them that would disrupt the electrical charge to the heart.
By the time she's finished frantically trying to tidy up her room the best she could in walked the two doctors-in-training dressed in identical, hospital green scrubs. Draped around their necks were their stethoscopes and although both normally wore their hair up she noticed that both had placed focused attention to make sure not a single loose strand was hanging in their face. She had to give them both that they did an excellent job in looking professional in, what she thought, was a rather quick change.
She had noted that neither were wearing standard gloves though, "You guys look great!" she complimented, "but I've got one question."
"What?" Mokoto was the first to inquire.
"Well…aren't you guys supposed to be wearing gloves?"
Both, dumbfounded, looked to their hands before Mokoto exclaimed, "Usagi I think that's the smartest thing you've ever…"
"What she means," Minako interrupted, "is that's a very good observation!" she grinned before turning to Mokoto to glare a moment. "You see, you have to think in a timely and realistic perspective for this training exercise, "if we had to rush quickly to the scene to provide someone who is in a life-threatening situation, although always prompted to wear gloves, we would need to begin immediately. If you were injured and bleeding we would be more likely to use gloves to protect ourselves from anything the victim might potentially be carrying in their blood. We would, however, use a breathing barrier."
With that both set their bags down on the small, pink table at the side of her bed and began to pull equipment from the bag.
"Do you guys want me anywhere in particular?" Usagi made sure to inquire.
Mokoto was the first to answer, "Yes, your bed that way we'll have better access to you."
With that Usagi moved to her bed lying down on her back as the two brought a couple pieces of equipment over next to her.
Minako held up a small red and black device the size of what could have been a laptop as far as Usagi was concerned, "This is our practice defibrillator. It's similar to the real one in every way possible to make sure we know how to use the real deal when someone really needs saving."
Mokoto held up the next piece of equipment which was clear and looked just like what she assumed it to be, "This is the breathing barrier or pocket mask as some people call it. This device contains a one-way valve to insure what we breathe in doesn't come out and what's on the other side doesn't come back on us or in our mouths."
"Whaddya mean?"
"Well you see, sometimes when resuscitated people can throw up, or in your case the issue would be your lungs being full of water. When we breathe for the victim if they throw up any of these things they have a possibility of being hazardous to us. If you were to carry some disease we could be at risk of catching it as well through contact of 'bodily fluids'."
"Oh I see!" Usagi chimed in, "so this keeps you safe while you help me."
"Exactly," Minako smiled.
Usagi had to admit they did a thorough job explaining things to the point where even she was interested in learning more about medicine even if she hadn't intended to go into a career in it like her two friends.
"Let's get started. Usagi just close your eyes and pretend to be unconscious. We won't actually be doing compressions or breathing into you but we're going to make it look as real as possible. When you decide you want to come around just tap the bed twice, alright?"
"Okay, got it," at this point Usagi laid back and let her, hopefully capable doctors, get to work.
Minako moved to the other side of Mokoto, "Victim has proven to be unresponsive before arrival and after ABC's (air way, breathing and circulation) have been checked. The victim is unable to breathe on her own and we will begin CPR."
Mokoto, kneeling beside Usagi, presses her palm against Usagi's forehead while placing a thumb under her chin announces, "I have cleared the air way and" as she lowers her head she listens for a few seconds, "note that the victim is not breathing on her own and I will begin the breathing process."
With that Mokoto then uses the 'chin-tilt' method and applies the breathing barrier over Usagi's mouth. After breathing two one-second breaths and pretending to notice Usagi's chest moving she leaves things to Minako who begins chest compressions.
Quickly locating the right location she balls her hand into a fist and cupping her other hand over the former. Straightening her arms she begins to apply very gentle pressure just below the sternum. Pushing up towards the heart more for show than actual procedure she does two sets of thirty compressions before Mokoto took position again over Usagi again to check for breathing. With no indication that she has been revived Mokoto begins the next cycle.
After the breathing cycle Minako begins compressions again, "At this point I'd still say chances are pretty good that the victim can be revived. "
"Likewise, I know we'll get her breathing again," Mokoto nods beginning the third cycle of breathing.
With the forth cycle of CPR you can begin to see Minako show signs of tiring, "Hey do you wanna switch yet?"
"No, not yet; let's finish this whole cycle first and then we'll switch at the end," she explained assured during the brief paused during the compressions.
As Mokoto breathes the fifth time for Usagi she removes her stethoscope ready to check for a pulse at the end of this set of compressions. As Minako begins to start compressions again her partner seems to check the victim, "Doctor Aino I've found what looks to be a concussion on the head and I assume that consciousness was lost as she turned to make her lap based on where she was pulled from the water. That she had swam too close to the wall of the pool and knocked her head quite hard."
"Very good inquiry Doctor Kino, please check her pulse now." With that Minako almost threw herself off the bed to avoid interference of a reading as Mokoto inserted her stethoscope into her ears and began to listen to her chest.
"Nothing doctor," she informed throwing the listening device back round her neck and sliding down the bed and taking the AED (automated external defibrillator) with her. Turning the device on she applied the pads to the upper-left center on one side of her chest and the other to the lower right as she continued to listen to the steps. Reaching the climax of the process the device told those around it to stand clear. Before hitting the button to apply the shock she called, "Clear!" before applying the shock. Usagi couldn't help but smile a bit as she jumped slightly on the bed pretending to be hit with around one thousand volts before returning still. The two couldn't help but laugh a little at her acting skills before Mokoto called for the area to be cleared another two times.
The victims pulse is then checked for again and Usagi, deciding to play hard to get decides to remain absolutely still to her part. With this Minako begins breathing for this round, "Doctor Kino, things aren't looking good. The defibrillator was unable to revive her," she whispered trying to appear worried.
"We're going to keep going, is that understood? We're not giving up this early, restart CPR."
"Yes Doctor."
Minako positions the mask to the victims face tilting the chin back and begins to apply breaths for her as Mokoto takes over with compressions. By the end of the second cycle ten minutes have passed. Another succession of AED shocks have, again, proven to be fruitless as the victims pulse is rechecked.
"Still nothing Doctor Kino," she mutters reluctantly.
"One more cycle, do it again!" she calls to Aino. "Breathe dammit…" she mutters, her tone on the verge of realism this time.
Aino moves the victim into position and applies two more breaths of life as Mokoto desperately compresses her chest. Usagi, opening one of her eyes, glares towards Mokoto, "Easy up there!"
"Sorry!" she mutters finishing up the compressions a little softer, "sometimes I can get a little too into it…" she whispered. "Now play dead."
Doing as requested Usagi closes her eyes and continues to play the role of the victim.
Two more compressions pass and still nothing but still determined and beginning to get winded she continues onwards as Minako soothes, "Doctor, you've tried your best. I don't think she's going to come through."
"Move…" Doctor Kino pushes Aino out of the way as she takes to doing the breaths herself before starting the fourth set of compressions. Minako dumfounded can't help but smile; Mokoto was definitely a determined person hopefully Usagi would 'come around' soon. Even she could see the sweat beginning to pull up atop her brow. With said thought in mind she reached into her pocket procuring a handkerchief that she used to wipe Doctor Kino's brow dry before doing the breathing for the fifth set of compressions for her.
Even though they had both been invested in saving the victims life it seems as though Aino's head-strong partner was determined enough to make it appear that she was the one solely invested in revival.
With the victim still appearing to be unresponsive she moved to the AED again praying that something positive would come of it. Letting the AED run through its process and charge she called, "Clear!" as the first shock moved though Usagi.
Silence. Nothing. "Clear!"
Still there was the same blank face upon the victim and no response, "Doctor…" Aino tried to reason.
"Again," she held her arm up to make sure her partner was clear, "CLEAR!" there was disparity in her tone. A few seconds passed and still nothing and even Kino finally saw the fruitlessness of it all. They had done two but three rounds of CPR and used the AED and no response what-so-ever.
Aino lifted her stethoscope to her ears and listened, "I'm sorry doctor…I think she's…" and with that there were two taps as both of them looked to Usagi who opened an eye. The room was silent a long few second before Usagi chimed, "Guys…I'm alive…say something…"
"THANK GOD!" Mokoto leapt on her wrapping her arms around her neck before collapsing on her drenched in a fine layer of sweat.
Usagi's eyes widened, "Love you too?" she muttered tilting her head as she gently patted her back.
The only thing Minako could do at this point was drape her stethoscope back around her neck and smile. As rugged as Mokoto could ever make herself appear she had a heart of gold and determination that surpassed anyone she would ever know.