Illness part 2
Frank and Gabrielle stood at the emergency department doors waiting for the possible contagion incoming into their department, they stood waiting in linen thin white gowns they wear them for any serious or contagious patient that enters their department.
They walk outside to meet the ambulance, at the ambulance bay they stood watching as the ambulance reversed into park and came to a halt, out jumps heath running to the back of the vehicle, he opens the back doors and soon his partner pops out the back wheeling the trolley as she goes.
Soon the everybody was inside the department, frank and Gabrielle guided them towards the sub-acute area, the designated ones for being treated for a contagious illness.
Heath and cate where about to leave the building when all of a sudden frank shouts them back.
"Hey you two where do you think you're going" shouts frank.
"Err back on the road" answers cate.
"Oh did you two not get told that anyone who came into contact with the boy is being checked out" explains frank.
"Oh goodie make sure you give us both a thorough check, wouldn't want you good doctors to miss something, that's right in front of your eyes "says Heath sarcastically.
"What" asks frank not in the mood for a joke.
"Oh ignore him frank he is just winding you up" says cate plonking her down on the bed in sub-acute 3.
"Well no more sarcastic jokes, and fill out these forms and me or Zoe will be back to examine you before we can let you get back to work" says Frank passing them admission forms.
"Hey make sure your honest on that form, and tell frank everything because if you don't I will" says Heath being reasonable.
"Right you two I don't know what's going on between you both, but please talk or pipe down its getting boring to listen to" shouts frank.
"Yeah cate let's be honest about how we feel today, it might get us out of here faster" says Heath prompting her on.
"Oh you two have feelings for each other" says Frank sarcastically.
"No and I am fine, for your information" says Cate bluntly.
"Right McMasters let Gabrielle take blood and do your vitals, then we just wait for the results, if you feel ill afterwards come back" explains frank.
"Hey frank maybe you can talk to cate she aint listening to me and I think she is holding back on some truths" says Heath, getting frank involved in there little dispute.
"ok cate, heath here says you're not being honest, know if you were holding something back about anything, I need to know, as you already know from being a nurse, so please tell me what's going on" prompts frank.
"Fine I was ill before this all happened and I was feeling off before work which is why I was late to work" explains Cate.
"Ok what are your symptoms" asks Frank?
"Tired, headache, achy joints and flu like symptoms" says Cate reeling off her symptoms to frank.
"So you have the same symptoms as the boy, but before you treated him today, anything else" asks Frank.
"I took her temperature in the ambulance before the shout it was 39.9, I offered some meds to bring the temp down she refused" explains heath butting in before his partner got a chance to talk.
"Ok why did you refuse the pills they could've helped" asks Frank now raising his voice which got the attention of Zoe and Gabrielle who were already heading towards the cubicle first.
Zoe and Gabrielle walk into the cubicles
"Hey you three what's all the raised voices for in here, we can hear you in rescus" says Gabrielle.
"Oh people refusing to take medications and now refusing to give an explanation" says Frank looking to cate while talking.
"ok well we have the results on the boy, he tested positive for measles, and I am afraid he took a turn for the worse, we had to intubate" says zoe reading the test results.
"Great just all we need, tell ambulance operations that all saints is closed to any emergency's, but we are taking patients that present symptoms of measles, anyone test positive or shows signs isolate them immediately starting with the boy and cate" explains frank.
"Why cate" asks Zoe and Gabrielle in unison.
"cate only just told me that she has some of the signs, for measles could you both examine her and take blood, I am going to sort out this mess" says Frank leaving the cubicle abruptly.
Frank walks off in a huff, heading towards his and Gabrielle's office.
"Wow know I know why they call him cranky Franky" says Gabrielle.
"Gabrielle, I never knew you could be so nasty sometimes, ok let's get a full work up on cate and help me do a full body exam, check for a rash, and could we start an iv of the same medications as the young boy, we also need to ask cate where she has been in the last few weeks, try and locate the source of the outbreak" explains Zoe talking to Gabrielle.
Gabrielle and Zoe walk to the quarantine area where they start working on cate and the young boy for the time being.
"Ok cate get out of your work clothes and place them into this, and get into a gown" says Gabrielle handing the gown over to her.
Cate gets up from the bed, only to get a sudden sharp wave of pain wash through her abdomen, causing her to wince and clutch her abdomen; the sudden noise from the ambo gave her colleague and Gabrielle gasp at her sudden noise.
"You ok cate" asks Gabrielle walking to the side of the bed.
"Yeah" whispers cate breathing through the pain.
"No she is not just get zoe" shouts heath.
"Ok heath, I can see your concerns for her, but I need to know what's wrong and I can't talk to her while your shouting "says Gabrielle talking down the shocked heath.
"Now are you in pain" asks Gabrielle?
"Yes" answers cate.
"Ok let's get you into the gown and I will let zoe now about the new symptom" explains Gabrielle shutting the curtains to the cubicle.
In the cubicle she helps cate stand on her own two feet, once she is evenly balanced she helps her to undress, and get into the gown, sorting the drips wires as she goes, once she is all tucked up in the bed, Gabrielle opens the curtains signalling there done, she leaves to find zoe who is not that far away, she walks over to zoe who is in a vigorous conversation with frank, she approaches the two senior doctors and starts to talk to them.
"Hey Zoe, cate has developed a new symptom" explains Gabrielle.
"What's her new symptom" asks Zoe.
"She's complaining of abdomen pain" answers Gabrielle.
"Ok I will come and take a look at her know" says Zoe following behind her, and walking to the cubicle where cate lay, they enter the cubicle and close the curtains.
"Hey cate Gabrielle tells me that you have abdomen pain" says Zoe trying to get a response out of the scared ambo.
"Yeah but it's gone know" states cate.
"Ok but can I take a look please" asks Zoe.
"Sure go ahead" says cate letting the doctor prod her and poke her.
Zoe examines cate stomach, pressing on different areas, unitl she comes to a point just below her belly button, when she presses cate winces from the pain caused by the press, hearing the groan coming from her patient she stops.
"Ok I'm finished, am going to order bloods and some scans of your abdomen" says Zoe explaining to cate.
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Heaths cubicle
Heath sat on the bed waiting to hear the news of his test results, also he was waiting to hear about the young boy, but while he sat their he cast his mind back to two weeks ago, when he and cate attended a call of a young boy with suspected measles, then he put two and two together, both boys went to the same school, he quickly gets up from the bed and heads out the cubicle only to go in search of frank and when he finds him talking to zoe he approaches them.
"Doctor Campion can I talk to you to please" asks Heath.
"Yeah sure but why you not in the cubicle" asks Frank.
"I was but then I have been racking my brain trying to think how me and cate could of caught measles, then I figured it out" says Heath telling them his memory's.
"Ok go ahead" prompts Zoe.
"Two weeks ago I and cate attended a young lad collapsed and respiratory distress, later in hospital he tested positive for measles" answers Heath.
"Ok so you two caught it, but how the young lad gets it" asks Zoe confused.
"Figured that one out too, when I was at the call this morning I seen uniform for infant school, I recognized it because the young boy from two weeks ago he went to the same school" explains heath.
"Great so the school is ground zero, and do you know if you or cate were vaccinated" asks Frank.
"Err yeah I was don't know about cate, but she is ok last time I saw her" asks heath.
Gabrielle walks up to frank and hands him heath and cate results, frank reads them, and he is not happy with the results.
"Is that the results" asks Zoe looking to frank and seeing the look on his face.
"Yeah" answers Frank.
"So what's the verdict" asks Heath.
"You tested negative, so you are free to go" says frank looking at heath.
"And cate" asks Heath.
"She tested positive but not for measles" answers frank.
"So what did she test positive for" asks Zoe?
"Pregnancy" answers Frank.
"She's pregnant, that explains the abdomen pain, has she got measles" asks Zoe?
"Yes but she has been vaccinated so instead she has the flu type instead, we can treat the flu symptoms, but we all know that she could miscarry" explains Frank.
"Who's going to tell her" asks Heath.
"I will I examined her, and I am going to try and prevent a miscarriage" says Zoe walking off in the direction of the cubicles.
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Cate's cubicle
Cate lay on the trolley cradling her stomach willing the persistent nausea to subside along with the ever so frequent abdomen pain she had been getting, she moves around in the bed to get comfortable, but she hit a dead end, soon she looks up to see zoe and Gabrielle walking to her cubicle, she looks to Gabrielle who wanders to get a few medical instruments, and soon she brings them into the cubicle alongside zoe.
"hey cate how you feeling , any more pain" asks Zoe.
"yeah abit, but that's all" answers cate.
"anything else" asks Gabrielle taking in her pasty facial expression.
"oh just some nausea, I feel like throwing up" answers cate breathing through the next wave of nausea, but soon she feels the bile rise in the back of her throat, a small dish is placed in her hands, she sits forward and she heaves whatever food or water is in her stomach she brings up.
"ok you finished" asks Gabrielle, she receives a nod from cate, who sits back trying to get her breath back,.
"ok cate we have the results of your tests, and they are pretty surprising, know I need to explain things to you but I know you know some stuff, but bear with me" explains Zoe.
"please zoe get on with it I have been sat in this uncomfortable bed for most of the day, and I feel sick and tired, and I think my temperature has gone up since you last checked so please just tell me have I got measles" demands cate.
"Ok, you did test positive for measles, but we know you are vaccinated so instead you get a case of the flu instead" answers Zoe.
"Oh god" sighs cate.
"I know but, I need to know something else, when did you start feeling sick" asks Zoe.
"What do you mean" asks Cate?
"Ok cate, the nausea and throwing up, and maybe the tiredness, can be explained by something else, which you tested positive for" says Zoe.
"What is it" asks Cate?
"You're pregnant, and the abdomen pain you're getting could be the start of a miscarriage, so I want to keep you in and examine you properly and try and prevent it" explains Zoe.
"What would you like to do first" asks Gabrielle?
"please do her vitals, and I am going to speak to gyn and see If they can come down and examine her, and put another bag of saline up keep hydrated, and give her 5mg of paracetamol for the pain and temperature" explains zoe.
"Ok" answers Gabrielle getting on with her job.
Soon gynaecology comes down and examines cate, they tell they proud mom to be that her baby is fine now and she hadn't miscarried, but she nearly did thanks to zoe quick thinking, 20 minutes later they leave her to rest and recuperate, while the rest of the staff work on stopping the epidemic, of the measles outbreak.
Heath walks over to cate and sits with his partner.
"hey heath I heard you are clear" says cate in a tired voice.
"yep, I heard you are very poorly, and you also need a friend, look am sorry about this morning, I should have been nicer, I was just looking out for you" explains heath.
"I know, but I won't be back for a few weeks" explains cate.
"Yeah I know but I could come and visit you as a friend" says heath talking to a tired cate who is yawning.
"look get some rest, I'll go now"
"No stay please, I haven't got any family close by at the moment, I could do with a friend near me" says cate grabbing his hand before drifting off to sleep.
Heath grasps her hand and he holds it while she sleeps.