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CHAPTER THREE.

Being a patient myself, I began to understand why most patients were relunctant to be admitted to hospital. It's boring been wired up to various machines and just listening to the machines and not doing anything productive.

This wasn't the first time I'd been admitted to hospital. In fact, I was a regular to Holby City Hospital. Broken bones and operations and the usual cuts, bruises and sprains. Not to mention I was regular in the staffroom waiting for my father's shift to finish.

I took the IV line out of my arm, disconnected the others and stood up. It felt strange been on my feet after so long and I felt a little bit dizzy. Once the dizziness had passed, I grabbed the pink bag underneath that contained my clothes and walked out of Resus.

"Lauren, what are you doing?" I heard my father ask and I put the bag over my shoulder and answered;

"Discharging myself, what does it look like?" I began to walk towards the toilets before I felt his hands on my arm, "Lauren you're a patient. You're ill. You can't just discharge yourself."

"I'm also a Doctor dad and I'm not sitting in Resus for god knows how many hours, only to be checked on every fifteen minutes. I feel fine and if I don't, I'll say something. Is that okay?"

He didn't say anything and I walked into the toilets. I changed into some clothes and tied my hair into a ponytail. I was about to put on some makeup when Maggie walked into the toilets and took one look at me.

"Lauren! Aren't you supposed to be in Resus?"

"Meant to be. I'm discharging myself."

She frowned at me, "Do you think that's a good idea?"

I shrugged my shoulders and applied some more foundation, "Probably not but — well, I'm stubborn. I'm bored and in all fairness, it's my decision so I wouldn't try talking me out of it."

"What if you suddenly get worse?" She asked and I looked at her, "I'll be fine, honestly. I wish you and my father and everyone else would stop worrying about me. I mean, I'm a grown woman, I can look after myself."

"You'll always be his little girl." She answered back and I nodded. I applied some mascara and some lipgloss before shoving my makeup bag in my bag. I looked at Maggie and smiled, "Honestly, I'll be okay. If I'm not, I'll re—admit myself. Deal?"

Reluctantly, she agreed to my deal and I left the toilets. As I got to the staff room, I picked up some scrubs and put my things in the locker. I changed into the scrubs and left against the locker, taking deep breaths to steady my nerves.

I was about to get a taste of what it was like working in the Emergency Department and although I was nervous, I really couldn't wait. Taking another deep breath, I left the staffroom and walked down the corridor.

"Excuse me, I'm looking for Sister Bateman." I asked a male Nurse at the reception desk. He had a name badge on that read John and I smiled slightly as he told me she'd be in the Nurses' office.

"Thanks." I answered as I walked towards the Nurses Office. I knocked on the door and heard a faint come in from the inside and I walked in.

"Hi." I smiled to Tess and apologised for being late.

She told me not to worry and that Charlie had informed her that I had come in as a patient. She asked if I was okay and again, for the third time I told her I was fine.

"I'd suggest giving you a tour of the department but I think you know where everything is." I nodded. I knew where pretty much everything was. I said I'd better be going, I'd already wasted enough time being a patient.

I left the office and walked towards the reception desk. Grabbing the nearest patient card of the desk, I read it and walked towards cubicle three. Opening the curtain, I stepped inside with a smile;

"Hello Marie, I'm Doctor Fairhead. I hear you've got some abdominal pains?"

My first patient of my shift was Marie Cullen, a thirty year old woman who'd come in complaining of severe abdominal pains.

"Yeah, it's really bad on this side." She put her hand on her left hand side of her stomach. I picked up her notes and noticed that she had already had ten of morphine so I didn't need to give her anymore.

I put on a pair of disposable gloves and asked Marie if she could roll up her teeshirt. I pressed down on her stomach, "Do you have any pain anywhere else?"

"Not so much pain but my shoulder aches. It feels a bit like I've pulled a muscle."

I nodded my head and asked, "Is there any chance you could be pregnant?"

She laughed and shook her head, "Not a chance. My husband and I got told we couldn't have children."

I smiled sadly, "You know, what us Doctors say isn't always the truth? There's still a chance you and your husband might conceive and have a child." I smiled at the young woman before telling her that I was going to get a Nurse to do a pregnancy test just to make sure.

I had a slight suspicion that she was pregnant but having an epotic pregnancy, it caused both the pains she was describing. I told her I'd be back in a minute and walked towards John, the male nurse I had spoken to earlier.

"It's John isn't it?"

"Yeah, I prefer Abs."

"Abs, there's a patient over in cubicle three who needs a pregnancy test doing."

"And you are?" He asked, his arms crossed across his chest. I stood there,

"Doctor Fairhead, Lauren. And yes, I'm related to Charlie before the questions start. Now, can you sort of the pregnancy test for cubicle three? Sometime before Christmas would be nice."

I told Abs that once he got the results back to come and find me. As I walked off, I was almost certain I heard someone mutter about me but I could be wrong. I picked up another patient card of the reception desk and walked towards cubicle seven.

"Mrs Morris? I'm Doctor Fairhead." I pulled open the curtain and stepped inside. Mrs Morris was a fifty year old woman, quiet a large woman who was complaining of chest pains and shortness of breath.

"Mrs Morris, you've been complaining of some chest pains, yes? Are you allergic to anything?"

"No."

"And are you on any medication that may cause these types of pains?"

"No." She answered again and I asked if there was any history of heart disease in the family.

"My father suffered from heart disease for the last twenty-four years of his life. My brother died from a heart attack in his forties." I wrote all the information down before I asked if there was any history of angina in the family.

She shook her head and I explained to her that I was going to give her some oxygen and do an ECG to check her heart. I turned my back for a minute to turn on the machine and when I looked back, she was motionless.

"Mrs Morris?" I asked and I gently shook her. When I got no response, I pressed two fingers against her neck and felt no pulse. Rushing over to the curtain, I opened it and shouted; "I need some help in here, she's arrested."

I started chest compressions whilst I waited for some more people and we wheeled her into Resus. Grabbing the defibillator pads, I placed them on her chest before grabbing the defibillator and shouting stand clear.

An electric current went through her body and her heart began to beat again. I breathed a sigh of relief when she started breathing again and I put the pads down, "Can I leave her in your capable hands Doctor Sandhu?"

I didn't wait for his answer before I took off my gloves and left Resus. I walked towards the staff room, opened my locker and took out my bag. Finding some change in the side pocket, I put it in my scrub pocket before putting my bag back inside and closing my locker.

Walking towards the vending machine, I got a can of lemonade before sitting down in the staff room. I was beginning to get the worst headache ever and my stomach was feeling slightly sore too.

I opened the can and took a sip before placing down on the table. Bringing my knees to my chest, I rested my head on them and closed my eyes. I had my eyes closed for a minute if that when my father disturbed me.

"Lauren?"

I looked up and whispered; "I don't feel well."

"What's wrong?"

"I feel like I have a marching band playing inside my head, my stomach's really sore and I feel sick and dizzy." I answered and closed my eyes again before I felt a hand on my arm, "Come on Lauren, let's get you checked over."

"Dad, I'll be okay—"

"I'm not taking no for an answer." I stood up, although I was reluctant to go. I slowly walked out of the staff room, my father still holding onto my arm. As he took me to cubicle seven, he told me to sit down on the bed.

I did and I lay down and put a hand on my stomach. I made eye contact with him and I knew exactly what he was going to say.

"Don't say 'I told you so' otherwise I'll sulk. I was bored and I wanted to do some work."

He sat down next to me, "I know you did but you know more than anyone the dangers of a head injury. It can take hours, days to show any symptoms—"

"Yes father I know." I answered back before I felt like I was going to be sick, "I'm gonna be sick." I told him and he handed me a brown paper bowl which I threw up in. I noticed it was blood and I knew I was in trouble, throwing up blood was never a good sign.

He put the paper bowl on the side and tucked a strand of loose hair behind my ear, "I wish you'd listened to me in the first place."

"I'm stubborn." I answered with a smile and turned over on my side, "We all know where I get that from."

"Your mother." He replied back and I smiled. He kissed my forehead and told me he was going to get Ruth to have a look at me. I nodded, told him not to rush back and closed my eyes.

I breathed in deeply and told myself that I shouldn't sleep until the Doctor had seen me but like earlier, I was finding it really difficult to stay awake. I knew it wouldn't be long before I did give in to sleep.

jottings — thank you for everyone who's reviewed so far. If you like it enough to favourite/alert, please leave a review ;3