A/N Heya guys!!!
Any one noticed how my chapters have names as well as numbers now?!? I was inspired by Kim :)
You know the score by now, don't own anything Twilight related, just Sydney and any people you don't recognise. Hope my medical blurb is accurate, actually sat with my Physiology books from college to double check!!
There will be romance, there will be heartache, and you will be introduced to Duck the cat :)
My Covenant story will be updated, but my muse left me, I even offered her a pay rise, but she still left. For Prague I think. Or maybe the moon, who knows :)
Chapter Four.
It Was Like Being On Auto Pilot.
The hustle and bustle and noise and huge and vast throng of people, living, dead and injured filled the Emergency Room. The smell of smoke, burnt rubber and blood over took my nostrils quickly.
I grabbed a sterile paper gown from the rack next to where I was now standing, Dr Cullen had rushed off with a small baby so I put on the gown and grabbed strode over to one of the beds, it was directly opposite Dr Cullen and the dying baby.
"I'm not treating him, he was the one who ploughed in to the kids." One Voice said.
"I don't like it any more than you do. Maybe we should leave him 'till last? Get the cops to interview him first?" the second voice said.
The over weight, very pale looking drunk driver of the large lorry was looking dangerously close to death.
These nurses needed to snap out of it and straighten up, he needed treatment, fast.
"Woah, hold up ladies." My stern voice came in to play. They looked at me and each gave me a challenging look. They went to open their mouths but tI got in first.
"He's a patient, he needs treatment. If he dies and you walk away, you won't be able to tell his family that you did everything in your power to keep alive." I told them, scorned them is more like it.
"I a Am NOT treating him, he's a drunk and he's probably killed half of those kids on the bus." The blond nurse said, the red head nodded in agreement. I wanted to shout, but remained clam and use my stern voice again, determined to treat this man.
"Then leave so I can treat him. He is still a patient, now get out of the way and stop wasting time and find some one to give treatment to." I glared at them, waiting for them to argue back, but they walked off, muttering their false apologies.
I went to the cubicle and put on the latex gloves and shone my pen torch in his eyes to check his responses, his eyes were ok, little dilated but that could easily be a mixture of shock and alcohol.
"Name please sir." I asked him.
"Trevor Bryant." He replied, slurred was more like it.
"Mr Bryant, my name is Dr Jordan, and I'm going to be treating your injuries. Any pain any where at all?" I studied the small cuts on his face, obviously from the glass of his windshield.
"Whip lash I guess, nothing hurts."
I felt his neck, he moved it slightly so I could examine it better, he didn't wince or say he was in pain, but that again could be shock and drink.
"I'm going to fit with an IV of Saline, try to flush your system. Have the police taken a breath test from you Mr Bryant?" I asked, he nodded. An officer came over and gave him a filthy look.
"He had a breath test, six times over the legal limit." He rudely informed me.
I fitted the cannula and hooked up the drip to the attached stand on the metal head rail of the bed.
"Nurse Sarah." I called the red head over, she was shocked I knew her name. Well, I think the huge white name tag gave that one away, nothing to be schocked over.
"YYYYYes?" She stutterd, comming over to me.
I want you to take Mr Bryant up for an XRay, keep him hydrated, keep an eye on his breathing, get him some blankets to warm him up as he's cold and fill in the emergency admissions forms please." I said softly. "And try not to let your judgment get in the way of you r job please." I added quietly to her and sternly, there was no need for every one else to hear her receive a telling off.
She nodded and went over to the desk to get the appropriate paper work and stood next to her assigned patient with a clipboard and told him she was taking him up to XRay, then the police officer cuffed him to the rail and said he'd be going with them. I threw him a filthy look before changing my gown and gloves and going over to a bed over the other side of the ER where there was a commotion and the blond nurse, Tina was panic stricken over a young boy, he was unconscious and coming out in a sore and angry looking rash over his torso, arms and face, his shirt had long been cut away and there was bruising on his ribs, a sign of a bad fracture.
"What do we know Tina?" I asked, examaning his body without touching the rash if i could help it.
"Boy, roughly about eight years old, unconscious on arrival, coming out in a rash and we don't know why." She was shaking.
"It could have been there all along." A male doctor said. He was a bit taller than me, but not buy much, he had a very receding hairline and brown eyes, he looked about fifty and needed to ditch the junk food by the looks of his second chin and rounding tummy. He must have been panicking too because his brow was sweating quite a bit.
"I think we should call Infection Disease and follow Infection Control guidelines." Dr Porky, as I had named him in my head, shouted at us unnecessarily loudly.
"Wait, Tina, your hand is on his wrist, it wasn't red a moment ago, move your hand." I instructed.
She did as I said, and surprise surprise, the area was a blazing red.
"Every one stop touching him and switch off those over head lights!" I shouted a bit too loud, it caused Dr Cullen to look over at me. "I think he has a latex allergy, and if he has a latex allergy, those lights are going to heat up the rash and make it worse." I checked his pockets of his jeans, and found a laminated wallet, inside was information, he did infact have a lkatex allergy, and an allergy to various antibiotics and skin products. Hospital suture tape included. Great, he was going flare up in a rash with what ever we had that was meant to help him.
"Get a dermatologist down here, quickly Tina, I don't care if you have to run up there and drag one one down by his ears!" I told her, she nodded and ran off.
"DR..........?" I aimed my words at Dr Porky.
"Davies." He replied, looking even more flustered.
"Dr Davies, could you call for some one from paediatrics to com up and see to this little boy? We I think we need to find some latex free gloves and find out if he can receive oxygen from the masks we have. We also need to know if we can use the ECG pads on his chest to keep a track of his heart activity. Also, fix up the monitor ready and get a nurse to stay with him and watch his breathing because right now we can't treat him until we get those gloves." I looked at Dr Davies, he looked a little dazed and like he was going to pass out.
"Go to peads, right, got it! Thomas! Get over here and watch this kids breathing as close as you can, but don't touch him! He has a latex allergy!" He shouted for the poor male nurse, looked the same age as me, and bored that he was on babysitting duty.
Meanwhile, Mr Bryant was back. Sarah handed me the XRay films, they looked clear, no breaks, no fractures and no blockages.
"Keep him hooked up to the IV and put him on oxygen for about twenty minutes and keep him warm, do obs every ten, lets get his temperature up and sobered up please." I asked, she nodded still not saying a word. "Thank you." I walked to where Dr Cullen was treating the driver of the mini bus. By now, most of the kids had been stabilized and sent down to the paediatric unit or to the intensive treatment units.
There were a few beds filled with the curtains drawn around them, I could only guess that the dead were the occupants of those cubicles.
I made my way over to Dr Cullen to offer my help.
"Mrs Hayley Howells, driver of the mini bus, aged thirty two, she has become unconscious in the last few minutes and crashed, we have shocked her to get her heart beating again and given adrenaline but there's only minimal response before she crashes again. What's the next action Dr Jordan?" He asked me.
"Intubation, CPR and possible Manual Pumping of the heart, when she's stable enough, get the portable XRay machine in here to see if there's damage to the heart and lungs." I replied.
"Well done, could you please intubate for me?" He looked at me and I nodded, quickly changed gloves, the gown could wait, it hadn't been in contact with any one and this woman's life was far more important.
I grabbed a medium sized endotracheal tube, praying it would be the right size, i didn't want to have to try serveral to find one that would fit her air ways.
I inserted the laryngoscope in to her mouth and down her throat, I could see clearly down her airways, Dr Cullen passed me the tube and I inserted it successfully. Dr Cullen hooked her up to a bag, he started the chest compressions and when he said "OK" I'd squeeze the bag to get oxygen in to her lungs.
"How long has she been down Dr Cullen?" I asked, calmly.
"Four minutes, too long. Dr Jordan, what shall we do next?" He replied, still compressing and me still squeezing the bag every now and then.
"I think more adrenaline and CPR, perhaps another shock. I think that opening the rib cage to get to the heart would be to risky in the ER, plus we don't know what's going on in her chest, she could have a puncture for all we know with out that XRay." I replied.
"Very good Dr Jordan, if you would be so kind as to inject our patient." He gave a brief smile and I prepared the shot, an injected, the heart monitor showed no sign of changing any time soon.
Dr Cullen prepared to shcok her, the voltage getting higher and me giving her more adrenaline.
"Dr Cullen, we can't shock her any more, we'll frazzle her." I said gently, I could see the determination in his eyes. He had obviously lost a few of his patients.
"Dr Jordan, please quickly pass me a chest opening kit." He asked, still compressing her chest.
"Dr Cullen, are you sure, we don't know what's going on in her chest." I replied, grabbing the kit any way.
"Please draw the curtains as I sterilise the area." He looked at her, as if he were scanning her chest for some important detail we missed.
As did as I was asked, and by the time I turned around to help, the area was orange from the Iodine and he was making the cut and inserting the instrument required to open her ribs. There was a slight cracking sound from her bones as they were opened up. And there was her heart, I could see it was struggling to beat.
"I'm going to pump her heart now Sydney. I need you to stand the other side of her and squeeze the oxygen bag gently and slowly every fifteenth beat." I nodded and did as I was told, as we worked on the middle aged woman, her heart rhythm picked up a little. Dr Cullen called for the portable XRay machine and within moments it was wheeled in. Her heart was steady enough now for him to remove his hand for a few seconds, so as soon as the machine was ready to go, that's what he did. Then as soon as the XRay was taken, he put his hand back in her chest and we continued. Her heart picked up a little more on the monitor.
"How long will it take for the XRays to be ready?" I asked him. Knowing, but just wanting him to say something.
"A few minutes, the portable machine is very fast." He looked at me, none of us said anything, we just looked at each other and continued to try to save this patient. I said a silent prayer that he could do it, for himself and for her.
"Dr Jordan, would you like to change your gloves and take over massaging our patients heart?" He asked me.
I was stunned, this was something that was usually for a surgical team, not a normal doctor.
"Dr Cullen I don't think I should. I'm not a surgical doctor. I can't go putting my hands inside people's bodies." I replied, part of me wanted to do it, but the sensible part had told me no.
"Dr Jordan, I'm the only surgical doctor in the ER right now and my hand is tired, usually for this procedure there would be a "tag team" to take it in turns. But if you don't feel comfortable, then I understand." I could see it in his eyes he was only saying that last part to get me to want to do it even more. I saw a small smile on his lips and a twinkle in his eyes. He knew what he was doing, and he wasn't tired at all.
"Ofcourse Dr Cullen, if you're tired your hand could slip. I'd be grateful for the experience." i gave a smirk back, two could play that game.
I moved quickly over to his side, changed my gloves and he removed his hand, and I slid mine in and began compressing the heart gently.
"Is this correct?" I asked him.
He was stood at the head of the bed taking charge of the oxygen bag, he could see my hand perfectly from where he was standing, watching over my movements.
"That's excellent Dr Jordan." he smiled, and Dr Davies came in to the cubicle with us.
"Your patient has no obstruction to her lungs or chest, she should be stable and ready to move to intensive treatment." He looked sceptically at me.
"Dr Jordan, slowly release the heart and remove your hand, let's see how she does pumping it on her own."
I did what he asked, and her heart was beating steadily enough for her to be moved on the the ward.
Dr Cullen hooked her up to the portable oxygen cylinder and came over to me.
"I'd like you to slowly unwind the mechanism keeping her ribs apart anti clockwise please." He said to me, Dr Davies looked at me, his eyes never left me.
I unwound the metal device slowly. I could Feel Dr Cullen's breath on my neck.
"Good, well done. Now you need to withdraw it carefully and slowly." He instructed. I removed the device slowly, it was now out of her boyd totally. Dr Cullen took it from my hands and gave me a suturing kit.
"Now show me how neat you can stitch please Dr Jordan." I could feel his smile, and Dr Davies still watched, far too eagerly for my liking.
I stitched and and placed on a temporary dressing and pulled a sheet up over the patients. Dr Davies began to wheel her out.
"Good work Dr Jordan." He muttered then left. I took off my gown and gloves. Dr Cullen took them from me and placed them in a sterile disposal bag and we left the cubicle.
The hospital mortuary staff had began to collect the bodies, all five of them. Dr CUllen paused as they took the gurney with a small bundle under the sheet. It was the baby Dr Cullen had been walking on. He looked sad.
I placed a hand on his elbow and gave him a reassuring squeeze. He came out of his trance and looked at me, I gave a weak smile and he nodded, then we left for his office.
