0015, Thursday 19/3/92
Cooper's Crossing Hospital
"Okay Rowie, I just need you to move down a little more." Geoff adjusted the height of the stool, as Kate tied up the back of his gown.
Jackie bent down, staying at eye-level, as she clasped Rowie's right hand. "Nearly there," she encouraged.
As Rowie looked up and saw the edge of the round, surgical light above her, she felt the events of the last twenty minutes catch up with her.
This is really happening.
Rowie watched silently as Geoff adjusted the angle of the light, looking down to notice it catch the white blanket over her knees.
"Okay, pop your right foot into the stirrup, just here,' Jackie spoke calmly.
Just as she was about to comply, Rowie saw and heard Geoff slip his left hand into the surgical glove.
Rowie quickly pulled her hand away from Jackie's.
She swallowed, feeling nauseous again, knowing everything that was going to happen.
"Row?" Jackie leaned forwards, surprised when she hadn't completed the request.
She felt her stomach under her hands move as she struggled to take a breath.
Jackie looked across to Geoff, knowing anxiety when she saw it.
"Do you need me to help, Row?" Jackie offered, not even making contact with Rowie's right arm before she flinched.
Jackie leaned forwards, noticing the tears in Rowie's eyes.
"Okay, do you want to sit up for a minute?" she suggested.
Rowie shook her head, just knowing in that moment she wanted everything and everyone to go away.
Jackie noticed Rowie's clasped hands shaking against the white blanket.
"Geoff, any objection to some more diazepam?" Jackie asked.
"Rowie?" Geoff carefully moved around the side of the bed, ensuring he didn't touch anything.
Rowie blinked, wiped at her eyes, and focussed on Geoff's face as he came into view.
"Would another 5 megs diazepam help you feel more comfortable?" Geoff offered.
"I don't know," she admitted.
"What's bothering you?" Geoff asked deliberately.
"I'm scared," she answered without hesitation.
"Perfectly understandable," Geoff acknowledged. "I'll be talking you through each step, so there won't be any surprises. How about some more diazepam, see how you feel when that's kicked in?"
Rowie nodded.
Jackie looked over the top of Geoff's lowered head to Kate, unable to hide her concern.
Kate shrugged.
"Kate?" Geoff looked up.
"Will do," she answered, and quickly left the room.
Jackie watched Rowie squint against the bright light.
"Come on, how about sitting back up for a while?" she suggested, reaching for Rowie's hand.
"Stop touching me!" Rowie exclaimed, pushing Jackie's hand away immediately, and dissolving into sobs.
"I, I'm sorry," Jackie apologised automatically, taking two steps back, surprised by Rowie's protest.
Geoff positioned himself deliberately between Jackie and Rowie, quickly stripping the surgical gloves from his hands, as Rowie struggled to pull herself back into an upright position.
He looked between both colleagues quickly.
"Rowie, we can transfer you to Sydney if you'd prefer?" Geoff offered.
"No!" she insisted through tears, her upper body shaking as she continued to cry.
Rowie looked up immediately at the sound of the door opening, as Kate stepped back into the room.
"Diazepam," Kate looked between Jackie and Geoff, sensing the tension in the room.
"Kate, can you administer please," Geoff stepped back from the bed.
"Sure," Kate replied, seeing the vacant expression on Jackie's face, arriving by Rowie's side, and opening the alco-wipe.
The room once again dropped to an eerie silence.
"Five milligrams," Kate held up the ampoule to Geoff briefly.
Jackie watched as Kate lifted the sleeve of Rowie's hospital gown to administer the injection.
Kate paused, seeing the fresh bruises on Rowie's upper arm.
"There we go," Kate spoke softly, noticing the tears in Rowie's eyes glisten under the light as she injected the drug.
"Right, let's just give that five minutes or so. Jackie, can I see you outside for a moment." Geoff tilted his head to the doorway.
As they arrived into the corridor, Geoff saw the exasperated look across Jackie's face.
"Do you have any idea what that was?" Geoff frowned.
Jackie shook her head, "Need for control?" Jackie suggested, still visibly shocked.
"Look, this might not work you know." Geoff paused. "I'm not convinced she'll be able to get through a pelvic."
"Well, she was adamant she didn't want to be transferred," Jackie answered.
"Let's see how she goes, but I'd prefer to keep Johnno out of it if possible," Geoff considered.
"She doesn't need him seeing her like this," Jackie agreed. "I just feel useless."
"Maybe take a step back, see how it goes. Unless you want to assist me?" Geoff asked.
"No thanks." Jackie looked away sharply. "Anything I see, I can be cross-examined on."
"Right, well, let's just see how we go." Geoff turned and waited for Jackie to lead the way back inside the room.
"Diazepam kicking in?" Geoff asked, deliberately directing his question to his patient.
"I don't think I want to do this," Rowie shook her head tentatively, looking between Kate and Jackie, and then back to Geoff.
"I'll tell you everything I do before I do it, and you can stop at any time," Geoff tried to reassure her.
"Okay." Rowie nodded, checking Jackie's location in the room out of the corner of her eye.
"Good." Geoff moved back to the end of the bed as Rowie determinedly lay back against the bed.
"All right," Geoff slipped on fresh gloves. "Kate, can you bring the tray closer?"
"Sure," Kate carried out the request.
With a sigh, Kate remembered the last time she had been in this room.
A year ago.
Watching as Geoff glanced at the instrument tray, Kate realised the same four people were in the room; although at opposite ends of the bed, and under very different circumstances.
"Rowie, I need your feet in the stirrups," Geoff spoke directly, realizing it seemed be working.
Rowie could feel her right knee trembling, as she carried out the request.
"First, I'm just going to do a visual exam, and then take external swabs." Geoff gestured for Kate to fold back the white blanket.
Jackie watched from several steps away from the side of the bed, surprised that Geoff's slightly unorthodox approach seemed to be helping.
"Okay, swabs Katie." Geoff quickly determined he wouldn't be able to see anything until he cleaned the blood away. "How many are there?" He kept his jaw firm, and his expression neutral, despite the extent of the trauma.
"Ah, four packs of two," Kate answered, slipping on examination gloves and opening the first packet.
"Well, I'll do as much as I can," Geoff took out the first two swabs as Kate opened an ampoule of saline. "Thanks." Geoff nodded.
Jackie watched him work, alternating her glance between Geoff and Rowie.
Rowie hadn't realised she'd closed her eyes until she felt the first physical contact.
"Row, keep your eyes open if you can, it'll be easier," Jackie spoke crisply.
"Okay?" Geoff waited after finishing the first external swab, looking to Jackie.
Jackie took a step closer. "Come on," she coaxed, "it's all right. Good." Jackie nodded as Rowie eventually opened her eyes.
"Okay." Geoff continued the external examination.
Jackie watched Rowie's eyes glaze over in response to the physical contact.
"Doing well," Geoff encouraged, placing the swab into the plastic evidence bag. "Just a few more to go." He again applied some saline to the end of the cotton swab and continued.
"Breathe deeply," Jackie reminded, noticing that Rowie was holding her breath with each moment of contact. "It's not hurting, is it?" Jackie frowned.
Geoff paused as he heard Jackie's question. "It's probably stinging a bit," he advised.
Jackie nodded, before she looked up and saw Kate's dismal expression.
Kate sealed the first set of swabs, and held out the next plastic bag for Geoff. She forced herself to look anywhere apart from at what her husband was doing.
"There we go," Geoff slipped the final cotton swab into the bag, looking up to Jackie as Kate sealed the second bag. "How we doing?"
Jackie glanced back at Geoff with an unconvinced shrug.
Rowie rested her arms across her stomach, and kept her gaze fixed on the edge of the light above her.
"Now Rowie, I'm just doing a manual external examination," Geoff advised, unsure how much of the physical discomfort was being masked by adrenalin and diazepam.
Geoff paused, glancing up towards his patient, unsure if he was going to get verbal acknowledgement. "This will probably be uncomfortable, just tell me to stop at any time." Geoff looked up for acknowledgement.
"Am I bleeding?" Rowie asked tentatively.
"Not anymore," Geoff answered.
Rowie noticed a blurry haze over the edge of the surgical light as she felt the physical contact continue. She blinked, and took a conscious breath. The back of her throat was dry.
"How you going?" Geoff asked deliberately. "Rowie?" he paused, tapping her knee softly, just lightly enough to get her attention.
"How much longer?" she asked tiredly, feeling the effects of the diazepam.
"Nearly there. We've only got the internal to go," Geoff answered, looking between his patient and Jackie a final time as Kate drizzled the saline ampoule over the speculum blades.
"Saline, Kate?" Geoff reached for the disposable speculum.
"Done," Kate answered abruptly.
"All right, now I need you to take a breath in," Geoff looked up to see that Rowie had comprehended his instructions, "And out slowly," Geoff commenced inserting the tip of the speculum.
Rowie kept her gaze focussed on the edge of the light above her head, as she concentrated on exhaling as slowly as she could.
Geoff saw the trickle of fresh blood along the speculum blade as he continued insertion, which was instantly met with a sharp cry from his patient.
"Damn," Geoff stopped momentarily, leaving the speculum in place, waiting to see if the discomfort would subside enough for the examination to continue.
Jackie looked from Geoff to Rowie, and saw the tears that had pooled in her eyes.
"Do you want to stop?" Jackie asked worriedly.
Rowie shook her head determinedly, her eyes still focussed on the light above her.
"I'll go slower." Geoff looked back to Kate briefly, not at all surprised by Rowie's determination.
Waiting several moments, he again attempted further insertion of the instrument, able to feel resistance, which was immediately accompanied by low whines of pain from his patient.
"Geoff." Jackie shook her head, seeing the tears trickle down Rowie's face.
Geoff removed the speculum and placed it back on the nearby tray.
"Ok, we're stopping," he pulled the white blanket down over Rowie's legs. "Just rest for a while." He stood up, nodding for Kate to join him outside.
Kate followed Geoff into the corridor, closing the door behind her.
"What's wrong?" she frowned, seeing the look of distress in her husband's eyes.
"I can't even get the speculum in, let alone opened," he sighed.
"What are you going to do?" she asked.
"It's ridiculous, I can't use any form of lubrication, because of degradation of forensic evidence." He glanced back in through the window.
"Well, it's there some other pain relief you can offer? A local?" Kate suggested.
"No, I can't introduce any substances to the site." Geoff paused, "Some midazolam might be enough to get her through, but if that doesn't work, I'll have to abandon the exam."
"But don't you need to check for internal damage, regardless of the forensic evidence?" Kate continued.
"Well, there already is internal damage. I don't want to exacerbate that. However, if there's internal damage that needs surgical intervention, we need to know about it." Geoff shook his head, pulling off his surgical gloves, and wiping the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand.
"What are you going to do?" Kate shrugged.
"The midazolam should do the trick. If that doesn't work, we'll need to transfer her for a general." Geoff sighed, trying to minimise his outward expression of exasperation. "I'll go back in and talk to Rowie and Jackie, can you get me two megs IV midazolam and saline."
"Right." Kate reached into her pocket for the drug keys.
Kate watched as Geoff paced slowly back into the room.
"Rowie?" Geoff approached the side of the examination table. "I'm going to give you some midazolam, all right?"
Tear stains down her cheeks and her jaw still clenched from pain, Rowie simply nodded in response to Geoff's words.
"I know it's difficult right now, but we'll get through this as soon as we can." Geoff sighed, seeing the anguished expression on her face.
"Geoff, you don't have to do this," Jackie challenged, crossing the room to speak with him.
"Forensics aside, I need to ascertain the degree of internal damage," Geoff kept his voice low.
"Yeah, but you're just as likely to cause damage," Jackie retorted defensively.
"Jackie, I know what I'm doing," he reminded her as calmly as possible.
After a moment, the nurse nodded in understanding. "Sorry Geoff."
Geoff watched as Jackie moved immediately back to Rowie's side.
"It's nearly over." Jackie whispered as they waited for Kate to get back.
XxXxX
0030, Thursday, 19/3/92
RFDS Base – Cooper's Crossing
"Another cuppa?" Johnno offered, watching as Clare paced around the office for the hundredth time.
"No." She looked down at the phone. "What's taking so long?"
"Wanna go over there?" Johnno suggested, seeing the anxiety on Clare's face.
Clare paused before she shook her head, "No, Geoff said he'd call."
Johnno glanced down at his watch. "Maybe he had to operate or something?"
Clare frowned, "You need two doctors to operate, I thought?"
"Oh yeah," Johnno shrugged, "Where the hell's Guy, that's what I'd like to know. Talk about picking his moments."
"Oh my God." Clare brought her hand to her mouth, dropping her eyes closed in realisation.
"What's the matter?" Johnno frowned.
"He did this." Clare drew a deep, reflective breath. Looking around the office, she felt the memories wash over her. The time Guy put his hand on Rowie's shoulder, all the fights they'd had in his office. Clare reflected on the numerous of moments she'd witnessed as a fly on the wall. "I should've said something to Geoff," she spoke quietly.
"Huh?" Johnno sipped his coffee, not having followed Clare musings.
"There's so much I saw and heard that I should have told Geoff about. Guy has been harassing her for months," Clare admitted.
"It's not your fault, Clare. Row can handle herself," Johnno shrugged.
"Well, obviously not," Clare snapped angrily. "Why didn't someone do something sooner?"
"Hang on, there's something I'm not getting here. What actually happened?" Johnno frowned, placing his mug of coffee down on the desk.
Clare turned away from him, as she realised Johnno didn't know the truth.
"Clare, what's going on? Why is everyone scuttlin' around like someone's died?" Johnno slid off the edge of the desk and walked slowly across the room.
Shaking her head, Clare tried to figure out what to say.
"No," she hesitated. "Geoff will tell you." Clare crossed the room and sat down at the desk. She looked down for some work to occupy the time.
"Tell me what!" Johnno followed after her.
"I can't, Johnno. It's not my place." Clare refused to look at him. It finally hit her; Geoff delayed telling Johnno so that he'd be able to transfer her if necessary. "It's probably better that you don't know."
"None a this is making any sense. If it's that serious, why isn't Geoff transferring her? And if it's not that serious, why can't you tell me?"
"Look, Geoff has his reasons, Johnno. You just have to trust that," Clare spoke sharply.
"Clare, either you tell me what's going on, or I'm going over there," Johnno raised his voice.
"All right! I'll ring," Clare reached for the phone in utter exasperation.
Johnno leaned against the glass screen, watching Clare intently.
"Kate, it's Clare, how's everything going?" Clare asked immediately.
"Look, ah, we're still in the middle of forensics here, it's taking longer than we thought. Are you and Johnno still at the base?" Kate answered, glancing down at the IV set in her right hand.
"Yes, we thought we'd hear by now. Does it look as if Geoff'll have to transfer her?" Clare continued.
"We don't know yet, Clare. We're just trying to sedate her at the moment. If that doesn't work, she'll need to be flown to Sydney," Kate replied impatiently.
"That doesn't sound very good?" Clare frowned, feeling Johnno's hands on her shoulders.
"Clare, I, I need to get back to them, I'm sorry. I'll get Geoff to ring you when he can." Kate hung up the phone.
Clare shook her head, as she placed the phone back down.
"We're still on standby, she might need to go to Sydney." Clare reached across the desk for the small black phone book.
"I've had enough of this!" Johnno turned, heading towards the front doors.
"Johnno, you're not going to help anyone by making a nuisance of yourself," Clare pleaded, following as quickly as she could after him.
"At least I'll get some answers!" The young pilot hovered in the hall way.
"Geoff probably feels it would be too difficult for you to work under the circumstances if they have to transfer her," she answered.
"Not good enough, Clare." Johnno shook his head.
"Well, given your relationship with Rowie, he probably thinks it would be awkward for her too," Clare edged closer to the truth, hoping Johnno would figure it out for himself.
"We don't have a relationship. That was over months ago. Jesus, Clare, you're making it sound like she's been raped or something." Johnno stopped abruptly, as he pieced the events of the evening together.
Clare watched as Johnno arrived at the conclusion. "I'm sorry, Johnno." Clare shrugged inadequately.
Johnno exhaled as he looked from Clare down to the ground.
"You can't blame Geoff for wanting to keep it from you." Clare spoke softly.
"Well, who?" Johnno paced back into the main office. "Guy? Guy did this?"
"No-one's talking about it, Johnno. That's just what I think." Clare tried to gauge his reaction.
"I'll kill him!" Johnno brought his hands tightly to his waist.
"Well no-one's seen him since this evening. Jackie didn't find Rowie until after ten, so we don't even know when it happened." Clare sighed.
"Did this happen at the pub or something?" Johnno frowned, thinking back over the evening.
"Jackie came and got me just after she'd found Rowie, so I'm assuming it happened in her room," Clare continued, watching intently as Johnno absorbed the information.
"Bloody hell, I was there all evening. I had dinner, Steve and I had some beers and a few games of pool. Went up to bed around ten." Johnno shook his head.
"I was in my room all evening after work. I heard a door slam around seven. Well, you hear all sorts sometimes; Penny and Steve, Jackie and Guy. I've learnt to block it out. I just wish I'd at least gone to the door and listened. To think it happened less than ten metres away, and I didn't do anything!"
"It's not your fault, Clare." Johnno touched her shoulder.
"No, I know. I just wish I'd done something." Clare wiped at her eyes. "Poor Rowie."
"Is she all right, I mean, physically?" Johnno asked, crossing his arms and leaning up against the glass divider.
"Kate sounded pretty distressed just then." Clare gestured towards the phone.
"There's no way Row will talk about it." Johnno shook his head.
"I don't think they've even got to that point yet," Clare shrugged. "From what Kate said, they're trying to sedate her, something to do with forensics."
"What a nightmare." Johnno rubbed his forehead tiredly.
"Now do you see why Geoff was reluctant to tell you?" Clare sighed.
"Yeah, Row's not going to want me anywhere near her," Johnno answered.
"I'll try head office again first thing. You going to be all right if they need her transferred tonight?" Clare asked worriedly.
"I'll be fine. I'll just keep my distance." Johnno felt himself torn between pain and indescribable anger. "How the hell did this happen?"
"I should've said something weeks ago. It was getting nasty," Clare acknowledged.
"Rowie and Guy? They've been arguing every other day," Johnno dismissed.
"No it was more than that. He was abusing his authority. I mean, the things I witnessed, God knows how much I missed," Clare clarified.
"What kinda things, Clare?" Johnno looked directly at her.
"Bullying mainly. It had gone beyond work issues weeks ago. I overheard lots of arguments, Guy accused her of being too emotionally involved in medicine; something like that. She's been pretty unhappy ever since he took over. Not eating, working all hours."
"Yeah," Johnno nodded, "Occasionally I'll get a smile or a hello, but she's not the same person she was when Geoff was in charge."
"Well, she's certainly not going to be the same person now." Clare lowered her gaze.
XxXxX
0110, Wednesday, 18/3/92
Cooper's Crossing Hospital
"Thank God for midazolam," Geoff sighed as he removed the speculum and placed all the used equipment into evidence bags. "How's she doing?" he looked up to Jackie.
"Pulse and respiration are fine, she's pretty groggy," Jackie answered, increasing the oxygen saturation slightly.
"Well, she'll be sore for a while, but there's nothing that requires surgical intervention. Now, we just need to document the other injuries." Geoff peeled off the surgical gloves and replaced them with examination gloves, "Thanks Kate. Can you and Jackie swap places? Just keep an eye on sats." Geoff tilted his head for Jackie to come down to the end of the bed.
Gesturing to the clipboard on the nearby overweigh, Geoff looked into the cardboard box for a small ruler.
"Here," Jackie handed him the L-shaped item.
Keeping his voice low, Geoff drew Jackie's attention to the similarly sized bruises on Rowie's lower thighs, each just above the knee. "About ten centimetres round," Geoff glanced back as she documented the findings. "I'll write up the pelvic exam later."
"There's bruising to her upper arms as well," Jackie spoke in a lowered tone.
"Let's have a look." He made his way up to the side of the delivery bed, as Jackie showed him each bruise.
"It's all right, sweetheart." Kate reached for Rowie's hand as she stirred.
"And torso?" Geoff moved back to the overweigh and updated the paperwork.
Jackie sighed as she carefully pulled up the white blanket and moved the hospital gown out of the way. "Abdomen's fine, no swelling or bruising to the ribs, there's some fingerprint bruising to the left breast," Jackie paused, rearranging the gown and the blanket as discreetly as possible.
"Geoff," Jackie paused. "I think this is a bite mark." She looked back as Geoff came up to the right side of the bed.
Kate distracted herself with a quick pulse and respiration check, as she listened to the conversation take place.
"I'll start her on IV antibiotics." He walked back to the end of the bed, initialled over Jackie's findings and added additional notes.
"Do you need to catheterise?" Jackie asked automatically.
Geoff hesitated, "Anyone else and I would, but I think she'd kill me for it."
"Just don't get me started on wanting to kill people right now!" Jackie crossed the room.
"Where you going?" Geoff called, slipping off the examination gloves, and untying his gown.
"Toxicology," Jackie answered, fatigue and emotional upheaval quickly shortening her patience.
Geoff nodded, looking back to Kate as Jackie left the room. "Are you all right here?" He pulled off his gown quickly.
Quickly Kate nodded, although he could see the impact the last hour had had on his wife.
Geoff left the room and walked down the corridor until he spotted the nurse.
"How you going?" he asked, suspecting Jackie was just barely managing to hold it all together.
Jackie turned, wiping the tears from her eyes. "I'm just so angry!"
Geoff stopped, touching her shoulder comfortingly. "I know. We're nearly there. And then we can sit down with a cup of tea and be as angry as we like."
Jackie followed him through to the drug room, watching as Geoff began filling a metal kidney dish with items.
"You read the form?" Jackie asked deliberately.
"Hmm," he reflected. "That explains most of it," Geoff trailed off, drawing a deep breath.
"How bad?" Jackie frowned.
"A painful couple of weeks, but she'll be fine." Geoff struggled to remain detached.
"Fluids?" Jackie located a tourniquet and placed it into the dish.
"Internally definitely. Nothing externally that I could differentiate from the coagulated blood. We'll have to wait for forensics." Geoff glanced up at the white clock on the wall.
"I didn't get a chance to ask her about emergency contraception." Jackie let out a sigh of frustration.
"It can wait," Geoff dismissed, trying to locate the IV antibiotics.
"Well, no. The sooner the better," Jackie corrected.
"Jackie, we can wait until tomorrow morning." Geoff located the antibiotics and double-checked that he had everything he needed to take bloods.