Authors note: We're nearing the end of the story now so I hope you all enjoy this new chapter which just so happens to be the longest one yet.
Thanks for all the reviews guys, they are very much appreciated.
And as always a special thanks to Lea for helping me with the medical stuff, and well pretty much everything else too. Thanks hun.
The short drive seemed like an eternity to Ray. He kept going over in his head the million things he needed to say to her, especially the thousands of reasons why signing herself out of the hospital in her condition was beyond stupid. She was known for doing stupid things when she was pissed but this was just ridiculous.
When he reached her building he quickly parked his car and ran inside, taking the stairs two at a time. Reaching her door he started to knock and ring the doorbell, when no one answered after over a minute he got out the key Lee had given him for emergencies and unlocked the door.
Lee had given up, her breathing wasn't getting any better and she had realized that she wasn't going to be able to get her inhaler. Nothing short of a miracle was going to save her this time.
Suddenly she heard a knock on the door followed by the doorbell ringing. She tried to yell but nothing came out. Damn voice, someone's outside and you won't work, she thought annoyed.
The knocking and ringing went on well over a minute but when it suddenly stopped she knew there was no hope left for her.
She thought she heard the front door being unlocked but figured it was her mind playing tricks on her from the lack of oxygen until she saw Ray standing over her.
Ray swiftly looked through the rooms of Lee's apartment one by one until he saw Lee lying on the floor trying to catch her breath..
He was kneeling at her side in no time at all, the yelling was going to have to wait.
"Lee," he gently turned her over so that she was laying on her back, giving him a chance to check her over.
Her breathing was labored and very shallow and rapid. He counted her respiratory rate while talking to her reassuringly.
Never in her life had she been so happy to see Ray. She tried to tell him what was wrong but nothing came out.
"Shh, Lee you have to be quiet now. You're going to be okay," he said soothingly as he picked her up and carried her to the sofa. He put her down gently before running and getting her purse where he knew he kept her inhaler. He'd been with her when she'd had asthma attack before but they were few and far between. He found her inhaler easily as he silently thanked God for giving her a doctor smart enough to prescribe her and Epipen for her bee allergy.
Lee could feel her hands and feet start to tingle slightly and what she couldn't see was that her lips had taken a slight shade of blue. This made her even more scared than she already was, not that she thought that was possible but apparently it was. She tried shaking away the feeling in her hands but it wouldn't work, and with that she really started to panic.
Ray could clearly see the change from scared to panicked in her eyes and he knew he needed to do everything he could to keep her calm. Panicking in her state just made breathing even more difficult and that was something they couldn't have happen.
"Hey, hey, listen to me. You're going to be fine, you hear me? I'll help you through this okay?" he smoothed her arm soothingly in an attempt to calm her down.
She knew he would do everything he could but him reassuring her still wasn't helping, she just got the feeling that it was worse than she thought.
"Try and take a deep breath" he said as he held her asthma inhaler to her lips. He figured she wouldn't be able to take a deep enough breath for it to work but he had to at least try. Sure enough, no matter how much she tried she just couldn't catch a deep enough breath which meant her asthma inhaler was useless to them at the moment.
"That's okay. I know this in going to be hard but I'm going to need you to sit up with your knees bent," he explained, making sure to sound as calm as possible.
"Think you can do that?"
She nodded as he helped her sit up making sure her knees were bent. This position helped relieve some of the pressure that was being put on her heart.
"Good girl. Lee, listen to me now," He tried to get her attention which wasn't an easy feat as she was wrapped up in herself.
"Try and take deep, slow breaths. It's hard, I know but try. Like this," he showed her how he wanted her to breath as he dialed 911.
He quickly described the problem and gave the operator the address before hanging up.
"The ambulance is on its way. Look at me," he said touching her arm gently to get her attention. "Good, now breathe with me. In…….and out…….In…….and out" he kept going, letting her know when to breath. She tried as best she could but kept getting more and more upset by the minute due to the fact that she couldn't do such and easy thing as breathe on command.
"You're doing so good," Ray gently took her wrist in his hand as he took her pulse all the while helping her count when to breathe. Never again was he going to underestimate the luxury that was a stethoscope as he put his ear to her chest to listen to heart and lungs. He desperately needed to asses the extent of wheezing and strain that was being put on her heart. It wasn't just her breathing he was worried about now, it was her heart as well. As her breathing was off the lack of oxygen to the heart could result in a heart attack or even cardiac arrest.
What he heard disturbed him deeply as her heart beat was fast and irregular, almost 140 bpm with a few ectopic beats, which indicated that her heart was in distress form the severe lack of oxygen.
"You know there are better ways of getting back at me than having an asthma attack. I'll write you a list later" he smiled at her slightly.
The beats her heart was skipping were causing Lee a lot of pain and with each one skipped she would let out a cough, thankfully they weren't too many as they hurt quite a lot.
"You're doing really good baby. The ambulance will be here any minute,"
Just for the hell of it he picked up her inhaler and put it to her lips, telling her to try and take one big breath
"On three, one, two, three. In," he counted down for her. She took the deepest breath she had during this whole ordeal but it wasn't near strong enough to get the inhaler to administer anything at all, not even the slightest particle.
"That's fine, you're fine," He wracked his brains for things that usually came so naturally for him in situations like this. If he didn't do something soon she could end up having a heart attack. Never once did he let on how panicked he felt inside, he just kept up a brave front which Lee at any other time would have seen through in a minute but thankfully not this time.
Gently laying Lee back down he placed two fingers on her neck and found her pulse. Massaging it clockwise he attempted to slow her heart rate down, this was a maneuver they call carotid sinus massage and hadn't his head been so clouded he probably would have thought of it earlier. Every 5 to 10 seconds he would switch sides and massage the other side. As he did this Lee noticed how the pain she had been feeling in her chest had started getting worse and worse. The pain had started to feel like someone was trying to squeeze her heart and it had started to radiate to her neck. Not being able to tell this to Ray she got his attention by grabbing his arm with one hand and placing her other on her chest to show him that it hurt, she really hoped he'd get her drift.
"Does it hurt?"
She nodded as he gently grasped her wrist and once again checking her pulse only to find that it was now weak, irregular and dropping rapidly. As much as he hated to admit it, she was having a heart attack.
Lee wanted nothing more than to scream out in pain, she didn't know what was happening to her but she did know that it hurt like nothing else had ever before. She wasn't a religious person but she prayed to God to either help her out or make it quick, not long after she passed out from the pain.
Ray was still keeping a close eye on her pulse which was still dropping and as it hit 50 bpm he grabbed her Epipen from her bag and gave her the shot.
This thankfully brought her heart rate back up again to almost 100 bpm which was entirely acceptable.
Ray carefully moved Lee into recovery position, wondering were the hell the ambulance was seeing as it had been 15 minutes since he called 911.
He called dispatch again to confirm that an ambulance was in fact on its way which it was but it was 5 minutes away.
When he hung up he noticed that Lee was starting to stir and very slowly opening her eyes.
"Hey there pretty girl," he smiled lightly as he grasped he wrist to check her pulse. Even though her heart rate was alright he still needed to keep a close eye on it as well as her breathing to make sure she didn't have another heart attack for she probably wouldn't make it through one more.
A small tear escaped from Lee's eye.
"Hey, hey, what's this? You're going to be okay," he tenderly wiped the tear away.
She nodded and fought the drowsiness that threatened to pull her back into unconsciousness.
"You are doing so good Lee, just stay awake for a little bit longer,"
She once again nodded and reached for his hand, holding on to it for dear life.
"I'm sorry," her voice came out raspy and barely audible but just loud enough for him to hear.
"I know sweetie, I know." He kissed her hand and smoothed her hair back.
A few minutes later there was a knock on the door which Ray hurriedly answered, relieved to see it was the paramedics.
"Where the hell have you guys been? It's been almost 30 minutes since I called," he was a bit annoyed that it had taken as long as it had.
"Sorry but it's crazy out there, drunks and bar fights everywhere. You know how Friday night are man," One of the paramedics said.
"So what have we got?" the other one asked as they reached Lee on the sofa.
"This is Lee Halliwell… " Ray started to fill them in on her history ant the events leading to this ordeal as the paramedics started her on oxygen and laid her on the stretcher.
"Heart rate is 100bpm, resps 40. Suspected MI brought on by an asthma attack," he grabbed her things once again as they headed out the door.
"She's pretty lucky that you came around then Doc," one of the paramedics pointed out as they loaded her in the ambulance and hurried towards County where they were greeted by Luka and Sam who were standing in the ambulance bay waiting for them to arrive.
"Lee Halliwell, 23 years old. Pulse 100, resp 40. She had an asthma attack which brought on an MI which the EKG confirmed."
"Alright, get her into trauma 1," Luka ordered.
Lee was treated with a cardio specific beta blockers and was but on a nebuliser to help her breathing. The days events had worn her out completely and she slept for hours on end with Ray never leaving her side once.