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"What's wrong with her" Tommy asked as he watched Rocky's face fall when he saw the EKG the paramedics did before loading the now unconscious Kimberly onto the cot.

The paramedics clearly knew Kim and her medical history. "Can I ride with her" Tommy asked

"Yeah, but you have to ride up front" one of the men said.

"We'll get the van and follow you" Rocky said

"Okay" Tommy said then followed the medics to the ambulance…..

Ch. 28- Finding the source

The other doctors had agreed to let Rocky assist with Kim's care since he was a respected Cardiologist and a close friend. Tommy and Aisha were sitting in the waiting room when Jason and Holly arrived.

"Hey man, how's she doing" Jason asked

"I don't know they won't let me see her; Rocky's back with the doctors, working on her."

"Tommy they're not going let you back there, even family can't go back until the patient is stable. If they let me back there, it would only be because they know me and Kim" Holly said

"How was she when she got here" Jason asked

"Still unconscious as far as I could tell."

"Was she intubated" Holly asked

"What" Tommy said

"No" Aisha answered "They were bagging her but she wasn't intubated."

"Why did this have to happen" Tommy said "We were doing so good, she was finally opening up to me and now this. Jason what is going on."

"I don't know, she's been under a lot of stress these last few days and stress can do strange things and she has had bad panic attacks before."

"Don't give me that bullshit" Tommy said, Aisha put a hand on his shoulder to try on calm him.

"Excuse me" Jason said

"I saw her okay, you didn't see her, this is more than just a bad panic attack, something else is wrong. You didn't see Rocky's face when they handed him that EKG, he said she's symptomatic for pulmonary edema, what does that mean? You said you would explain, now explain."

"Let me explain, I think I have a better understanding of it then you do" Holly said putting a hand on Jason's shoulder.

"Pulmonary edema or pulmonary congestion is a backup of fluid into the lungs, more specifically, the alveoli or the air sacs in the lungs. It interrupts the oxygen movement and that's what causes the shortness of breath. I'm afraid of what's causing the rest of the swelling though. She has high blood pressure, but she's on medicine for that. She does have anxiety and panic disorder, but I don't know how that caused the edema."

"So she doesn't have any serious problems" Tommy said somewhat relieved.

"Well the problem is, she has a history of blood pressure and heart problems and that doesn't sound too good with what happened tonight" Jason said "What did Rocky say about it?"

"He said that it was either the panic attack that caused her heart to start working to hard or it was the shortness of breath that caused the panic attack." Aisha answered

"What does all that mean, how would one cause the other" Tommy asked. Before he could get an answer Rocky came through the door with another Cardiologist who took them all to a private room.

"What's going on Rocky" Tommy asked

"Well, right now we have her on IV Lasix. It will help get rid of the fluid. We've done all kinds of tests, but before we decide anything definite I need to know what happed before you called me, everything all night. What did she eat, what did she drink, everything."

"We went out to eat, she had steak and unsweetened ice tea. Um, went shopping and we came back to the hotel. She told me about what happened with her mom, that upset her, but I thought she was okay. Right before I called you she was asleep and then I woke up to her thrashing around and crying. I didn't think she was gasping for air, but I guess she was."

"Okay we think the panic attack is what started everything-" Rocky said

"How would a panic attack start that; what's wrong with her? " Tommy asked cutting Rocky asked.

"When the paramedics brought her in she was in a heart rhythm called atrial fibrillation. A-Fib can be caused by a lot of things, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Anxiety Problems and high blood pressure are all common causes. Unfortunately Kim falls into all three of these categories. As far as the pulmonary edema, it can be caused by a heart dysrhythmia, but that would indicate that the A-fib is ongoing and not just an isolated incident." Rocky said "Now I know you're wondering how this is connected-"

"The panic attack caused the edema and that's how you found the a-fib" Holly interrupted.

"Exactly" Rocky said "Now for those of you who don't have medical training let me try to explain it. When you have a panic attack, your body's natural response from the Nervous System is called fight-or-flight, it causes an increase in heart rate, respiratory rate and blood pressure. In an isolated incident is no big deal. In Kim's case she had an underlying dysrhythmia, a-fib, that none of her doctors knew about. The a-fib combined with the increased heart and respiratory rates made the heart have to work harder and essentially it couldn't keep up causing the fluid build up in her lungs. So for right now we'll leave her on the lasix; then we'll begin the treatment, which will basically just be medicine and regular check-ups. She's going to be fine but she's probably going to be here until at least tomorrow night."

"So it's not life threatening." Jason asked

"No, it's not as common in people our age, but people do live with it for years. Now I'm not saying that it can't or won't lead to other problems because it can cause a heart attack, stroke, and congestive heart failure among other things; but with regular check-ups and medicine the odds of that go way down."

"Can I see her" Tommy asked

"Yeah, visiting hours are over, but if you want to stay with her that's okay" Dr. Bonner, the other cardiologist said.

After Tommy had followed the Dr. Bonner down the hall the other's decided it was time to leave since she was okay and they wouldn't be able to see her until morning anyway.

"Alright well I guess we'll head home. I think she'll be fine with him here." Jason said

"We'll be back first thing in the morning." Holly added. The two said goodbye and left.

"Well, I guess we should go back to the hotel." Aisha said

"Yeah, let me go tell Dr. Bonner I'll be back in the morning, then we can go." Rocky said. He came back a few minutes later and the two left.

University Medical Center
Rm. 3501
3:30 A.M.

As Tommy walked into the room the first thing he noticed were all the machines she was hooked to. She looked a lot worse than she had last time he saw her in the hospital after her fall and he didn't remember her being on all these machines. He couldn't help but wonder how she looked after the car accident.

"It can be a little intimidating, I know" Dr. Bonner said. He was an older man, he reminded Tommy of Sam Trueheart and he seemed to have that calming effect. "Let me explain what all this stuff is for. She's got the nasal cannula just giving her a little bit of oxygen, she's breathing fine on her own now so that's all she needs. This is the IV pump, it's how the lasix is being pushed slowly into the IV. This is the heart monitor. Here's her heart rate, this is the rhythm, the a-fib, blood pressure is up in the corner, and it will automatically take her blood pressure every 5 minutes. And these waves here under the heart rhythm are her breathing and this number here beside it is the amount of oxygen in her blood. And of course we put a catheter in so we can measure her urine output. The lasix is a diuretic so it makes you pee a lot, that's how the fluid is drained off. Do have any questions."

"Can she hear me if I talk to her?"

"We like to believe so, it's never been proven but many unconscious people will hear and remember everything that's said, some don't. But we think it helps, so talk to her all you can." Dr. Bonner said then left the room.

"Hey beautiful, you need to open those gorgeous brown eyes and talk to me. Come on baby please wake up" he said but she had no response. He took her hand in his "Man Kim, this is so much worse than that time you fell off the beam. At least I could talk to you then. I don't know if you can hear me but I love you" he said, all of a sudden one of the machines started beeping. Tommy looked at the machines but didn't know which one it was. "What is that, what's wrong Kim. I don't know anything about this stuff" he said out loud to himself. He pushed the button for the nurse's station.

"Yes, what do you need" a nurse said over the speaker.

"One of the machines in here is beeping" Tommy said

"Okay I'll be down there to check it out in a couple minutes." She said then clicked off.

"Why isn't she coming down here now" he said aloud

"Tommy, relax" Kim said barley above a whisper

"Kim, baby you're awake" Tommy said as he threw his arms around her "but the alarm is going off" he said as he pulled back.

"It's just the IV pump" she said pointing at the empty bag of saline "See the bag is empty" Right as she said it the nurse came in with a new bag of Saline.

"Well look who's awake" the nurse said

"Hey Shelly" Kim said

"How do you feel" Shelly asked as she changed the IV bag.

"Like I'm drowning" Kim said

"Well we've got you on the lasix. You're friend Dr. DeSantos and Dr. Bonner will be back in the morning to check you out" Shelly said then left the room.

Tommy sat down beside the bed and took Kim's hand "I'm sorry Tommy" she said

"For what Kim, what do you have to be sorry for?"

"I know it had to scare you to see me like that, like this. You've never seen me have a panic attack and with everything else that happened, I know you had to be scared"

"Hey that's not your fault and I'm just glad you're okay."

"I'm not okay a-fib can lead to serious problems, with my history I could go into congestive heart failure like that" she said with a snap."

"Kim you need to think positive-"

"I'm sorry but after 27 years of one bad thing after another, it's kind of hard to think positive"

"I know baby, that's one of the things we need to work on" he said, she smiled at him.

"Come lay down with me" she said. He got into the bed and she cuddled up to him, within minutes both were asleep.

May 23rd 2007
Wednesday
Rm. 3501
8:00 A.M.

Dr. Bonner and Rocky walked into the room and found Kim sitting up talking quietly to Tommy.

"Well there's my favorite patient" Rocky said

"Yeah I heard you were one of my doctors." Kim said

"How do you feel today" Dr. Bonner asked

"Good as new" Kim said

"Well you know the drill" Rocky said "We need to do another EKG and a chest x-ray, we'll see where you're at-"

"And then we'll see about letting you go home" Dr. Bonner finished "Mr. Oliver, we are going to take her away for a little while, but I promise we'll bring her back."

At around 11:30 Jason, Holly and everyone else showed up. Aisha had filled everyone at breakfast after Rocky left.

"Hey where's our girl" Jason asked

"She's been in and out all morning for tests" Tommy said as he turned off the TV he had been watching.

"How's she doing" Aisha asked

"Great, she says she feels fine now. They even said something about releasing her today." Tommy said

"That's great" Holly said

"Tommy you should have woke us up last night" Kat said as the others nodded their heads in agreement.

"There was nothing any of you could have done" Tommy said as Kim was brought back in.

"Well aren't I the popular one this morning" Kim said

"Kim are you okay" Adam said

"Yes, I'm fine and I'm getting out of here. The a-fib is stable and I get some fun new medicine and then I get to go home." Kim said

"So Tommy" Rocky said "Kim said you're going to be doing some Madonna, Friday night"

"Don't remind me" Tommy said

"Yeah you better start practicing, I'm sure you can find the original video on you tube" Kim said

"Wait a minute, what exactly is he doing" Billy asked

"Like a virgin, wedding dress style" Kim answered

Everyone except Tommy started laughing. "Man I can't wait to see that" Tanya said.

"Hey, while you're waiting I'm going down to the ER to get these stitches out so I can go back to work" Jason said.

Two hours later Kim was at home. Jason and Holly had spent half of the night cleaning up, it looked like no one had ever even been shot there and Kim seemed to be doing okay being back there, but she was constantly surrounded by people, mostly Tommy and Jason. Everyone went back to the house and they spent the rest of the day playing video games.

You didn't really think I was going to kill her off or make it something really serious did you? I know it's kind of short, but I wanted to get something out since it's been over a week. I'm working on the next chapters for both stories, but I won't make any promises on when they'll be out!! Thanks for reading, reviews are appreciated and inspiring!!