Chapter 53: ATTACK
Maya's POV
I pull on my scrub top and take a deep breath as I look in my locker's mirror. I look awful but that's down to my lack of sleep. My headache was now thankfully gone but my anxiety levels were not. I just had to make it through this week. Gran just had to wake up and I could do this.
"You okay?"
I jump slightly and turn to find Christa.
"Yeah just tired," I smile weakly.
"How's she doing?"
"She's still in the coma," I say sadly. "She's stable and breathing on the nasal cannula but they're thinking there's going to be some form of paralysis and brain damage."
"If you need anything…" Christa says quietly after a small pause.
"Thank you," I smile. "Now time to get to our shift."
I walk quickly up to my next patient and read of the file in my hand.
Dizziness. Slurred speech. Vomiting. Head wound and bruising to chest and face…
Great. We've a drunken bar fight gone wrong.
"Hello, I'm Doctor Maya Cameron. What seems to be the problem?" I say politely and I'm glad to find someone who seems sober with him.
"Hello Doctor Cameron," The woman with the guy on the gurney smiles. "I'm Lucia Graham and this is my boyfriend Lee Smith. We were at a bar and Lee got into a fight. He got hit in the head and chest and he's bleeding."
"I don't need help!" Mr Smith yells.
Oh great.
"Mister Smith I'm only going to stich up your head and give you some painkillers okay?" I say calmly and gently.
"I don't need help!" He slurs and I just about stay calm. I can see Jesse get ready to move out of the corner of my eye.
"Sir, I need you to stay calm," I say inching forward I then turn to face his girlfriend. "Mam can you step back please."
"Don't tell my girlfriend what to do!"
"Sir, please calm down," I say as I come to the side of the bed. I slowly move to check his head.
"Get away from me!" He yells clenching his fists. Crap this is going to go violent. "I don't need your help asshole!"
I manage to dodge the first swing by side stepping but the second I completely misjudge. The punch makes square contact with my face and I go flying. I smack off the instrument tray on the way down bringing it down with me and let out a groan as I taste blood. I ignore it and get up quickly sending the tray and stand flying again as it had landed on my legs and back.
"We need help in here," Jesse yells coming to the rescue. Thank goodness.
Jesse and I quickly restrain the guy with great difficulty. The guy has some strength on him despite being extremely drunk and spits in Jesse and I's face. But eventually two other nurses come and one manages to get a sedative into him. A few seconds later he goes limp and I release him as I start to get dizzy.
"You're bleeding Chica," Jesse says with concern.
"Yep I can taste it," I say trying not to gag as I can no longer breathe through my nose.
"What happened here?" Doctor Rorish says then looks at me in shock at my heavily bleeding nose.
"Drunk guy went nuts when I tried to get near him. He punched me and I whacked off the instrument tray on the way down," I say attempting not to get blood on my scrubs and failing miserably.
"Doctor Leighton come over here and help Jesse deal with this please," Doctor Rorish says pressing a wad of tissues to my nose. I wince. "Maya let's get you sorted."
Doctor Rorish quickly leads me to the break room and forces me to sit down making me hide a wince. I lean my head forward and press the tissue down and pinch the bridge of my nose and ignore the pain.
"Stay like that," Doctor Rorish says. "I'm away to get the adhesive strips and ice."
I nod and hear her disappear. The bleeding was starting to ease but my hands and the neck of my scrubs and under armour were covered in blood. Five minutes later Doctor Rorish returns with the treatment equipment and a new t-shirt and scrubs.
"Has the bleeding stopped?" She asks sitting down in front of me.
"Pretty much," I say removing the tissues.
"You took a pretty nasty hit there," She says pouring some saline solution onto gauze.
"Nah, I'm fine," I say but that was a total lie. I could feel the adrenalin wearing off and pain was settling in my legs and lower back as well as my head.
"Don't lie to me."
"Why would I lie…?" I begin but I'm got off by her whacking my back. "Ow! What was that for?"
"Stop lying. I saw you wince when you sat down," She smirks. "Now where are you hurting?"
"Head, lower back and legs," I grumble.
"Thank you," She says. "I'll check them when I've finished with your nose."
"It's probably just bruising…"
"Then why is your knee bleeding?"
"Ah crap!" I say moving to look but it results in whacking my nose of Doctor Rorish's hand as she's currently trying to deal with blood. "Ah!"
"Stay still!" She says.
I silently comply and ten minutes later I have a plaster on my left knee and my nose is set with adhesive strips. I have bruising under my eyes, on my jaw, on my back and on my right knee. But I could walk in a straight line and had steady hands so I would be returning to the shift despite a slight headache.
Doctor Perello walks in just as I pull on the scrub top. She looks horrified.
"Doctor Cameron are you alright!?" She exclaims pulling out her torch and checking my eyes. I stumble back startled.
"I'm fine," I say pushing her away.
"Are you sure? I saw the hit. You went down pretty hard."
"She's fine. We're actually on our way back to the shift," Doctor Rorish says.
"She can't work like that!"
"She can walk in a straight line and has a steady hand. I checked her myself!" Doctor Rorish says. "And anyway we're in Code Black. I'll only have her on minor injuries. No Centre Stages."
"That last time you said that she got sent home with Pneumonia…" Doctor Perello points out.
"If she shows any sign of concussion I'll send her home. Deal?"
"Fine… Deal," Doctor Perello says. "But if anything happens it's on you!"
"Thank you," I say sincerely.
"Now get back to work you two."
And with that we leave.
It had been six hours since I'd been hit and I stand quietly filling out a patient's release forms. My head had gradually gotten worse and the dizzy spells came every twenty minutes also getting worse each time. I wasn't sure if it was my anaemia, exhaustion or head injury. Maybe all three.
I take a deep breath as I try to finish the form but I felt nausea hit me as another dizzy spell takes over. I clench my fists and try to stop myself from passing out. I needed to find Doctor Rorish.
I barely notice Jesse come up beside me.
"You alright chica?" He asks concern lacing his voice.
"Dizzy," I say shaking my head.
"Do you want me to get Leanne?" He asks frantically.
"I…" I stutter. "You won't make it that…"
The world sways.
The next thing I know I'm being held up by Jesse.
"Leanne get over here please and bring a gurney!" He yells behind us trying to get a better grip on me as he only had me by the back of my scrub top. He quickly wraps an arm below my ribs securing me. "I know I look comfy chica but this is ridiculous."
"Maya!?" Doctor Rorish exclaims but I barely hear her.
"Help me get her on the gurney," Jesse says and the next thing Doctor Rorish has me by the legs and is lifting me.
I'm barely on the gurney before the nausea and dizziness hits me again but due to the angle they got me onto the gurney I nearly come off it again.
"Easy Maya," Doctor Rorish says pushing me back onto the gurney. "Can you hear me?"
I give a weak nod but don't speak afraid I'll throw up.
"Good," She smirks but I could feel the edges of my vision blur. "Let's get her to a quiet…"
"Maya? You with me?"
I come round slowly to Doctor Rorish shining a torch in my eyes. I flinch away from the light and squint at her. My head was spinning, my vision was blurry and nausea overpowers me. My head was pounding.
"And we're back," She smirks. "You gave us quite a scare there."
I swallow hard and try to focus on them but I can't with the nausea. Crap.
"If you're going to be sick throw up on him," Doctor Rorish quirks bending over for something.
"She wouldn't throw up on her Mamma!" Jesse says.
"And she's too afraid of her Daddy to throw up on me!" Rorish quirks back handing me a bucket.
"If you two don't stop I'll aim for both of you," I groan taking the bucket.
They don't get to respond as I empty my stomach contents into the bucket. Doctor Rorish makes sure my hair is out of the way and I'm thankful. That's the last thing I needed. This to be quite honest was my own fault. I hadn't eaten anything more than a cereal bar in twelve hours which now meant I was only bringing up an excessive amount of coffee. I hadn't slept properly in over four days either. That properly caused me to faint. All the other symptoms probably came from the fact I was punched and may have a concussion.
"You good?" Jesse asks after a few seconds or so of no throwing up.
"Yeah," I croak out letting him take the bucket. I feel so embarrassed.
"Maya I have the basic questions," Doctor Rorish says. I inwardly groan. "What have you eaten and drunk in the past twelve hours?"
"Two cereal bars and coffee," I mumble dopily. I felt like lead and like something was pressing down on my eyelids trying to close them.
"When was the last time you had at least six hours of sleep?" She asks trying to keep calm. I stutter. I don't get that much sleep on a good night. "Okay better question, when was the last time you slept in a proper bed for more than five hours?"
"Over four days ago," I mumble. I felt so stupid. I know my limits yet pushed past them.
"Any other issues that could cause fainting?" She says pinching my hand to check the elasticity.
"My anaemia. So that test you just did ain't gonna work," I say fighting sleep.
"Great… Okay then when was the last time you passed urine?" She says. I go bright red and look at Jesse. "Maya, Jesse is a nurse. Wise up."
"Over four or five hours ago," I mumble.
"Jesse can you get me a saline drip please?"
Jesse nods and leaves.
"Right I'm going to ask you something very personal as I check for signs of a concussion," Doctor Rorish says pulling out her torch again.
"Okay…"
"Are you pregnant?"
Wait…
"What!? NO!" I exclaim shocked she would ask.
"Are you sure?" She says as she checks my pupil reaction.
"Yes I'm sure!" I exclaim. "I'd think I'd know if I was pregnant. And anyway my period finished yesterday and I'm on the pill."
"That doesn't necessarily mean…"
"Mario and I are safe. I'm certain…" I say going bright red.
"Why does being pregnant freak you out so much?" Doctor Rorish says raising an eyebrow as she puts her torch away.
"It's not in my plan right now. Maybe in the future but with my health issues…"
"Ah. Fair enough," She says seriously. "It also looks like you have a concussion. For treatment I'm going to put you on fluids and under observation. When the drip is finished I'll get Mario to take you home or I'll do it myself."
"You don't have to…"
"What the hell happened!?"
It's Doctor Perello. And she is angry. Doctor Rorish looks at me to stay quiet.
"Maya passed out. I'm dealing with it now. Jesse has gone to get fluids," Doctor Rorish says.
"What if she had done it on a patient!? I warned you two!"
"I was actually going to find Doctor Rorish when the dizziness started," I say honestly. "I just didn't make it that far."
"Fine but don't let this happen again!" Doctor Perello exclaims after a short pause.
We both let out a yes mam and watch as she promptly leaves.
"Did you actually want to look for me?" Doctor Rorish smirks.
"Yep. I was too embarrassed to go to anyone else."
She smiles at me but before she can respond I let out a big yawn that I fail to hide.
"Go to sleep Maya," She smirks. "I'll wake you when we get the drip."
I nod too tired to argue and fall into a restless sleep almost instantly.
