Hit and Run
Chapter 16
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Carlos pulled the ambulance into the ambulance bay at Mercy and jumped out and headed to the back of the rig. He grabbed two orderlies who were standing around outside for help since Doc wasn't able to lift anyone and needed to get checked out himself. The orderlies wheeled the woman inside and Carlos jumped in the back of the rig to grab the clipboard with all the patient's information on it.
Dr. Jamison was coming out to head home for a dinner break with his new wife of three months and saw that Doc seemed to be in some pain.
"What's up, Doc?" joked Jamison and then apologized. "What happened?" he asked again.
"It was NOT my fault this time," Carlos chimed in, already knowing that his driving record preceded him in the ER and he was the butt of many jokes whenever an ambulance was involved in a fender bender.
"Sure Carlos. What did he do, hit you with the ambulance mirror?" Dr. Jamison asked as he carefully removed Doc's hand from the makeshift sling and noticed that his fingers seemed colder than on the other hand.
"Nah," chuckled Doc through the pain of the examination. "Some nutcase almost drove us off the road and Carlos had to swerve. I got thrown against one of the cabinets in the bus and I think I dislocated my shoulder," he finished as Dr. Jamison noticed the beads of sweat on Doc's forehead as he reacted to the pain.
"Well, c'mon in and let's take a look," Jamison said as Carlos went by him to brief the ER staff on the woman's condition.
"You were on your way out. I can wait until someone else can see me," offered Doc, although he knew that Dr. Jamison was the best orthopedic surgeon on staff at the hospital. Jamison merely liked to earn extra money by working shifts as an ER Doc. He always said that it kept his skills up and he always got the really challenging orthopedic cases because he was right there when they came in.
"Ah, just dinner with Marybeth. She'll wait for me. Besides, I'm sure it's burned again," he joked as he walked Doc into the ER.
After Doc had his x-rays done and the pain medicine was beginning to work, Dr. Jamison came in to talk to him. Carlos was sitting next to Doc, finishing up the paperwork from the last call and looked up as Dr. Jamison walked in.
"Carlos, my man. Just the person I need," Dr. Jamison said cheerfully. Carlos stood up and shook the doctor's hand. "What can I do for you?" asked Carlos as both he and Doc watched Jamison throw the x-rays up on the viewer and study them.
After a moment of looking at the x-rays and then feeling Doc's shoulder, he looked at the x-rays again. "Piece of cake," he finally announced. "Carlos, I need you to stand behind Doc and grab both ends of this sheet that I'm going to wrap around Doc's chest," instructed Dr. Jamison as he slid a chair over alongside Doc.
"Okay, all set," announced Carlos as Doc looked on questioningly. With that Dr. Jamison climbed up on the chair and gripped Doc's arm just above the elbow, extending the lower part of Doc's arm between his own arm and side.
"Carlos," he said, looking at the young medic behind Doc. "I need you to get a firm grip on the ends of the sheet and gently and continuously pull back toward you as hard as I'm pulling Doc toward me. Understand?" he asked as Carlos suddenly realized what the doctor was going to do.
Carlos nodded his head as Jamison stood up straight on the chair, slowly bringing Doc's arm up with him. As Doc got a nervous look on his face, Dr. Jamison counted to three and slowly, but steadily began pulling with Carlos pulling back equally.
As Doc grimaced with the pain despite the pain medication that he had been given, he felt a sudden pop as his shoulder snapped back into place.
"Cool," Carlos said as he watched Doc's shoulder reduce itself with the traction being applied from both directions.
"Precisely," said Jamison proudly as he jumped down off the chair and called to the nurse walking by the doorway. "Jenny, could you please take Mr. Parker here back to x-ray for a post-reduction film? Just to make sure everything's where it's supposed to be now, Doc," he said, as Jenny came in with a wheelchair and helped Doc into it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bosco awoke with confusion, realizing after a moment that he was back in the hospital room following more surgery. "Faith?" he called out weakly, forgetting that she was in another part of the hospital now. He noticed that it was morning - or afternoon - daytime anyway.
Crisafulli looked over at the officer with immediate dislike of the man. "Sorry, Officer Boscorelli, you're stuck with me," he said quietly as he again tried to get out of bed and make it over to Bosco's bed.
He noticed that the staff was still busy in the room across the hall where all kinds of machine alarms had gone off. Shortly after the alarms on the machines sounded a "Code Blue" was announced throughout the floor, summoning all available personnel to assist in trying to resuscitate the patient. The nurse that was about to administer some medication through Crisafulli's IV put the syringe down and ran across the hall to help, thinking that both patients were still sound asleep.
Bosco had again fallen back to sleep and didn't notice that the patient in the bed next to him was getting up, a menacing look on his face. Crisafulli picked up the syringe and slowly shuffled toward Bosco, keeping an eye on the action across the hall. He put the needle of the syringe into Bosco's IV tubing and emptied the contents into the line, watching the yellowish medication make it's way up toward Bosco's bloodstream.
He quickly tried to return to his own bed, knocking a clipboard off the table onto the floor, with a loud clatter. Bosco awoke to look in the direction of the noise. He noticed a figure going away from him and felt a strange numbness coming over him.
Just as Crisafulli had gotten himself back into bed, he looked over to notice Bosco showing signs of difficulty breathing. Bosco's eyes widened as he looked at Crisafulli, the feeling of suffocation making him panic and try to breathe harder. The last thing that Bosco saw before everything went black was the evil look on the man's face and the empty syringe he was holding up for Bosco to see.
The alarms on the monitors connected to Bosco began chirping, one by one. Crisafulli hoped that with the confusion next door, no one would hear the alarms until it was too late. He thought that maybe he should unplug the machines to prevent the alarms, but realized that would be too much of a coincidence. He stuffed the empty syringe under the mattress of his bed and waited for the officer's chest to stop rising and falling.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That's all for tonight. Hope you enjoy it.
Chapter 16
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Carlos pulled the ambulance into the ambulance bay at Mercy and jumped out and headed to the back of the rig. He grabbed two orderlies who were standing around outside for help since Doc wasn't able to lift anyone and needed to get checked out himself. The orderlies wheeled the woman inside and Carlos jumped in the back of the rig to grab the clipboard with all the patient's information on it.
Dr. Jamison was coming out to head home for a dinner break with his new wife of three months and saw that Doc seemed to be in some pain.
"What's up, Doc?" joked Jamison and then apologized. "What happened?" he asked again.
"It was NOT my fault this time," Carlos chimed in, already knowing that his driving record preceded him in the ER and he was the butt of many jokes whenever an ambulance was involved in a fender bender.
"Sure Carlos. What did he do, hit you with the ambulance mirror?" Dr. Jamison asked as he carefully removed Doc's hand from the makeshift sling and noticed that his fingers seemed colder than on the other hand.
"Nah," chuckled Doc through the pain of the examination. "Some nutcase almost drove us off the road and Carlos had to swerve. I got thrown against one of the cabinets in the bus and I think I dislocated my shoulder," he finished as Dr. Jamison noticed the beads of sweat on Doc's forehead as he reacted to the pain.
"Well, c'mon in and let's take a look," Jamison said as Carlos went by him to brief the ER staff on the woman's condition.
"You were on your way out. I can wait until someone else can see me," offered Doc, although he knew that Dr. Jamison was the best orthopedic surgeon on staff at the hospital. Jamison merely liked to earn extra money by working shifts as an ER Doc. He always said that it kept his skills up and he always got the really challenging orthopedic cases because he was right there when they came in.
"Ah, just dinner with Marybeth. She'll wait for me. Besides, I'm sure it's burned again," he joked as he walked Doc into the ER.
After Doc had his x-rays done and the pain medicine was beginning to work, Dr. Jamison came in to talk to him. Carlos was sitting next to Doc, finishing up the paperwork from the last call and looked up as Dr. Jamison walked in.
"Carlos, my man. Just the person I need," Dr. Jamison said cheerfully. Carlos stood up and shook the doctor's hand. "What can I do for you?" asked Carlos as both he and Doc watched Jamison throw the x-rays up on the viewer and study them.
After a moment of looking at the x-rays and then feeling Doc's shoulder, he looked at the x-rays again. "Piece of cake," he finally announced. "Carlos, I need you to stand behind Doc and grab both ends of this sheet that I'm going to wrap around Doc's chest," instructed Dr. Jamison as he slid a chair over alongside Doc.
"Okay, all set," announced Carlos as Doc looked on questioningly. With that Dr. Jamison climbed up on the chair and gripped Doc's arm just above the elbow, extending the lower part of Doc's arm between his own arm and side.
"Carlos," he said, looking at the young medic behind Doc. "I need you to get a firm grip on the ends of the sheet and gently and continuously pull back toward you as hard as I'm pulling Doc toward me. Understand?" he asked as Carlos suddenly realized what the doctor was going to do.
Carlos nodded his head as Jamison stood up straight on the chair, slowly bringing Doc's arm up with him. As Doc got a nervous look on his face, Dr. Jamison counted to three and slowly, but steadily began pulling with Carlos pulling back equally.
As Doc grimaced with the pain despite the pain medication that he had been given, he felt a sudden pop as his shoulder snapped back into place.
"Cool," Carlos said as he watched Doc's shoulder reduce itself with the traction being applied from both directions.
"Precisely," said Jamison proudly as he jumped down off the chair and called to the nurse walking by the doorway. "Jenny, could you please take Mr. Parker here back to x-ray for a post-reduction film? Just to make sure everything's where it's supposed to be now, Doc," he said, as Jenny came in with a wheelchair and helped Doc into it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bosco awoke with confusion, realizing after a moment that he was back in the hospital room following more surgery. "Faith?" he called out weakly, forgetting that she was in another part of the hospital now. He noticed that it was morning - or afternoon - daytime anyway.
Crisafulli looked over at the officer with immediate dislike of the man. "Sorry, Officer Boscorelli, you're stuck with me," he said quietly as he again tried to get out of bed and make it over to Bosco's bed.
He noticed that the staff was still busy in the room across the hall where all kinds of machine alarms had gone off. Shortly after the alarms on the machines sounded a "Code Blue" was announced throughout the floor, summoning all available personnel to assist in trying to resuscitate the patient. The nurse that was about to administer some medication through Crisafulli's IV put the syringe down and ran across the hall to help, thinking that both patients were still sound asleep.
Bosco had again fallen back to sleep and didn't notice that the patient in the bed next to him was getting up, a menacing look on his face. Crisafulli picked up the syringe and slowly shuffled toward Bosco, keeping an eye on the action across the hall. He put the needle of the syringe into Bosco's IV tubing and emptied the contents into the line, watching the yellowish medication make it's way up toward Bosco's bloodstream.
He quickly tried to return to his own bed, knocking a clipboard off the table onto the floor, with a loud clatter. Bosco awoke to look in the direction of the noise. He noticed a figure going away from him and felt a strange numbness coming over him.
Just as Crisafulli had gotten himself back into bed, he looked over to notice Bosco showing signs of difficulty breathing. Bosco's eyes widened as he looked at Crisafulli, the feeling of suffocation making him panic and try to breathe harder. The last thing that Bosco saw before everything went black was the evil look on the man's face and the empty syringe he was holding up for Bosco to see.
The alarms on the monitors connected to Bosco began chirping, one by one. Crisafulli hoped that with the confusion next door, no one would hear the alarms until it was too late. He thought that maybe he should unplug the machines to prevent the alarms, but realized that would be too much of a coincidence. He stuffed the empty syringe under the mattress of his bed and waited for the officer's chest to stop rising and falling.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That's all for tonight. Hope you enjoy it.