Disclaimer: I don't own ER. Yes it is disappointing.
Chapter Two: A Trauma Later
6:37 Pm
The sound of sirens slowly began to get louder as the ambulances grew closer to the ER. The staff stood outside in uneasy anticipation. It had been a long day and the end seemed no where in sight. Susan stretched her neck to the left and then right, exhaled and shut her eyes. Focus had always been her strong suit. When it came to crunch time she put it into gear, no matter what. For a second her mind pondered the possibility of this being the cause of the fact that her life revolved around the ER. That was for another time and place, the ambulances were pulling in now.
"What do we got?" She asked as she helped wheel the gurney into the ER towards trauma 2.
"Approximately eleven year old boy. Hypotensive, LOC, broken ribs and left wrist." The paramedic replied quickly and efficiently.
"Ok, on my count. One, two, three. Diminished breathe sounds on the right, sounds like blood in the lung. He needs to be intubated , and he needs a chest tube. Lets get CBC, Chem7, blood gas, chest film, portable ultrasound, and call surgery. Uh, hey resident?"
"It's Joey." He nervously replied.
"Joey, ever intubated someone before?"
"I've been talked through it once."
"Good, because we're a little short on help right now and you're going to intubate him right now. Haleh, I need that chest tube kit too."
"Ok, I can do it." he stated, mostly to himself.
"I know you can Joey. Lets put in…Damn it we've lost his BP. Haleh page surgery again, and lets get a portable ultrasound in here five minutes ago, where the hell is this bleeding from? Damn, it's his heart, the broken ribs, it's got to be his heart. Lets get that chest x-ray before the ultrasound."
"Here's the chest tube kit, I'm hanging another four units of O Neg." Haleh stated as she left the room for the portable x-ray.
"I'm in." Joey said with a sigh.
"Hold on kid. Chest tube is in. Where's Corday?"
"Dr. Corday is next door." Resident Joey announced.
"Ok, why don't you go get her." Susan asked as she continued to
"Ready for the chest x-ray." Haleh said as she set it up. "Shooting."
"What do we got?" Dr. Corday asked as she tore off her gloves and dawned new ones.
"Eleven year old boy, unconscious, hypotensive, he's internally bleeding. We're waiting on the chest x-rays. He has broken ribs, they probably punctured the heart. Intubated and we put in a chest tube in the right side."
"Here's the x-rays." Haleh said as she placed them on the light.
" The fractured rib punctured the Pericardium, causing a Pulmonary Edema. We need to open him up." Elizabeth said as she gabbed a scalpel and began to cut. "Rib spreaders."
"Here." Susan handed them to her.
"Damn it. The rib passed through the Pericardium and entered the Aorta. Suction."
Forty Five Minutes Later
"Ok, lets get him up to surgery while he's stable." Corday ordered as Resident Joey and Haleh began to wheel the gurney towards the elevator.
"Good work Elizabeth." Susan exasperatedly stated. "I wasn't sure if he was going to make it."
"I don't know how he did, but we aren't out of the woods yet." She replied as she began to head towards the elevators herself.
"Page me when you're finished." Susan asked.
"It'll be five hours, at the soonest." Corday turned to reply.
"I'll be here."
"Ok." Corday replied as she jogged to catch up to the elevator.
"I'm on tomorrow morning anyway." Susan replied as she walked towards the admit desk to see how many patients were left from the accident.
"What's left?" She asked Gallant who was sipping a cup of coffee.
"The last trauma went up to surgery right after your kid. And I think all but two of the minor injuries are waiting to be seen."
"Well, glad to see there's plenty for me to do." She replied as she grabbed the first chart sitting there and matched the name Grendon to exam room one.
"Is he going to make it?" Gallant asked.
"Who?" Susan asked. "Oh, the boy." She said almost embarrassedly. "I don't know. It's pretty bad. Where's Pratt and Chen?"
"Chen is changing clothes, and Pratt went up to CT with a patient."
"Ok, I'll be in exam one if anybody needs me." She stated and began walking down the hall again.
The hall ways were crowded, and there were multiple gurneys parked in various parts of the hallways. Susan was in a tunnel and her only destination was exam one. Her mind rationalized the reality of her Friday night. If we can clear the majority of these patients I can grab some sleep in an empty room, ok the lounge. Four hours if I'm lucky. Damn car accident.
"Doctor?" A man firmly but politely stated, bringing Susan back to the hospital hallway she was walking down.
She stopped and turned to face the man. "Yes sir?"
"They won't tell me about my wife or children. We were in the pile up." He calmly but worriedly stated.
He continued to speak about the injuries, their ages, and how long they had been here. Susan's mind was devising a plan on how to find the nearest resident or nurse who could help this man. That is until he said a word that stopped every thought going on in her mind. She froze. Did she hear him correctly.
"Excuse what's your name?"
"Fred Yokas, and I'm looking for my son Charlie, my daughter Emily, and my wife Faith."
Susan's head began to spin. What was the name of the boy she had worked on? How were they in Chicago? How the hell?
"Yokas?" She said out loud, causing the man to look at her a little funny. "Is your wife officer Yokas?"
"Yeah."
"Oh my god." She leaned against the wall.
"What?" He said alarmed.
"She found my… I'll find them right now. I'll be right back." Susan hastily said before walking, and then running towards the admit desk.
Author's Note: Now that you all know it is the Yokas family, this takes place a couple of years after Faith is shot, and she fully recovered.