Chapter 4
"Okay, she's stable, Luka you and Carter go with her to CT. Pratt, call the ICU and make sure they have a bed ready and then have Dubanko meet us there." Kerry directed as she threw her bloody trauma gear on the floor. She helped them load all the equipment onto Abby's gurney, who had once again lost conciseness as soon as Susan and Jake had left; she was careful not to pull on any of the tubes or wires now connected to her. Just before they started to wheel her out, Abby began to open her eyes. Kerry rushed to her side, determined to keep Abby calm. Any more stress on her body could quickly cause her all ready critical condition to deteriorate even further.
"Abby honey, it's going to be okay. Just rest," Kerry told her as she put her hand on Abby's forehead, she watched as Abby began to say something. "Don't try and talk Abby, we had to intubate you." Kerry said as she laid her hand down upon Abby's forehead, her touch gentle as she looked over her young intern, "Luka and Carter are going to take you up to CT; it's going to be alright we are going to take care of you." Kerry redirected her attention to Carter, "page me as soon as she's out of CT, do not leave her John," she reached behind her and grabbed a blanket and spread it over Abby, "see you soon." She said as she nodded to Carter, giving them the go ahead to push the gurney out the door. Kerry stood there, thinking about what had just happened. More then likely she would spend her shift in the ER tonight. Abby was in serious danger, even if she was consciences now, that didn't mean she could survive the night.
"Excuse me, I'm looking for a Dr. Lewis?" a voice interrupted Kerry's thoughts; she looked up to see a cop standing at the doors.
"Yeah, sure, follow me. Is this about the hit and run?"
"Yes, we believe we know who our suspect is,"
"Already? " Kerry walked over to the entrance of the lounge and led the cop in. "Dr. Lewis, this officer needs to speak with you about Abby," Kerry said quietly. She discovered Susan on the couch, her eyes red and puffy, Jake was leaning against the counter his head down. She knew Susan would be a mess and Jake too, and more then likely before they even answered any of the cop's questions, they would want to know about Abby.
"Kerry," Susan jumped up and ran over to her, "How is she?"
"She's in CT right now, we had to intubate, and she is consciences. Right now her injures that we can see, are almost all going to require surgery."
"What..."
"I'll bring you her chart in a minute, but right now you need to talk to him," Kerry gestured to the officer standing behind her.
"Hello Dr. Lewis, I'm Officer Collins," The officer said extending his hand to the apparently distressed doctor, "I am very sorry about Dr. Lockhart's accident, but we believe that we have a suspect in the case, I'd like to ask you a few questions about a," he looked down at the notebook in his hand, "Dr. Morris."
Carter and Luka stood outside the metal door as they watched the machine start to move. The loud hum of the equipment the only sound as the both held there breath, hoping for the best, fearing the worst. They watched the screen as it came to life, giving them some much needed insight to what their friend's injuries really were. The impact from the car and caused her spleen to rupture, her organs were a mess, broken bones everywhere and then the pooling of blood, a patch of white visible on the screen. Her pelvis fractured in several places, you could hardly see the bones barely holding onto one another. As the machine continued and the pictures kept coming up slowly one by one the internal injuries started to declare themselves. Carter and Luka were growing more and more concerned for her. Both men at one time had held Abby's heart in their hands and both still each in their own way still cared for her. Suddenly, the door burst open and Durbanko walked in. "
What do we have so far?" he looked over at the CT screens. He had received a page, telling him to meet the patient in ICU for the consult, but as soon as he heard just who the patient was, he came rushing down. They didn't have time to answer, the alarms were starting to sound and the three doctors rushed to Abby's side. The machines told them that Abby wouldn't be stable much longer without immediately transferring her back to the ER.
"We need to move her, on my count, one, two, three" Luka took charge and together they carefully moved Abby to the gurney. As all the equipment was loaded next to her, Luka looked down at Abby, who he just realized, was being treated as if she were unconscious, when in all reality, she was hearing every word that was being said about her. Granted, her brain couldn't really comprehend what was actually going on. He reached down and brushed a lose strand of hair away from her eyes. She looked up at him, her facial expressions the only she could communicate at the moment. What scared Luka the most was that Abby didn't look scared or panicked, she looked like she had just woken up from a nap, and she really didn't fully comprehend what was happening to her.
"Abby, you need surgery; Dubanko is going to do it. Don't worry, okay? Do you understand?" he could see the faint hint of fear in her eyes. He couldn't imagine what it must be like from her point of view. He would give anything to be able to take her pain away, he had even thought about sedating her, but quickly pushed that idea out of his mind. Especially not now, not when they knew just how serious her head injury was.
The monitors began to scream louder causing Luka to break eye contact with Abby and glance up at them for a quick second, when he looked back down, Abby had closed her eyes.
"Abby, stay awake! Come on!" Carter was yelling at her now, as Durbanko shined his penlight in her eyes, checking her pupils. Suddenly and without warning. Her body began to arch, and slam back down violently on the gurney. Abby's body had began to seize, Carter reached over back to the drug box that was kept in the CT room in case of emergencies such as this, and pulled out the vial of ativan grabbing the first IV access line he could get his hands on, and injecting the potentially life saving drug into Abby. They needed to get the seizures under control. She would fry what might have been left of her brain, if they let them continue.
"Ativan's in, lets move!" they pushed the gurney out the door, heading straight back towards the trauma room, her seizure growing more violent as they raced down the hall. As they passed the lounge, Carter saw Kerry standing right by the door.
"Kerry, we need you!" he screamed, remembering her order to get her as soon as Abby came out of CT. He hoped that she head heard him; he sure as hell wasn't stopping. In a matter of seconds after her seizure had first begun, they were all once again in the trauma room. A quick flash went before his eyes as he watched and held his breath waiting for the Ativan to work. That this is what they all must have been feeling that fateful valentines day so many years ago when they had to work on him and Lucy. It was never easy to work on a colleague and Abby was no exception. The first round of drugs was on board, now if that would just work like it was supposed too. He watched the monitors waiting for them to give him any sign of good news.
"Hang another liter of blood on the infuser." Carter barked worried about her heart now, "we have to get her volume back up." Luka was already on top of it as they worked again to stabilize Abby after her debilitating seizure. Her body was finally starting to relax from the sedative affect that Ativan carried. Yet, there was pressure building under her skull from the subdural hematoma that was rapidly growing. The longer they waited for surgery, the more grave and serious the situation became. They watched and waited the wait more than any of them could bear. The much needed fluids running into Abby's pale, almost lifeless looking body now, seemed to be doing absolutely nothing. Then in that blink of an eye, the monitors started the piercing cry signaling that her condition had gone the opposite way everyone had hoped for. Instantly, Carter reacted, in a way, he knew what was going to happen.
"Crash Cart." Carter yelled looking for the needed equipment to try to keep his friend alive. "Charge it to 300," He said as he brought the paddles down onto Abby's chest, "clear!" the surge of electricity making her body jump from the gurney.
"Epi, lidocaine, keep the fluids going." Luka said worried that this might be it, that he might not be able to get her heart beating again "Come on Abby fight back."
"Go again, charge to 350, clear!" he once again pressed the buttons; "Don't do this Abby!" tears were coming to his eyes as the monitors registered no heart beat.
"No pulse," Sam reported as she continued pounding on Abby's chest. In all her time at County, she had never felt more powerless in her career. Even though she was doing everything she could possibly do at the moment. "Abby, please" she pleaded to her friend, hoping that in some miraculous way, Abby had heard them.
"Damn it Abby, another round of Epi, charge to 350 again," Carter watched as Luka injected the medicine into her central line, the drugs that would hopefully help to get her heart started again. "Clear" everyone's hands went up in the air, as he applied the paddles again. It took less then two seconds before the monitor to pick up on a heart beat, but it was there, they had brought Abby back or rather Abby had decided to come back.
"We've got a rhythm, she needs to go to surgery now, and we can't wait any longer. Let's move." Dubanko ordered, quickly grabbing the rail of the gurney and wheeling it out the door and into the hallway.
Carter and Luka watched as Abby and her gurney disappeared into the elevator. It was out of their hands now straight into the hands of the surgeons. Faith in her healing was all that they had to hold onto. Watching the doors close was one of the hardest things that either of them had, had to do. Sending a stranger off to the OR was a daily occurrence for them, one that they had each done numerous times, too many to count anymore. The saying was that, if you got them to the elevator alive that you had done your job. Well today, getting her to the elevator wasn't the end of the job, now came the hours of waiting and wondering, the hoping and the praying that everything would go right.
Alice and Ron Jones' watched as their physician, the women who had just saved Ron's life hours before, who was now fighting for her own; was rolled back into the opposite trauma room. They saw the violent seizure that racked her body, and the reactions of her coworkers as her condition continued to rapidly deteriorate.
"Oh God," Alice turned to her husband and buried her head in his chest as they watched Carter apply the paddles to Abby. Ron gently stoked his wife's back as he kept his eyes on the action in the other room. "Alice, they've got her back, look," her head shot up and she turned around just in time to see them roll her out the doors. But the look on the other doctors faces didn't escape them, just like the staff, Abby's patients knew her condition wasn't good.
Sarah sat in her room alone, her parents had yet to arrive and her coach had gone to make some phone calls. The only thing she could think about was seeing Abby on the gurney, surrounded by medical equipment Sarah had never seen before. The nurse that had taken her to x-ray had promised to come back and explain to her what had happened to Abby, but she had yet to return. Sarah glanced at the door, into the quite hallway, hoping to gain some information.
The ER now contained this feeling of heaviness, almost as if a fog of disparity had fallen upon it. While there was a single person there who would say the situation was bleak, they all knew that things were, in fact, grim. Hope was a strong emotion, one that could get you thru hours of waiting but one that could also be dashed faster than one could blink their eyes. The once busy, bustling ER was now almost silent, you could have heard a pin hit the floor. Not a single doctor or nurse was smiling now and the jokes that had been flying around had long since ceased to be there. How long would it be before they received news of their friend, before they would see those eyes that held the fire of life in them, a fire that burned so brilliantly and had been a part of so many people lives for so long. That was if they ever saw them again, if Abby even made it out of surgery. Worry filled the entire staff of County General now, for one of their own had fallen victim yet once again to another seemingly needless accident.