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Chapter 8
Jason hated leaving Elizabeth, but the OR staff had paged him to let him know the trauma patient with the crushing chest injury was coming out of surgery. For the next couple of hours, he remained busy with the patient who'd undergone a coronary bypass surgery and a mitral-valve replacement.
Georgie was the ICU nurse at the bedside. She was competent, but they didn't have the same synergy that he shared with Elizabeth.
He sensed Elizabeth coming up behind him. How had he grown so aware of her in such a short amount of time?
"Georgie? I'm ready to take over for you." Elizabeth consulted her clipboard. "You're scheduled for a four-hour rest period."
Concerned, he glanced at Elizabeth. "Shouldn't you rest soon?"
She sent him an exasperated look. "I'm fine. As the Charge Nurse, I'm last to go."
"I'm okay, Elizabeth, if you want to switch places," Georgie offered as she hung an IV antibiotic.
"No, thanks. I'd rather stick to the schedule."
Jason appreciated Elizabeth's organizational skills — clearly she preferred to do things according to plan. But what about making some exceptions once in a while? Couldn't she adapt her strict schedule for the sake of her health? For their baby?
He stepped back, listening as Georgie gave Elizabeth a detailed report on the patient's progress since returning from surgery. After fifteen minutes, Georgie finally left them alone.
"His cardiac index is still low, and his pulse is tachy." Elizabeth's tone was brisk and professional. "Did you want me to titrate the nipride and epinephrine drips?"
"Yes, until his cardiac index is at least 2.5 or better." Jason fought the urge to make her sit down.
Not that she would appreciate his interference. "How are you feeling? Any nausea?"
"A little." She ignored him as she worked over his patient. "But I'm fine."
He glanced at the clock hanging on the wall above the patient's bed. Two o'clock in the morning. He'd pumped Georgie on the length of their shifts. Elizabeth couldn't be fine, not when they were already a good three hours past her normal eight hours. She was sick, pregnant and had just agreed to cover another four hours because of the mountain of snow piling up outside.
Did she think she was Wonder Woman?
A voice over the intercom interrupted his thoughts. "Elizabeth, you have a call on line two."
"Excuse me." Elizabeth swept past him to seek a phone outside the patient's room. With unabashed curiosity, he blatantly listened to her side of the conversation.
"You have two extra nurses for us?" Elizabeth's voice rose incredulously. "How did you manage that?" She paused, then nodded. "You bet I'll use them, thanks so much!" She hung up.
"Help is on the way?" he asked.
"Yes. Apparently, the house supervisor managed to get in touch with a couple of ICU nurses who live in the apartment complex across the highway."
Her gaze slid from his and he immediately knew what she was thinking. The same apartment complex he lived in. The same place she'd snuck out of the morning after their night together.
Elizabeth cleared her throat, before continuing, "They walked here, despite the blizzard."
"Great. Now you can rest."
Her gaze narrowed then turned into a wince as she put a hand over her stomach. "Maybe, at least for a little while."
"Dr. Morgan!" One of the ICU nurses ran up to him. "Your patient in room twelve just went into V-fib."
"Call a Code Blue and get the defibrillator now!" Jason ran down to room twelve.
Damn. This was the guy who had been in the same car crash as the open-heart case. So much for being stable.
"Charge the defibrillator to 200 joules and shock him."
Elizabeth wheeled the defibrillator into the room and efficiently connected the patient to the defib pads. "Charged to 200 joules, all clear?"
After making sure no staff members were touching the patient, she shocked him.
"Still in V-fib, shock again at 200," Jason commanded.
"All clear?" Elizabeth shocked him again.
"Still in V-fib, shock again at 360 joules," Jason said.
"All clear?" Elizabeth gave the third electrical shock.
"Still v-fib, start CPR and give a milligram of epinephrine." Jason gave the orders calmly, although inside, he wanted to scream and shout.
What had they missed? Why had this guy gone into a lethal cardiac rhythm? And could they save him?
Elizabeth climbed up to kneel on the bed for chest compressions.
On a personal level, Jason wanted to yank her down, but her chest-compressions were excellent, giving the patient a reasonable blood pressure. Once they had given all the necessary medications, he called out, "Stop CPR, let's see what we have for a heart rhythm."
Elizabeth halted her compressions.
Jason held his breath and there was a moment of complete silence as every person in the room stared at the monitor.
To be continued...
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