Chapter 6
The Secret Service transferred the President and First Lady to Massachusetts General, which had specialists in carbon monoxide poisoning and state of the art equipment. The rest of the family would be transported to Manchester, where they were to be treated. Doug had been notified and would meet them at the hospital.
The flight to Boston took twenty tense minutes.
Upon arrival, the President and the First Lady were placed in separate trauma rooms and assessments started.
Abbey was the first to stir.
As she began to moan, Dr. Peterson leaned down to talk to the First Lady.
"Mrs. Bartlet, you're in the Emergency Room at Massachusetts General. You were exposed to carbon monoxide poisoning at your New Hampshire farm and have been brought here for treatment. How do you feel?"
"My head is killing me."
"Yes, ma'am. Any other symptoms?"
"Yes, dizziness and nausea."
"Okay. We're running some tests now, so please be patient. Please just lay there quietly and we'll let you know our plan in a few minutes."
"My husband?"
"He's next door. He's being cared for. I'll try and get some information in a minute."
Abbey nodded her head, but immediately wished she hadn't. New waves of nausea and dizziness washed over her. If only the room would quit spinning…
In the next trauma room, Dr. Smart was seeing to the President.
His heart rhythm was still abnormal and that was worrying. And he had yet to regain consciousness.
The Service had told the doctors that their best guess is that the problem began the evening before, but the leak was small enough to make the occupants of the farmhouse unconscious just before they would have normally awakened.
The doctors were concerned about this episode aggravating the President's MS. It would be difficult to know which symptoms were from the MS and which were from the poisoning.
To be on the safe side, they decided to place the President in a hyperbaric chamber, which would get the carbon monoxide molecules out of his blood system faster. That should help speed his recovery.
He was quickly transported to the chamber, located on the tenth floor.
In this particular chamber, the President was rolled inside with a staff member, who would monitor him during the couple of hours it took to complete the process. A Secret Service agent was also present inside the chamber.
The President was intubated and hooked up to a special ventilator so that the high-pressure, one hundred per cent oxygen-enriched air could be pushed directly into his lungs. Over time, the oxygen molecules would push the carbon monoxide molecules out of his tissues.
The attendant hoped nothing would happen while he was here.